September 27, 2011
From The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact Susan Kniep
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
Esty Was Paid $205,000 By CL&P's Corporate
Parent Jon Lender Courant
September 25, 2011 State energy
and environment Commissioner Daniel C. Esty — who
sparked some official concern in recent weeks by halting state regulators'
deliberations in a multimillion-dollar application by Connecticut Light &
Power Co. — was paid $205,000 as a consultant from 1997 to 2005 by CL&P's parent company, Northeast Utilities. Continued at
…. http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-lender-column-esty-nu-0925-20110923,0,1168083.column
The Five Million Dollar Man,
How government unions rip off the taxpayer. From the
president's hometown comes an example of what he is actually supporting. The Chicago Tribune reports
that an investigation it conducted with WGN-TV found "23 retired union
officials from Chicago stand to collect about $56 million from two ailing city
pension funds." http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424053111903703604576584881282113572.html#articleTabs_video%3D%26articleTabs%3DarticleHOW
VISIT http://www.pensiontsunami.com/
Malloy's heating aid plan disputed The Day By Patricia Daddona Sept 27, 2011 Gov. Dannel P.
Malloy is proposing a compromise plan on home heating fuel assistance that is
proving unpopular with public utilities and community advocates alike. Continued at http://www.theday.com/article/20110927/BIZ02/309279950/1017
With half of schools failing NCLB, Malloy to seek a waiver
By Jacqueline Rabe Thomas Sep
23 2011 With almost half the schools in Connecticut failing to meet the
requirements of No Child Left Behind, Gov. Dannel P. Malloy was quick to say
the state would be seeking a waiver from the federal law's requirements under a
process announced today by President Obama. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/13998/days-after-news-half-schools-failing-nclb-malloy-announces-he-will-seek-waiver
President Obama Gives States
Flexibility to Opt Out of No Child Left Behind Provisions Read the
Article at The Associated Press
EXCLUSIVE: Check Out All The Millionaire Moguls Who Refuse To
Support The "Buffett Tax"
But even more notably, this elite also
presides over industries bulging with election-year campaign dollars for
President Obama. The entertainment industry flooded
his coffers with some $2.53 million in this year’s first half Continued at …. http://www.businessinsider.com/buffet-tax-poll-2011-9
How state lawmakers
pump up pensions in ways you can't
By Thomas Frank, USA TODAY – Sept 24, 2011 At
age 55, South
Carolina state Sen. David Thomas began collecting a pension for his legislative service
without leaving office. Thomas' $32,390
annual retirement benefit — paid for the rest of his life — is more than triple
the $10,400 salary he gave up. His pension
exceeds the salary because of another perk: Lawmakers voted to count their
expenses in the salary used to calculate their pensions. Full report at
….
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/story/2011-10-11/1A-state-lawmakers-pump-pensions/50522036/1
INTERACTIVE: How state legislators inflate
pensions
MORE: State-by-state pension rules and
methodology
Corporations and Other
Powerful Interests by
Olga Pierce, Jeff Larson and Lois Beckett ProPublica, Sep. 23, 2011, 10:03
a.m. Opaque redistricting groups are being quietly bankrolled by corporations,
unions and others. They are working not to help voters in the communities they
claim to represent but to improve the prospects of their political allies or
harm their enemies. Complete report at …. http://www.propublica.org/article/hidden-hands-in-redistricting-corporations-special-interests
Interactive feature: Florida's 3rd Congressional District
Greece says bailout loans will arrive in time to avoid default
Fed, Crashing Markets Hit Taxpayers Twice in Public Pension
Crisis (Frank Keegan / Watchdog.org)
A Campaign Finance Ruling Turned to Labor’s …
Advantage
By Steven Greenhouse, The New York Times News Service:
"Labor unions are seizing on last year's landmark Supreme Court campaign
finance ruling to change how they engage in politics, developing ambitious
plans to influence nonunion households in the 2012 election and counter
corporate money flowing into outside conservative groups. Labor unions had
initially assailed the ruling, known as Citizens United, for allowing
corporations and wealthy donors to vastly expand their spending on
campaigns.... But the ruling also changed the rules for unions, effectively
ending a prohibition on outreach to nonunion households." Continued at … http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/us/politics/a-campaign-finance-ruling-turned-to-labors-advantage.html?_r=1&pagewanted=all
Did Barclays Help U.S. Banks Get Undeserved Foreign Tax Credits?
Euro
Zone Death Trip - New York Times - NewsTrust
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/26/opinion/euro-zone-death-trip.html
Bill Clinton, Home Wrecker Sept 23, 2011
Investors Business Daily
While everyone was worried about Clinton socializing health care, he was busy
socializing mortgages. To boost minority homeownership, Clinton toughened anti-redlining rules and
launched a federal assault on mortgage underwriting standards.
He enlisted no fewer than 10 federal regulatory agencies to
crack down on prudent lenders. He named his anti-bank SWAT team the Interagency
Task Force on Fair Lending. Complete article
at http://www.investors.com/NewsAndAnalysis/Article/585922/201109231847/Bill-Clinton-Home-Wrecker.htm
Corporations Couldn't Wait to 'Check
the Box' on Huge Tax Break
by Jeff Gerth, ProPublica,
and Megan Murphy and Vanessa Houlder, Financial Times The
'check-the-box' rule, meant to cut red tape for companies, has inadvertently
allowed them to avoid billions of dollars in taxes each year, and the
government keeps balking at closing the loophole. Check-the-box is but one of many
forms of “tax arbitrage” [4] — the art of exploiting
differences in countries’ tax systems. It can reduce taxes all by itself or
figure into more complex transactions. As the Financial Times and ProPublica
reported Monday [5], the IRS in recent years has clamped down on
what it views as abusive arbitrage deals involving foreign tax credits.But check-the-box lives on. It is not among
loopholes targeted by Obama’s new plan. Its
untouchable status — the government has twice tried to kill it and balked —
provides a case study in how a billion-dollar tax break was born by mistake,
then protected by the power of the business community. Continued at …..
http://www.propublica.org/article/corporations-couldnt-wait-to-check-the-box-on-huge-tax-break
This story was co-published with The Financial Times.
Related: Momentum Builds for Global Crackdown on
Tax Loopholes
Saudi monarch grants kingdom's women right to …Vote
The Spend Now, Tax Later Jobs Bill The president says we can lower the corporate tax rate if we get
rid of 'special deals.' But his plan doesn't include a lower rate. By ALAN REYNOLDS Sept 22, 2011 As Appeared in the Wall St Journal Excerpt: In other words,
most of that large, $866 billion 10-year tax hike comes from phasing out
personal exemptions and deductions. These are not "tax breaks that small
businesses and middle-class families don't get," as the president claimed
on Monday in his Rose Garden remarks. The phase-outs apply to the same
exemptions and deductions enjoyed by those earning less than $250,000,
including deductions for mortgage interest, charitable contributions, and state
income taxes. Complete article at http://online.wsj.com/article_email/SB10001424053111904194604576583151431651920-lMyQjAxMTAxMDIwNDEyNDQyWj.html?mod=wsj_share_email
Our Man in Kandahar September 26,
2011 By: MATTHIEU AIKINS
Source: The Atlantic Abdul Raziq and his men have received
millions of dollars’ worth of U.S.
training and equipment to help in the fight against the Taliban. But is our
ally—long alleged to be involved in corruption and drug smuggling—also guilty of
mass murder?
In a First, SEC Warns Rating Agency It
May Bring Financial Crisis Lawsuit
by Marian Wang | @mariancw Major credit ratings agencies have thus far
weathered the fallout of the financial crisis with no sanctions from federal
regulators and little more than a bruised reputation. That could soon be
changing. http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/in-first-for-ratings-firms-sec-warns-sp-may-face-charges-financial-crisis
Related: The Timeline of Magnetar's
Deals
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