Midday open thread: economy's improvements miss millions, GOP recasts narrative, Detroit bank deal

• Today's comic by Ruben Bolling is Harvey Richards, Lawyer for Children:
  
  
• Economy speeds up, but millions of Americans left in slow lane:

  “There is confidence that there is strength in underlying demand,” said Ira Kalish, Chief Global Economist for Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu. “If we see more investment and more hiring by small businesses it could have a very positive impact—because small businesses historically account for the lion’s share of job growth. And that where we haven’t seen strong job growth.”

  That sluggish job growth goes a long way to explaining why—for millions of Americans— the Great Recession never ended. While the “official” unemployment rate has fallen steadily since the summer of 2009, the improvement in the data has come largely from the ongoing wave of jobless people who have given up looking for work.

• Republicans try to recast narrative, cut clout of far-right activists:

  GOP House leaders are taking steps to impose discipline on wavering committee chairmen and tea-party factions. Meanwhile, major donors and advocacy groups, such as the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and American Crossroads, are preparing an aggressive effort to groom and support more centrist Republican candidates for Congress in 2014's midterm elections. At the same time, party leaders plan to push legislative proposals—including child tax credits and flextime for hourly workers—designed to build the party's appeal among working families.

  "The efforts, at the national and state levels, come at the end of a year of infighting and legislative brinkmanship, capped by the 16-day government shutdown in October that drove the party's image to historic lows."

• FBI saw "It's a Wonderful Life" as commie plot: The 1946 film It’s a Wonderful Life, starring Jimmy Stewart, is 11th on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 best American movies ever made. But for decade, the FBI placed it "under the suspicion of being a vehicle of Communist propaganda." (h/t Taegan Goddard)
• Karl Rove predicts 2014 GOP gains in House and Senate as well as lowered approval of President Obama.
• Study: Falling Chinese appetite for coal could undermine Australian economy:

  The study points out that China is investing heavily in renewables and has made clear in the present four-year plan its commitment to increasing energy efficiency and developing alternative non-fossil fuel supplies.

  The authorities in Beijing have also introduced carbon pricing and trading, with the first emissions trading scheme implemented in the southern city of Shenzhen in mid-2013.

  All this is likely to have a significant impact on Australia’s coal exporting industry. Yet, says the report, owners and operators of the country’s coal assets are, for the most part, ignoring what’s going on.

• Tax meat, say climate scientists: They say:

  Influencing human behavior is one of the most challenging aspects of any large-scale policy, and it is unlikely that a large-scale dietary change will happen voluntarily without incentives. Implementing a tax or emission trading scheme on livestock’s greenhouse gas emissions could be an economically sound policy that would modify consumer prices and affect consumption patterns.

• Detroit's new deal for banks no improvement for pensioners:

  Detroit’s high-priced bankruptcy lawyers think a revised deal that pays large banks almost 60 cents on the dollar will win approval from the judge who rejected a previous arrangement that was even more generous to the banks.[...]

  Because the debt is attached to that collateral, the megabanks are considered “secured creditors” and are therefore legally entitled to get a somewhat better deal than the city’s “unsecured creditors,” a category which includes more than 20,000 retirees who depend upon the modest pensions they were promised. Orr has proposed paying retirees about 16 cents on the dollar of what the city owes them, and has announced that retiree health insurance plans will be canceled in the new year.

• On today's "classic" Kagro in the Morning show, it's the December 28, 2012 show, with a look at Slate's interactive graphic of gun deaths in America since Newtown. Greg Dworkin shared polling data on guns & the NRA, some poignant photos of the flood of teddy bears sent to Newtown, and some suggestions for how better to support that community. Then, Twitter sensation @RepJackKimble, author of Profiles in Courageousness. Plus, a peek at what makes C-SPAN tick, and how your humble host helped "liberate" Congressional video.