What you need to know to navigate today's most critical debates.

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Obama: Enough is Enough in Debt Talks, ‘This May Bring My Presidency Down, But I’m Not Yielding’ (TPM)
President Obama walked out on last night's debt ceiling negotiations after a spat with Speaker-in-Waiting Eric Cantor, who is ironically bad at waiting to speak.

Time for a grand bargain on jobs (WaPo)
Katrina vanden Heuvel argues that President Obama should stop making concessions to the party of the 1% and start looking out for the other 99% of the country.

Debtors' Prison (Slate)
Dave Weigel thinks Republicans will have trouble painting Obama as an obstructionist after telling everyone who will listen that they yearn to humiliate him at any cost.

From Italy to the US, utopia vs reality (FT)
Some people have imaginary friends; Martin Wolf writes that Republicans in the US and leaders in the eurozone are crafting policy for an imaginary economy.

Bernanke Says Fed Would Consider New Stimulus (NYT)
Testifying yesterday, the Fed chairman said he's keeping his policy options open and gently reminded Congress that it would be nice if they would, too.

Why Fannie and Freddie Are Not to Blame for the Crisis (NYRB)
Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Jeff Madrick and Frank Partnoy take on the undying myth that the economy collapsed because GSEs helped poor people buy houses.

Democrats Release Scathing Report Of Republicans Who Sat On Financial Crisis Commission (Business Insider)
Newly uncovered documents reveal that Peter Wallison and other Republicans on the FCIC were acting in bad faith and doing a very bad job of hiding it.

Join us at the Hamptons Institute July 15-17 to hear distinguished speakers take on today's most pressing issues!

Why Prosecutors Don't Go After Wall Street (NPR)
Louise Story explains that prosecutors have cut a deal with corporate criminals to help keep their stock prices afloat, which is awfully considerate of them.

FDIC Chairwoman: Mortgage Industry ‘Didn’t Think Borrowers Were Worth Helping' (ProPublica)
Sheila Bair says lenders have had it up to here with annoying homeowners who are always demanding things like reasonable terms and human empathy from them.

ALEC Exposed (The Nation)
From busting unions to disenfranchising voters, Republicans are saving a lot of time by filling in the legislative mad-libs corporations have provided.

A De Facto Union (TAP)
Wisconsin's public workers are banding together to show Koch-Walker Industries that when strong unions are outlawed, only outlaws will have strong unions.

The U.S. has waged a war on jobs (CNNMoney)
Jeffrey Pfeffer argues that step one in creating more jobs is to stop rewarding the corporations who destroy them and ship them overseas.

Veterans face high unemployment after military service (LAT)
For service members trying to re-enter civilian life, trying to find a job has become the kind of grueling battle they thought they'd left behind.

‘I Am Not a Statistic’: The Invisibility of the Unemployed (NYT)
A letter from one of Catherine Rampell's readers suggests that it's easy to overlook 14 million unemployed Americans when their names are replaced by numbers.

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The President’s Press Conference: The Disappointing Embrace of Job Killing Austerity (MoneyWatch)
Whether President Obama really believes cutting the deficit is a top priority or just wants to score political points as a super-centrist, he's talking like someone who not only drank the Kool-Aid but asked for a refill.

Manufacturing deficit fear (Guardian)
Dean Baker writes that it would be much harder to convince the public that there was a crisis in perfectly healthy programs like Social Security if the press corps wasn't composed of lazy stenographers.

Our National Jobs Emergency (WSJ)
Alan S. Blinder argues that at 9% unemployment, two bad payroll reports in a row means it's time to get serious about job creation -- and no-strings-attached corporate tax giveaways don't count.

Unemployment? Who Cares? (NYT)
Why do our leaders think they can get away with ignoring unemployment? Nancy Folbre suggests that it's because the victims of the jobs crisis lack political clout, corporate profits are sitting pretty, and everyone else is being conned.

Trickle-Down Austerity (CAF)
Digby notes that at the state and local level, austerity has already cost the economy about a million jobs since June 2009. That means it's working, right?

Planes, Boats, and Paris Hilton: Why Can’t Democrats Master the Politics of Synecdoche? (TNR)
Roosevelt Institute Senior Fellow Mark Schmitt examines why it's so hard for today's Democrats to make a populist appeal without sounding like your dad (or Tim Pawlenty) trying to talk about the new Lady Gaga album.

As Government Nears Accord With Banks, Questions Swirl Over Scope Of Investigation (HuffPo)
Shahien Nasiripour reports that state and federal prosecutors appear ready to offer banks the equivalent of a "needs improvement" on their report card to spare themselves the trouble of putting together a case.

Join us at the Hamptons Institute July 15-17 to hear distinguished speakers take on today's most pressing issues!

When banks voluntarily do principal reductions (Reuters)
Felix Salmon points out that banks have warmed to the idea of writing down loans they acquired on the cheap from other banks, but they're still too embarrassed to take a second look at their own garbage bins.

Using Clawbacks to Punish Bank Executives (NYT)
Under the FDIC's new rules, incompetent Wall Street execs will have to give up some of their hard-earned(?) wages unless they can prove they did their jobs effectively -- which is difficult once their banks have collapsed around their ears.

Putting 'labor' back in NLRB (LAT)
The NLRB's streamlined union election rules make it easier for workers to organize and make their voices heard without fear that employers will launch a shock and awe campaign against them.

Walmart V. Dukes: Workers' Class Action Crumbles In Decision's Wake (HuffPo)
As goes Wal-Mart, so goes Dollar Tree. Now that the Supreme Court has put its thumb on the scale for corporations, workers are already being forced to break up their class-action suits into individual claims, ensuring the greatest likelihood of failure.

Black economic gains reversed in Great Recession (AP)
Jesse Washington puts names and faces to the devastated black middle class and notes the tension between the needs of a struggling community and President Obama's desire for a post-racial presidency.

Where's the Shecovery? (Slate)
Annie Lowrey highlights a new study that finds men are bouncing back from the recession faster than women even in fields they don't traditionally dominate, and economists have no real idea why.

More Harm Than Good (Newsweek)
Amar Bhide and Edmund Phelps make the case that the modern IMF operates more like an organized crime family than an economic stabilizer, convincing states that have already bitten off more than they can chew to take on more loans they can't repay.

All Roads Lead to Crisis (TAP)
Spain's housing bubble and Italy's Berlusconi bubble have left both countries teetering, but Yannis Palaiologos writes that what really has investors spooked is their belief that Europe's leaders just don't have what it takes to pull together.

What you need to know to navigate today's most critical debates.

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If Obama Cuts Social Security... (Salon)
David Sirota notes that progressives have put up with a lot of broken promises from Barack Obama, but betraying the Democratic Party's greatest legacy might be a bridge too far.

Democrats Oppose Talk of Cuts to Social Security (NYT)
If the President really does want to put Social Security on the table, he'll have to persuade congressional Democrats, who seem as enthusiastic about the whole idea as they would be if he asked them to set themselves on fire.

Does Wall Street Win? (HuffPo)
Mike Lux is pleased to see the White House reiterating that the President doesn't support benefit cuts, but feels that it's still not clear what Obama hopes to join the Republicans in doing besides selling out the middle class.

Elizabeth Warren’s Dream Becomes a Real Agency She May Never Get to Lead (Bloomberg)
Some view her as the savior of consumers. Others (mainly Republicans) see her as the Antichrist. Luckily, she's too busy being awesome to care what they think.

Behind the Gentler Approach to Banks by U.S. (NYT)
Gretchen Morgenson and Louise Story report that in the wake of the financial crisis, prosecutors offered to hold off on bringing criminal charges as long as firms promised to behave themselves. Somehow, Wall Street was able to live with those terms.

Contraction, Still Contractionary (NYT)
Paul Krugman highlights a new paper from the IMF (and one from the BIS) knocking down the myth of expansionary austerity. Both cite the Roosevelt Institute's Arjun Jayadev and Mike Konczal, who were debunking austerity before it was cool. (Bonus Krugman: What Obama really wants out of the debt limit deal.)

The budget deals of Reagan, Bush, Clinton and Obama, in one chart (WaPo)
Ezra Klein notes that while the President may think he's scoring political points by portraying himself as a great compromiser, the ratio of spending cuts to tax hikes he's proposing makes Ronald Reagan look like Bernie Sanders.

Join us at the Hamptons Institute July 15-17 to hear distinguished speakers take on today's most pressing issues!

Will The United States Default? (Baseline Scenario)
Simon Johnson writes that the range of mainstream views on the possibility of default range from deluded to dangerously complacent, but in a best-case scenario, the debate may at least produce worthwhile tax reform.

Taxes and Billionaires (NYT)
Nicholas Kristof calls out John Boehner for claiming to stick up for the little guy by holding the economy hostage while defending tax loopholes that benefit those ordinary joes at your local mom-and-pop hedge fund.

Family Budget Not Equal To Gov’t Budget (On the Economy)
Jared Bernstein explains that the idea that the government must live within its means like an average American household is, like a lot of conventional political wisdom, logical on the surface and nonsense in practice.

Attention Conservatives: Yes, Medicaid Works (TNR)
Jonathan Cohn looks at a new study that shows Medicaid recipients are more likely to get proper medical care and less likely to be driven into bankruptcy compared to the uninsured. Weird.

Fed’s Feeble Swipe Fee Rule Is an Unauthorized Sop to Big Banks (American Banker)
Adam Levitin argues that a full court press from lobbyists convinced the Fed to adjust its swipe fee cap based on costs that are only tangentially related to processing transactions -- something Dodd-Frank specifically told it to ignore.

A Historical Perspective on Defense Budgets (CAP)
The Obama administration's FY2012 request for a $553 billion Pentagon budget should have the US ready to go toe to toe with the Soviet Union, but in a modern military context, one could say they're overdoing it.

Founding Falter (TAP)
Matthew Yglesias observes that the breakdown in the American political process is distressing but not surprising, since the incentive for legislators to act insanely and presidents to supersede their authority is built right into the system.

Bradley Manning, American Hero (TomDispatch)
Chase Madar makes the case that instead of being locked away and called a traitor, Private Manning should be awarded a Medal of Freedom for serving the public interest with his whistleblowing activities.

What you need to know to navigate today's most critical debates.

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Invoke the 14th — and end the debt standoff (WaPo)
Katrina vanden Heuvel writes that by invoking his constitutional option/obligation to disregard the debt ceiling, President Obama can show Republicans what their own options are: compromise or nothing.

Obama Calls for Debt-Limit Summit (WSJ)
President Obama invited Republican leaders to the White House on Thursday, where they plan to continue to tell him why all his ideas are wrong and bad.

Republican zeal runs amok (WaPo)
Harold Meyerson notes that at both the state and national level, the GOP seems to have forgotten how to take yes for an answer.

What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Jobs (TomDispatch)
Andy Kroll sheds some light on the huge employment gap between black and white Americans that has persisted for the last 60 years, and why it proves that reports of racism's demise have been greatly exaggerated.

Subsidizing Profits, Weakening Social Security: The Employer Payroll Tax Cut (Truthout)
Dean Baker argues that cutting employer-side payroll taxes won't affect labor demand, but it will encourage claims that Social Security is insolvent and provide more cushioning to corporations that are already sitting on a mountain of profit.

Bank Regulation’s Capital Mistake (Project Syndicate)
Amar Bhide makes the case that instead of raising capital requirements, regulators must streamline the financial system and cut the mega-banks down to size.

Self-serving French recipe is wrong fare for Greece (FT)
Patrick Jenkins writes that the French banks responsible for crafting the rollover plan have baked some unsavory ingredients into their delicious Greek debt croissant.

Join us at the Hamptons Institute July 15-17 to hear distinguished speakers take on today's most pressing issues!

Wall Street: Yep, They Still Own the Place (MoJo)
Is reforming business process patents for financial services a good idea, or is it blatant capitulation to Wall Street? Trick question; the answer is both.

Looking at Ken Lay and the Lack of Financial Crisis Cases (NYT)
The Bush-era Corporate Fraud Task Force sent several high-profile executives to prison and drove Enron's Ken Lay into an early grave. By contrast, President Obama's Financial Fraud Enforcement Task Force has... uh... well, they're working on it.

Uncollected Fines Undermine Regulation (Policy Shop)
A new study finds that the government has failed to collect over $35 billion in outstanding criminal penalties due to limited resources and regulatory capture. Worse, many corporations try to pay with Monopoly money.

Your State Can't Afford It: The Fiscal Impact of States’ Anti-Immigrant Legislation (CAP)
Even if states can afford the legal fees and enforcement resources needed to clamp down on immigration, they face the economic drag caused by driving away anyone with a skin tone darker than porcelain.

Before You Judge, Stand in Her Shoes (NYT)
Some of DSK's defenders are trying to portray his accuser as a Machiavellian manipulator, but for a poor immigrant from Guinea, fudging biographical details may simply be a survival mechanism.

Ralph Nader Is Tired of Running for President (Truthdig)
Chris Hedges observes that when the political system is fundamentally broken, the only real path to change begins on the outside.

Rick Santorum’s Math Fail: Blasts Obama For Creating ‘Only 240 Million Jobs’ (Think Progress)
According to one Republican presidential hopeful, the stimulus bill's biggest flaw was that it succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations.