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Home
November 17, 2012

 

 

 

Nov 17, 2012

 

 

 

From:  The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact:  Susan Kniep, President
Website:
http://ctact.org/
Email:
fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032

 

If you thought this was bad…. Malloy budget chief confirms $365 million state deficit

 

Wait till you read this…  Projected deficit for next fiscal year tops $1.1 billion | The ...

 

November 15, 2012 By Keith M. Phaneuf  CTMirror.org

State analysts Thursday projected more than a $1.1 billion state budget deficit in the fiscal year beginning July 1, a gap roughly one-third the size of the record-setting shortfall that Connecticut's governor and legislature tried to close just two years ago.

 

The projected shortfall for the coming year is sandwiched between the $365 million deficit Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's administration reported Wednesday for the current fiscal year and a long-range forecast for another gap of more than $1 billion in 2014-15.

 

But since the governor and legislature must balance the current books and craft a new two-year spending plan this spring, that means they must wipe $2.5 billion in real and projected red ink off the state's books before the 2013 session ends next June.

 

The $1.1 billion gap means state government has recovered nearly one-third of the mammoth-sized deficit Malloy inherited just two years ago. And it threatens the governor's often stated goal of not increasing taxes in the budget that begins July 1 -- a plan he must propose to the General Assembly in early February.

 

Malloy reiterated his intention not to raise taxes in a press conference after his monthly commissioners' meeting. The OPM projections, which were reported earlier Thursday by The Mirror, were released during the meeting by Ben Barnes, who oversees the state budget as secretary of policy and management.

 

Both the legislature's nonpartisan Office of Fiscal Analysis and the administration's Office of Policy and Management must submit detailed analyses of finances -- for the current year and the next few years -- to the legislature's Appropriations and Finance, Revenue & Bonding committees.

 

Malloy's budget office released projections that include a $1.16 billion hole in the coming fiscal year, and just over $1 billion in fiscal 2014-15, which begins July 1, 2014.

 

Legislative analysts also reported Thursday that the cost of keeping services at their present level will run more than $1.1 billion beyond expected revenues in 2013-14, and more than $1 billion beyond the fiscal year after that. 

 

Report continues at ..... http://www.ctmirror.org/story/18217/ct-projected-deficit

 

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Report: Income Gap Widens

by Christine Stuart | Nov 15, 2012 10:00am  CTNewsJunkie.com

Posted to: Economics | Equality (8) Comments | Log in to Post a Comment

The gap between Connecticut’s wealthy and poor is the second largest in the nation behind only New York, according to a report   by Connecticut Voices for Children and the Connecticut Association for Human Services.

 

Comparing income over the past three decades with data broken up in 20-percent increments or “fifths,” the two nonprofit agencies discovered the gap between the richest and poorest in the state has grown and that it is the fastest growing gap among all states.

 

“What was once a place with prosperous middle and working classes who were within shouting distance of the upper class now stands as the epitome of rising inequality in America,” the report says. “The change has been drastic.”

 

In 1977-79, the gap between the richest and middle fifths was 42nd largest in the country — in only 8 states were the rich and middle closer together. In 2005-07, that gap had grown to 7th largest — the rich and middle were closer together in 43 other states. Similarly, while the gap between the richest and poorest fifths once ranked Connecticut among the least offenders at 46th in the country, the gap is now 3rd worst, according to the report which looked at both U.S. Census data and income data from the Department of Revenue Services and Internal Revenue Service.

 

Over the last few decades, the richest 1 percent have left behind not just the working and middle classes, but also the well-off. While incomes at the 95th to 99th percentiles — all solid six-figure earners — have enjoyed modest growth over the last two decades, top 1 percent incomes have soared and now constitute nearly 30 percent of all Connecticut adjusted gross income, the report found.

 

Adjusting for inflation, average incomes among those in the top fifth of households more than doubled from 1977-79 to 2005-07, from $107,554 to $226,237 — a gain of $118,682, or 110 percent. Those in the middle fifth saw their incomes rise $22,190, or 40 percent, while those in the bottom fifth lost $981, or 4 percent, over the 30-year period. Because of this large divergence in fortunes, the gap between the rich and the rest grew faster in Connecticut than in any other state. Continue reading at …… http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/income_gap_widens/#more

 

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Connecticut s Fiscal Cliff

 

Don Pesci  http://donpesci.blogspot.com/  Nov 13, 2012

 

 

Newly re-elected U.S. Representative Jim Himes, a moderate Democrat operating out of Connecticut’s 4th District, has said concerning the nation’s so called fiscal cliff, “Washington understands how severe the consequences of the fiscal cliff are. When I saw House Speaker (John) Boehner speak two days ago, I thought he was conciliatory and traced the outlines of a deal."

 

Of course, the perceived severity of fiscal cliffs depends to some extent on one’s political vulnerability. Not all severity is created equal, and Democrats ensconced in Connecticut’s safe districts, such as U.S. Representatives John Larson and Rosa DeLauro, are apt to confront the fiscal cliff with less trepidation than Mr. Himes.

 

 

A recent study conducted by the Defense Technology Initiative should serve the members of Connecticut’s all Democratic Congressional delegation as a splash of cold water in the face. The study presents a sobering picture of Connecticut’s own fiscal cliff that should give vertigo to all freethinking and rational politicians in the state.

 

Read more »

 

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BP Agrees to Plead Guilty to Crimes in Gulf Oil Spill

 

by Abrahm Lustgarten | @AbrahmL

 

BP agreed to plead guilty today to charges of manslaughter, environmental crimes, and lying to Congress in connection with the 2010 Deepwater Horizon drilling rig explosion [1], which killed 11 workers and sent as much as 200 million gallons of oil into the Gulf of Mexico.

 

As part of a settlement with the U.S. Department of Justice, the company will pay $4.5 billion in what is the largest fine ever levied on a corporation in the United States.

The charges against the company stem from BP engineers' decision to ignore a critically important pressure test on the Macondo well structure that could have prevented the deadly blowout and explosion, and for misrepresenting the amount of oil leaking from the open well head after the mammoth drilling rig sank in nearly 5,000 feet of water.

In a separate and unexpected [2] set of charges, three BP managers were indicted for their roles in operating the rig and for misrepresenting facts to Congress, marking the first time that any senior BP personnel have been criminally charged for their roles in the disaster.

 

The Justice Department indicts three BP managers for their roles in the Deepwater Horizon disaster and its aftermath. The company also will pay a $4.5 billion fine, the largest ever levied on a corporation.

http://www.propublica.org/article/bp-agrees-to-plead-guilty-to-crimes-in-gulf-oil-spill

 

More coverage: Gulf Oil Spill

 

 

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How Did Scores of Military Units Lose Combat Records in the War on Terror? A Q&A With Peter Sleeth

 

by Amanda Zamora | @amzamProPublica  Nov 15, 2012

 

A Reddit discussion with investigative reporter Peter Sleeth on the problem of missing combat records and the impact on veterans' benefits and historians.

This week, Pulitzer-Prize winning reporter Peter Sleeth answered questions from Redditors [1] on the revelation that field reports [2] have been lost or are missing for many Army units deployed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Below, highlights of that discussion.

 

(Read: Lost to History: Missing War Records Complicate Benefit Claims by Iraq, Afghanistan Veterans [2]) 

 

 

Continued at …..

http://www.propublica.org/article/how-did-scores-of-military-units-lose-combat-records-in-the-war-on-terror-a

 

 

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