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GUARDIAN Tue, 02 Mar 2010 19:56:04 GMT
Week-long filibuster by Republican Jim Bunning denounced as showing 'callous contempt' for working-class Americans
The United States Senate is known as the body where legislation goes to die, and a Republican senator from Kentucky has spent several days illustrating that point at the expense of nearly half a million out-of-work Americans.
Since last week Senator Jim Bunning has used his privilege under the chamber's parliamentary rules to hold up a 30-day extension of unemployment benefits, health insurance assistance, funding for road and infrastructure projects across the country, and other aid.
In exchange for lifting his objections he demands the senate come up with a way to pay for the $10bn extension package by reducing spending elsewhere, eliciting scoffs from Democrats who note that he voted for President Bush's $1.7tn tax cuts for the wealthy.
Nearly every major item on President Barack Obama's agenda, from health insurance reform to cap-and-trade climate regulation, has stalled in the Senate after passing the House of Representatives.
The Senate's rules, devised in a less acrimonious time, allow disproportionate power to single senators and the minority party to fend off legislation. Republicans have already blocked nominations for judgeships, national security posts and justice department positions. They have forced the Democrats to assemble 60 of 100 senatorial votes to proceed with legislation a record number of times this congressional session, according to a tally by the Associated Press.
Democrats have cited Bunning as an example of what they call a pattern of Republican obstructionism. As the already glacial pace of the chamber's business ground to a halt, Democratic leader Harry Reid lined up a sequence of Democrats to denounce his actions and call for him to withdraw his parliamentary objection to the legislation.
"There are millions of Americans who can't find jobs," said Ben Cardin of Maryland. "Because of the objection of a senator, the benefits that should be paid this week cannot be paid this week. It's wrong for us to have this gap because of the objections of one senator. It's hurting our economy. Those dollars are being lost because of the objection of one senator."
Democratic aides have circulated a list of projects halted by Bunning's action. The transportation secretary, Ray LaHood, said Bunning's action has forced his department temporarily to lay off 2,000 workers without pay.
Bunning, a backbencher known for his grouchy temperament, was to run for his third term this November, but was quietly pushed out by the Republican leadership. His Republican colleagues have shown little public support for his current manoeuvre, which has put them in the uncomfortable position of either standing against working class unemployed Americans or undercutting their criticisms of Democrat spending plans.
"Bunning is drawing the line on deficit spending. He's doing it in a way that shows callous contempt for the more than one in 10 working Kentuckians whose jobs disappeared in the economic meltdown," wrote Lexington Herald-Leader, a Kentucky newspaper. "We've become accustomed to [his] bizarre, egocentric behaviour."
US politics
Republicans
Daniel Nasaw
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GUARDIAN Tue, 02 Mar 2010 18:08:55 GMT
Wall Street bank includes 'negative publicity' in a list of risks to its prosperity and says responding to criticism can be 'time consuming and expensive'
Goldman Sachs has officially conceded that widespread public outrage at its employees' multimillion-pound pay packages is a "risk factor" to its ability to do business as it struggles with its status as a poster boy for criticism over excess in the financial services industry.
For the first time this year, the Wall Street bank's annual report includes "negative publicity" in a list of risks to its prosperity, alongside economic conditions, market volatility, competition and regulatory uncertainty.
The admission comes at a difficult time for Goldman which has been forced onto the back foot to defend its bonus payouts, its dealing in mortgage-backed securities, its involvement in the collapse of the insurer AIG and, most recently, its role in helping the Greek government to take on unsustainable quantities of debt.
"The financial crisis and the current political and public sentiment regarding financial institutions has resulted in a significant amount of adverse press coverage, as well as adverse statements or charges by regulators or elected officials," says Goldman's disclosure.
It says responding to criticism is "time consuming and expensive" and can distract senior management, while government scrutiny or bad press can have an impact on Goldman's reputation and on the "morale or performance" of employees.
Goldman's admission is the latest sign that anger towards Wall Street is having a tangible impact. Wary of a deluge of criticism over remuneration, the bank last month exercised "restraint" by handing its chief executive, Lloyd Blankfein, a bonus of $9m (£6m) rather than the $68m he received before the financial crisis began.
John Coffee, a corporate governance expert at Columbia University, said Goldman's concern was justified. "They're in a business where reputation and possibly stigma can affect their attractiveness to clients," he said.
Certain customers, particularly local governments or public pension funds, might have "second thoughts" about association with a bank that was so closely linked with a public perception of excess, Coffee added.
Goldman recently tried to mollify public discontent by handing $500m to charity. But it has faced questions in Congress over its return to record profits after benefiting from government aid to the financial industry.
And Blankfein last year felt obliged to apologise for Goldman's conduct during the credit crunch, when the bank was marketing mortgage-backed securities to clients while betting with its own money that the home loans market would implode.
Last month, Goldman lost a long-serving board member when Ruth Simmons, the president of Brown University, announced she intended to stand down after a decade as a director. Although she cited pressure on her time, students had been critical of her association with Goldman – one undergraduate told Brown's student paper that Simmons had "brought shame" on the university.
Michael Wong, a banking analyst at the Chicago-based research firm Morningstar, said bad publicity could create a flight of talent, although he said allegations had to be substantive to put off sophisticated clients. Scrutiny of Goldman's bets against mortgage-backed securities was more troublesome than general notoriety about pay packages, he added.
"There can be a real economic impact on any company from damage to its reputation," said Wong. "You could see clients cut back because of reputational issues – particularly if they see a focus in the media on Goldman trading against its clients."
Goldman Sachs
Executive pay and bonuses
Banking
United States
Andrew Clark
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GUARDIAN Sun, 07 Feb 2010 12:39:21 GMT
Record snowfall from Pennsylvania to Virginia leads President Obama to label conditions as 'snowmageddon'
In pictures: Washington's snow storms
Tens of thousands of people remain without power after record snowfall paralysed some parts of the eastern US.
Almost 27 inches (69cm) of snow fell in Philadelphia on Saturday, while Washington DC was hit with one of the worst blizzards in its history.
At least two people were killed as much of the east coast was buried, with states from Pennsylvania to New Jersey, and south to Virginia, receiving up to 2ft (60cm) of snow.
Barack Obama referred to the conditions as "snowmageddon", and even his fleet of vehicles suffered in the blizzards, with a snow-laden tree branch falling onto a vehicle carrying members of the press. No one was injured.
The region was under at least two feet of snow, while parts of northern Maryland had three feet. Trees were toppled and hundreds of car crashes reported in Washington DC, Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland, Delaware, Pennsylvania and New Jersey.
Only two fatalities have so far been reported – a father and son were killed helping another motorist in Virginia.
Most flights were cancelled at the three main airports in the Washington-Baltimore area, as were trains between New York and Washington, and a number of services from Washington to the south.
Crowds gathered in Dupont Circle, Washington, for a mass snowball fight organised online, and cross-country skiers lapped the Reflecting Pool along the National Mall in the city.
Shops' shelves were laid bare on Friday as people began stockpiling food, with some people unable to leave their homes due to the thigh-high snow.
The snowfall came less than two months after a 19 December storm dumped more than 16in (40cm) of snow on Washington. Snowfalls of this magnitude are rare in the area – the US national weather service said Washington only experienced more than a foot of snow 13 times since 1870.
The heaviest on record is 28in (71cm) in January 1922, while the biggest snowfall in the Washington-Baltimore area is believed to have been in 1772, before official records were kept.
Both George Washington and Thomas Jefferson reported of as much as 3ft of snow in their diaries.
United States
Adam Gabbatt
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| Full List of USA articles |
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 Russian analyst: U.S. will collapse with secession, civil war in 2009
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Russian analyst: U.S. will collapse with secession, civil war in 2009
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