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Wednesday, May 30, 2012



Poland expresses dismay at Obama's 'death camp' comment

3
hours
ago

By Msnbc.com staff and wire services
The Polish government expressed dismay on Wednesday after President Barack Obama referred to a World War II concentration camp as a “Polish death camp.”
Prime Minister Donald Tusk said it was a comment that Poland could not ignore. "We cannot accept such words even if they are spoken by the leader of a friendly power - or perhaps especially in such situations - since we expect diligence, care, and respect from our friends on issues of such importance as World War II remembrance."
Obama made the comment Tuesday while awarding the Medal of Freedom to Jan Karski, a resistance fighter against the Nazi occupation of Poland during World War II. Karski died in 2000.
During an East Room ceremony honoring 13 Medal of Freedom recipients, Obama said that Karski "served as a courier for the Polish resistance during the darkest days of World War II. Before one trip across enemy lines, resistance fighters told him that Jews were being murdered on a massive scale and smuggled him into the Warsaw Ghetto and a Polish death camp to see for himself. Jan took that information to President Franklin Roosevelt, giving one of the first accounts of the Holocaust and imploring to the world to take action."
The Associated Press reported that Obama's remark drew swift complaints from Poles who said Obama should have called it a "German death camp in Nazi-occupied Poland," to distinguish the perpetrators from the location. Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called it a matter of "ignorance and incompetence."


On Tuesday President Barack Obama awarded the nation's highest civilian honor, the Medal of Freedom, to a new group of recipients that included Bob Dylan.  NBC's Brian Williams reports.
Alex Storozynski, president of the Kosciuszko Foundation, said Obama's comment "shocked the Poles present at the White House and those watching on C-SPAN. ... Karski would have cringed if he heard this."
National Security Council spokesman Tommy Vietor said: "The president misspoke. He was referring to Nazi death camps in Poland. We regret this misstatement, which should not detract from the clear intention to honor Mr. Karski and those brave citizens who stood on the side of human dignity in the face of tyranny."
The Associated Press contributed to this report.


Comments.
Dr_GS_Hurd
While the Germans certainly were the major organized murderers of Jews in Poland (see Browning 1992), the Poles were to a large degree supporters, and co-partisipants (see Gross 2001). No doubt the Polish politicians would like to rewrite their history.
Browning, Christopher R. 1992 “Ordinary Men: Reserve Battalion 101 and the Final Solution in Poland” New York: Harper Collins
Gross, Jan T. 2001 “Neighbors: The Destruction of the Jewish Community in Jedwabne, Poland” Princeton University Press
#1 - Wed May 30, 2012 9:46 AM EDT

Reading several other news sources on this story, I find that the degree of "outrage" is a direct measure of the political slant of the source. The far-right is screaming for blood, but they always are.
#1.1 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:05 AM EDT

Having most of my grandfather's family murdered in POLISH death camps, I'd agree.
The Polish were just as, if not more so, anti-semitic as the Germans were.
I think Obama is wrong in many things, but this "blunder" I think is a correct one.
#1.2 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:05 AM EDT

Nonsense! The Poles were targeted by Hitler much like the Jews. 1.5 million non-Jewish Poles were executed in the German operated death camps. Himmler was quoted as saying the Poles will be exterminated or made into slave labor.
In the Jewish Yad Vashem Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, there is a list of "Righteous of Nations." These are people that, at grave risk to themselves, saved Jewish lives during the German Holocaust. Nearly 25% of those "Righteous" are Poles.
#1.3 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:06 AM EDT

What a sad defense of an ignorant gaff. Rather than accepting that the messiah made a boo-boo you would instead slander an entire nation. A nation that suffered under the Nazis as much as any did and who lost millions to the same death camps. Pathetic really.
#1.4 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:09 AM EDT

I am not an Obama fan, but I think the Polish leadership overracted to this one. Everyone but the Iranians knows that they were German death camps. Obama was just refering to it's location.
#1.5 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:12 AM EDT

Whether American, Polish or otherwise. Conservatives hate Barrack Obama and will jump on anything to better their Neocon agenda against Barry come November period.
#1.6 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:12 AM EDT

For those of you Obama apologists, who think the Poles were in line with the nazis....Google Katyn Forrest Massacre.
#1.7 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:14 AM EDT

It's an election year...
#1.8 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:16 AM EDT

I am not an Obama fan, but I think the Polish leadership overracted to this one. Everyone but the Iranians knows that they were German death camps. Obama was just refering to it's location.
But saying Polish death camps implies ownership. They were German death camps located in occupied Poland. It was a gaff that slandered the Polish people who fought and died fighting the Nazis.
#1.9 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:17 AM EDT

Comment author avatarDasvetExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

political slant of the source. The far-right is screaming for blood, but they always are.
A pathetic attempt to try and bring US politics into an issue of historical truth and accuracy.
The Poles don't care about US politics.
They do care that Obama once again put his foot in his mouth.
You do recall 'dr' that the Germans invaded Poland?
Sept. 1, 1939. Caused a bit of a war, as I recall.
Obama is an oaf, who refers to the "Marine Corpse", thinks that there are 57 states, and doesn't know what year to write in Her Majesty's guestbook.
Obama is the most inept, unqualified and ignorant POTUS in US history.#1.11 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:20 AM EDT

Comment author avatarBill1488Expand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

Thank you Dr. Hurd for making the same comment I would have made. History is not pretty, but cannot be covered up to fit an agreed upon convent narrative when that is not true. The facts are that anti-Semitic attitudes were raging across Eastern Europe at the time and the Nazis found plenty of support in Poland and elsewhere at the time.
#1.13 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:23 AM EDT

hey, yanno, obama is known for his blunders. take a look (if you remember) his speech in front of the royal banquet about a year ago; while the traditional music was played, he was still talking. not enough sense to wait until the music was finished playing, no, obama tried talking above the musical band. the royal parties were trying to keep from laughing at obama as he made a fool of himself in front of them. also, while in ireland looking for his mother's roots, his escort suddenly developed tire problems, causing obama's vehicle to skid to a sudden stop infront of irish well wishers. he was a laughing stock there too. don't know how many people saw these incidents but they were televised. anyways, obama has no sense and it is quite obvious every time he opens his mouth. i side with tommy, obama is wrong to bring up this memory when he is wrong. can't wait till November!
#1.14 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:24 AM EDT

Get a clue! To say there was widespread Polish collaboration at places like Auschwitz is ignorance and agenda. Yes, there was anti-semitism in Poland, just as there is anti-semitism everywhere today. But there's a big leap between anti-semitism and shipping people off in cattle cars to be gassed. There's a difference between anti-semitism and systemized genocide. And Jabber_wolf, there were no Polish death camps. What an absolute idiot.
#1.15 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:27 AM EDT

Comment author avatarhardtostarboardExpand Comment Comment collapsed by the community

Wow good to see how many dumb, ignorant, uneducated people are voicing their worthless opinions this morning. I am a Polish American, My grandmother was abducted by Nazi's into Auschwitz, she was not Jewish neither were hundreds of friends and family members she had that perished at the hand of the Natzis. My great grandfather helped smuggle Jews out of the country for three years straight. I'm also an Obama supporter and just because he misstated one thing doesn't make him incompetent or ignorant.. Relax Pollacks
Hurd and Jabber wolf-- just because you quote a fact-less book means absolutely nothing and does not make your stupid opinion and more valid.
#1.17 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:34 AM EDT

"Obama is the most inept, unqualified and ignorant POTUS in US history."
GW Bush would have called it a Polak Death Camp and Romney would have told us a story about how his ancestors made it out of the Polish Death Camp in the same fashion in that "saw his Dad march with MLK".
#1.18 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:34 AM EDT

Over one million Catholic Poles were killed by the Nazi's, for helping to hide Polish Jews; the Catholics and Jews of Poland had lived side by side for 700 years, the Polish Knights that stopped the Muslim Invasion in the 14th Century had a Jewish brigade; were some Poles Nazis , yes, were some Americans Nazis Yes, future Pope John Paul, fought the Nazis at every turn while a young solider in the polish army, Obama miss-spoke, however his narcissism will not allow him to admit a mistake.
#1.19 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:38 AM EDT

Hardtostarboard,
(Bataan Death March) not the Japanese
Dude, you just proved his point. Bataan is a region in the Philippines, so an atrocity of the Japanese is named after the region it occurred, hence Bataan death march. So a death camp IN Poland, by your own logic, should be called a Polish death camp...unless you're so blinded by hatred of Obama you can't even follow your own logic
#1.20 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:39 AM EDT

If you're having to resort to comparing Obama with Bush, I'd say that Obama is pretty piss-poor as his replacement.
#1.21 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:43 AM EDT
Sounds like a Polish Death Camp to me.
#1.22 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:44 AM EDT

"The President missspoke"
This is obvious, but SOMEONE should have caught this obvious gaffe before it was delivered (if no one else, the President himself).
This goes back to vetting (or the lack of it). We still don't know what classes the president took in all his schooling or how well he did in them. All we read is how smart he is, but for some reason he's guarded his transcripts like the vaults at Fort Knox. Having seen him stumble without a teleprompter, I sometimes wonder if he is as brilliant as everyone gives him credit for being.
#1.23 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:50 AM EDT

Obama made a blunder...it happens, get over it.
I've disagreed with almost all of his economic policies because I have a different view on how markets work than he does, but I'm not going to make too much about an obvious misstatement. Try having everything you say every day scrutinized by the entire world...all of us will occasionally make (big) blunders like this one.
#1.24 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:54 AM EDT

hey! obama is a man with vast...um..er, something I'm sure.
DUFUS is the only word that comes to mind at the momement
#1.25 - Wed May 30, 2012 10:55 AM EDT
The far-right is screaming for blood, but they always are.
True. They don't really care about the mistake past being sharks in a ocean of blood.
#1.26 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:00 AM EDT

Mike-1499840 - maybe you should've Googled Katyn Forrest yourself before posting about it, since it has absolutely no bearing on whether the Poles were in bed with the Nazis. It was a massacre of Poles by Russians :D
Anyhow, it's silly to try and justify the quote by claiming that it's true and Obama meant it the way it was phrased. He obviously didn't and a spokesman made it clear he didn't and apologized for the poor phrasing. One difference between him and the last occupant of the White House, though, is that the verbal gaffes are few and far in between enough that they're noticeable when they occur. I guess right wingers didn't keep such a watch on Dubya's flood of verbal gaffes b/c it would've been a 24/7 occupation
#1.27 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:01 AM EDT

"If you're having to resort to comparing Obama with Bush, I'd say that Obama is pretty piss-poor as his replacement."
Why? Is he not invading enough countries for no reason to meet your satisfaction?
#1.28 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:07 AM EDT

"If you're having to resort to comparing Obama with Bush, I'd say that Obama is pretty piss-poor as his replacement."
He got Bin Laden, Bush II didn't. Nuff said.
#1.29 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:09 AM EDT

jeffr,
odumbass wouldn't have gotten bin laden if it wasn't for Clinton AND Bush. More then nuff said.
#1.30 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:15 AM EDT

Hey hardtostarboard,
You should know what you are talking about before you open your mouth. In the Navy they are called Corpsman not medics. If you are going to piss and moan about someone making mistakes you should make sure you are not making one.
#1.31 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:16 AM EDT

"Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski called it a matter of "ignorance and incompetence." "
So what else is new?
#1.32 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:18 AM EDT

"He" didn't get Bin Laden. The Honorable Navy Seals did. The order for this was given by Clinton, endorsed by Bush and Obama.
#1.33 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:19 AM EDT

Obama got Bin laden. I know you might want to go through the seven stages of denial, but it's time to accept it.
#1.34 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:20 AM EDT

Nope he got Bin Laden alright, like it or not. Just like Bush got Saddam. :) Difference is Bin Laden was the target. :D
#1.35 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:21 AM EDT
Bruce--
We still don't know what classes the president took in all his schooling--ARE YOU KIDDING ME in all his schooling-- Where are you from the 1800s.
When speaking of someone else's intelligence, please make sure you that you are actually smart enough to make them look dumb.
#1.36 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:24 AM EDT

It seems that Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, a former columnist for the National Review, a fellow at AEI and advisor to Rupert Murdoch, is playing with American politics. I think his "outrage" is pure scam.
What the far-right mob wants to shout down with this phoney controversy is that President Obama was honoring a Pole, and the Polish resistance.
#1.37 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:25 AM EDT

For those of you Obama apologists, who think the Poles were in line with the nazis....Google Katyn Forrest Massacre.
Maybe you should try googling it yourself...that massacre was carried out by Russians.
#1.38 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:31 AM EDT

Methinks the Poles do protest too much. They know exactly what he meant. He was honoring a Polish resistance fighter for God's sake! A little too much overreaction begs the question why? Perhaps a bit of national guilt?
#1.39 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:37 AM EDT

Obama got bin Laden the same way Nixon put a man on the moon.
#1.40 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:38 AM EDT

It seems that Polish Foreign Minister Radek Sikorski, a former columnist for the National Review, a fellow at AEI and advisor to Rupert Murdoch, is playing with American politics. I think his "outrage" is pure scam.
Does any of it surprise you? It's kind of like the manufactured outrage the Republitads are promoting right now on this thread. 99% of them could care less about Poland to begin with.
#1.41 - Wed May 30, 2012 11:38 AM EDT
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Obama calls Romney to offer congratulations


By Michael O'Brien

46
minutes
ago

Updated 12:20 p.m. - President Obama called Mitt Romney on Wednesday to congratulate the former Massachusetts governor on winning the necessary delegates to secure the Republican presidential nomination.
The Obama campaign released a short readout of the call, which occurred at 11:30 a.m. ET on Wednesday.
"President Obama said that he looked forward to an important and healthy debate about America’s future, and wished Governor Romney and his family well throughout the upcoming campaign," said an Obama campaign statement emailed to reporters by spokesman Ben LaBolt.
"It was brief and cordial," said a Romney campaign aide. "Gov. Romney thanked the President for his congratulations and wished him and his family well."
Romney, per NBC News projections, surpassed the necessary 1,144 delegates he needs to clinch the nomination after winning last night's Texas primary.
Neither Obama nor Romney have any public campaign events on the schedule today.
Garrett Haake contributed
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US student killed while filming violence in Syria

16
hours
ago


Shaam News Network / AFP - Getty Images
Bassel Shahade, 28, a filmmaker and graduate student at the University of Syracuse, was killed Monday during clashes between regime troops and protesters in the embattled city of Homs.
By Isolde Raftery, msnbc.com
Just five months ago, Bassel Shahade, a film student at Syracuse University, was explaining to the hosts of Democracy Now! that he had to speak quietly. He had hunkered down in an apartment in Damascus, Syria and worried that soldiers outside could hear him.

“Thousands of detainees are still in the prisons,” Shahade said in a low voice. “Among them are tens of my friends. They are not terrorists. They are filmmakers, journalists, doctors, lawyers. They are very high intellectual people and activists.”

In the studio, host Amy Goodman worried for Shahade’s safety. “We can hear you just fine, Bassel, but we want you to be very careful,” Goodman said. “You can tell us you can’t talk. That is fine.”

Shahade, 28, was killed Monday while filming the aftermath of attacks by government security forces. The United Nations believes that 9,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed during the 14-month uprising against President Bashar Assad.

Video: Shelling in Syria intensifies

Amer Mater, a friend of Shahade, told The Associated Press that Shahade was in Houla to film the aftermath of violence over the weekend that killed 108 people, including at least 32 children.

The bloodied bodies of children, some with their skulls split open, were shown in footage posted to YouTube purporting to show the victims of the shelling in the central town on Friday. The sound of wailing filled the room.


Houla Media Center / EPA
Houla Media Center, a Syrian citizen journalist group, provided this image of image of bodies covered in white shrouds following the massacre in Houla, Syria. Syrian authorities deny responsibility.

Clinton condemns Syria massacre: Assad’s ‘rule by murder’ must end 

Shahade was filming a documentary, Mater told the AP, and had trained other activists as videographers to document the attacks.

Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor called Shahade's death a tragedy.
“His death is also a tragedy for the Syrian people, who have suffered many months of tragic violence as they seek greater freedom for their nation,” Cantor said.

Friends took to Facebook to mourn the loss of their friend. A man named Waheeb wrote that he had cried looking at his friend’s photos. He said that Shahade “loved Syria and the people around him.”

“I remember him showing me proudly an article by his uncle ridiculing sectarianism and ideas of religious divisions between Christians and Muslims in Syria,” Waheeb wrote. “He believed that neither sect, ethnicity or religion mattered in relations between people.”

Shahade’s interview with Democracy Now! took place on Dec. 29, 2011, four days after Christmas. He told the hosts that tension was rising and violence increasing. A baby cried in the background.

“You cannot walk after three-o-clock in the city. You’ll be shot,” Shahade said. “And you don’t know from where it will come—from the army or from the locals. Like, it’s a total chaos there.”
He told of a friend, a doctor, who was shot while trying to cross the border into Turkey.
“He was providing help for protesters,” Shahade said. “And they followed him, and he tried to cross the borders to Turkey, and they shot him on the border.”
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'It is virtually impossible to find a job': Brain drain is new Greek tragedy


8
hours
ago



"Things are getting worse and worse in Greece. There is no future for the next few years there," says Christos Christoglou, a Greek inspection engineer who moved to Germany to find work.


By Andy Eckardt and Carlo Angerer, NBC News
MAINZ, Germany – Thousands of well-educated workers are fleeing Greece as the eurozone crisis batters their homeland.

Germany, Europe's economic powerhouse and a country which has been criticized by many Greeks over its harsh demands for austerity cuts in return for bailout cash, has experienced an influx of young skilled immigrants.

Der Spiegel magazine noted that while Greek newspapers "printed cartoons depicting the Germans as Nazis, concentration camp guards and eurozone imperialists who allow their debtors to bleed to death," the Greeks have kept arriving – bringing an "anything is better than Athens" attitude with them.

With more than 50 percent of young Greeks out of work, it's not surprising that official statistics show the number of Greeks who moved to Germany increased 90 percent during 2011.

Unemployment rates have consistently been shrinking in Germany in recent years and the economy is thriving despite Europe's ongoing financial crisis. Relaxed cross-border employment regulations for member states of the European Union also make Germany an attractive choice for job seekers. And while Germany is in need of specialized workers, the Greek labor market has little to offer.

Leftist tipped to be next Greek leader warns of 'Cold War' over cuts

"It is virtually impossible to find a job in Greece at the moment," says Christos Christoglou, an inspection engineer who took a job at German chemical and pharmaceutical giant Bayer at the start of the financial crisis in June 2010. "It is not that there are only very few jobs for young graduates to seek, no, there are none, zero, there is nothing."

A year after moving to Germany, Christoglou's wife Mary and their 5-year old daughter Georgina joined him last summer. The family now lives in a four-bedroom apartment in Leverkusen. They are likely to stay for good.

"My wife, an English teacher, and our daughter, do not speak German yet. But my Mary will soon also try to find a job," Christoglou told NBC News. "And while, yes, it is quite difficult to be without our close friends and family in Greece, I do not want to waste my six years of intensive studies to find myself without hope for the future."

Christoglou, 38, says incentives are needed to prevent Greece's well-educated workforce from abandoning the country.

"I know many Greek academics, but also ordinary workers, who have moved to wealthier European countries, like France, the Netherlands or Sweden," he added.

Greek debt woes put Europe on financial knife edge

According to Germany's national statistics office, some 24,000 people left Greece last year to live and work in Germany, almost double the number who did so in 2010. However, Der Spiegel quoted Hamburg-based immigration expert Vassilis Tsianos as pointing out that those figures did not include people who had not registered with German authorities. Tsianos told the magazine he estimates that 60,000 new Greek immigrants arrived in Germany in 2011.
There was also a significant spike in the number of immigrants relocating to Germany from other economically depressed southern European countries last year, with official statistics showing an increase of 52 percent from Spain, 28 percent from Portugal and 23 percent from Italy.

So much for 'the Spanish dream': Euro crisis turns suburbs into ghost towns


Until a few weeks ago very few people had heard of him, but Alexis Tsipras could soon be the next Prime Minister of Greece. His anti-austerity stance won his party second place in the recent election, and the forecasts for next month's run-off suggest they could do even better.
The recent arrivals include 27-year-old IT specialist Vasileia Paschali, who decided to bid farewell to Greece's political and economic turmoil and arrived in the quaint southern German city of Boeblingen nine months ago. She didn't speak a word of German.

"The most difficult thing was learning German, it was terrifying at the beginning," Paschali told NBC News. "Life is so quiet and structured here in Boeblingen, which is quite a contrast to the hectic routine I experienced in Athens."

She responded to a job offer from German engineering development supplier Ruecker, a company which mainly services the automobile and aviation sectors.

Europe told to prep for Greek exit scenario

Wiesbaden-based Ruecker is actively recruiting technical engineers from Greece, Portugal, Spain and Italy, offering them a two-month paid language course followed by an open-ended contract with a guaranteed base salary of about $4,500 per month.

"There are simply not enough qualified applicants on the German market," says Thomas Aukamm, who works for Ruecker's marketing and recruiting department. "These are investments that we need to make in order to secure the workforce that we work with in the future."

The company has received about 3,500 applications, mainly from southern European countries, and is presently evaluating about 500 of them.

"Even if we could only fill 10 percent of the open positions, we would be very happy," Aukamm added.


Many residents fear that a slow economy is cutting into the number of foreign visitors. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.
'Leaving everything behind'

For Paschali, whose parents, 28-year-old brother and other close family members remain in Greece, the move to Germany was not an easy choice.

Paschali already had a job at a local company in Athens, but she was forced to accept a 20 percent pay cut due to the financial crisis.

"Leaving everything behind with an uncertain future was difficult, of course, but I was seeking stability and believe that I can find it here in Germany," says Paschali, who is originally from the rural town of Trikala.

Greeks withdraw $894 million in one day

Greece's national unemployment rate presently stands at nearly 22 percent overall – German tabloid BILD has depicted Greeks as "lazy" – and widespread protests against the government's austerity measures continue. However, an estimated 70,000 engineering positions remain unfilled at the moment in Germany.


Courtesy Anna Sioki
University graduate Anna Sioki moved to Germany from Greece two years ago. "I was one of the lucky ones because I left at the beginning of the crisis," she says.

"Germany's skilled labor shortage could have severe economic consequences," said Dr. Ina Kayser of the the German Association of Engineers (VDI). "We estimate that the labor market could face economic losses of up to 7 billion euros, or nearly $10 billion, as a result of, for example, production delays or necessary relocation of production abroad."
Other German business sectors are also starting to look abroad.

'Vicious circle': Europe crisis threatens world economy, OECD says

Hospitals and private medical practices are also in need of highly trained personnel, especially in Germany's rural areas, where many workers have migrated to cities.

Karl Horn, staff manager at the Rheinhessen Clinic in Alzey, says that health care executives are increasingly looking at the southern European labor market.

"We've already sent out tweets in Spanish to advertise openings at our clinic," Horn said.

Why so glum? Germans struggle to find joy, poll suggests

Despite a degree in applied foreign languages, Anna Sioki was only able to find work at a book store in Thessaloniki after finishing her studies in 2009. She decided to come to Germany two years ago.


A new election is scheduled for June 17, as debate continues over the country's place in the euro zone. NBC's Stephanie Gosk reports.

"I was one of the lucky ones because I left at the beginning of the crisis," the 27-year-old told NBC News.

Her parents were not as fortunate. Sioki's father, an electrician, had to close his shop due to a lack of business and has been unemployed for nearly two years. Her parents now live on a small pension that her mother receives.

"It is pretty bad that all the specialists are going abroad," Sioki self-critically remarked. "How is Greece supposed to make progress that way? But, I see no other solution for myself and the other young Greeks."
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State Health Insurance Exchange Legislation: A Progress Report


 

 

  The Commonwealth Fund Blog

May 30, 2012

Sara CollinsTracy GarberBy Sara R. Collins and Tracy Garber
The Affordable Care Act requires each state to establish by 2014 a new health insurance marketplace or “exchange” where individuals and small businesses can purchase affordable health insurance plans. The exchanges are the centerpiece of the reform law: they will be the main portals where people without employer-sponsored health insurance will go, either in person or online, to both find a health plan and learn about and apply for any federal subsidies for which they are eligible. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2020, 22 million people will enroll in health plans offered through their state exchange.

In order to establish an exchange, states must give themselves the legal authority to do so. State legislatures can accomplish this by crafting and passing legislation for their governors to sign. In the absence of state legislation, governors in some states may pursue other mechanisms to give them the authority to establish and operate an exchange, such as an executive order. In states that do not opt to run their own exchanges, the federal government will operate a “federally facilitated exchange” in their state. But according to new guidance released by the Department of Health and Human Services last week, within the federally facilitated exchange, states may also choose a “state partnership exchange” in which they would operate exchange functions related to plan management and/or consumer assistance.1
HHS’s new guidance also gives states until November 16, 2012 to submit an “Exchange Blueprint” that will lay out how they intend to operate their exchanges, or whether they are electing to participate in a state partnership exchange.2 HHS will grant approval to states to run their own exchanges by January 2013. HHS may grant conditional approval of an exchange if a state is at an advanced stage in the development of their exchanges but cannot demonstrate complete readiness by January 2013. In addition, states that do not have exchanges ready for operation in 2014 may apply to operate the exchange in 2015 or in subsequent years.

Status of State Health Insurance Exchange Legislation

This state map provides a picture as of May 2012 of where states stand in establishing the legal authority for their insurance exchanges.3 

Legislation signed into law. In 2011, governors of 11 states and the District of Columbia signed legislation to establish insurance exchanges in their states. These are the dark blue states on the map: California, Colorado, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Maryland, Nevada, Oregon, Vermont, Washington, and West Virginia. Prior to the passage of the Affordable Care Act, Massachusetts, in pink on the map, passed a law very similar to the national reform law in 2006 and operates an exchange known as the Connector. Utah established an exchange for small businesses in 2009.4
 
Other signed legislation: intent to establish or study exchange. Three states, in maroon on the map, passed legislation in 2011 that signals an intent to establish or study the establishment of an exchange in their states. North Dakota created an appropriation for the establishment of an exchange. Wyoming’s governor signed a bill that creates a study panel to investigate whether the state should establish a state health insurance exchange. The interim report recommended that the governor issue an executive order to establish an exchange. Mississippi also created a study committee that is investigating whether to build an exchange
on its Pre-Existing Condition Insurance Plan (PCIP), established under the reform law.

Legislation passed one or both houses. Three states, Alabama, Michigan, and North Carolina, have exchange legislation that passed in one house of their legislatures. Alabama’s bill passed in the 2012 legislative session. Bills in Michigan and North Carolina passed in 2011 but were carried over to the current session. These states are in turquoise on the map.

Legislation currently pending in one or both houses. Two states, Missouri and Ohio, have exchange legislation introduced in the 2012 legislative session that is pending (purple). New Hampshire’s Senate introduced an establishment bill in 2011 that was carried over to the current session.

Legislation introduced in one or both houses, but did not pass. Legislators in three states introduced legislation in 2011 to establish exchanges that ultimately failed or died because of adjournment (light purple) (Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, and Texas). While governors and legislatures in some states with 2011 failed bills have continued pursuing other legislative or gubernatorial options in the 2012 session, there has been no similar activity in these three states. The Texas legislature meets every other year and was not in session this year. Legislation introduced in the 2012 session in nine states, Alaska, Arizona, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Minnesota, Nebraska, New Mexico, and Virginia, has died due to adjournment.

Governors pursuing non-legislative options. Governors in six states, in mustard on the map, have pursued or are considering alternatives to establishing exchanges through non-legislative means such as executive orders. The governor of Rhode Island issued an executive order in September 2011 to establish an exchange, and New York’s governor issued an executive order in April of this year after an establishment bill made no progress in the legislature. Kentucky’s governor has indicated that he is prepared to issue an executive order to establish an exchange should the Supreme Court uphold the Affordable Care Act. Indiana’s governor has issued an executive order which allows the state to study and plan for an exchange. Governors in Arkansas and Montana are working with HHS on federally facilitated exchanges after legislation failed to pass.

Governors vetoed legislation or informed HHS they will not establish an exchange. Governors in Florida, Louisiana, Maine, South Carolina, and Wisconsin, in light blue on the map, have notified HHS that their states do not intend to establish exchanges. In May of this year, New Jersey’s governor became the second governor to veto legislation to establish an exchange. New Mexico’s governor vetoed legislation in 2011: the legislature introduced a bill to establish an exchange in this legislative session that died due to adjournment. In Louisiana, the state Senate moved a bill out of committee to establish an exchange, but the governor remains opposed to an exchange. Wisconsin’s governor repealed a prior executive order that had created the Office of Free Market Health Care, tasked with conditionally developing a plan for the design and implementation of an exchange. Maine’s governor informed HHS this spring that Maine was not in a position to establish a state exchange, and thus would not utilize a previously awarded federal exchange establishment grant.

States without legislative activity to establish an exchange. Four states, those in white on the map, have not had any legislative activity to create the legal authority to establish an exchange. But nearly all are moving forward with planning their exchanges regardless: Delaware, South Dakota, and Tennessee each have won grants to establish their exchanges from HHS (Exhibit 2).5
 

 Looking Forward

This year is critical for states that have not passed legislation, given that they must submit their Blueprint applications to HHS by November 16. While two states with exchange bills that are pending or passed (Ohio and Michigan) have legislatures that meet all year round, time is even shorter for many states. Legislatures in 27 states have already adjourned for the year and more will adjourn in May, including Missouri, where an exchange bill is pending, and Alabama, where an exchange bill passed one house. Two states with exchange bills pending or passed (New Hampshire and North Carolina) end their legislative sessions in July. It is possible other states may follow the example of Kentucky’s governor, who has indicated that he would issue an executive order to establish an exchange if the Supreme Court upholds the Affordable Care Act.

Planning for the exchanges continues apace in most states across the country, many of which do not have signed legislation in place. HHS has so far awarded 34 states and the District of Columbia multimillion dollar grants to establish their exchanges (Exhibit 2). HHS awarded Rhode Island and the state of Washington Level II establishment grants for more advanced exchange planning.

The Commonwealth Fund will update this blog post and map as implementation of the state insurance exchanges moves forward across the country.


Notes
1 "General Guidance on Federally-Facilitated Exchanges," Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, May 16, 2012, http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/files/FFE_Guidance_FINAL_VERSION_051612.pdf; Timothy Jost, Implementing Health Reform: State-based, Partnership, and Federally Facilitated Exchanges, Health Affairs Blog, posted May 16, 2012, http://healthaffairs.org/blog/2012/05/16/implementing-health-reform-state-based-partnership-and-federally-facilitated-exchanges/
2“Draft Blueprint for Approval of Affordable State-based and State Partnership Insurance Exchanges,” Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, Center for Consumer Information and Insurance Oversight, May 16, 2012. http://cciio.cms.gov/resources/files/Exchangeblueprint05162012.pdf
3 The map and blog content are based on the National Conference of State Legislatures, Federal Health Reform: State Legislative Tracking Database (Washington, D.C.: NCSL), available at http://www.ncsl.org/default.aspx?TabId=22122; and press reports, including Politico.com and Politicopro.com.
4 S. Corlette J. Alker, J. Touschner et al., The Massachusetts and Utah Health Insurance Exchanges: Lessons Learned (Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Health Policy Institute, March 2011), available at http://www.rwjf.org/files/research/72105massutah201103.pdf.
5 Healthcare.gov Fact Sheet, Creating a New Competitive Marketplace: Affordable Insurance Exchange Establishment Grants Awards List, Updated November 29, 2011, http://www.healthcare.gov/news/factsheets/exchanges05232011a.html
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More Than Half of Individual Health Plans Offer Coverage That Falls Short of What Can Be Sold Through Exchanges as of 2014


May 23, 2012
Authors: Jon R. Gabel, M.A., Ryan Lore, M.P.P., Roland D. McDevitt, Ph.D., Jeremy D. Pickreign, M.S., Heidi Whitmore, M.P.P., Michael Slover, M.S., and Ethan Levy-Forsythe
Journal: Health Affairs Web First, May 23, 2012
Contact: Jon R. Gabel, M.A., Senior Fellow, Health Care Research Department at NORC at the University of Chicago, Gabel-Jon@norc.org
Access to full article: View Article

Feature


Synopsis

More than half of Americans who have health coverage through the individual insurance market are in plans that would not meet the standards for "essential benefits" set by the Affordable Care Act. Most people enrolled in employer group plans, however, have more comprehensive coverage with less cost-sharing.

The Issue

Although Under the Affordable Care Act, beginning in 2014 individuals and small employers will be able to enroll in health coverage through state-based insurance exchanges, which will act as marketplaces where people can comparison-shop for health plans. All plans sold in the exchanges must offer a set of essential health benefits, which includes ambulatory and emergency care, maternity care, and other comprehensive health care services. In addition, the law sets up four tiers of cost-sharing based on actuarial value—a measure of the financial protection afforded by a plan, expressed as the estimated percentage of medical bills that it will pay. For instance, if a plan has an actuarial value of 75 percent, the insurer pays three-fourths of the bills and the insured person pay one-fourth out-of-pocket in deductibles, copayments, or other cost-sharing, on average, for a standardized population.
Under the Affordable Care Act, the exchanges will sell plans with the following actuarial values: platinum (90% or greater), gold (80%–89%), silver (70%–79%), and bronze (60%–69%). This Commonwealth Fund–supported paper, published in Health Affairs, uses data supplied by health plans to determine the financial protection they provided in 2010 in the individual and small- and large-group markets, and then compares that protection against the new 2014 standards.

Key Findings


  • The average actuarial value of group plans in 2010 was 83 percent, compared with an average of 60 percent for individual plans.
  • Most people (65%) enrolled in group plans were in either the gold or platinum tier; about 28 percent were in the silver tier and 6 percent were in the bronze tier. Fewer than 1 percent were in plans with an actuarial value of less than 60 percent—dubbed “tin” plans by the authors.
  • In the individual market, 51 percent of enrollment was in tin plans. Another third of enrollees were in bronze plans, 14 percent were in silver plans, and 2 percent were in gold plans. In the individual market, there were no platinum plans.
  • Average out-of-pocket spending per household in the group plans was $1,765. In the individual plans, average household out-of-pocket spending was $4,127. The highest spenders in tin-tier individual insurance plans—including very sick people who incur huge medical bills—had more than $27,000 in annual out-of-pocket spending..

Address the Problem

The majority of Americans with individual insurance coverage today are enrolled in plans with actuarial values too low to qualify for the new insurance exchanges, say the authors. Under the Affordable Care Act, all insurance policies sold through the exchanges and the individual and small-group markets in 2014 will have to offer consumers plans with minimum financial protections and benefits. "Together with a ban on medical underwriting, the individual market of the future will sharply contrast with the market of past decades," they conclude.

About the Study

The authors used data from the Kaiser Family Foundation/Health Research and Educational Trust 2010 Employer Health Benefit Survey, data from plans in the individual market in 2010 in five states (California, Florida, Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Utah), and the Thomson–Reuters Marketscan 2008 medical claims database to analyze individual and employer-based group plans on the market in 2010.

Bottom Line

More than half of Americans who had individual-market health insurance coverage in 2010 were enrolled in plans that would not meet the Affordable Care Act’s minimum benefit standards for the new insurance exchanges.

Citation

J. R. Gabel, R. Lore, R. D. McDevitt et al., "More Than Half of Individual Health Plans Offer Coverage That Falls Short of What Can Be Sold Through Exchanges as of 2014," Health Affairs Web First, May 23, 2012.




Publications
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Suu Kyi receives ecstatic Thailand welcome

58
minutes
ago

For the first time in nearly a quarter century, Myanmar's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has left her country for a journey overseas, first to Bangkok and later to Europe. NBC's Ian Williams reports.
By Ian Williams, NBC News correspondent
MAHACHAI, Thailand – They packed onto the steps of a local shrimp market straining for a glimpse of the woman they call “Mother Suu.” Some stood precariously on top of piles of shrimp baskets, waving photographs of Myanmar's opposition leader.
Her arrival was announced by the flashing lights and wailing sirens of her police escort. As her car entered the narrow lanes around the market it was mobbed by photographers and ecstatic supporters, soon slowing to a crawl.
Others crowded onto rooftops and balconies of the surrounding, rundown buildings, which were mostly migrant workers' dormitories.
This was the beginning of Aung San Suu Kyi's first full day in Thailand, her first overseas trip in 24 years.  And she had chosen to visit Mahachai, south of Bangkok, which has the largest population of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.


Ian Williams / NBC News
Crowds of cheering migrant workers from Myanmar greet Aung San Suu Kyi at a Mahachai shrimp market on Wednesday.
Here they mostly work in fisheries, but across Thailand, Myanmar migrant workers – some 2 to 3 million of them, legal and illegal – dominate the low-paid dirty jobs that Thais prefer not to do.
Together with a large refugee and exile community, they are a symbol of the impoverishment and repression of their homeland.

Message: hope

Thousands turned out to see Suu Kyi today, and she offered them hope.
"Don't feel down or weak. History is always changing," she said in a brief speech from a balcony during a second stop.  Several people we spoke to said they hoped Suu Kyi could improve life in Myanmar so they could return home.

Ian Williams / NBC News
Yin Noi, a migrant from Myanmar who works as a domestic helper, holds a drawing she made of Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday.
We met Yin Noi, a domestic worker, waving a sketch she had made of Suu Kyi. She had been waiting to catch a glimpse of her since 5 a.m. "I am so excited," she said.
Suu Kyi arrived in Thailand Tuesday evening. Even during her brief periods of freedom in Myanmar she's been reluctant to leave the country, fearing the ruling generals would not let her back in again, even when her husband was dying in the U.K.
She will be attending a regional economic summit in the Thai capital, giving a speech there Friday and meeting several heads of state. She seems certain to steal the show, much to the discomfort of Myanmar's President Thein Sein, who started the reforms that led to Suu Kyi’s new found freedom. He was invited too, but cancelled, not wanting to be upstaged.
Still, her decision to travel now is a mark of confidence in the reform process, which has not only seen her release from house arrest, but also the release of political prisoners, media reforms and open elections, in which Suu Kyi herself won a seat in parliament.


Ian Williams / NBC News
Migrant workers packed onto the steps of Mahachai shrimp market for a better view of Aung San Suu Kyi on Wednesday.
Thai officials are pleased that Suu Kyi has chosen their country for her first overseas visit, but say they've been kept in the dark about her plans, which include a weekend visit to a refugee camp on the Thai-Myanmar border.
"We'll have to play it play it by ear, I guess," one Thai official told the New York Times.

Mega political celebrity

Next month Suu Kyi heads to Europe. She'll visit Norway for some unfinished business – picking up her 1991 Nobel Peace Prize, and will address the British parliament.
She's also considering visiting Ireland to meet Bono, the Irish rock musician who campaigned for her release.
That will certainly seal her status as a mega political celebrity. It may also irritate some of the still powerful conservative generals at home, and even some of her supporters, who will hope she doesn't lose sight of desperate plight of so many of her compatriots – so starkly on display amid the shabby fish markets of Mahachai.
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Wonkbook: The 4 policymakers who could decide the 2012 election

By , Published: May 24

Ah, here's the number I've been searching for: "For every one-percentage-point decline in euro-area growth, history suggests growth in the rest of the world will take a 0.7% hit, 'with the U.S. seeing a somewhat smaller decline than other parts of the world.'" POOL REUTERS German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, before the start of the second day of the G20 Summit in November 2011.


 German Chancellor Angela Merkel, left, speaks with the President of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi, before the start of the second day of the G20 Summit in November 2011. (POOL - REUTERS)


That's David Wessel summarizing some research from JPMorgan. The main channel of contagion is financial. Exports to Europe are 1.2 percent of GDP. That's not nothing, but it's not that much. The bigger problem is that "European banks have lent more than $6 trillion to the rest of the world, twice as much as U.S. banks." Indeed, "European loans to the U.S. amount to about 10% of U.S. GDP."

I used to say that Germany's Angela Merkel and the European Central Bank's Mario Draghi were going to decide who America's next president was. If they saved the euro zone, it would be Barack Obama. If they let it fail, it would be Mitt Romney. Then Europe stabilized and I stopped saying it.

Looks like it's time to start again. Though I would amend the remark to say that Merkel and Draghi aren't on their own. John Boehner will have a role, too, as, come the end of the year, markets will be reacting to what they think will happen when we reach the fiscal cliff and and the debt ceiling. Most forecasters agree that a few wrong moves could put us back into recession, and if businesses and investors think that's the likeliest outcome -- or even a likely outcome -- they're going to cut their spending and their hiring in the last quarter of 2012.

Boehner is in an excellent position to persuade markets that we're likely to make the wrong moves --or that we're not.

As for Obama and Romney, well, there's little either of them can do at this point to dramatically change the trajectory of the economy. Romney has no power and Obama can't pass the American Jobs Act -- or anything else -- without cooperation from House Republicans. The only empowered actor who is not named here, and who could have a real effect on economic expectations, is Ben Bernanke. The Obama campaign had better hope he's up for a challenge.

So perhaps my old line was a bit too simplistic. What I should be saying is that Angela Merkel, Mario Draghi, John Boehner, and Ben Bernanke are likely to decide our next president.

Wonkbook dashboard
 
RCP Obama vs. Romney: Obama +1.7%; 7-day change: Obama -0.8%.
RCP Obama approval: 48.7%; 7-day change: +0.4%.


Top stories
1) European officials are stepping up planning for a Greek exit. "Finance ministers from the 17 countries that use the euro agreed earlier this week on the need to develop national contingency plans in case Greece drops out of the common currency, officials said. Those plans aim to address what would be an unprecedented event in the modern financial system: how to buffer government bond markets, the banking sector and other financial markets in the event of a Greek exit. The euro dropped below $1.26 Wednesday, hitting its lowest level against the dollar since July 2010."    
William Boston, Brian Blackstone, and Matthew Dalton in The Wall Street Journal.
@BCAppelbaum:
Seems like all of this Grexit contingency planning should dispel any illusion that a currency union is forever.

2) Congressional Democrats are standing firm on the sequester. "It is really Senate Democrats who are next in line to wield the power of 'no.' In November and December, they’ll be in position to block Republican-backed legislation to stop an automatic 10 percent sequester of Pentagon funds and to extend high-end tax breaks for the wealthy. Indeed, the new kid on the block is this tougher Democratic mind-set embodied by Reid. And the former Vegas gaming commissioner is ready to risk tens of billions in automatic spending cuts in January rather than give in any longer to Republican demands that all deficit reduction come from domestic savings -- with no revenues. In an interview with POLITICO, Reid said he was open to a compromise that would salvage about four-fifths of the Bush-era tax cuts. But absent some concession on revenues, the $110 billion in spending cuts ordered by the debt agreement last August would go into effect." David Rogers in Politico.
 
3) Romney said unemployment would be below six percent by the end of his first term. "'I can tell you that over a period of four years, by virtue of the policies that we’d put in place, we’d get the unemployment rate down to 6 percent, and perhaps a little lower,' Romney says in a Time magazine interview...The Congressional Budget Office projects that the unemployment rate will drop to 5.3 percent by the end of 2016."  
Jonathan Easley in The Hill.
@brianbeutler:
Romney's accepted that a goal of 4% unemployment is absurd, now says he'll get it down to 6% by 2016...which is what CBO says it'll be anyhow.
4) The Senate reached a deal on the FDA bill. "Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) announced an agreement on amendments Wednesday that will finally allow a Food and Drug Administration bill to move forward. The deal should lead to passage of the bill on Thursday, ending several days of uncertainty. Under the agreement, the Senate will consider 17 amendments to the bill, the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act (S. 3187), which reauthorizes a user-fee program for drug companies seeking FDA approval. The Senate will debate amendments until Thursday at 2 p.m. After votes on the amendments, the Senate will vote on the bill itself...Under the agreement, four of the 17 amendments will require 60 votes for passage. One of these, from Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), would require Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to issue regulations allowing the importation of prescription drugs from Canada, within six months after the language becomes law." Daniel Strauss in The Hill.
@sarahkliff:
I've always pictured PDUFA and MDUFA as a quirky pair of cartoon characters. That's, uh, normal, right?
5) Good new-house sales numbers added to housing optimism. "Sales of newly built homes continued to pick up momentum, another sign that the long-beleaguered housing market is in recovery mode. New-home sales for April rose 3.3% from March and were up 9.9% from a year earlier to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 343,000, the Commerce Department said Wednesday. While new homes account for about 10% of the housing stock sold each year, sales of previously owned homes have also shown strong gains recently, suggesting the industry's improvements are widespread. The National Association of Realtors said Tuesday that sales of previously owned homes, which make up the bulk of the housing market, rose 3.4% in April from the previous month. The Commerce Department figures reflect sales of only single-family homes, while the Realtor data include sales within multifamily dwellings, such as condominiums." Dawn Wotapka and Eric Morath in The Wall Street Journal.
@DLeonhardt:
Another strong housing report today, this one from federal government. Prices up slightly vs year ago.
6) Most individual health policies don't meet ACA standards. "More than half of all medical insurance policies sold to individuals now fail to meet the standards of coverage set by the federal health care law under review by the Supreme Court, a new study says. Even if the law is upheld, employer-provided insurance plans are likely to continue to be more generous, but the law would significantly improve the quality of coverage for individuals in several ways, the researchers concluded. Insurers would be required, for example, to limit how much people pay toward their own medical bills, even if they have a chronic and expensive condition. Insurers would also have to provide a comprehensive set of benefits, like maternity coverage that is now excluded by some policies, and cover pre-existing medical conditions, which may be excluded under certain policies. The study was published online Wednesday in Health Affairs, an academic journal." Reed Abelson in The New York Times.
 
Top op-eds
 
1) KLEIN: We should be talking about what Romney will do as President, not what he did at Bain. "The budget prepared by Paul Ryan, the House Budget Committee chairman, and the Romney campaign’s general-election platform look quite similar. Both would cut taxes while flattening the tax code. Their Medicare-reform plans look similar...Because it’s difficult to imagine a scenario in which Romney is elected and Republicans don’t hold the House and win control of the Senate, Republicans wouldn’t be stymied by Democratic opposition. They would have the votes to pass their agenda. True, they won’t get a filibuster-proof majority of 60 in the upper chamber, but Ryan’s budget is, well, a budget, which means it could be passed through the budget reconciliation process -- and couldn’t be filibustered. To enact a radical change of direction, Republicans need only a simple majority of votes...Why are we spending so much time discussing what Romney did at Bain ... instead of what he will do as president?" Ezra Klein in Bloomberg.
 
2) COHN: Romney's healthcare plan would cause serious hardship. "Mitt Romney’s big campaign moment on health care came a little over a year ago, when he gave a speech at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor...Of course, Romney’s plan on that day was not terribly specific...Providing details about his policy proposals would mean owning up to difficult, but inevitable trade-offs--for example, the trade-off government spending and health insurance coverage. Reduce the first, as Romney proposes, and you’ll inevitably end up reducing the second. But, as with the economic plan, it’s possible to perceive Romney’s general approach to health care: He wants to scale back health insurance, so that it provides less protection from medical bills. In theory, this transformation will unleash market forces that restrain the cost of medical care. In practice, it will cause serious hardship, by exposing tens of millions of Americans to crushing medical bills or forcing some of them to go without necessary, even life-saving care." Jonathan Cohn in The New Republic.
 
3) WESSEL: European woes could hit the U.S. "A messy Greek exit from the euro would make an already inevitable recession in Europe worse. But how will this cross the Atlantic? Overall, euro-zone imports amount to 5% of the rest of the world's gross domestic product, more for some (the U.K., Eastern Europe), but only 1.2% of U.S. GDP...Even if U.S. exports to Europe fell by 20%, that's not a huge hit to the U.S. economy. Still, there will be other real-economy effects. Doubts about the euro's survival could send money fleeing to the safety of the U.S. dollar, pushing up its value and making U.S. exports costlier around the world. Offsetting that, a severe European recession would reduce demand for commodities and their prices, helping commodity importers...That all adds up. For every one-percentage-point decline in euro-area growth, history suggests growth in the rest of the world will take a 0.7% hit, 'with the U.S. seeing a somewhat smaller decline than other parts of the world,' say J.P. Morgan economists." David Wessel in The Wall Street Journal.
 
4) WALLISON: Dodd-Frank will expand too big to fail to the entire financial industry. "With the recent publication of its final rule, the federal government's Financial Stability Oversight Council is now in position to designate certain nonbank firms as 'systemically important financial institutions' (SIFIs). Under the Dodd-Frank Act, that label can be attached to nonbank financial institutions--insurers, financial holding companies, hedge funds, finance companies, securities firms, perhaps even money-market mutual funds and private-equity firms--that will 'pose a threat to the financial stability of the United States' if they fail. This process has received relatively little attention in the media, but there is probably no aspect of the Dodd-Frank Act that will have more damaging effects on competition in the U.S. financial system...Few seem to recognize that the Oversight Council's designations will spread the too-big-to fail problem beyond banking to every other financial industry." Peter Wallison in The Wall Street Journal.
 
Top long reads
 
John Broder and Clifford Krauss on Shell's offshore drilling plans in the Arctic: "The president’s preoccupation with the Arctic proposal, even as the nation was still reeling from the BP spill, was the first hint that Shell’s audacious plan to drill in waters previously considered untouchable had gone from improbable to inevitable. Barring a successful last-minute legal challenge by environmental groups, Shell will begin drilling test wells off the coast of northern Alaska in July, opening a new frontier in domestic oil exploration and accelerating a global rush to tap the untold resources beneath the frozen ocean. It is a moment of major promise and considerable danger. Industry experts and national security officials view the Alaskan Arctic as the last great domestic oil prospect, one that over time could bring the country a giant step closer to cutting its dependence on foreign oil. But many Alaska Natives and environmental advocates say drilling threatens wildlife and pristine shorelines, and perpetuates the nation’s reliance on dirty fossil fuels."
@AndrewRestuccia:
“We can’t stop it. We can only make it less bad"
Noam Scheiber profiles Romney confidant Bob White: "Personal friends with such outsize influence are actually quite rare in presidential politics. Within recent administrations, only Valerie Jarrett really fits the profile. But, as it happens, Jarrett won’t be the only Valerie Jarrett-figure advising a presidential candidate this year. Mitt Romney has his own longtime-pal-cum-alter-ego, a 56-year-old ex-Bain Capital partner named Bob White. White, who is trim with graying brown hair, was one of Romney’s original hires when launching the private-equity firm back in the 1980s. He has been at Romney’s side in every major endeavor he’s undertaken since, from the Olympics to the campaign trail. Over the course of Romney’s career, White has served as debate prepper, personnel vetter, designated gut-checker, in-house historian, and diplomatic envoy. It was White who found Romney a campaign manager for his run for governor, White who headed his transition to the Massachusetts statehouse, White who has chaired his campaigns for president."

New Jersey rock interlude: Yo La Tengo plays "Today is the Day" live on McEnroe.




Still to come: Some progress in trade talks; stakeholders are starting to get serious about cost control; paycheck fairness will hit the Senate floor again; shale drove a drop in emissions; and the most gripping video of a slinky you will see today.

Economy
 
Facebook's IPO has sparked a flurry of congressional inquiries. "It has taken just six days for the razzle-dazzle of Facebook’s $104 billion market debut to turn into a nightmare of congressional inquiries. Republican and Democratic lawmakers on Wednesday began to look into the debacle of what was supposed to be the social networking company’s crowning achievement. Lawmakers want to know whether institutional investors got a sneak peek at an updated analysis, written just before the initial public offering, that gave a more pessimistic assessment of Facebook’s future revenues. It’s that analysis that might have caused the hotly anticipated stock to tumble out of the gate, losing more than a quarter of its value in its first two days on the open market...Both the House Financial Services Committee and Senate Banking Committee say they will look into the issue, with lawmakers in both parties raising questions about what happened." Peter Schroeder in The Hill.
 
Informal trade talks yielded some progress. "More than 20 countries made progress in informal trade talks Wednesday, as ministers try to salvage some parts of the stalled Doha round of trade negotiations, officials said. Wednesday's discussions, held as part of an annual meeting among members of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, could lead to an agreement on a process to add less-developed countries to the World Trade Organization 'before the summer break,' said Craig Emerson, Australia's trade minister at a news conference. Wednesday's meeting also yielded 'a high level of agreement' on a trade-facilitation agreement that aims to simplify customs procedures at ports, Mr. Emerson said. He, along with counterparts from the U.S. and Canada, said there also was discussion of other issues, including advancing an information-technology trade agreement." Sam Schechner in The Wall Street Journal.
 
Pelosi wants a vote soon on extending middle class tax cuts. "Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Wednesday urged Republicans to stage an immediate vote on extending the Bush-era tax rates for the middle class and making those rates permanent. In a letter to Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), the House Democratic leader said the issue should be resolved 'as early as next week' both to lend confidence to consumers and to ensure the issue isn't lost amid the chaos that's expected to mark this year's lame-duck session...President Obama and Republican leaders agreed in December 2010 to extend the Bush-era tax rates for all taxpayers, meaning the cuts will expire in January without congressional action. Boehner has said he'll bring a vote on extending all of the tax rates before November's elections. Republicans want to extend the Bush tax rates for all taxpayers. . Democrats want to extend the tax cuts for those earning less than $1 million per year, but allow the cuts for wealthier folks to expire." Mike Lillis in The Hill.
 
Freddie Mac forced Bank of America to buy back loans. "Freddie Mac forced Bank of America Corp. to buy back $330 million of mortgages originated over the past two years after the government-controlled mortgage-finance company challenged the lender over technical issues with how the loans were manufactured. The vast majority of the loans at issue are current, performing mortgages, said Bank of America spokesman Dan Frahm. Freddie said the loans were originated in 2010 and 2011. Freddie Mac and its larger sibling, Fannie Mae, have stepped up efforts in the aftermath of the housing bust to force banks to buy back defaulted mortgages. But repurchases of performing loans in large quantities have been rare. It is also unusual for the firms to kick back large buckets of loans originated after 2008, when Fannie and Freddie tightened lending standards dramatically." Nick Timiraos in The Wall Street Journal.
@justinwolfers:
Next week's going to be huge: Case-Shiller, first print of GDI, 2nd print of GDP, non-farm payrolls & unemployment. #HurryUp?



Health Care
 
Hospitals and insurers are trying to get healthcare costs under control. "After years of self-acknowledged profligacy, hospitals, doctors and health insurers say there is a strong effort under way to bring medical costs under control. Their goal is to slash the rate of growth in the nation’s $2.7 trillion health care bill by roughly half to keep it more in line with overall inflation. Private insurers, employers and government officials are providing urgency to these efforts, and the federal health care law passed two years ago helped accelerate them. Even if the Supreme Court decides next month to declare the entire law unconstitutional, many experts in the field say the momentum is likely to continue...Despite the flurry of activity, many caution that these efforts may not succeed in saving money. Many previous programs failed in the end to reduce costs or improve care. And many people within the industry are still wedded to the status quo, said Dr. Michael W. Cropp, the chief executive of Independent Health, an insurer in Buffalo." Reed Abelson in The New York Times.
 
Obamacare could make it harder to care for undocumented immigrants. "The health law, if upheld by the Supreme Court, will help up to 33 million Americans get coverage over the next decade. Around 26 million to 27 million will remain uncovered. And roughly one in four of the uninsured will be illegal immigrants, the Urban Institute has estimated. And as more tax dollars go toward subsidizing low- and middle-income Americans so they can get health coverage, advocates for immigrants say it may be increasingly difficult to care for the undocumented, who are excluded from the law’s coverage expansion and the new insurance exchanges...A few communities are testing solutions. In Los Angeles, a nonprofit clinic and a restaurant workers’ group this month announced a cooperative to provide low-cost primary and preventive care. Washington officials this month voted to spare a health insurance pool for illegal immigrants from the budget chopping block." Kyle Cheney in Politico.
 
Domestic Policy
 
Senate Democrats are pushing the Paycheck Fairness Act. "Five female Democratic senators pressed for legislation Wednesday aimed at closing the wage gap between men and women. The Paycheck Fairness Act would bring up to date the Equal Pay Act, which was signed into law by President Lyndon Johnson nearly 50 years ago. Democrats cited statistics showing that women today are still paid 77 cents for every dollar earned by men, or $10,784 less a year on average. That’s the equivalent of 183 tanks of gas or 92 bags of groceries...Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) has promised a cloture vote on the pay bill the week of June 4, after the Senate returns from its week-long Memorial Day recess. Republicans, however, have dismissed the effort as political pandering, and the bill is unlikely to pass without GOP support. In January 2009, when Democrats controlled both chambers, the bill cleared the House but fell two votes shy of the 60 needed to move forward in the Senate." Scott Wong in Politico.
 
The life of a toy interlude: The epic adventures of a slinky on a treadmill.
Energy
 
The shale boom has led to a drop in U.S. carbon emissions. "The shale gas boom in the US has led to a big drop in its carbon emissions, as power generators switch from coal to cheap gas. According to the International Energy Agency, US energy-related emissions of carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas, fell by 450m tonnes over the past five years - the largest drop among all countries surveyed. Fatih Birol, IEA chief economist, attributed the fall to improvements in fuel efficiency in the transport sector and a 'major shift' from coal to gas in the power sector. 'This is a success story based on a combination of policy and technology - policy driving greater efficiency and technology making shale gas production viable,' Mr Birol told the Financial Times...Gas is fast becoming the new fuel of choice for the US power sector: in the past 12 months, coal generation has slumped by 19 per cent while gas generation has increased by 38 per cent." Guy Chazan in The Financial Times.
 
The natural gas boom is hitting transportation. "The shale gas revolution, which cut the price of natural gas by about 45% over the past year, already has triggered a shift by the utility industry to natural gas from coal. Vast amounts of natural gas in shale rock formations have been unlocked by improved drilling techniques, making the fuel cheap and plentiful across the U.S. Now the shale-gas boom is rippling through transportation. Never before has the price gap between natural gas and diesel been so large, suddenly making natural-gas-powered trucks an alluring option for company fleets, rather than an impractical idea pushed mainly by natural-gas boosters like T. Boone Pickens, the Texas oilman. Railroad operators also are being affected as coal shipments decline. Many fleet operators, particularly long-haul truckers, remain concerned about a scarcity of refueling stations. Other challenges include the bulky tanks for compressed gas and the hazards of handling liquefied gas." Rebecca Smith in The Wall Street Journal.
 
Wonkbook is compiled and produced with help from Karl Singer and Michelle Williams.
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