Think Progress

IRAQ -- DIPLOMAT SAYS U.S. 'PUNISHED' ALLIES FOR NOT BACKING IRAQ WAR: The Washington Post reported yesterday that according to an upcoming book by Chile’s U.N. ambassador Heraldo Muñoz, during the run-up to the Iraq war, "the Bush administration threatened trade reprisals against friendly countries who withheld their support, spied on its allies, and pressed for the recall of UN envoys that resisted U.S. pressure to endorse the war." Muñoz says that the effects of the Bush administration's harsh diplomatic strategy before the war has generated lasting "bitterness" and "deep mistrust" in Washington's international relations. He also asserts that after the invasion, "allies loyal to the United States were rejected, mocked and even punished" for refusing to authorize the invasion through the U.N. But as the Iraq war turned sour, the Bush administration changed its tune and began "reaching out to Chile, Mexico and other countries to support Iraq's messy postwar rehabilitation," but Bush's pre-war diplomacy already damaged "the administration's standing in a region that has long been dubious of U.S. military intervention."

CONGRESS -- REPORT SHOWS EARMARKS FOR COLLEGES KEEPS GROWING WITH REPUBLICAN AID: The Chronicle of Higher Eduction has released a report that finds earmarks were passed for 2,300 projects to 920 educational institutions, "$300 million more than the last time The Chronicle conducted its survey." The dollar amount for these earmarks reaches $2.25 billion, quadruple the amount spent ten years ago. The report also finds that funding for peer-reviewed awards and grants has been more difficult to secure since 2003, in favor of non-peer-reviewed earmarks. James D. Savage, a professor of politics at the University of Virginia, said, "those taxpayer dollars are allocated strictly on the basis of the power and access of the legislators involved." While Bush criticizes Congress for earmarks, the report shows that four out of the top five senators and two of the top five representatives securing these earmarks are conservatives.

HEALTH CARE: McCAIN'S REGRESSIVE TAX PLAN MAKES IT HARDER TO AFFORD HEALTH INSURANCE: Last week, the Center for American Progress Action Fund's (CAPAF) Robert Gordon and James Kvaal issued a report on "the Bush-McCain-Norquist Tax Agenda," which found that Sen John McCain's (R-AZ) tax plan would cost $2 trillion over the next decade and would deliver 58 percent of its benefits to the top 1 percent of taxpayers. CAPAF Senior Fellow Jeanne Lambrew points out that McCain's plan to "reform the tax code to eliminate the bias toward employer-sponsored health insurance" would cost $206 billion in 2009 alone -- an amount of spending that "is double that proposed by [Sen. Barack] Obama or [Sen. Hillary] Clinton's plan." Moreover, Lambrew says, "McCain and Bush's plan would make it harder for people with health issues to obtain affordable health insurance." McCain's plan promotes "cross-state insurance shopping," which Lambrew calls a "code word for deregulating health insurance." Insurers would find the state with the least regulation and set up shop there, forcing other states in a race to the bottom of deregulation -- and leaving unprotected the sick people who would find it nearly impossible to obtain insurance under this system.

According to Merrill Lynch, at the end of 2007, "36 percent of consumers’ disposable income went to food, energy and medical care, a bigger chunk of income than at any time since records were first kept in 1960."

Health-care costs are "whacking away" at the wages of working class Americans. Premiums for family health coverage have increased 78 percent since 2001. "Even though workers are producing more, inflation-adjusted median family income has dipped 2.6 percent — or nearly $1,000 annually since 2000."

Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has consistently "condemned the influence of ’special interest lobbyists.'" Yet of "the 66 current or former lobbyists working for the Arizona senator or raising money for his presidential campaign, 23 have lobbied for telecommunications companies in the past decade." McCain has received $765,000 in donations from these individuals and their spouses, co-workers, and clients.

"[E]vidence from nonprofit credit and mortgage counselors suggests that the number of people using these so-called ‘pay day loans’ is growing…a negative sign for economic recovery." A pay day loan "is typically for a few hundred dollars, with a term of two weeks, and an interest rate as high as 800 percent."

"Bipartisan support is mounting for the Justice Department to investigate the unauthorized searches of all three presidential candidate’s passport files by a State Department employee and three contracted workers in recent months."

In addition to U.S. troop deaths reaching 4,000 in Iraq, "American forces have just experienced the most violent two-week period in Iraq since September 2007." Between March 10 and 23, twenty-five soldiers were killed in Iraq.

The average price of gasoline has hit a record $3.26 a gallon, with diesel at a record $4.06. The average coast of gasoline jumped nearly 7 cents from two weeks earlier.

Young Army and Marine captains "have extensive combat experience and are regarded as the military’s future leaders." But "the hardships of repeated tours are taking their toll," sending these individuals back to "civilian life." Capt. Kirkner Bailey of the Third Armored Cavalry Regiment in Mosul said that "8 of my 10 friends who are captains are leaving the army."

In talks Sunday night, JPMorgan Chase discussed offering Bear Stearns $10 a share, instead of its initial offering of $2, "in an effort to pacify angry Bear shareholders." The New York Times reported that the Fed "was balking at the new offer price," making it "possible" that the new deal could "collapse entirely."

And finally: Since former New York state governor Eliot Spitzer's "tête-à-tête with a call girl at the famous Mayflower Hotel," business has been flourishing. The hotel's gift shop "has been booming with people picking up Mayflower coffee mugs and post cards" and the venue's bar "is busier than normal."