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This Is What Is Happening in Washington Today
While politics will play a big part in today's market tone, with everyone hoping for the best from the president, expecting the worst, or about par for the course, and in the end getting more of the same (i.e. nothing), there are quite a few other things happening in DC today, among which are the first meeting of the “super committee” along with events on infrastructure and housing finance…
10:00 am – House Republican leaders press conference...
10:00 am -- Senate Finance Committee holds hearing on international tax reform. This is a highly relevant topic in light of bipartisan interest in taking action in this area. That said, the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction (aka the Super Committee) is unlikely to include specific reforms in its legislation, and at best might include some type of instruction or placeholder for tax reform next year. A temporary profit repatriation tax holiday might come up at this hearing as well, though we are skeptical this will make it into the Super Committee’s recommendations and believe the likelihood of enactment this year to be low.
10:00 am – Highway bill vote in Senate committee. Senate Environment and Public Works Chairman Barbara Boxer (D-CA) will propose a simple extension of the highway program through January, in lieu of an earlier proposal to spend $109bn over two years. The current program expires Sept. 30, after which federal grants to states for highway spending would lapse if no extension has been enacted. The House, meanwhile, is considering appropriations legislation that would cut highway funding to eliminate the gap between spending (about $42bn/yr) and gas tax receipts (currently around $28bn/yr), though a reduction of this magnitude seems unlikely.
10:30 am -- Joint Special Committee on Deficit Reduction holds first meeting. This first meeting will involve opening statements from committee members, in which they may express views on the role of job creation measures or other priorities in what was originally a deficit reduction exercise. They will also consider proposed committee rules, which could touch on the dispute between parties on what baseline the $1.5 trillion in savings the committee is aiming for should be measured off of (most Republicans insist it should be the standard CBO baseline, while some Democrats view the baseline as an open question). See also our August 11 US Daily on the fiscal timeline and our August 2 US Daily on the task before the Super Committee.
1:30 pm – House Financial Services Committee Republican press conference on Dodd-Frank. They will focus on the negative economic effects of the law.
2:00 pm – FHA and GNMA testify on housing finance reform. Acting FHA Commissioner Carol Galante and Ginnie Mae President Ted Tozer will testify on the future role of FHA and GNMA in a reformed housing finance system. In the House Financial Services Committee.
Afternoon – Early excerpts from the President’s speech. Normally, the White House releases some early details on what the President will say in the late afternoon.
7:00 pm -- President Obama addresses joint session of Congress on the economy. Reports yesterday indicated that the plan will total at least $300bn, while more recent reports last night indicated it could total at least $400bn. Some items and their costs are well known: a one-year extension of the payroll tax cut ($110bn), a one-year extension of emergency unemployment compensation ($50bn), one more year of 100% expensing of corporate investment (~$25bn in 2012, ~$5bn/10yrs). The cost of other proposals that appear likely to be included seems to be growing: a tax cut for employers/small businesses, (at least $30bn, but potentially more), an infrastructure program (reports range from less than $50bn to over $100bn), state and local fiscal aid (around $50bn). The composition and size of the plan indicated in these reports is in line our expectations as outlined in laid out in our August 19 US Daily: though the larger numbers circulating since last night are slightly higher than we would have expected. Under current law, we estimate federal fiscal policy will contract by $270bn in 2012. Our forecast already assumes extension of the payroll tax cut, reducing expected contraction to $160bn, or just over 1% of GDP. Comments over the last few days from key Congressional Republicans (e.g., House Majority Leader Cantor and Senate Finance Ranking Member Orrin Hatch) indicate growing support for a payroll tax cut extension, though no definitive statements have been made. They key question in tonight’s speech is whether, beyond the payroll tax cut, how many of the other proposals offered have a chance of enactment this fall, and how much will those proposals reduce the $160bn fiscal contraction we expect once extension of the payroll tax cut is assumed. A second important topic could be plans for longer-term deficit reduction; the President is expected to make detailed, recommendations to the Joint Committee on Deficit Reduction shortly, but it isn’t entirely clear how much of that plan will be laid out tonight.
from Goldman Sachs
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New Obama plan : $400 billion stimulus, not $300 billion.
Enjoy.
$400B just sounds like you are throwing money at it.. Hope will come if it appears more thoughtful. I'd like to see $374.85B, it looks like thought went into the program and contains Chinese lucky numbers.
Ron Paul wins debate (in a poll of over 100,000 people) and declared "loser" by media.
Very democratic in Washington, bitchez.
http://azizonomics.com/2011/09/08/ron-paul-wins-debate-declared-loser-by-media/
The only way Ron Paul will win is if he becomes an independant.
And if he does that he will be promply shot or thrown in Jail.
Major issue getting zero attention.
If 300-400B of this crap were actually approved, the debt ceiling will be busted before election day.
That fight gets refought . . . during the campaign.
There is no cancelling the kabuki show.
Be sure to write your Congressman.
And about the Highway bill...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/house-gop-expected-to-ax-transportat...
House GOP expected to ax transportation funds
Before the Democrats lost control of the House last year, the committee now headed by Mica was discussing a $450 billion reauthorization bill.
The Mica bill is expected to provide between $215 billion and $230 billion over six years, according to congressional staff members.
That report buttressed the findings last fall by a panel of 80 experts led by former transportation secretaries Norman Y. Mineta and Samuel K. Skinner. The panel concluded that as much as $262 billion a year must be spent on U.S. highways, rail networks and air transportation systems.
Seems to me there's a lack of money in that department... and it's badly needed. And if the house get their way, the money put into the transportation will be even less than last year which was nowhere near enough. Obama wants to do a stimulus? Put that $400 billion in there.
Doesn't anybody read into the message of that plan?!
OBAMA'S JOB PLAN FOR 2012 WILL COST 300 TO 400 BILLION!
OBAMA WILL BE UNENMPLOYED IN 2012 AND TO GET HIS NEXT JOB, HE'LL FUNNEL 300 BILLION TO HIS NEXT EMPLOYERS!!!
"OBAMA'S JOB PLAN"
AND THE ONLY THING THAT WILL TRICKLE DOWN TO THE COMMON MAN WILL BE THE SPIT OF THE BILLIONAIRES FROM TOPFLOORS OF THE SKYSCRAPERS IN NY ON THE SIDEWALK!
So if we would have added $400B to the $800B passed last year, eveything would have been honky-dory by now?
Yep, would have added 10 more gubment jobs for that $400 billion.
Let a guy win re-election, why don't you?
2:30 pm - golf
This is from Obama yesterday as he praised the NASCAR champion at the White House:
Why doesn't the media simply report all of Obama's movements and I don't mean his geographic location.
So now the daily WWF politics show is the main driver for 100 P/E equities....oh I see. Obama really screwed up by not putting some midget politicians in there too, we'd be DOW 15,000 by now easily.
Obama also mentioned the WWF at his NASCAR speech yesterday:
Mmmm. Print the $$. Print it into oblivion. It's o.k., stupid Americans are busy with Real Housewives and football, and these dopes will love $30-a-glass stadium piss beer. Hey, it's a "good time."
With the attention on theBamster's additional payoffs to unions, companies there were tipped over the last year to which firms would clean up even more in his new boondoggles, and other obvious shit, I'd be more concerned about what we cannot see, hear, smell or touch that has been going on in the back rooms for the last three years. The consequences and benefits of those won't be knwon until it's far too late to do anything about it.
Does anyone in govt. understand that we are broke, bankrupt, insolvent? What is the problem with these people. This is not forensic science. Just add the damn numbers. Drives me nuts.
A couple months ago the DC WWF script had written in 'display great concern and worry about our debt ceiling'...now for todays WWF wrestling show the script is again 'we cant print and spend fast enough' again.
Even the Heidlebergs can't print that much so the FED just wires a number to the banks. That's why the banks don't have any cash for withdrawals.
Better yet what he should do with that $400 billion. Send a check to everyone making less than $50k a year... that's about 75% of the population or about $1720 per person. A family of 4 would get around $6880.
If you are to spend money, better send it to people than to banks.
Too late, they're already doing it. At least for illegal aliens:
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45942
Does this amount lead to a futher debt dowgrade by S&P?
No, but it busts the debt ceiling before election day.
Nope. S&P has been ``fixed``.
If we had spent the $700B original stimulus package on roads and bridges instead of bailing out the banks that should have failed, we would have put people back to work for a while, and would have somethiing to show for it.
.....we know Washington can't solve anything but they surely are good at taking and having a party on our dime: White House Jazz Bands: Kind of Blue. Back on Wall Street Europe markets down less than 1%. So surely are markets follow....for awhile this morning: BUT EXPECT THE MARKET TO RAMP UP TO A POSITIVE 1% GAIN OR MORE BY DAY's END WHEN EUROPE CLOSES. Clockwork. Now, don't play this game--just saying.
alot will be talked about, nothing will happen
Another year of reduced payroll taxes - that's not gonna improve the numbers in Bruce K's analysis of SSI.
timme....timmeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee
9:42 Nasdaq turns green :)))))))))))))))))) DOW and S&P to follow suit :))))))))))))
No QE, markets now just run on 'carrot and stick' economic technique, every day equities higher based upon the assumption that theyll print more money at some point.
So Assumption Exhaustion then Sheep?!?! :)))
You can't make this sh*t up. If you were dropped in from another world and watched these series of events unfold, you would say these are the stupidest SOB's in the galaxy. I don't think anyone can make jobs just happen except a free market which we don't have. Also, I believe Rick Perry is a plant to run away with the Rep. nomination only to have some campaigne killing mega bomb come out in the 11th hour, sending Yo bama in 4 more years to finish the assalt. They already did it with Mcain.
Well the NRF , The National Retail Federation, has just told congress to focus on job creation.
HOW ABOUT YOU HIRE SOME PEOPLE AND PAY THEM BETTER YOU SLAVE DRIVING CHINESE CRAP PEDDLING MERCHANTS OF DEATH!!!!!!!
The avergae percentage of labor cost in retail is below 10%. The average real margin in retail is between 60-70% and in some cases over 90%. Stores are staffed with skeleton crews and store managers are being paid $10 an hour. Employees are given health care plans that actually cost more then they pay out.
Retail is nothing but an extension of the Wall Street con job. The base of the Ponzi Pyramid. My wife was offered a store manager job for $10 an hour and her daily sale average is $2000. She brings in $2000 and for that she makes $90 gross and about $75 net. Her pay isn't even 5% of gross sales that she brings in directly let alone total sales. The product has a base cost of about $2 and sells for $25. The money does not go to employees, it is concentrated on a few people at the top that do not do more than one hour of anything that could be considered real work in a month.
YOU WANT CONGRESS TO CREATE JOBS.... GO FUCK YOURSELVES NRF!!!!!!!
It is time to see if billionares can fly. The government won't do anything. Wall Street can only destroy the real economy. The time for revolution has already come long ago. You want gasoline to drop to $1.50 a gallon, it will take one day after the first billionare splatters on Wall and Broad.
Briefing: The big scary number being thrown around is a stun grenade, a simple bipartisan fragmentation device. The infrastructure bank however is a nuclear armoured teenage lesbian suicide car bomber with syphilis. Iggie Jane.
Mission: Count the number of conveniently televised depictions of shock and awe as expressed by each of the Super members of Congress. This is vital data for our code breakers.
Also, if the Obama gig tonight isn't a refined rerun of Carter's "Crisiis of Confidence" address. I'll eat my ass.
Forget Washington it's happening in Fremont, the FBI is searching Solyndra's headquarters right now. I think the FBI is getting ready to visit the Oval Office next....