The WonkLine: November 24, 2009

According to the Wall Street Journal, “some federal officials are pressing the U.S. pay czar to ease up on compensation restrictions at AIG for 2010, arguing that the firm, and ultimately the taxpayer, would suffer if the curbs are too severe.”

The percentage of homeowners who are underwater on their mortgage has climbed to 23 percent, as “nearly 10.7 million households had negative equity in their homes in the third quarter.” These homes “are more likely to fall into bank foreclosure and get dumped into an already saturated market.”

The Federal Reserve has “asked nine of the U.S. banks that were part of this year’s stress tests to submit plans for repaying the government’s capital injections.”

“Most Americans don’t expect a health care overhaul to affect their lives directly, but those who worry about the fallout outnumber those expecting to come out ahead, a poll out Tuesday has found.”

Respondents in a new Kaiser Family Foundation poll were “given a list of features of a hypothetical health care proposal and asked to name which were extremely or very important to them.” Among Democratic respondents, 87 percent picked “making sure affordable health insurance plans are available” as their top priority. The public option ranked seventh.

“An analyst for JPMorgan upgraded shares of WellPoint Inc. and Cigna Corp. Monday, saying the stocks should trade higher as the details of a federal health care reform bill come into focus.”

The Washington Post reports that “President Obama has finished gathering information about troop options in Afghanistan and will likely announce his decision in an address to the nation next Tuesday.”

“Iran can take legal action if Russia refuses to fulfill its commitments to deliver an advanced missile defense system to the Islamic Republic,” a senior military official said today. “Iranian officials have voiced growing irritation at Russia’s failure so far to supply the S-300 missile system, which Israel and the United States do not want Tehran to have.”

Politico reports “after months of listening to conservatives caterwaul over deficits and health care, senior House Democrats want a graduated surtax on individuals and corporations to pay for another big drain on the treasury: the Afghanistan war.”

At least 15 couples in the Chicago area were involved in sham marriages as part of “an immigration scheme run in part by traffic court employees who were trying to make money on the side, federal prosecutors say.”

Yesterday, former CNN anchor and immigration fear-monger, Lou Dobbs, announced that he is considering running for President in 2012. “‘What’s so crazy about that?’ Dobbs responded when an anchor with Washington’s WTOP radio station laughed about the possibility of Dobbs running for president.”

On Friday, “as part of a national crackdown on employers” five New Hampshire dairy farms were “shaken by federal subpoenas” seeking “records proving their workers are legal.” It was originally rumored that as many as 86 farmers were to be targeted by federal officials.

“Greenhouse gases have reached their highest levels since pre-industrial times” with carbon dioxide at “385.2 parts per million in 2008,” according to a World Meteorological Organization bulletin.

“Key climate change measures are tracking near or beyond worse-case scenarios predicted just two years ago,” according to the Copenhagen Diagnosis, which draws on more than 200 recently published studies and finds “global ice-sheets are melting at an increased rate; Arctic sea-ice is disappearing much faster than recently projected, and future sea-level rise is now expected to be much higher than previously forecast.”

“In a provocative new study, a University of Utah scientist argues that rising carbon dioxide emissions — the major cause of global warming — cannot be stabilized unless the world’s economy collapses or society builds the equivalent of one new nuclear power plant each day,” as “accumulated economic production over the course of history has been tied to the rate of energy consumption at a global level through a constant factor.”

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