President Barack Obama concluded his first-ever trip to China early today by visiting the Great Wall of China. This is what we call a metaphor.
** QUICK HITS. President Barack Obama’s trip to Asia continues in Korea. … At 5:10 PM Pacific, Obama visits US Embassy staff and their families in Seoul. At 6 PM Pacific, Obama arrives at the Blue House and participates in an arrival ceremony. At 6:15 PM Pacific, Obama and South Korean President Lee Myung-bak hold a bilateral meeting. At 6:50 PM Pacific, they hold an expanded bilateral meeting. At 7:30 PM Pacific, they hold a joint press conference. And at 8:10 PM Pacific, they have a working lunch. … Attorney General Eric Holder testified today on Capitol Hill, scoffing at the notion that trying Al Qaeda 9/11 suspects in New York — 1000 yards from the late World Trade Center — was anything but a good idea. He promised convictions and the death penalty as punishment. … While former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown prepared for his big fundraiser tonight in Hollywood, his would-be GOP rivals for governor in 2010 continued their scuffling. Over debates, which aren’t happening, despite promises, and who is the real right-winger. … Okay then. … After endless mixed messages, Iran now appears to be turning down the nuclear deal its negotiators agreed to in Vienna some weeks ago. Do they want Israel to attack? …
** JERRY-RIGGING: A VERY BIG DAY FOR BROWN. This is a big day for California’s most likely next governor, former Governor-turned-Attorney General Jerry Brown.
This morning in Oakland, Brown announced that he has won a settlement of $1.4 billion from Wells Fargo Bank for bilking its investors.
Tonight in Los Angeles, he appears at a fundraiser organized by legendary director Steven Spielberg, his DreamWorks studio partner Jeffrey Katzenberg, and rock impresario-turned-Hollywood mogul David Geffen. (Think Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, et al, the cream of the famed Southern California rock sound.) There are some 30 co-chairs for this event, each of whom pledged to raise or give $50,000 for Brown.
The event, at a private home, is two-tiered.
“Wells Fargo convinced thousands of investors to purchase auction-rate securities with promises of robust returns and liquidity, but when the market collapsed, investors were left out in the cold,” Brown said at the press conference in his Oakland office. “Based on misleading advice, investors bought these risky securities. Now, retail investors and small businesses are finally getting their money back.”
Under today’s settlement, Wells Fargo will buy back $1.4 billion in non-liquid auction-rate securities from thousands of retail customers, charities, and small businesses nationwide, including paying about $700 million to California investors.
Earlier this year, the two-time runner-up for the Democratic presidential nomination filed suit against three Wells Fargo affiliates — Wells Fargo Investments, LLC; Wells Fargo Brokerage Services, LLC; and Wells Fargo Institutional Securities, LLC-for violating California’s securities laws.
Brown’s suit charged that Wells Fargo routinely misrepresented, marketed and sold auction-rate securities as safe, liquid and cash-like investments, omitting material facts.
Wells Fargo is the nation’s fourth largest bank. It is headquartered in Brown’s (and my) hometown of San Francisco.
** CALIFORNIA FISCAL CRISIS, AGAIN. Well, here we go again. As expected.
The California Legislative Analyst’s Office today released a report saying that the present state budget is $6.3 billion out of balance, due to the failure of several pieces of the budget to achieve savings. Note that revenue assumptions are largely holding up.
And the LAO says that next year’s budget will likely be $14.4 billion out of balance.
The vast majority of the new budget problem we have identified for 2009‐10 can be attributed to the state’s inability to implement several major solutions in the July 2009 budget plan, such as:
· The expected inability of several programs—in particular, the prison system and Medi‐Cal—to collectively achieve billions of dollars of spending reductions assumed in the 2009‐10 budget.
· The expected inability of the state to sell the State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF), a quasi‐public workers’ compensation insurer, for the budgeted amount of $1 billion in 2009‐10.
· The state’s loss of a court case that makes the General Fund unable to benefit from over $800 million in transportation funds in 2009‐10.
· A nearly $1 billion increase in the Proposition 98 funding guarantee for K‐14 education in 2009‐10.
The ongoing impact of most of these problems further expands the multibillion‐dollar operating shortfall that policymakers already expected in the 2010‐11 budget year. Additional court cases threaten to drive our identified budget problem even higher.
Good news.
Consistent with legislative action in 2009 to eliminate most automatic cost‐of‐living adjust‐ments (COLAs) for state programs, our forecast assumes no COLAs and no salary increases for state employees through 2014‐15. Furthermore, under our forecast that assumes school funding at the minimum guarantee level for Proposition 98, districts will be affected by the loss of billions of dollars of temporary federal stimulus funding over the next two years.
Even in this stringent scenario, we forecast that operating deficits after 2010‐11 will be around $20 billion each year. The forecasted gap between revenues and expenditures is the greatest—$23 billion—in 2012‐13 (the year when the state must pay back its loan from local governments pursuant to Proposition 1A of 2004).
Earlier in 2009, the Legislature adopted major temporary tax increases and significant cuts affecting most state‐funded programs. An unexpectedly strong economic recovery theoretically could reduce the deficits we forecast. Nevertheless, the scale of the deficits is so vast that we know of no way that the Legislature, the Governor, and voters can avoid making additional, very difficult choices about state priorities. Moreover, strings attached to federal stimulus funding will result in much less spending flexibility than usual for the state in 2010‐11. In the coming years, major state spending programs will have to be significantly reduced. Policymakers will also need to add revenues to the mix.
California voters, in their infinite wisdom, turned down an extension of temporary tax hikes and the creation of state spending limits in last spring’s special election.
The tax hikes run out, and the budget deficit gets bigger.
Of course, raising taxes in the depths of a recession was not fated to be the most popular of ideas …
President Barack Obama on Wednesday met with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in Beijing. Nearing the end of his first-ever trip to China, Obama said he came determined to strengthen a vital partnership. It’s unclear what he’s getting.
** OBAMA TODAY. President Barack Obama finished his visit to China and flew on to Korea today.
The time in Korea is 17 hours ahead of the time in California. It is GMT + 9.
Obama finished the Chinese leg of his trip by touring the Great Wall of China.
At 1:10 AM Pacific, he departed Beijing on Air Force One en route to Seoul, South Korea.
At 2:45 AM Pacific, Obama arrived in Seoul and participated in a welcome ceremony.
In their various remarks, Obama and Chinese leaders sounded like they agreed on Iran, climate change, and trade. But the devil is in the details.
And the details so far indicate no specific agreements, unlike the progress that Obama made with Russian President Dmitri Medvedev in Singapore.
America is in a weaker position now, due to its role as epicenter of the global financial crisis.
But China, while it’s fast emerging as an economic and military power, doesn’t look so strong, either.
Chinese officials heavily censored coverage of Obama’s visit to China. His town hall in Shanghai was not nationally televised, and the students who took part were all hand-picked. The questions to the president were all posed by members of the Young Communist League.
In South Korea, Obama has a different set of challenges. Namely, maintaining good trade relations and dealing with the aggressive behavior of North Korea, which intermittently pursues nuclear weapons. The American military presence on the Korean Peninsula is key to restraining North Korea from attacking South Korea.
He’s been strong on North Korea, so this should not be too difficult.
Back home, Vice President Biden meets with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid about health insurance reform legislation in the morning.
Biden then confers privately with senators off the Senate floor.
In the afternoon, Biden meets with Terry O’Sullivan, President of the Laborers’ International Union of North America, at the White House.
Later, he swears in Aaron Williams as Director of the Peace Corps, and Danny Werfel as Controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management in the Office of Management and Budget.
In the evening, Biden hosts a reception at the Naval Observatory for The New School.
Secretary of State Hillary Clinton flew on from China to Afghanistan.
Clinton will attend the inauguration of Afghan President Hamid Karzai tomorrow.
The decision on Obama’s new strategy for Afghanistan is expected in a few weeks.
In other action, Britain’s Gordon Brown is still pushing for Tony Blair to become the first president of Europe. Blair has heavy opposition, but it has yet to coalesce.
Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger visited yesterday with U.S. troops in Iraq and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
** FROM THE ARNOLD FILE. Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger is on the road today.
Schwarzenegger began yesterday in Iraq, where he worked out with American troops and met with Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki.
Then he flew on to Graz, Austria, where he visited his parents’ graves.
Today Schwarzenegger spoke in Milan, Italy, in advance of a key sub-national meeting leading up to next month’s Copenhagen conference on climate change.
Schwarzenegger and Roberto Formigoni, the president of Italy’s Lombardy Region, urged regional and local leaders to take action to fight climate change and help create green jobs while highlighting the World Regions Forum to be held in Milan, Italy over the next three days.
“This Forum is about harnessing the power of regional and local governments to drive change. No single issue threatens our planet’s health and prosperity more than climate change. And, in the absence of action from national and international governments, sub-national leaders must take strong steps without them. We have to take action now to combat global warming and seize the incredible economic opportunity in this fight. That is why we took action on our own in California. We know firsthand that we can create a new economic foundation for the 21st Century, built on clean fuel, clean energy, clean cars and green jobs. But to make this vision a reality, we need help from more governors, mayors and local leaders. And with that help, I know that together, we can leave our children and grandchildren a world that is more prosperous, clean and secure.”
Schwarzenegger is flying back to California today.
** THE INEVITABLE FLUKE THAT IS SARAH PALIN. Five minutes into yesterday’s Oprah extravaganza with Sarah Palin, I messaged Steve Schmidt, John McCain’s presidential campaign manager: “So how did you know Bristol was pregnant before it was announced?”
His immediate reply: “I didn’t, untrue.”
Palin had just said that Schmidt, the evident villain of her new book, “Going Rogue,” and other top McCain advisors had already known that her teenage daughter was pregnant with an illegitimate child and had marching orders for her even before she was picked as McCain’s shock vice presidential nominee.
Palin continued in a similar vein throughout her ballyhooed Oprah interview, constantly hitting the girrrl power/female victimization tropes of daytime TV, casting herself as an individual struggling against male control. Except, of course, for “God and Todd.” It’s all a tissue of nonsense when you think about it, including her silly notion that an interview with the anchor of CBS News was supposed to be “light and fun.” Whether Oprah really bought the act or not, she appeared to appreciate it. That is, after all, how it’s done.
Which took me back to when I learned that the preposterous Palin had become the possible next vice president of the United States …
Sarah Palin was a fluke. Had to be. A non-serious and irresponsible fluke. That was what I thought when I saw she was about to be named McCain’s running mate on August 29, 2008. …
** OBAMA IN FLUX. As he embarks on his first big trip to Asia, President Barack Obama’s strategies are in flux in many areas. …
It’s no surprise that Obama is being followed on his Asian trip by other crises. Because so much in his geopolitics is so fundamentally unresolved, making that Nobel Peace Prize more than a bit premature. … From my November 13th column.
** MAD MEN‘S SENSATIONAL SEASON FINALE. … From my November 9th review.
** OBAMA’S OFF TO A VERY GOOD START. One year ago, Barack Obama was elected president of the United States. Is his presidency delivering on the promise of his candidacy? Yes. I think he’s off to a very good start. But I’m not doing handstands. … From my November 4th column.
** IT’S NOVEMBER 22, 1963 ON MAD MEN. … From my November 2nd review.
** AFGHANISTAN, AGAIN: THE THICKET OBAMA’S NOT GETTING OUT OF. … From my October 29th column.
** MAD MEN REVIEW: “THE GYPSY AND THE HOBO.” … From my October 26th review.
** CHINATOWN’S 35TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION AND THE POLANSKI SCANDAL. … From my October 23rd essay.
** OBAMA IN THE THICKET OF “AFGHANIRANISTAN.” … From my October 21st column.
** OBAMA: RIDING WITH HISTORY. (NOTE: As Barack Obama was inaugurated as the 44th president of the United States, this column was the featured column on the top of the front page of the Huffington Post.) … From my January 19th Huffington Post column.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM RUSSIA TODAY. Russia has re-emerged as one of the world’s great powers. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer, bringing you English-language, jargon-free, fast-paced coverage of global and Russian news from the Russia Today channel. You probably already know about CNN International, BBC World, and Al Jazeera. Russia Today, which also features culture, entertainment, and sports, is based in Moscow and is owned and operated by the TV Novosti division of Russia’s state news agency, RIA Novosti. While it’s quite foolish to expect to see, say, criticism of Vladimir Putin on Russia Today, the channel is very interesting nonetheless. With U.S. cable news chattering away as it does, this sort of respite can be informative. The NWN live link to RT does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** 24/7 LIVE TV NEWS FEED FROM AL JAZEERA. With the US entangled in two wars in the region, it’s valuable to keep up with news and perspectives from the leading Middle Eastern-based TV news network. Based in the Gulf Arab state of Qatar, Al Jazeera is very influential and more than a bit controversial. Click here for a live TV news feed on your computer. The NWN live link to AJ does not constitute an endorsement of the channel’s views. It’s presented as an otherwise unavailable new media window.
** SCHWARZENEGGER’S CALIFORNIA. Here is my series of five columns on the governorship of Arnold Schwarzenegger for the Los Angeles Times in debate last fall, prior to the global economic meltdown, with Pulitzer Prize-winning former Times reporter/editor Bill Boyarsky, whose columns are also included. Among them is what I’m sure is the first piece examining Schwarzenegger’s legacy as governor of California. Since he will actually be governor of California until 2011. No technology known to be disruptive to the space/time continuum was used in its preparation. You can listen to my recent video webchat with Schwarzenegger here.
** TRACK GLOBAL AND NATIONAL ENERGY PRICES IN NEAR REAL TIME VIA BLOOMBERG ENERGY MARKET WATCH. Having crashed over $147 for yet another record on July 11th, 2008, crude oil is trading around $79 per barrel.
This is up about $45 from the low of $34 per barrel prior to enactment of the Obama economic recovery program, reflecting a low point in global economic activity.
Your posts are welcome in the Forum. You can send me a private tip by clicking on the “Contact” button in the upper right.
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| Comments (65) |
I am happy to see Governor Brown doing so well. He’s a great friend of the Latino community and a great guy in general.
Heck, given Obama and the Great Wall to work with, my kid’s pet goldfish could make a good video!
OK, bye-bye, it’s off to the big fundraiser!
I can’t listen to sarah Palin.
Bill Bradley says:
November 18, 2009 at 1:25 pm
That is one very LARGE if …
Her other problem is she is on the wrong side of most issues. She’s an extremist.
> Elizabeth Miller says:
November 18, 2009 at 1:22 pm (Edit)
It’s interesting to consider, given Sarah Palin’s obvious though limited assets for engagement in the political arena, how formidable an opponent she might become if she could just go away for a considerable period of time and completely immerse herself in policy matters and surround herself with top-notch advisors and stay away from the cameras and crowds until she can speak with some semblance of authority on the issues.
I thought that might be precisely what she planned to do after her shortened stint as Governor of Alaska. While that kind of behavior may not be in her DNA, it could alter her political prospects in future election cycles … and give us all something else to worry about.
A LOADED question.
I get it.
Clutch J says:
November 18, 2009 at 1:46 pm
C-Boy, settle down. I was just asking a simple question.
If anybody can, Governor Brown will bring California back. It’s not that Schwarzenegger is bad. He’s from the wrong party, a party that will not listen to reason, even from him.
Any party that makes Sarah Palin its heroine is a terrible problem.
“Any party that makes Sarah Palin its heroine is a terrible problem.” — for the democratic party, apparently…
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1109/DNC_circulates_Palin_memo_God_Bless_.html
LOL
McCain’s campaign manager did not know Bristol was pregnant when he released the “Sarah and Todd are happy grandparents” press release. Nice.
The Republican party is run by goofballs, up and down the party. This is more evidence of that. The concept of fiscal conservatism and small government is a winner; the Republicans should focus on *that*, not all this other stuff its dinosaur leaders of that dead party think about all day.
Russia is a better friend to America than China.
What new video today?
Hillary in Afghanistan, the president in Shanghai.
Incidentally, NWN passed 90,000 comments sometime in the past week.
Your timeline is way off.
> Sam Loomis says:
November 19, 2009 at 12:44 am (Edit)
McCain’s campaign manager did not know Bristol was pregnant when he released the “Sarah and Todd are happy grandparents” press release. Nice.
The Republican party is run by goofballs, up and down the party. This is more evidence of that. The concept of fiscal conservatism and small government is a winner; the Republicans should focus on *that*, not all this other stuff its dinosaur leaders of that dead party think about all day.
It’s called gasoline on a fire, Hap.
> Hap Hazard says:
November 18, 2009 at 11:06 pm (Edit)
“Any party that makes Sarah Palin its heroine is a terrible problem.” — for the democratic party, apparently…
http://www.politico.com/blogs/bensmith/1109/DNC_circulates_Palin_memo_God_Bless_.html
LOL
Good post mate!! Keep ‘em flowing!