So I finally watched the President's speech. Wowza. So inspiring.
Almost Reaganesque in his optimism. Almost Norman Vincent Pealeesque in his simple sunniness. It was a big relief for me. I didn't realize things we're so good. I was a bit gloomy till I heard his soothing words.
We're out of crisis mode. We're going to win the future!!
In the week ending Jan. 22, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 454,000, an increase of 51,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 403,000. The 4-week moving average was 428,750, an increase of 15,750 from the previous week's revised average of 413,000.
And what's especially exciting is that we've turned the corner just as the moment that President Obama heads into his reelection campaign. What a fortuitous concurrence of events!!
Goldman Sachs collected $2.9 billion from the American International Group as payout on a speculative trade it placed for the benefit of its own account, receiving the bulk of those funds after AIG received an enormous taxpayer rescue, according to the final report of an investigative panel appointed by Congress.
The fact that a significant slice of the proceeds secured by Goldman through the AIG bailout landed in its own account—as opposed to those of its clients or business partners—has not been previously disclosed. These details about the workings of the controversial AIG bailout, which eventually swelled to $182 billion, are among the more eye-catching revelations in the report to be released Thursday by the bipartisan Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.
But don't get cocky. Don't relax. President Obama reminds us that we've still got a little work to do. At the very least we have to dot our Tees and Cross Our Eyes. Seriously, folks, there's no question that Dems can come together with well-meaning Republicans to do what's necessary to win the future.
[Y]ou have a President responding to a Congressional majority that thinks deficit reduction on its own will somehow spur “confidence” and create growth. That’s the twisted world of Washington these days. So I don’t want to paint the White House’s apparent belief that they’re at the end of the road on job-creating legislative options as wrong. No, it’s right, and they bear at least some responsibility for that, given 2009-10 governmental performance. But their reaction to this crisis is to pretend it no longer exists.
And with that, I think we can close the curtain on liberal – or even centrist, really – governance, and take a long intermission. Government has now abandoned the idea of promoting full employment. If people can walk to work in Washington without wanting to endlessly apologize for the failure of 15 million unemployed citizens, then that part of New Deal liberalism has ended. Government no longer tries to level the playing field between labor and management, not through regulation or through working to tighten the labor market.
I could not agree more with the undefeated strategist Bob Shrum when says that focusing on economic insecurity are so "the politics of 2010." Do you remember 2010? I don't, not really. It wasn't a great time. But 2011 is! We're gonna win the future. Rah, rah, rah,. Gimme a W! Remember, friends and lovers, always look forward, not back. Rearview mirrors are for wussies, as are laws.
Brooksley Born of the FCIC: “We may well still be in a financial crisis”