Gordon Brown: Morals can Prevent Future Economic Crises

Gordon Brown To Jon Stewart: 'You Guys Have Got To Get Your Act Together' (VIDEO)
Gordon Brown, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom during the global economic crisis of 2008, told Jon Stewart last night: "You've got to underpin markets by some sort of moral responsibility." Brown and Stewart spoke about the British politician's new book, "Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalization." Stewart asked Brown about leading in the midst of the economic meltdown in October 2008. He asked about the moment when he knew there would be trouble, "Who do you y...

Gordon Brown preaches to America on the Daily Show: 'You guys have got to get your act together'
Gordon Brown in a previous incarnation on The Daily Show (Photo: Splash) While his colleagues back at Westminster try to keep a lid on the revolution, Gordon “full-time MP” Brown is here in New York to promote his new book, Beyond The Crash. Tonight he did one of the trickiest gigs on American television: The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. It could have gone better, really. Stewart is a comedian, a good one, and his guests frequently report being told by his producers: “DonR...

Beyond the Crash: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalisation by Gordon Brown review
In his book, Brown blames Bankers not just for their incompetence but for what he sees as their lack of morals. Photograph: Shaun Curry/AFP/Getty Images The phrase "horses for courses" is as valid for politics as for other activities. It's as impossible to think of Gordon Brown at the recent FIFA meeting in Zurich pleading England's cause for the World Cup as it is to imagine David Cameron expounding the nitty-gritty of capital adequacy ratios at a meeting of the G20. When the economic crisi...

Thune: 'Easy' and 'expedient' to criticize negotiated tax deal
GOP Sen. John Thune on Tuesday hit back at opponents of President Obama's tax-cut Compromise, saying that their position represents support for higher taxes. Thune (S.D.) — a potential 2012 Presidential Candidate — appeared to take a veiled shot at some high-profile members of his own party, warning that the country cannot afford to let "the perfect becom[e] the enemy of the good" when it comes to the expiring Bush Tax Cuts. "Now, it's easy to stand on the sidelines and to criticize this...

Pence Wont Vote for Tax Compromise
Rep. Mike Pence (R., Indiana) just announced that he will not vote for the tax Compromise. Saying that “the American People did not vote for more stimulus,”  and higher Deficits and Debt, Pence told Sean Hannity, “I will not vote for this tax deal.” “I’ve no doubt in my mind that the first order of business for the new Congress [if the compromise does not pass] … will be to enact a bill that extends all the current Tax Rates on a permanent basis,&r...;

Franken, Klobuchar back unemployment extension/tax-cut compromise
Supporters of President Obama’s Tax Cut Compromise with GOP Senate leadership defeated a threatened Filibuster by mostly Liberal Democrats through the use of Cloture Monday evening. Minnesota Democratic Sens. Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar were among those voting for cloture. The bill could see an Up or Down vote as soon as today. Klobuchar said she voted to advance the bill because of the middle-class tax cuts contained in it. Franken said he supports the measure reluctantly, citing an exte...

Weekly Audit: Sanders Filibusters Tax Cuts, Electrifies the Left
Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), a self-described Socialist who caucuses with the Democrats, became a folk hero to Progressives when he took to the floor of the Senate for nearly nine hours on Friday to speak against the plan to extend Tax Cuts for the wealthy in exchange for extending Unemployment Benefits for millions of workers and extending Tax Breaks for the Middle Class. On the Senate floor, Sanders accused his Republican colleagues of wanting to roll back the New Deal: And that is, they want...

Christine O'Donnell: Extending Jobless Benefits a 'Tragedy' of Historic Proportions
Tragedies, depending on how one defines them, come in triplicate. Just ask Christine O'Donnell, the defeated but still chatty Senate hopeful from Delaware. O'Donnell, in a recent appearance before a Tea Party group in Fairfax City, Va., expressed her disdain for the Compromise tax deal worked out between the Obama Administration and Republican leaders in Congress, The Hill newspaper and later the Washington Post reported. The agreement, the onetime Republican Candidate said last Tuesday, is a "p...

GOP contenders extra careful on tax deal
For a host of Republican presidential hopefuls, the White House-backed Compromise to extend the Bush Tax Cuts presents an unlikely dilemma: How to agree with President Barack Obama. That unfamiliar struggle unfolded Tuesday on the Senate floor, in media interviews and on newspaper op-ed pages, as the potential Candidates sought to play the angles, with some taking bright-line positions in opposition and others hedging their bets with statements notable for their caution. Continue Reading Te...

Jeff Jacoby and Joan Vennochi on Obama's Bill Clinton moment
Your article has been sent. President Obama clearly didn’t know what he was unleashing when he invited former President Bill Clinton to join him in the White House briefing room and “share some of his thoughts” on taxes and The Economy. “I’m going to let him speak very briefly,” Obama said as he turned the microphone over to Clinton. Very briefly? It would have taken the Jaws of Life to wrest Clinton from that podium once he started talking. Obama didn’t even t...

Bennet, Udall call out debt, say America is at risk
Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet and Mark Udall just called for Bipartisan work to unearth a solution to the nation’s Deficit. Hours before a vote on extending Bush-era Tax Cuts, both Senators in floor speeches called the deficit crippling to the nation’s future. They both have joined a work group of Republicans and Democrats calling for a solution to the problem by the end of calendar year 2011. Udall will vote against the tax cuts and Bennet will vote for them. “It’s ...

Gordon Browns Washington Book Fete
Saturday evening, former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown kicked off his five-day book tour in the United States at an event in Washington D.C..  Hosted by Tammy Haddad and Ted Greenberg, Connie Milstein and J.C. de La Haye St. Hilaire,  the fete took place at the Jefferson Hotel and included remarks by Brown on his new book “BEYOND THE CRASH: Overcoming the First Crisis of Globalisation.”  Guests such as Glee’s Matthew Morrison , Alan Greenspan , Arianna Huff...

Bush: Dont Call Them My Tax Cuts
Radio host Scott Hennen interviewed George W. Bush on the tax Compromise in which he said he wished they’d call it something other than the Bush Tax Cuts, believing there would be less angst to pass them if his name weren’t tied to them....

Why Ive Changed My Mind About The Obama/Republican Tax Compromise
  Five days ago, I tentatively supported the The Obama/Republican Tax Compromise , In other words, the choice is to take this deal or let the Bush Tax Cuts expire in the middle of a Recession, when we desperately need to stimulate The Economy. On the merits, it’s far from a perfect deal, but it moves the ball more our way than the Left’s way and I think Republicans in the Senate should take it. This was never a great deal, but my thinking was that the benefits of stimulating the e...

Have Democrats Forgotten the Election Already?
From Stuart Rothenburg in Roll Call: On one level, it’s entirely reasonable for Liberal Democrats to oppose the [Tax Cut extension] Compromise. Those Democrats have different priorities and values than Republicans, and many of them represent very liberal constituents who also oppose the Compromise. Nobody — nobody — is saying that those House Liberals should change their views. If they want to vote against the package that the president negotiated with Congressional Republicans, that

New Mexico senators split as tax-cut deal passes Senate test
The Tax Cut deal which includes extending tax cuts for Americans making more than $250,000 a year is still going on right now due to inclement weather across the country but it already has more than enough votes to pass. The deal passed the Senate 83-15. Among those who voted against invoking Cloture, or ending debate and allowing a final up-and-down vote on the bill, is New Mexico’s senior senator, Jeff Bingaman. Sen. Tom Udall voted to invoke cloture on the deal made between the White Ho...

Senate gets cloture on unemployment extension
The Senate voted to override a Filibuster by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) and close debate on the $858 billion package that includes extensions of the Bush Tax Cuts for the wealthy, federal Unemployment Benefits and a number of other Tax Cuts and provisions as well. The vote is still open as some senators are still trying to get back to Washington from their home states, but they already have more than 60 votes necessary to invoke Cloture. An actual vote on the bill, which is expected to pass...

There Are at Most 13 Deficit Hawks in the Senate
A Deficit hawk is somebody willing to vote against bills that increase the National Debt--that do not contain within themselves provisions to recapture revenue and cut spending that lead to a reduction in the projected national Debt within, say, ten years. There are at most 13 Deficit hawks in today's U.S. Senate: Bipartisan support as tax deal advances in Senate: By James Politi in Washington: The deal struck by the White House and Republican leaders to prevent the expiry of Bush-era Tax Cuts...

House To Consider An Estate Tax Amendment
With this evening's 83-15 Cloture vote, the Senate signaled it will pass President Obama's Bush Tax Cut Compromise tomorrow afternoon or evening depending upon how much of the 30 hours for debate is used. A top House Staffer told me that one amendment on the Estate Tax will be considered when the House takes it up Wednesday afternoon or evening. No details were offered, but I would guess we're talking about replacing the Lincoln-Kyl $5 million exemption and 35% top rate with the 2009 $3.5 millio...

Chaffetz vs. Hatch: Utah reps differ on tax deal
Utah’s District 3 Representative Jason Chaffetz-R and Senator Orrin Hatch-R are on different sides when it comes to the Tax Cut deal made between the White House and Congress. Hatch supports the deal, and says voting against the Tax Cut extension is just like voting for higher taxes. Chaffetz says there is more bad than good in the deal. In an article he wrote in the National Review, Chaffetz says “of the $58 billion in the president’s proposal, more than 25 percent represents ...

The Senate cloture vote on the tax deal | Michael Tomasky
So the Senate voted overwhelmingly last night to close debate on the tax deal, by 83-15 with two not voting. Lots of people are remarking on how surprising it is that most liberal opposition melted away at the last minute, as only nine Democrats voted no. But I'm somewhat more surprised that only five Republicans voted against. One of those five, George Voinovich of Ohio, opposed it for his own reasons, that he didn't think the Tax Cuts were defensible. But only four voted no from a conservativ...

Al Franken Holds His Nose And Votes For Obama's 'Bad Policy'
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) voted to end debate on the Bush Tax Cut Compromise yesterday, but he's not happy about it. In a strongly-worded statement sent to his supporters today, Franken pokes at President Obama for negotiating the deal, which he called "bad policy." "A lot of people are unhappy that the President punted on first down, and I'm one of them," Franken wrote in the message to supporters. "Extending the Bush Tax Breaks for the super-wealthy will explode our Deficit over the next two ye...

Owens op-ed in support of tax-cut compromise
Rep. William L. Owens, D-Plattsburgh, has offered the following editorial about why he will be supporting President Obama's Compromise on the extension of the 2001 and 2003 Tax Cuts when it comes to the House floor for a vote soon. Like many of my Democratic colleagues, I have long supported making the Bush-era Tax Cuts for the Middle Class permanent while letting the Tax Cuts for the ultra wealthy expire. But unlike many in Washington, I have urged leadership of both parties to Compromise on ...

Poll: Strong support for unemployment extension
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll found strong public support for most of the elements of President Obama’s Compromise deal with Republicans that would extend the Bush Tax Cuts and federal Unemployment Benefits — particularly the Unemployment extension, which was favored by more than 2/1 margin. Nearly 70 percent of those asked in a recent poll back a Bipartisan tax Compromise that is set for its first vote Monday afternoon on the Senate floor. Of the four major elements in the pa...

Opposition Fades as Tax Vote Nears
WASHINGTON—The final obstacle to President Barack Obama's tax deal—the opposition of House Democrats—appeared to be melting away Tuesday as strong Senate support for the Legislation turned up pressure on liberal critics to concede. "It's a fast-moving train," said Rep. Peter Welch (D., Vt.), who has led opposition to the Legislation to extend the Bush-era Tax Cuts for all income groups. "The momentum is all in its favor, that's for sure." Rep. Jim McDermott (D., Wash.) called t...