Daily Political Wire 6-9-2010

George Wenschhof

Today, President Barack Obama will meet with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas at the White House - The Washington Post has more here.

Middle East Envoy George Mitchell has been the intermediary in the "proximity talks" between Israel and Palestine. His job has been made more difficult by the announcement by Israel of new building permits in the disputed West Bank and Israel's recent seizures of humanitarian aid ships bound for the Gaza Strip.

Perhaps Obama can broker a UN inspection process for humanitarian aid ships bound for Gaza that is acceptable to Israel.

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Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke to appear at House Budget Committee today - this morning, investors will be listening to the testimony by Bernanke and the stock market will respond. Bernanke is expected to say that growth will remain weak but steady and that there is little danger of slipping backward into another recession. Listen to his analysis of Europe's economy and that of China. MSNBC.com has more here.

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Blagojevich Trial Underway - opening statements were given by the government and the lawyer for the former Illinois Governor. The government prosecutors presenting a detailed time line of abuse which they say began soon after his election. The defense argued Blagojevich was a "C" student who surrounded himself with people he should not have, countered the prosecutors as to Blagojeich's intent and said he was broke today. Stay tuned... The NY Times has more here.

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Maryland Republican candidate for Governor Bob Ehrlich says he wants to make the state "open for business" - promises of reducing corporate and small business tax rates and the creation of commissions to study the current corporate income tax and unemployment benefit system were highlights of his speeches at campaign stops on Monday.

Democratic Governor Martin O'Malley's campaign countered with questioning why Ehrlich hadn't done those things when he was in office. Meanwhile, Maryland's unemployment rate of 7.5% remains among the lowest of any state in the nation. The Baltimore Sun has more here.

Interestingly, it was Ehrlich's pledge to offer commissions to state Department of Business and Economic Development top-level employees who brought corporations to the state that caught my attention. This type of incentive could easily lead to the careless action which was prevalent on Wall Street that lead the country into the severe economic recession which is still being felt today.

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