Stimulus and Profits

   News item: The Commerce Department is warning that President Barack Obama "will not sign individual appropriations bills that simply attempt to enact the House Republican budget into law." The department said the House plan will cut $1 billion from the President's request for Commerce Department funding, which would require a halt to investments in areas "designed to help grow the economy, create jobs and strengthen the middle class." Other proposed cuts in the House version would hurt the overall economy. "We cannot cut our way to prosperity," a department statement said.
   Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker is touring the Western states to drum up more cooperation between business and government to boost economic activity. 

   Other news items: Major banks report big profits, but resist tighter regulation.
   Senators Elizabeth Warren and John McCain move to reinstate Glass-Steagall Act bans on banks acting as both commercial and investment institutions. They were split in 1933 after helping to bring on the Great Depression. The ban was overturned in 1999. Within ten years, America sank into the Great Recession.
   The European Central Bank says it will keep interest rates down to help economic recovery. GDP in its region declined by 0.3 percent in the first quarter, the ECB said. Economic activity in the euro area "should recover in the course of the year, albeit at a subdued pace."
   The International Monetary Fund says an emerging market slowdown is growing more slowly than expected, and is adding to global economic pains. Meanwhile, IMF Managing Director Christine Legarde urges Eastern European countries to work together more closely. (An Eastern European Union, perhaps?)
   Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke again criticizes "strong headwinds" slowing economic recovery because of federal fiscal policy. He tells Congress that Fed monetary policy will continue until recovery is well under way.

   Numbers: Initial claims for unemployment benefits were down slightly for the week ending July 13. The nationwide unemployment rate is 7.6 percent, the consumer price index is up 0.5 percent, and average hourly earnings are up a dime. All numbers from the U.S. Department of Labor.

   Comment: It's time for politicians to get off their oppositional butts, get together and do something. Government is about getting something done. Politics is about making the other guy lose. And sometimes the consequence is that the entire country loses, as one side becomes so fixated on stopping the other guy that nothing gets done.