The post-partisan Barack Obama has left the building. For the midterm congressional election campaign, the Democratic President is stirring his base with a staple of the liberal left: class warfare.

By promising to raise taxes on the wealthy and attacking Republican favouritism toward “millionaires and billionaires,” Mr. Obama has set the tone for a divisive campaign that will ultimately be refereed by the middle class.

But persuading Americans that he really is on the side of suburban double-income households remains a heavy lift. So far, more voters think the President’s economic policies are hindering an economic recovery rather than helping one along. That may just make him the worst salesman for a tax increase, even one that targets only the richest 2 per cent of Americans.

On Wednesday, Mr. Obama travelled to Ohio, a bellwether state racked by a 10.3-per-cent unemployment rate, to unveil his plan to extend income-tax cuts for the middle class that were initially adopted under George W. Bush in 2001. But he proposed letting the so-called Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year on households earning more than $250,000 (U.S.). The top marginal tax rate would jump to 39.6 per cent from 35 per cent on Jan. 1.

Republicans, and even Mr. Obama’s former budget director, have warned against a tax increase now, arguing that it could sap the already fragile confidence of consumers. The President retorted that the impact of his proposals on economic growth would be slight, while the additional tax revenue would help tame the unwieldy U.S. budget deficit.

“They would have us borrow $700-billion over the next 10 years to give a tax cut, of about $100,000 each, to folks who are already millionaires,” Mr. Obama said of the Republican opposition.

Still, Mr. Obama’s plan would deprive federal coffers of between $2-trillion and $3-trillion in tax revenue over the next decade. Peter Orzag, who stepped down as Mr. Obama’s budget director in July, this week advocated leaving tax rates alone until 2013, then raising rates to pre-2001 levels for everyone. The White House was not amused by this friendly fire.

In Cleveland, the President directed his attacks at John Boehner, the Ohio GOP congressman who is set to take over as Speaker of the House of Representatives if Republicans win a majority of seats in the lower chamber. He mentioned Mr. Boehner seven times in his speech, calling on the current House minority leader “not [to] hold middle-class tax cuts hostage any longer.”

Congress must approve any tax overhaul. But Mr. Obama’s biggest challenge is not overcoming GOP opposition. It involves persuading recalcitrant Democratic incumbents who are staring disastrous polls in the face.

“They’re not enthusiastic about the President’s proposal,” Wendy Schiller, a political science professor at Brown University in Providence, R.I., said of endangered Democrats whose seats are on the line in November. “It’s too hard to explain. And if the American voter has bought into the idea that any tax increase at all will slow the economy down, it will be very hard for the President to change voters’ minds between now and election day.”

So, why risk stoking class warfare at all? The answer lies with the Democratic base. The liberal left had hoped for more clearly redistributive policies from Mr. Obama out of the starting gate. Without a sign from him that he is willing to pursue them, those voters may stay home on Nov. 2.

By proposing to extend the Bush tax cuts for everyone, including the wealthy, “he might have alienated or disillusioned his base even further,” Prof. Schiller offered.

Playing to his base, Mr. Obama has spurned the post-partisan pitch of his 2008 presidential campaign. On Monday, he told a Milwaukee crowd that Republicans “talk about me like a dog.” His proposal the same day to create a state-owned bank to finance infrastructure projects was similarly directed at the base. More government intervention is a tough sell with everyone but hard-core Democrats.

For balance, the President’s proposals to renew and expand research tax breaks and allow companies to write off 100 per cent of plant and equipment spending in 2011 are aimed at spurring private investment and dispelling criticism that Mr. Obama is “anti-business.”

Republicans have simplicity on their side. On Wednesday, to counter Mr. Obama’s plan, Mr. Boehner proposed a two-year freeze on all federal income taxes. It would, the GOP leader insisted, “help small businesses who have no clue what the coming [Obama] tax rates are going to be.”

At the very least, a tax freeze has the virtue of being understandable. Everything about Mr. Obama suggests nuance and complexity, and his tax proposals are no exception. That could make all the difference on Nov. 2.

From the newswire: Playing to the base, Obama risks a bill on Nov. 2

VENICE, Italy – In film, recession may be the mother of innovation.

The Venice Film Festival opens Wednesday with its share of big-screen bound blockbuster potential, from Darren Aronfsky’s “Black Swan,” to Sofia Coppola’s highly anticipated “Somewhere” and Ben Affleck’s sophomore directorial effort, “The Town.”

But director Marco Mueller says that the economic downturn has forced even big name directors to come up with cheaper means of production, giving rise to innovation and an “in-between” budget category — bridging low-budget under a million dollars and mid-range of around (EURO)6 million-(EURO)7 million ($7.5 million to $9 million).

“In between there was very little. And now several people rush to occupy that special space,” Mueller told The Associated Press in an interview. “Because it’s also the space where with some local, regional subsidy, some private money, and maybe with a few distributors interested in the project you can get your film off the ground.”

Oscar-winning Italian director Giuseppe Tornatore, limited after last year’s big-budget bonanza “Baaria,” turned to documentary making this year with a portrait of Italian cinematographer Goffredo Lombardo still in progress, to be shown out of competition.

Vincent Gallo will be at the Lido both as an actor, playing a terror suspect plotting his escape in Jerzy Skolimowski’s “Essential Killing,” and as the director of two films.

“Both films are entirely self-produced. He started with a short film, then he actually realized that using the same mode of production he could dare to look forward to a feature,” Mueller said. The result is “Promises Written in the Water,” which will compete for the Golden Lion.

The film tells a romantic story about a man — a professional assassin — and a woman confronting terminal illness. It was shot without preparation or a traditional script.

And U.S. director Monte Helmann, whose influence has been greater than his popular acclaim, will be showing his movie “Road to Nowhere” in competition. The film is described as a romantic thriller about a filmmaker who becomes involved in a criminal conspiracy.

“Monte made the film he has wanted to make for several years on a shoestring budget with an incredible cast using quite a few important names and all of a sudden we have a film with special effects. Without being a travelogue it does move to a number of countries and it cost less than $2 million,” Mueller said.

Second only to Cannes in terms of prestige, Venice has suffered since the economic downturn of 2008, with many Hollywood producers preferring the cheaper option of taking their movies to the Toronto Film Festival, which overlaps with Venice.

However, Mueller has continued to insist that his festival will accept primarily world premieres — 79 are showing at this year’s festival — and believes that events are moving back in Venice’s favor.

“A lot of people now are counting on a two-step operation where the visibility, the credibility of the film is built in Venice, Venice reveals the immediate aesthetical qualities of the film, or everything that makes this film very exciting. And Toronto reveals the market value of the film.”

The Venice festival opens with an unprecedented triple-header: Golden Lion-winner Aronofsky’s “Black Swan” and Hong Kong director Andrew Lau’s “The Legend of the Fist: The Return of Chen Zhen,” starring Donnie Yen, followed by a special midnight screening of Robert Rodriguez’s “Machete.”

“I can predict that at midnight the atmosphere will still be the atmosphere of a rock concert or a football match,” Mueller said.

Festivities get under way Tuesday evening with a tribute to one of Italy’s most famous cinematic and theatrical actors, Vittorio Gassman, with a free, open-air screening of the 1974 classic “Scent of a Woman” in a Venetian square attended by the Gassman family.

In addition, the Italian edition of Vanity Fair is hosting a party in a palace on the Grand Canal for Quentin Tarantino, who heads the jury that will select the winner of the prestigious Golden Lion on Sept. 11. And the industry publication Variety is holding a big party where it will present director Dino De Laurentiis with an award.

Mueller will have to hit each of the events within the space of three hours — no easy feat when boats plying Venice’s canals must comply with strict speed limits.

“If we speed, they will give us a speeding ticket. Every year the boat I use gets a speeding ticket. They plant them right where we have to go. Fantastic,” Mueller said, with a glint of amusement.

From the newswire: Venice film festival focuses on film innovation (AP)

SPRINGFIELD  –  With Illinois facing a 13-billion dollar budget deficit, two Republican candidates are saying they can save the state some money by eliminating one of their jobs.

GOP candidate for Treasurer Dan Rutherford and Republican candidate for Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka are pushing to consolidate the state’s two financial offices.  But it wouldn’t be easy, and wouldn’t happen until at least 2014. 

Topinka says it should have happened years ago.

082310Topinka2                    :22             …down the hole.”

Topinka’s opponent, Democrat David Miller, said the idea is not new but is worth exploring.  Though he said the offices were split because of a scandal, and that needs to be kept in check.

Rutherford says it will take agreement from the legislature and a vote from the public, but he does not think it is impossible.  His opponent, Democrat Robin Kelly says she had the idea last week.

Originally reported by Illinois Statehouse News. Read the original article here.

From the newswire: GOP Candidates Pitch One Treasurer/Comptroller’s Office

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Chicago Public Schools’ $6.4 billion budget plan for the upcoming
school year is getting a stern warning from a leading fiscal watchdog.

Originally reported by Chicago Public Radio. Read the original article here.

From the newswire: CPS Budget Plan Receives a Grim Warning

By Kevin Lee     Illinois Statehouse News

SPRINGFIELD  –  With the state facing a record budget deficit and former Democratic Gov. Rod Blagojevich facing another corruption trial, Republicans believe votes are up for grabs in November’s general election.

Republican officials, candidates and supporters convened at the Illinois State Fairgrounds in Springfield on Thursday for “Republican Day,” a day after Democrats rallied supporters.

Democrats have had a stronghold over the governor’s office, all statewide offices and both chambers of the Illinois General Assembly for the last eight years. Republicans claim the majority party has failed in governing the state, and the time is ripe for change.

At the top of the ticket, State Sen. Bill Brady, R-Bloomington, took his shots at his electoral opponent, Gov. Pat Quinn.

Brady questioned Quinn’s leadership, citing occasions when the governor proposed a 33 percent income tax hike, appointed someone to promote kayaking and canoeing in Illinois and instituted pay raises to dozens of positions throughout state government.

“We don’t need Pat Quinn’s secret tax increases, we don’t need his canoe czars, we don’t need his pay raises. What we need is honesty and integrity in government and that’s what we’re going to bring to Springfield, come January 2011,” he said.

In April, Quinn eliminated the $85,000-a-year “canoe czar” position within hours of filling the position. He has justified the pay raises as necessary for keeping top talent aboard state government.

Various proposals for an income tax increase have stalled in the General Assembly.

A staunch tax increase opponent, House Republican Leader Tom Cross is hoping that this November, voters will end Michael Madigan’s reign as Speaker of the House.

Madigan, who also serves as the Illinois Democratic Party chairman, has been an Illinois House member for almost 40 years and has held the chamber’s highest position for 25 years.

Cross said he understands that Madigan is seen as one of the most electorally unassailable members of the Illinois House.

“You’re going to hear a lot of people, a lot of Democrats saying ‘It can’t happen,’” Cross told supporters. “Well Mike Madigan, the Speaker of the House, has been here 40 years. It’s time for him to go home. You send him home by electing 12 Republicans to the Illinois General Assembly and we take back the Illinois House.”

The election of 12 Republicans would shift the majority of Illinois House lawmakers to the Republican side, ending Madigan’s reign as Speaker.

In his speech to supporters, GOP Congressman Mark Kirk, who is running for U.S. Senate against Illinois Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, took a crack at Blagojevich.

He explained to Illinois supporters that they’ll have to vote twice for a senator on November’s general election ballot.

“We’re going to have two elections. We’re going to elect a senator to serve in January for six years and we’re going to elect a senator to replace Roland Burris in the United States Senate,” Kirk said to cheers from the crowd.

In December 2008, former state Attorney General Burris was controversially appointed by Blagojevich to the Senate seat previously held by President Barack Obama.

Federal prosecutors charged Blagojevich with attempting to sell Obama’s Senate seat during his  corruption trial, but the jury could not come to an unanimous agreement on those charges.

Illinois will have a dual election because a federal court ruled in July that voters must formally choose a replacement for Obama to the U.S. Senate, cutting short Burris’ tenure.

Voters will have to wait 75 days until they take to the polls for the state’s general election on Nov. 2.

From the newswire: GOP Leaders: We’re Gaining Momentum

Double-digit budget cuts could be coming to Cook County government.

Cook County Commissioner and finance committee chairman John Daley says the budget shortfall could exceed the $300 million cited in a Chicago Tribune report. He says it could be as high as $500 million.

Daley says he supports 10 percent across-the-board cuts to help balance the budget.

He says the biggest reason for the shortfall is the loss of tax revenue, in part due to the county’s sales tax cut. Daley says he doesn’t recall any elected county officials opposing the tax cut.

DALEY: So when we did not hear from them, one would assume that they would be able to manage their office accordingly.

Commissioner Liz Gorman says cutting the sales tax was good for the county.

GORMAN: It would have been a lot easier to leave the sales tax in place, and we wouldn’t have any budget deficit. But it’s that important to stop the expansion of this government and limit spending.

A spokesman in Board President Todd Stroger’s office wouldn’t comment on the reported shortfall and says the office is still working on the proposed budget.

Originally reported by Chicago Public Radio. Read the original article here.

From the newswire: Reported Cook County Budget Deficit Could Lead to Big Cuts

Chicago – CPS has balanced its budget for this year, but it’s been forced to drain its reserves to do it.

Chicago Public Schools Chief Ron Huberman said the school district used all $190 million of its reserves this year.

It also increased class sizes from 31 to 33 students and made budget cuts.

They’re expected to layoff about 800 classroom teachers and 400 classroom support personnel.

Officials say the state still owes CPS $236 million in state funding from last year, and it is counting on that money to replenish its reserves.

Meanwhile, It’s back to school time for some CPS students.

Year-round schools, also known as Track E schools, start back up Monday.

Nearly 100,000 elementary and high school students are enrolled in the program.

Students in a Track E school actually attend the same number of days as students who attend a regular calendar school, but instead of one long summer break, those students have shorter, more frequent breaks.

Originally reported by FOX News Chicago. Read the original article here.

From the newswire: CPS Balances Budget on 1st Day for Some

WASHINGTON – Congress is moving rapidly just weeks before the start of the school year to speed billions of dollars in emergency education aid to states in hopes of reversing the layoffs of tens of thousands of teachers.

Some $10 billion in aid to school districts is set to flow after a 61-39 Senate vote Thursday — to be followed quickly by a House vote next week — in hopes that it will come in time for many school districts to reconsider teacher layoffs.

Thursday’s vote was a hard-earned but partial victory for Democrats and President Barack Obama. Advocates said it could save the jobs of up to 300,000 teachers, police and other public workers.

The measure would provide another $16 billion to help states fund their Medicaid budgets — and therefore free money for other budget priorities such as avoiding tax increases and preserving the jobs of state employees. About three-fifths of state governments have already factored in the federal help when drawing up budgets for the ongoing fiscal year.

The vote caps months of effort by governors of both parties, public employee unions and others seeking to extend programs enacted in last year’s economic stimulus law. That measure provided budget relief to states and local school districts hurt by slumping tax revenues as the U.S. economy has struggled to emerge from recession.

It’s significantly less generous than both a version enacted last year and one passed months ago that stalled amid increasing worries about the budget deficit. Still, state and local officials are desperate for whatever federal help they can get.

“This is a huge crisis for us financially,” said Carlos Garcia, superintendent of San Francisco’s schools. “This would be a welcome relief for us so maybe we could hire back as many people as possible. Because if we really want to get out of this recession, people need to be working.”

Garcia said the federal money could help the district rehire some of the roughly 300 employees it laid off this year or reinstate some of the four instructional days cut from the coming school year.

Advocates said the measure would stop the layoffs of perhaps 300,000 teachers, firefighters, police officers and other public employees. Though scaled back, the bill also would salvage a victory for Democrats who have been unable to deliver most of the jobs help that they and Obama had planned.

“This is about saving jobs that are in immediate danger,” said Sen. Patty Murray, D-Wash. “It will allow us to avoid layoffs, service cuts or tax increases and it will make sure our children don’t walk through the schoolhouse doors this September to larger class sizes and fewer subjects.”

Republicans blasted the measure as a rerun of last year’s economic stimulus bill, which has earned poor reviews among many voters as unemployment hovers near 10 percent nationwide. And they called it a giveaway to public employee unions, a key Democratic constituency, just three months before the midterm elections.

“Stop with the bailouts, tax hikes and special interest giveaways,” said Rep. John Kline, R-Minn. “Stop inflating spending and postponing the day of fiscal reckoning. The American people are living within their means, and they expect Washington — and states — to do the same.”

In New York, approximately $600 million in new education money would help schools avert more than 7,000 layoffs, according to the U.S. Department of Education. But to save those jobs, the state will have to allow school districts to reopen their budgets and teachers will have to be rehired quickly. That’s a tight deadline even with jobs at stake.

The state Legislature will need to convene soon in special session because a high court has ruled federal funds must be appropriated by lawmakers, according to the state Education Department.

In Illinois, said Democratic Sen. Dick Durbin, the state had been facing as many as 17,000 teacher layoffs, including 2,700 in Chicago alone. Thursday’s legislation would save almost 5,000 of those jobs.

“I wish it were more, but it is going to help,” Durbin said.

Passage of the bill was assured after moderate Republican Sens. Olympia Snowe and Susan Collins of Maine cast the key votes to break a GOP filibuster Wednesday.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., said she would call the House back into session next week to approve the measure to speed it to Obama.

The measure comes on the heels of successful efforts to extend unemployment insurance for the long-term jobless and to provide a payroll tax credit this year to businesses that hire the unemployed.

But the total jobs package has been significantly trimmed from earlier, ambitious designs to boost “green jobs,” provide new funding for roads, bridges and other infrastructure projects, pay for a summer jobs program for disadvantaged young people and renew health insurance subsidies for the jobless.

The measure was financed through cutting other programs and raising taxes on some U.S.-based multinational companies.

Among the ways to pay chosen by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., was a $12 billion cut to food stamps that would cost a family of four $59 a month beginning in early 2014. It would also cut $1.5 billion from an account funding renewable energy projects.

Most of the budget cuts won’t be felt immediately, or, in the case of many rescissions of unused appropriations, at all. The aid to teachers, however, will flow swiftly.

___

CHICAGOPRESSRELEASE.COM writer Terry Chea in San Francisco and Michael Gormley in Albany, N.Y. contributed to this report.

From the newswire: Senate approves jobs bill to stop teacher layoffs (AP)

INDIANAPOLIS – Indiana collected $957 million less in taxes than budgeted over the last 12 months, a gap that was closed by slashing spending and dipping into state reserves.

The state started the year with $1.3 billion in the bank and still had $830 million left in reserves as of June 30, state auditor Tim Berry said Friday after closing the books on the 2010 fiscal year.

But Berry had a message for lawmakers who will meet in January to work on a new two-year state budget: “Don’t get giddy.”

The current budget calls for $300 million of reserves to be spent in the 2011 fiscal year, which began July 1. So the state is really starting the 2011 fiscal year with a $530 million cushion.

Berry predicts that state reserves will dwindle to $188 million by the end of June 2011 — less than 2 percent of the state’s $12.9 billion budget for that year. And if economic growth is slower than the 5 percent gain expected in fiscal year 2011, it could bring the reserves to near zero.

Five percent growth from 2010 to 2011 seems optimistic, said John Ketzenberger, president of the Indiana Fiscal Policy Institute. Numbers released in fiscal reports Friday show that 2010 revenue fell more than 5 percent below 2009 numbers.

The administration of Republican Gov. Mitch Daniels says tax increases aren’t an option — even if revenues fall short of budgets again in the 2011 fiscal year. That could mean spending all of Indiana’s reserves and making more severe cuts.

“Staying in the black when most states are broke and cutting taxes while they are raising them is the best way to help Hoosier families through this recession and out-compete other states for the new jobs we need,” Daniels said in a statement. “Thanks to our agency heads and state employees who are helping us find new ways to stretch tax dollars and do more with less every day.”

During fiscal year 2010, Daniels ordered state agencies to spend 10 percent less than budgeted, and schools were cut $150 million. Those measures — along with using some previously dedicated funds to help prop up the state’s general fund — helped the state spend $784 million less than budgeted.

Berry said a disproportional amount of cuts came from state agencies compared to schools and higher education. Public schools get about 55 percent of the state’s money, but made up 21 percent of spending reductions. State agencies get about a third of the state budget and accounted for 61 percent of cuts.

Daniels has ordered state agency spending in fiscal year 2011 to drop 15 percent below budgeted numbers. Schools will be cut another $150 million and could face more cuts on top of that, although officials haven’t decided yet whether more reductions need to be made.

Democrats noted that the state stayed afloat in part by using money from the federal stimulus program passed in 2009. The budget includes more than $500 million for Medicaid and about $600 million for basic school spending.

“Since the report issued today failed to do so, I want to make sure that the people of Indiana realize that this budget survives thanks to support from the federal stimulus package that has often been attacked by the governor and his administration,” said House Speaker Patrick Bauer, D-South Bend.

Democrats also said they wanted more information on exactly what was cut in 2010. Information posted on the state’s website shows how much individual agencies spent, but doesn’t detail how the reductions were made.

___

Online:

http://www.in.gov/sba/2550.htm

From the newswire: Ind. spends savings, cuts budgets to balance books

SPRINGFIELD — Top state officials are being tight-lipped about budget cuts looming over the state’s prison system.

Last week, Gov. Pat Quinn announced the Illinois Department of Corrections budget would be cut by $41.9 million as part of a $1.4 billion package of spending reductions throughout state government.

Although the cuts won’t result in layoffs or prison closures, it remains unclear how the reductions will be made as part of Quinn’s attempt to juggle the state’s massive financial problems.

In budget documents distributed last week, the administration said the cuts “will be addressed through better management of overtime costs and other operational efficiencies.”

Corrections’ spokeswoman Sharyn Elman did not provide details of what exactly that means.

In a written statement, Elman said, “The department is currently formulating its fiscal year 2011 management plan with the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget.”

Overtime costs within the prison system have been steadily rising in recent years because of under-staffing within the $1.1 billion agency.

In 2007, the department paid out nearly $20 million to prison guards in overtime costs. That figure jumped to an estimated $68 million last year. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees union estimates it might be cheaper to simply hire more employees.

Elman said the agency is reviewing a directive issued by Quinn last week that calls for a series of belt-tightening maneuvers designed to keep the state afloat.

For example, Quinn wants cutbacks in vehicle use, employee travel and printing.

But, in the case of overtime, Quinn says reductions should not apply to employees who are in labor unions. Most of the overtime costs in the prison system are tied to unionized guards having to work double shifts because of understaffing.

Although Quinn had wanted lawmakers to approve a tax hike and allow him borrow money to pay down a huge backlog of unpaid bills, they did neither.

kurt.erickson@lee.net / 217-789-0865

Read the original article from Stateline.org.

From the newswire: IL: How will state cut $42 million from prisons?