September 20, 2011
From The Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact Susan Kniep
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
Drug deaths now outnumber traffic fatalities in U.S ...
Obama's Sellout to Unions Staggers the Economy (op-ed - Michael
Barone / Boston Herald) During his two years and nine months as president,
he has worked time and again to increase the number of unionized jobs. As for
nonunion jobs, who wants them? http://news.bostonherald.com/news/opinion/op_ed/view/2011_0920sellout_to_unions_staggers_economy/srvc=home&position=also
Sat, September
24th, the American Warrior Day of Honor project http://americanwarrior.us/
- Read More Below
Lavish Benefits: It's Good To Be A
State Cop
CT Troopers
get benefits most of us can't imagine
http://www.ctnow.com/news/connecticut/hc-ed-state-police-benefits-20110917,0,2911300.story
Undocumented Immigrant Hotline Debuts In
Chicago, Answers Deportation Questions
Retiree Benefits for the Military Could Face Cuts (James Dao
and Mary Williams Walsh / New York Times)
Malloy plan would end heat aid to gas and electric utility
customers
U.S. Probes Rating-Cut Trades Wall St Journal Securities regulators have sent subpoenas to
hedge funds, specialized trading shops and other firms as part of a growing
probe of possible insider trading before the U.S. government's credit rating
was cut.
Editorial | How the Big Money
Finds a Way In By EDUARDO PORTER Published: September 17, 2011 Companies, unions and other interest groups
poured about $300 million into campaign ads in the 2010 Congressional elections
after the Supreme Court’s Citizens United decision opened the sluices to
unlimited spending by independent groups. That will look like a trickle
compared with the gusher coming in 2012. Continued at ….. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/opinion/sunday/how-the-big-money-finds-a-way-in.html?src=recg
Obama proposes new taxes on wealthy for half of debt plan
Washington Post
40% of consumers slash spending
America's Most Outrageous Teacher
Cheating Scandals
by Lois Beckett | @loisbeckett Sept 19. 2011 Many states still fail to
follow up on evidence of teacher cheating. Here's our rundown of the long
history of such cheating. http://www.propublica.org/article/americas-most-outrageous-teacher-cheating-scandals
Related: Despite Sweeping Scandals, Big States
Don't Check for Cheating by Teachers
New Evaluation System Pushes Out 34
Teachers In New Haven
COMMENTARY: Public unions
plan raid on taxpayers and private business to fill pension gap Posted on September 15, 2011 By Frank Keegan –They know they’re
trillions of dollars in the hole for false government pension promises, and
that tax increases required to fill it are politically impossible, so state and
local government union groups Wednesday proposed a two-pronged attack on
beleaguered private-sector workers and businesses. The National
Conference on Public Employee Retirement Systems, or NCPERS,
released “The Secure Choice Pension: A Way Forward for Retirement Security in
the Private Sector.” A few hours later, the Center for State and Local Government Excellence,
or CSLGE, had a national press conference to announce “Strengthening State
and Local Government Finances: Lessons for Negotiating Public Pension Plan
Reforms.” Read complete article at http://www.franklincenterhq.org/2726/commentary-public-unions-plan-raid-on-taxpayers-and-private-business-to-fill-pension-gap/
More Pension
Reports at http://PensionTsunami.com
From FCTO Board Member Tami W. Zawistowski, tami.z@resourcebooks.net
- This Saturday,
September 24th, the American Warrior Day of Honor project will send its seventh
group of World War II veterans to Washington,
DC to see the World War II
memorial and other monuments. This is an
amazing effort by the American Warrior organization - http://americanwarrior.us/
- an all-volunteer organization that provides this opportunity at no cost to
veterans. The welcome home for the veterans at Bradley Airport at about
8PM, at the US Air section of the main terminal, this Saturday is a big event,
and includes the Marquess of Granby fife & drum
corps, the American Patriot Guard and other entertainment designed to express
honor and gratitude to these World War II vets. Just park in the garage
and look for the crowd. If you know any World War II vets who might be
interested in the trip, get an application from http://americanwarrior.us/.
Understanding that nearly all of these brave men and women are at least 85
years old, there is medical staff on the trip, one guardian assigned to each
two veterans, and wheelchairs available. So health issues are readily
accommodated. The group also gratefully accepts donations to support
their continued operation of these flights.
New Economic Perspectives: William Black: Why Nobody Went to
Jail ... During the Credit
Crisis http://neweconomicperspectives.blogspot.com/2011/09/william-black-why-nobody-went-to-jail.html
Soaring Poverty Casts
Spotlight on 'Lost Decade' Sept 14, 2011 NY Times Another 2.6 million people slipped
into poverty in the United States last year, the Census Bureau reported
Tuesday, and the number of Americans living below the official poverty line,
46.2 million people, was the highest number in the 52 years the bureau has been
publishing figures on it. Continued at …. http://www.cnbc.com/id/44513702/Soaring_Poverty_Casts_Spotlight_on_Lost_Decade
What's Happening With That Solar
Company Scandal? Here's Our Guide on Solyndra
by Marian Wang | @mariancw
ProPublica Sept 15, 2011
The bankruptcy of solar firm Solyndra
has raised concerns that the Obama administration
shouldn't have loaned the company money via a stimulus program. We break it all
down. http://www.propublica.org/blog/item/whats-happening-with-solyndra-heres-our-guide
Related: Taxpayers Lose $2.3 Billion with CIT
Bankruptcy
Of the 1%, by the 1%, for the
1% Americans have been watching protests
against oppressive regimes that concentrate massive wealth in the hands of an
elite few. Yet in our own democracy, 1 percent of the people take nearly a
quarter of the nation’s income—an inequality even the wealthy will come to
regret.
By Joseph E. Stiglitz Continued
at ….
http://www.vanityfair.com/society/features/2011/05/top-one-percent-201105
The Hill's 50 Wealthiest in Congress By
The Hill Staff - 09/05/11 Rep. Michael McCaul
(R-Texas) has dethroned Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) as the richest member of
Congress, according to The Hill’s annual list of the 50 wealthiest lawmakers. McCaul reported a net worth of at least $287 million, by far the most of any
lawmaker. Analysis for The Hill’s Wealthiest shows
that 2010 was a banner year for many well-heeled members of Congress. Lawmakers
including Republican Rep. Darrell Issa (Calif.)
and Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi (Calif.) saw gains of
millions of dollars in their fortunes. Together, the 50 wealthiest lawmakers
reported a minimum net worth of $1.6 billion, about $200 million more than the
lawmakers who appeared on 2010’s list. Continued at …. http://thehill.com/business-a-lobbying/179087-the-hills-2011-50-wealthiest-congress-rish-list
Taxes and debt: Left and right dare to agree
GOP might need Democratic votes on stopgap spending bill
Russell
Berman 09/19/11 The
Hill - With federal funding set to run out on Sept. 30, the House on Wednesday
is expected to vote on a bill to keep the government running through Nov. 18.
The GOP measure also includes $3.65 billion in disaster aid, with $1 billion of
the relief offset by cuts to a loan program for energy manufacturers.
Continued at http://thehill.com/homenews/house/182489-gop-might-need-democratic-votes-on-stopgap-spending-bill
CNN - Protesters hit Wall Street Modeled on the "Arab Spring" uprisings that swept
through Egypt, Tunisia, Syria and other countries this
year, Occupy Wall Street
is a "leaderless resistance movement" orchestrated through Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools. Continued at …. http://money.cnn.com/galleries/2011/technology/1109/gallery.occupy_wall_street/index.html
Video: Wall St. closed as protesters march
Demonstrators criticized the financial industry for the role
it played in the economy's ills.he economy's ills.
News: For Politics, Bridgeport's In Its Own League
http://articles.courant.com/2011-09-18/news/hc-op-mcenroe-bridgeport-elections-irregular-0918-20110918_1_mayor-bill-finch-bridgeport-democratic-registrar-foster-campaign
Fund Withdrawals Top Lehman as $75 Billion Pulled From
Stocks
GM, UAW Reach Tentative Contract Agreement
New rule would expand tight Obama
lobbying rules to all federal workers
Lehman Three Years Later:
What We Haven’t Learned | Op-Eds & Columns Dean Baker The Guardian Unlimited, September
12, 2011Very little has changed about either the realities on the ground or the
intellectual debate on economic issues in the last three years. The
too-big-to-fail banks are bigger than ever as a result of crisis-induced
mergers. Financial industry profits now exceed their pre-crisis share of
corporate profits, and executive pay and bonuses are again at their bubble
peaks. None of the executives who pushed and packaged fraudulent mortgages have
gone to jail. Even those who have faced civil actions, like Countrywide’s
Angelo Mozilo, have almost certainly still come ahead
after making large payments to settle suits. Continued at …. http://www.cepr.net/index.php/op-eds-&-columns/op-eds-&-columns/lehman-three-years-later-what-we-havent-learned
Obama Tax Plan Would Ask More
of Millionaires Jackie Calmes, The New York Times News
Service: "President Obama on Monday will call
for a new minimum tax rate for individuals making more than $1 million a year
to ensure that they pay at least the same percentage of their earnings as
middle-income taxpayers, according to administration officials. With a special
joint Congressional committee starting work to reach a bipartisan budget deal
by late November, the proposal adds a new and populist feature to Mr. Obama’s effort to raise the political pressure on
Republicans." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/18/us/politics/obama-tax-plan-would-ask-more-of-millionaires.html?src=recg
GM, UAW Reach Tentative Contract Agreement
Long arm of US law battles corruption overseas
Least Popular Deficit Reduction Measures Pursued By White
House ... Congress, Poll Shows The
survey, released Thursday and Friday, found that the most popular
options for reducing the deficit was cutting Social Security benefits for high-income
earners, with 64 percent favoring that idea. The third and fourth most popular
ideas were raising the amount of salary subject to Social Security tax beyond
the current $107,000 a year (52 percent) and gradually raising retirement age
to 69 (49 percent). Yet the White House announced Thursday that President Obama would take changes to Social Security off the table
when he makes suggestions for finding savings. "There will be no Social
Security in the recommendations," said White House spokeswoman Amy
Brundage. On the congressional side, House Republicans have
repeatedly declared that raising taxes is a non-starter -- a stance House
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) reaffirmed in a Thursday speech. Yet, the
Bloomberg survey found that repealing the Bush-era tax cuts on households
earning more than $250,000 is the second most favored idea, at 54 percent.
Continued at ….. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/09/16/poll-white-house-congress-deficit-reduction-least-popular_n_966233.html
Tackling
Reams of Bank Data Can Take Diligence, and Trust by Jesse Eisinger | @eisingerj ProPublica Sept 14, 2011 Jesse Eisinger
looks at the dizzying proposition of trying to determine how many bad
residential mortgage loans the big banks have on their balance sheets. Take
Wells Fargo.
About $41.3 billion, or 19.5 percent, of its $212 billion worth of residential
first-mortgage customers were either late in paying or had been classified as
“nonperforming,” according to the site. This was in line with calculations by
the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which estimates that about a
fifth of residential loans on bank balance sheets nationwide are delinquent or
in the process of being written off. Turn to Wells Fargo’s filings with the Securities and
Exchange Commission for a full picture, according to Wells. It’s a happier,
alternate universe in which $15.6 billion, or 7
percent of $223 billion, of first-mortgage loans are tagged late or “nonaccrual,” a charmingly opaque euphemism for bust.
Continued at …. http://www.propublica.org/thetrade/item/tackling-reams-of-bank-data-can-take-diligence-and-trust More coverage: The Trade