Lindsay Graham (R-SC) Earmark Queen

Graham criticizes Obama for earmarks, but defends his own
On Meet the Press this morning, Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) urged President Obama to veto the $410 billion FY09 omnibus budget because it has too many earmarks. Host David Gregory quickly pointed out that Graham’s friend and colleague, John McCain, has been highlighting Graham’s own $950,000 earmark for a convention center in Myrtle Beach, SC. Graham then pivoted from attacking earmarks to defending them:

“I voted to take all earmarks out, but I will come back in the new process and put that back in,” Graham insisted, saying that the convention center is important to stimulate the local economy. “I think I should have the ability as a United States senator to direct money back to my state as long as it’s transparent and it makes sense.”

The stimulus probably was not big enough

Behind the Curve
President Obama’s plan to stimulate the economy was “massive,” “giant,” “enormous.” So the American people were told, especially by TV news, during the run-up to the stimulus vote. Watching the news, you might have thought that the only question was whether the plan was too big, too ambitious.

Yet many economists, myself included, actually argued that the plan was too small and too cautious. The latest data confirm those worries — and suggest that the Obama administration’s economic policies are already falling behind the curve.

To see how bad the numbers are, consider this: The administration’s budget proposals, released less than two weeks ago, assumed an average unemployment rate of 8.1 percent for the whole of this year. In reality, unemployment hit that level in February — and it’s rising fast.

Employment has already fallen more in this recession than in the 1981-82 slump, considered the worst since the Great Depression. As a result, Mr. Obama’s promise that his plan will create or save 3.5 million jobs by the end of 2010 looks underwhelming, to say the least. It’s a credible promise — his economists used solidly mainstream estimates of the impacts of tax and spending policies. But 3.5 million jobs almost two years from now isn’t enough in the face of an economy that has already lost 4.4 million jobs, and is losing 600,000 more each month.

Dudley hits out at banks’ ‘self-interest’

Dudley hits out at banks’ ‘self-interest’
William Dudley, new president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, on Friday accused bankers of exacerbating the financial crisis, saying some failed to raise capital quickly enough because they did not want to dilute their shareholdings.

Mr Dudley, in his first speech as head of the New York Fed, said executives at banks and government-sponsored enterprises told regulators “repeatedly over the past 18 months” that “now is not a good time to raise capital”.

“This desire to postpone capital raising stems in part to the fact that bank executives often do not want to dilute existing shareholders, which of course include themselves,” said Mr Dudley. “The self-interested thing to do is avoid the dilution and hope for a good state of the world.”

Mr Dudley, an economist at Goldman Sachs before he joined the New York Fed as executive vice-president of the markets group, was also fairly downbeat about the economy in a speech before the Council on Foreign Relations. “The deleveraging process is still far from complete,” he said. “It seems unlikely that all will be well soon. The economy has considerable momentum to the downside.”

Mr Dudley was more upbeat about the prospects for the government’s Term Asset-Backed Security Loan Facility, which is designed to help boost the markets for securities backed by consumer and business loans. Mr Dudley said that by offering up to $9 of borrowed money for every dollar invested by potential buyers, “returns become very attractive”.

Limbaugh conservatives continue 75-year-old socialized medicine smear

Limbaugh conservatives continue 75-year-old socialized medicine smear
As President Obama lays the groundwork for releasing his plan to reform the country's health-care system, Rush Limbaugh responds on cue with a pre-emptive attempt to undermine reform efforts with the tired smear of "socialized medicine." Just how tired? Very -- it is at least three-quarters of a century old. Media Matters found that as far back as the 1930s -- with respect to at least 16 different proposals -- conservatives have volleyed attacks on progressive efforts at health-care reform with the clichéd -- and false -- label of "socialized medicine."

Stimulus Spurs Road Projects

Stimulus Spurs Road Projects
The work, however mundane much of it is, cannot come too soon for a construction industry buffeted by an unemployment rate that has risen to twice the national average as many states cut back on building. Mike Gibson, the executive director of Associated Contractors of New Mexico, a trade group, said his state had lost 4,500 highway construction jobs in the last year.

“We have lost the equivalent of a plant closure,” Mr. Gibson said. “When you lose 10 jobs here, 100 jobs here, it adds up very quickly.”

GOP senator Orrin Hatch Drug Kingpin

GOP senator Orrin Hatch's charity tied to massive pharmaceutical donations
A charity founded by a senior Republican lawmaker who was a key ally to the pharmaceutical industry received more than $170,000 in 2007 from drugmakers, far in excess of campaign finance rules had the money been donated to him directly, leaked documents show.

The senator, Orrin Hatch (R-UT), founded Utah Families Foundation, the recipient of the gifts, though he doesn't serve on the foundation's board. But his son is now the chief lobbyist for the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), the industry's lobbying group.

Hatch has received more money from the pharmaceutical industry than any other group, raking in $1.25 million since 1998. The latest sums, however, dwarf that of previous donations from individual corporations. In 2007, the foundation received $25,000 from Eli Lilly, $30,000 from Barr Pharmaceuticals, $25,000 from AstraZeneca and $40,000 from PhRMA.

The figures were part of the foundation's tax returns and accidentally released by the Internal Revenue Service to a nonprofit group. As a tax-exempt 501(c)3 organization, Utah Families Foundation isn't required to disclose a donor list.

The same year Utah Families Foundation received massive gifts, Sen. Hatch voted on a bill relating to Medicare Part D. Hatch voted against a bill requiring that the government negotiate discounted prices from drugmakers, a measure the industry vehemently opposed. In 2005, Hatch also voted against a measure that would have allowed Medicare to negotiate bulk prices for prescription drugs.

"And if that weren't enough political intrigue, the tax-exempt charitable foundation, which the senator from Utah helped start in the 1990s and still vigorously supports, has been delinquent for nearly a decade in filing its required annual reports with Utah state officials," a Washington Times review by Jim McElhatton and Jerry Seper found, the reporters who revealed the documents.

Omnibus Spending Bill Has Plenty of Republican Earmarks

AP ignored Democrats' response to earmark criticism: 40% are from Republicans
The AP reported that "Republicans assailed" the omnibus bill recently passed by the House as "too costly" and quoted Republicans criticizing the bill as, in the reporter's words, "bristl[ing] with earmarks." At no point did the reporter give any indication that many of the earmarks were included at the request of Republicans.

In a February 26 Associated Press article on the omnibus legislation passed by the "Democratic-controlled House" on Tuesday, David Espo reported that "Republicans assailed the legislation as too costly" and quoted Republicans criticizing the bill as, in the reporter's words, "bristl[ing] with earmarks." While Espo included examples of Democratic earmarks, at no point did he give any indication that many of the earmarks were included in the bill at the request of Republicans.