Did you know that Congress narrowly avoided another government shutdown yesterday by passing another temporary spending bill that will keep the government running through December 16th? If you are like most Americans, probably not. Yesterday, cable news networks were all covering the Occupy Wall Street two-month anniversary, which the movement decided to celebrate by terrorizing school children and making it harder for working Americans to get to their jobs.
These were all news worthy events, but coming in the same week that our nation passed the $15 trillion debt mark, the focus should have been on Congress and how it continues to misspend our money.
The $128 billion bill is bad enough since it increases spending above 2011 levels. But even worse is the fact that buried inside the bill was a provision that increases the size of home loans the Federal Housing Administration can insure from $625,500 to $729,750. This is the exact type of corporate welfare housing subsidization that caused the housing bubble and the Great Recession of 2008. And thanks to the Occupy Wall Street distraction, conservatives were not able to rally support on Capitol Hill to stop it.
The median sales price of a single-family home is $169,500. Members of the 99% are not benefiting from subsidized $729,750 houses; the ultra-rich and ultra-liberal constituents of Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va., are.
The Tea Party can’t let the Occupy circus make them take their eye off the ball. Occupy will drown in its own incoherent self-importance. Conservatives must make sure that the people they elected are holding the line on spending like they promised.
Around the Bigs
The Wall Street Journal, Protesters Clash With Police: At least 177 Occupy Wall Street protesters were arrested while trying to block public streets in New York City yesterday. Another 27 were arrested for blocking an intersection in Los Angeles. In Portland, 25 were arrested for blocking a major bridge and another 18 were arrested for failing to disperse from their encampment in Dallas.
CBS News New York, OWS Protesters Chant ‘Follow Those Kids!’ As Small Children Try To Go To School On Wall Street: grade school students, some as young as four, were forced to walk a gauntlet of screaming “Occupy Wall Street” protesters just to get to school on Thursday. “These guys are terrorists, yelling at little kids,” one father said.
The Washington Examiner, Local Occupy group avoids arrest: About 300 protesters marched from Occupy DC’s McPherson Square encampment to Georgetown’s Key Bridge Thursday and none were arrested. “We’ll speak and make a ruckus, but we’ll try not to tie up traffic,” said Sam Jewler, a 23-year-old Occupy organizer.
The Washington Examiner, Chu defends deal, takes blame for Solyndra: Energy Secretary Steven Chu refused to apologize to taxpayers for blowing more than half-a-billion dollars on the now bankrupt Solyndra solar panel manufacturing firm. “The loan guarantee to Solyndra was subject to proper, rigorous scrutiny and healthy debate during every phase of the process,” Chu claimed.
The Washington Post, The Energy Department’s loan guarantee program is the real Solyndra scandal: The Washington Post editorial board writes: “You can call it crony capitalism or venture socialism — but by whatever name, the Energy Department’s loan guarantee program privatizes profits and socializes losses.”
Campaign 2012
Gingrich: The Center for Health Transformation, a think tank founded by Newt Gingrich in 2003, collected at least $37 million over the past eight years from health insurance companies while advocating for an individual mandate. Health insurers would be the biggest beneficiary of an individual mandate.
MA SENATE: Elizabeth Warren, who once proudly said she was the “intellectual founder” of the Occupy movement, refused to sign a petition in support of Occupy Harvard. “Elizabeth hasn’t signed the petition, but she’s been standing up to Wall Street and the big banks for years and that’s what she’ll do in the Senate,” campaign spokesman Kyle Sullivan said.
Righty Playbook
The Examiner‘s Joel Gehrke catches Rep. Tim Ryan, D-Ohio, thanking MSNBC Ed Sschultz for his tireless advocacy against Gov. John Kasich’s collective bargaining reform law. “Thank you on behalf of everybody in Ohio for all you did to help us,” Ryan said.
At The Corner, The Heritage Foundation’s James Sherk notes that while job losses are at record lows, so are business start ups.
The Enterprise Blog’s James Pethokoukis interviews Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., about his response to the CBO study on income inequality.
Lefty Playbook
The Washington Post‘s Jonathan Bernstein makes the case that Obama did not secretly kill the public option.
With the national debt passing the $15 trillion mark, The Washington Monthly‘s Steve Benen takes the time to explain why it is all the Republican’s fault.
The New Republic‘s Alec MacGillis tries to defend Obama’s efforts to blame Americans for the bad economy by calling them “lazy.”
