Video: Scott Brown proposes payroll tax holiday for workers
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Update: TOTUS throws Larry Summers unda da bus; will reappoint Ben Bernanke head of Fed manyana…
Update 2: Rally fizzled but we stayed positive, DOW closes up 30+…
Update: TOTUS just made the announcement. Ben thanked his colleagues at the FED and thanked TOTUS for backing a STRONG and INDEPENDENT FED.
BWAAAAHAAAA!!!!! Another TOTUS promise broken, Larry Summers must be eating his liver..you KNOW the ONLY reason he wasn’t named Sec of Trez was because head of the FED was promised to him….
…As the nation’s top financial authority, Geithner will inherit oversight of the Bush administration’s $700 billion bailout for Wall Street and a U.S. economy struggling with recession.
He will be flanked by former Treasury chief Lawrence Summers, who will head Obama’s National Economic Council. Analysts say this appointment puts Summers in line to succeed Ben S. Bernanke as chairman of the U.S. Federal Reserve in 2010….
WSJ –Several options were on the table, including naming Mr. Obama’s top economic adviser, Lawrence Summers, as Fed chief. Mr. Summers, the gruff, brilliant economist, would likely have run up against resistance on Capitol Hill, too.
Privately, many economists including Fed officials worried that Mr. Summers’ sharp-tongued style could undermine the collegial halls of the Fed…
IMO TOTUS was informed that in light of the new deficit projections to be released tomorrow, the ONLY way China would feel comfortable continuing to purchase our ENDLESS debt issuance was under Bernanke going forward. Ben being seen as a non-political appointment, having gained his position under GWB, and having earned his chops these past 9 months…
Oct 2008 Economic Club: Tim and Ben (Reuters Photo / Lucas Jackson) Tim demonstrates Paper Beats Rock economic plan..
And that is because Bernanke WILL IMO take the steps necessary to tighten when recovery is imminent, thus avoiding the HYPERinflationary Carteresque scenario…
Thanks China! Are you having fava beans and a nice Chianti with that liver Larry?
Larry Summers was SHOCKED to learn of Bernanke's reappointment, as he had slept through the team meeting...
We should have a killer rally tomorrow! I may have to get out my DOW 10,000 hat if Gentle Ben will be in that chair for another term…it was the idea of Summers calling the shots at the Fed when we needed to tighten that really freaked me out….still a double dip IMO but one we can correct with Ben at the helm…
President Barack Obama will announce Tuesday that he is nominating Ben Bernanke for a second four-year term as chairman of the Federal Reserve, White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel said.
Mr. Emanuel said Mr. Obama will make the announcement from Martha’s Vineyard Tuesday. He said the president credits Mr. Bernanke for “pulling the economy back from the brink of depression.”…
The amazing Snowball (TM) courtesy of BirdLoversOnly rescue organization
Obama Economic Team 'Vogues' last November
UK Annual Budget raises record deficit and increases taxes on income over $217k to 50%….
Neither a borrower nor a lender be, do not forget, stay out of debt! ….I learned it from Gilligan, our pols could take a lesson or two from Maryanne and the Skipper as well…
The UK’s top financial official unveils the annual budget and some better (perhaps they mean bitter!) news for the pound. The UK Chancellor plans record deficit and tax rises amid recession. (Bloomberg News)
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Pimco’s El-Erian on Markets and New Normal..
Midday Market Update; DOW down 205 to 7770, S&P down 20 to 815 and NAS down 46 to 1506….
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Stimulus Deadline Friday….
dum dum dum DUM……
…governors facing a Friday deadline to seek their states’ shares of $48.6 billion in the recovery package’s State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, Orszag’s opinion puts more pressure on a handful of Republican governors who oppose the stimulus plan Obama signed into law Feb. 17….
“For a state to access its allocation of the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund, the governor must submit an application to the secretary of education, and there currently is no provision in the Recovery Act for the state legislature to make such an application in lieu of the governor for a state’s allocation,” Orszag wrote to Graham.
Last month, the Congressional Research Service, the research arm of Congress, concluded that it likely would be unconstitutional for a legislature to supplant a governor in accepting and using economic stimulus money.
So the Governors have to ASK but the state legislators can override them? or maybe not…
… The Republican-controlled South Carolina General Assembly has crafted legislation to request the money, but Orszag’s letter suggests the Obama administration wouldn’t recognize or act on such a law were the legislature to pass it….
South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford has until Friday to choose between the philosophical and the fiscal as the deadline to accept $700 million in federal stimulus money approaches, the Wall Street Journal reports. Sanford wants authority over the funds, earmarked for education and public safety, and has pledged to refuse them unless the legislature agrees to pay down debt—an action it says it can’t afford.
Sanford spokesman Joel Sawyer said the governor has already compromised from his original position and said lawmakers still could prioritize education while paying off debt.
“They’re writing an intentionally irresponsible budget in an attempt to raise public pressure,” Sawyer said.
Wednesday, the White House resolved the debate about who could request the money, agreeing with an earlier opinion by S.C. Attorney General Henry McMaster that only Sanford had the authority.
Sanford cheered White House budget director Peter Orszag’s opinion supporting his authority.
“We’re glad the White House concurred with the state attorney general in validating what the governor has long believed — that he should be the one directing this money,” Sawyer said.
Yeah maybe someone briefed the Constitutional Law Professor on the pesky Amendement giving states you know rights and such lol….
The Republican-controlled South Carolina Legislature has crafted legislation requesting the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund money, but Orszag’s letter suggests the Obama administration wouldn’t recognize or act on such resolution were the Legislature to pass it.
Working with the Republican leaders of the South Carolina General Assembly, U.S. Rep. Jim Clyburn, the third-ranking Democrat in the House of Representatives, had crafted a provision in the stimulus bill authorizing state legislatures to seek stimulus money that governors reject.
But the Congressional Research Service, the nonpartisan research arm of Congress, concluded last month that it likely would be unconstitutional for a legislature to supplant a governor in accepting and using economic stimulus money.
Sanford has said consistently that the debt created by the stimulus would harm future generations, and paying down debt is the best option for offsetting what he deems to be irresponsible borrowing.
Stimulus Unemployment Benefits Update: VA, FL, ME, OH, IN…
Updates on how states’ legislators are moving on the UE benefits money in the stimulus:
OH: (TimesBulletin)
…Ohio is one of 13 states plus the District of Columbia that is missing out on federal stimulus funding for extended unemployment benefits. State legislators would have to make a change in the law to make those who have reached the end of their already-extended unemployment benefits eligible for up to 20 more weeks of benefits.
… A provision in the stimulus bill would cover the extension of benefits beyond the first phase of 26 weeks and the second phase of 33 weeks, but that provision kicks in only for states that average more than 6.5 percent unemployment in a three-month period. Those states would receive funding for 13 weeks of benefits, and if the rate clears 8.0 percent for a three-month period, another 7 weeks are available.
…, 16 states and Puerto Rico already qualify for the extended benefits program under one of the program’s provisions: Idaho, Indiana, Michigan, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, Wisconsin, Alaska, Connecticut, Minnesota, North Carolina, and Washington qualify for 13 weeks of benefits.
Oregon and Rhode Island already qualify for 20 weeks of extended benefits. As a result, about 405,000 workers in those states will qualify for extended benefits when their EUC benefits expire between now and June.
States that would have to change law to allow workers to receive the extended benefits besides Ohio are: Alabama, Arizona, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kentucky, Maine, Massachusetts, Mississippi, Missouri, New York, and Tennessee.
Video: Paul Krugman on Geithner Toxic Asset Plan…
Bloomberg has the exclusive in-depth with Krugman, including a response to Summers’ take on Paul’s position:
Exclusive Interview with Nobel Prize Winning Economist Paul Krugman (Bloomberg News)
Moderate in the Middle 