June 15, 2015

psst, PBO coming to Palm Springs next week . . .

. . .but it's a secret!
..............

Obama likely to be in Coachella Valley for Father's Day
The Desert Sun, June 11, 2015

"There's nothing I can say at this time. I haven't heard anything definitive," said Ken Chavez, a spokesperson for the Sunnylands Center and Gardens in Rancho Mirage, where Obama has stayed and golfed during previous visits.

Asked if he'd been forewarned about an Obama visit over Father's Day weekend, Palm Springs International Airport executive director Tom Nolan said he "cannot comment either way."

The White House press office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.

On his first visit to the Coachella Valley, in June 2013, Obama and Chinese President Xi Jinping discussed climate change and other global issues at Sunnylands. When the United States and China announced a landmark climate change agreement last year, the deal was hailed in some circles as the "son of Sunnylands."

Since then, Obama's visits to the Coachella Valley have looked increasingly like vacations.

http://www.desertsun.com/story/news/2015/06/11/barack-obama-coachella-valley-fathers-day/71079230/


President Obama gets off Air Force One shortly after landing in Palm Springs, Friday, June 5th, 2013

June 14, 2015

A lot can happen in 17 months, but if I had to, I'd say it ended yesterday when TAA crashed & burned

right after Pelosi announced she was voting against all 3 trade bills. That was a blow but then Kevin McCarthy announced it would be revisited and called for an immediate vote on the other two bills, and ten minutes later TPA squeaked by on a final vote of 219-211, followed by the currency bill which passed with a healthy 240-190:



That means that barring catastrophe, Dems next week will allow themselves to be persuaded to vote for an enhanced TAA -- and it's an assistance bill after all so why wouldn't they? -- and once that's done TPA is in the bag and TPP (also barring catastrophe) should arrive in Hillary's stocking right around Christmas, along with a roaring economy that voters are finally going to notice, allowing her to remind us all how great we had in the 90s and sail to victory, probably a close one, with the help of Bill, Barack, and every other available Dem hand on deck or rowing in the galley with everything they've got.

Of course, I could be wrong, but I don't recall that ever happening . . .

June 13, 2015

The Strategy of Peace

This was JFK's 1960 campaign book and you can still pick up copies of the paperback (original price 50 cents) for a dollar online:



It's mainly a collection of Congressional and campaign speeches addressing Kennedy's foreign policy plans, organized by region, and as the title suggests his defense strategy was basically a peace strategy. He doesn't address free trade specifically and mainly considers international commerce as a form of assistance to second- and third-world nations. But he's absolutely against military intervention anywhere, including Formosa and Indochina (Vietnam), which was already a quagmire, and strongly favors economic exchange including development loans and international banks to encourage foreign investment and US imports to develop foreign economies. When he's asked specifically about tariffs to protect US goods he says that they're useful for keeping resources from flowing out of the country but that we're not in immediate danger of running out of resources. In other words he doesn't see it as a problem. But offshoring as it became an issue in the 70s and 80s wasn't yet on the radar.

June 12, 2015

TPA winning

I'll be danged

June 12, 2015

K'n'R

June 12, 2015

Vive la France

REUTERS, Thursday, June 11, 2015--Tourists enjoy a long holiday weekend on the lawns of the Champ de Mars near the Eiffel Tower in Paris, France, May 24, 2015. France, the world's top tourism draw, announced a scheme to lure in even more tourists with a new fund intended to boost everything from hotels to its wine heritage and urged the French to be more welcoming.


Notre Dame


Near the Pyramid of the Louvre, Paris, France, June 11, 2015


Nearer.


A tour boat, called a "bateau mouche," makes its way on the Seine River during a sunny morning in Paris, France, June 11, 2015.


Nice


Promenade Des Anglais, Nice

A man dives from a cliff into the Mediterranean Sea during a warm and sunny day in Marseille, France, June 4, 2015.


http://www.reuters.com/news/picture/vive-la-france?articleId=USRTX1G503

June 12, 2015

Ex-IMF chief Dominique Strauss-Kahn cleared in pimping trial

Source: USA TODAY

Kim Hjelmgaard, USA TODAY 9:51 a.m. EDT June 12, 2015


Dominque Strauss-Kahn has been acquitted of "aggravated pimping" charges by a French court. The former managing director of the International Monetary Fund was accused of taking part in organized orgies with prostitutes at a French hotel. USA TODAY

The verdict is the last step in four years of legal drama for Strauss-Kahn — sometimes referred to as DSK — that began when a New York hotel maid accused him of sexual assault in 2011. That case was later settled out of court, although it left the economist's reputation in tatters and his career in jeopardy.

The charges that he was cleared of Friday relate to separate accusations that he took part in and even organized orgies with prostitutes at a French luxury hotel — accusations DSK has consistently denied. Ten other people were also acquitted on Friday at the court in Lille, France.

"All that for this?" DSK said as he left the courtroom in northern France on Friday. "What a waste."

Read more: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/06/12/dominique-strauss-kahn-imf-sex-trial/71109916/

June 10, 2015

US job openings hit record high; small businesses upbeat

By Lucia Mutikani, Reuters
Posted at 06/10/2015 9:09 AM

WASHINGTON - U.S. job openings surged to a record high in April and small business confidence perked up in May, suggesting the economy was regaining speed after stumbling at the start of the year.

The economy's stronger tone was reinforced by other data on Tuesday showing a solid rise in wholesale inventories in April, in part as oil prices stabilized.

"This is more confirmation that the economy is indeed emerging from that soft patch in the first quarter and can still pick up even faster in the next few months," said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at MUFG Union Bank in New York.

Job openings, a measure of labor demand, rose 5.2 percent to a seasonally adjusted 5.4 million in April, the highest level since the series began in December 2000, the Labor Department said in its monthly Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS).

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/business/06/10/15/us-job-openings-hit-record-high-small-businesses-upbeat

June 9, 2015

Barack Obama poised to hike wages for millions

Politico - Monday 6/8/15

The Obama administration is on the verge of possibly doubling the salary levels that would require employers to pay overtime in the most ambitious government intervention on wages in a decade. And it doesn’t need Congress’s permission.

As early as this week, the Labor Department could propose a rule that would raise the current overtime threshold — $23,660 – to as much as $52,000, extending time and a half overtime pay to millions of American workers. The rule has already come under fire from business and Republican opponents who say it will kill jobs and force employers to cut hours for salaried employees.

“The minimum wage they can’t do,” said Bill Samuel, director of legislative affairs for the AFL-CIO. “This is probably the most significant step they can take to raise wages for millions of workers.”

Congressional Republicans are gearing up for a major battle against raising the overtime threshold. The House Education and the Workforce subcommittee will devote much of a scheduled June 10 hearing on federal wage and hour standards to the overtime rule, even if it isn’t yet released. Sen. Lamar Alexander, chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions committee, said the rule—sight unseen—“seems engineered to make it as unappealing as possible to be an employer creating jobs in this country.”


Read more: http://www.politico.com/story/2015/06/barack-obama-overtime-salary-levels-white-house-118688.html#ixzz3cWJHuSkH

June 7, 2015

TPP at-a-glance

Here are some TPP threads I've posted that explain what the TPP is and what it's supposed to accomplish:

What it is: The Trans-Pacific Partnership is a 12-country trade agreement that will replace NAFTA (US, Canada and Mexico) with a new treaty that also includes Japan, Australia, Peru, Vietnam and 5 other countries, China excluded, although China has recently expressed interest in joining:

"China may join the TPP... but it'll take a while," Marketplace, Thursday, June 4, 2015
http://www.marketplace.org/topics/world/president-obama-talks-trade/china-may-join-tppbut-itll-take-while

What it's supposed to accomplish: The long and short is that it's part of President Obama's plan to grow the economy, to borrow Bill Clinton's phrase, by creating export markets for US goods and new US jobs producing them. Additionally the TPP provides a rather detailed regulatory framework for the protection of intellectual property, services and investments, labor rights, and the environment.

And now the threads:

1. Sun Jun 7, 2015: Pew Research, May 27: "Free Trade Agreements Seen as Good for U.S."
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026793057

2. Wed May 27, 2015: NPR on TPP: "It's A Beast"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026733529

3. Sun May 24, 2015: ISDS up close and personal: Philip Morris, FUD vs TPP
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026723402

4. Sun May 24, 2015: Can we agree that jobs are not the problem with TPP?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026720037

5. Sat May 23, 2015: WaPo: "Why Obama’s key trade deal with Asia would actually be good for American workers" http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026716674

6. Fri May 22, 2015: John Kerry on TPP: "95 percent of the world’s consumers live beyond the borders of the US" http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026714251

7. Wed May 20, 2015: NAFTA passed on Nov. 20, 1993, on the promise of jobs. Oddly enough . . .
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026700031

8. Tue May 19, 2015: Supporting TPP is written into the latest (2012) Democratic Party Platform:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026694048

9. Sat May 16, 2015: Guess which "national spokesman on the issue of sovereignty" opposed TPA?
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026679777

10. Wed May 13, 2015: It's not a declaration of war, it's not an embargo, it's not a no-fly zone,
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026670009

11. Sat May 9, 2015: If Sanders and Warren were telling the truth, they'd argue FOR, not against, the TPA. http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026649703

12: Fri Jan 30, 2015: The point of TPP is to boost US exports. That's why PBO is behind it.
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026159076

13: Fri Jan 2, 2015: "USTR Fact Sheet on Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement Outline"
http://www.democraticunderground.com/?com=view_post&forum=1002&pid=6034217

14: Fri Jan 2, 2015: A US State Dep't site search returns 790 texts and transcripts using "Trans-Pacific Partnership," http://www.democraticunderground.com/10026034112