The White House has just released a fact sheet/talking points on the financial relief legislation.

House debate continues with a final vote anticipated around 12:30 p.m.

UPDATE (11:49 a.m.): Good commentary from Vin Weber, giving reasons why conservatives should vote for the measure.

UPDATE (12:19 p.m.): The NAM has sent a “Key Vote” letter to the House urging passage of the legislation. The text is here.

An editorial in the Wall Street Journal, “The Stockholm Curve“:

With the economy struggling, at least some people are urging a pro-growth tax cut. Too bad they live in Stockholm. As a recent headline in Agence France-Presse put it: “Sweden Announces Income Tax Cuts to Boost Jobs.” The government is planning to cut business taxes and the personal income and payroll tax.

“The corporate tax is one of the taxes which large companies really study when they plan to set up business somewhere,” says Jan Björklund, leader of the country’s Liberal Party, in promoting the tax cut plan. The corporate tax reduction will bring the Swedish rate down to 26.3% from 28%, continuing its fall from a high of 57% in 1987. This means that Swedes will soon have a corporate tax rate one-third lower than the U.S. average of 39.5% (the 35% federal rate plus the state average).

Sens. Obama and McCain discussed corporate taxation in the presidential debate in Oxford. (Transcript)

McCain:

Right now, the United States of American business pays the second-highest business taxes in the world, 35 percent. Ireland pays 11 percent.

Now, if you’re a business person, and you can locate any place in the world, then, obviously, if you go to the country where it’s 11 percent tax versus 35 percent, you’re going to be able to create jobs, increase your business, make more investment, et cetera.

Obama:

What I do is I close corporate loopholes, stop providing tax cuts to corporations that are shipping jobs overseas so that we’re giving tax breaks to companies that are investing here in the United States. [snip]…

Now, John mentioned the fact that business taxes on paper are high in this country, and he’s absolutely right. Here’s the problem: There are so many loopholes that have been written into the tax code, oftentimes with support of Senator McCain, that we actually see our businesses pay effectively one of the lowest tax rates in the world.

We turn again to the Tax Foundation for analysis and commentary. 

President Bush gave a statement this morning at the White House:

7:34 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Yesterday, leaders here in Washington reached an extraordinary agreement to deal with an extraordinary problem in our economy. Working closely with my administration, congressional leaders from both parties produced the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act — a bold bill that will help keep the crisis in our financial system from spreading throughout our economy.

This legislation deals with complex issues, and negotiators were asked to address them in a very short period of time. I appreciate the leadership of members on both sides of the aisle, who came together when our nation was counting on them. Negotiations are sometimes difficult, but their hard work and cooperation paid off.

The bipartisan economic rescue plan addresses the root cause of the financial crisis — the assets related to home mortgages that have lost value during the housing decline. Under the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act, the federal government will be authorized to purchase these assets from banks and other financial institutions, which will help free them to resume lending to businesses and consumers.

(continue reading…)

From the Minot Daily News, “Moving Up“:

North Dakota’s oil production is climbing so fast that it’s expected to move to the sixth top-producing state in the country by end of the year, says the president of the North Dakota Petroleum Council.

“It’s unbelievable to all of us in the industry. We are growing at about 6,000 barrels a day per month. In April, we broke the all-time record of 148,000 barrels in North Dakota which was from 1984,” said Ron Ness, Bismarck, president of the N.D. Petroleum Council.

Eventually overtaking Oklahoma as energy producer? Wow. Time for a revival of “Oklahoma” set near Parshall….”Dodge Dakota with a Fringe on Top.”

Of course, the Bakken formation will only provide enough oil to run the U.S. economy for four minutes and seven seconds, so why do we bother?

Meanwhile, offshore, the oil industry is being cautious about the lifting of the federal moratorium on energy development on the Outer Continental Shelf, obviously and prudently. The topic came up in a conference call with bloggers last Friday with Red Cavaney, president and CEO of the American Petroleum Institute.

As you all know, in our industry, with such long time horizons and such heavy upfront capital expenditures before anything does happen, shall we say, you know, a temporary period like this really isn’t sufficient, either for the federal government or anybody else to lay the groundwork to get us to a point where people could actually bid on a lease or do something concrete. So we’re hopeful that people will begin progress.

One of the industry’s first challenges is educating the public about everything that’s involved in the moratorium and the obstacles faced by the industry in developing the natural gas and oil, Cavaney said.

Al Gore, who once swore to uphold the U.S. Constitution, tells young people to break the law to stop construction of coal plants. The Wall Street Journal comments:

Speaking last Wednesday on a celebrity panel in New York, the Nobel Prize Laureate proclaimed: “If you’re a young person looking at the future of this planet and looking at what is being done right now, and not done, I believe we have reached the stage where it is time for civil disobedience to prevent the construction of new coal plants that do not have carbon capture and sequestration.” He added, “clean coal does not exist.”

Mr. Gore didn’t explain how far he thinks his young acolytes should go in their rage against the coal-burning machines that provide about 50% of U.S. electricity. Sit-ins? Marches against power plants? How about trashing power lines: What could he mean by “civil disobedience”?

Funny thing is, as the WSJ notes, the anti-coal campaigns often target new production that would replace older, more polluting power generation. Duke Energy’s Cliffside power plant would cut sulfur dioxide emissions by 80 percent and nitrogen oxide by 50 percent. To the ramparts!

In the Christian Science Monitor, columnist Eoin O’Carroll wonders why Gore is leaving it up to the young people to break the law. From “Does Al Gore think he’s too old for civil disobedience?”

Leaving aside whether breaking the law is ever justified, it seems odd that Gore doesn’t seem to include himself in the category of the “young people” he thinks should risk jail to halt global warming. After all, at age 71, Ghandi was arrested and served two years in prison. The US labor organizer Mother Jones was still facing charges of sedition in her 80s. Even TV president Martin Sheen, who is eight years older than Gore, managed to get himself arrested at an antinuclear action in Nevada last year, for what he says is the 65th time.

Guess there’s no “three-strikes you’re out” for trespassing.

In any case, it seems clear that Gore’s a dilettante when it comes to civil disobediance, not bothering to recognize its ability to persude rests in individual sacrifice, not endless Powerpoint presentations.

UPDATE: (10:30 a.m.) From The Chilling Effect:

Financial relief legislation dominates the week, along with Wall Street troubles, the reaction of global markets, and the economy, and banks, and real estate, and employment and then Congress leaves town.

The House convenes at 8 a.m. today and turns to the  Senate Amendments to H.R. 3997, Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. An adjournment resolution is also on tap, according to the Majority Leader’s floor schedule for the day.

Today the Senate convenes at  11 a.m., and moves to debate the H.R. 2095, Federal Railroad Safety Improvement Act; cloture vote at 12:30 p.m. It will also consider the financial rescue legislation if and when it passes the House.

You can read the financial bill and related materials at the House Financial Services Committee’s website.

Senator Biden and Governor Palin debate Wednesday Thursday at Washington University in St. Louis. Good topics to discuss: energy (clean coal, perhaps?) and tort reform.

Executive Branch: President Bush today at 10:05 a.m. honors winners of the 2007 National Medal of Science and the National Medal of Technology and Innovation. In separate meetings today, the President meets with the President of Lithuania and the President of Ukraine.

Commerce Secretary Gutierrez leads a trade mission to the Dominican Republic today and Costa Rica Tuesday and Wednesday, speaking and meeting. On Wednesday, he participates in a press availability with the Chairman of the Board of Directors of Wal-Mart Centroamérica. (Looks like the global food crisis — la crisis mundial de alimentos — has been the big issue for Wal-Mart down there.) Secretary of Labor Chao speaks in Irvine, Calif., discussing global competitiveness with the California Fraternal Order of Police. Energy Secretary Bodman travels to Vienna and Paris to attend the 52nd annual International Atomic Energy Agency General Conference and the third annual Global Nuclear Energy Partnership Ministerial Meeting. 

 On Friday, the Labor Department releases employment figures for September.

Happened upon this radio commentary and news summary by Mutual’s Fulton Lewis, broadcast on WOR the evening of September 5, 1974. The subject of the segment: the politics of economic crisis. Even some of the actors are the same — Senator Robert Byrd and Bill Seidman are mentioned. The initial topic is a White House Conference on Inflation. Excerpts from Lewis (soundfile here):

• “President Ford said today he wants the American people to get the unvarnished truth about inflation and they are sick and tired of having politics played with their pocketbooks.”
• “After Walter Hoadley* of the Bank of America called for ‘upbeat thinking’ to counter a lack of confidence in the future, President Ford volunteered the opinion that Americans cannot indulge in positive thinking unless they first had the truth. “
• “A consensus seemed to emerge among economic experts that an economic depression is unlikely to develop but output is likely to be flat, sluggish, or down a bit over the next 18 months.”
• “Senate Democrats advised President Ford today that they are ready to keep Congress in session for the rest of this year if necessary to deal with the nation’s economic problems. At the same time, the Senate Democrats said it is up to the White House to make any specific moves or suggestions regarding the economic situation if any action is to be taken on Capitol Hill this year.”
• “Assistant Democratic Leader Robert Byrd said the executive branch is the ‘action arm’ of the government. Democrat Leader Mike Mansfield said action by the Democratic controlled Congress alone is an impossibility. He told newsmen, ‘if you want to get something done, you have to have the cooperation of the White House. It’s as simple as that.’”
• “Senator Byrd, the West Virginia Democrat, noted the statement two days ago by William Seidman, a Ford economic aide, that new proposals this year would be impossible since Congress was planning to adjourn in mid-October. Senator Byrd said the country cannot afford to wait until next year. ‘We want to debunk the idea that Congress is getting ready to go home, stay home, because of the election.’”

Rocky Graziano advertising transmission shops, abortion politics, and state lotteries also appear.  Three days later, President Ford pardoned President Nixon.

Lewis’ commentary is available at Archive.org, tacked onto the end of a CBS Radio Mystery Theater epsidode, Deadline for Death.

*Walter Hoadley died in 2003 at age 86. He and his wife of nearly 64 years, Virginia, had two children; the daughter, Jean Hoadley Peterson, died Sept. 11, 2001, in the terrorist seizure of the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania.

Materials and text of the bill available at the House Financial Services Committee, which is now functioning after the initial rush of interest paralyzed the website.

Click the following links to view documents:

Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Summary of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Section-by-Section of Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Or continue to the Financial Services Committee’s regular home page….

The same are posted at the House Majority Leader’s site.

The bill starts in the House on Monday.

Also…a letter from OMB Director Jim Nussle to House Republican Leader John Boehner on provisions that still continued to trouble House Republicans.

This September marks Martin Guitar’s 175th anniversary, so it’s with great pleasure AND a sense of history that we present this week’s Cool Stuff Being Made. The video is introduced by Chris Martin, chairman and CEO of the sixth-generation family-owned company, more properly known as C.F. Martin & Co, world famous manufacturers of accousting guitars.

Dick Boak, artist relations manager, does the honors of leading the manufacturing plant tour. Of course, as with so many high-quality string instruments, the work starts with the finest woods — in this case, mahogany from Peru, American hard maple, Spanish cedar from Central America, etc. When you start 300 guitars a day, you’re processing wood continually, Boak explains.

This week stays with the cutting, shaping, gluing, etc., of the wood. In part two, we’ll get to see actual assembly.

Thank you, PCN for supply the video!

Oh, and considering it artistic license, we’ll also link to the interesting, beautiful and cool magazine, Fretboard Journal and its spring ’08 issue, which contained a story on Martin’s first Orchestra Model guitar.

On today’s House suspension calendar, i.e., two-thirds support needed for passage, is S. 3350, waiving federal claims to documents held by the estate of Grace Tully, FDR’s confidential secretary. He dictated the declaration of war against the Empire of Japan to her. Summary:

Grace Tully began working for Eleanor Roosevelt in 1928 while Franklin Delano Roosevelt was running for Governor of New York. She then worked in a number of capacities for Franklin Delano Roosevelt, including as his personal secretary when he was elected President. On December 7, 1941, President Roosevelt dictated to Ms. Tully a request to Congress for a declaration of war following the Japanese bombing of Pearl Harbor.

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