Today’s edition of quick hits:
* Austerity doesn’t work: “Greece will miss a deficit target set just months ago in a massive bailout package, according to government draft budget figures released on Sunday, showing that drastic steps taken to avert bankruptcy may not be enough.”
* The economic outlook in Europe is getting uglier by the day, but the domestic news isn’t all bad: “Manufacturing grew more quickly in September as production and hiring increased, suggesting that factories would help keep the economy from slipping into a new recession.”
* U.S. auto industry is looking up, too: “Major automakers posted double-digit percentage U.S. sales gains for September in a rebound that General Motors Co said showed the economy was likely to steer clear of a double-dip recession.”
* In case you missed it over the weekend, several hundred demonstrators from the Occupy Wall Street protests were arrested as they tried to cross the Brooklyn Bridge.
* Trade deals: “The White House has sent three long-delayed trade agreements to Congress. The move puts the deals with South Korea, Colombia and Panama on a path toward final passage after years of delay.”
* Zadroga: “The newly reopened September 11th Victim Compensation Fund of $2.8 billion will start taking applications Monday. The fund is intended to help people who became ill after working at Ground Zero and others whose sicknesses can be tied to the site. Residents, workers and others may apply, including those whose claims to the first fund were denied.”
* Terrific piece from Greg Sargent on President Obama’s proposed tax hikes on the rich: “[L]et’s look at how Obama’s tax policies would really impact the wealthy if they were enacted — and how those effects would fit into the bigger picture of income disparity in America.” Spoiler alert: the right really aren’t being asked to sacrifice that much.
* Good call: “The nearly 4,000 workers who were furloughed in a two-week, partial shutdown of the Federal Aviation Administration this summer will receive back pay, the agency said Friday.”
* Krugman tackles the Senate bill that “would threaten sanctions against China” over currency manipulation. “Respectable opinion is aghast. But respectable opinion has been consistently wrong lately, and the currency issue is no exception.”
* Vermont isn’t the only state with a Democratic governor who support single-payer health care. Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer (D) has similar plans of his own.
* The Republican Party of Massachusetts has a new goal: get Harvard to fire Elizabeth Warren.
* And how extreme is right-wing entertainer Hank Williams Jr.? Even the cast of “Fox & Friends” wasn’t willing to go along with his radical rant this morning. Among other things, Williams compared President Obama to Hitler.
Anything to add? Consider this an open thread.
