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Thank you.
November 6, 2011
From Susan Kniep, President
The Federation of Connecticut
Taxpayer Organizations, Inc.
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
AFP-Connecticut
Wishes You A Happy Taxiversary!
In 1991
the State of Connecticut,
under Governor Lowell Weicker, passed a state income
tax. This new tax was sold to residents as a short term solution to solve a
budget crisis. Now 20 years later residents and the state economy are still
suffering. Happy Taxiversary Connecticut Taxpayers!
White House Subpoenaed, Stimulus Loans Under
Investigation
http://blog.heritage.org/2011/11/03/white-house-subpoenaed-stimulus-loans-under-investigation/
The U.S.'s Growing
Income Gap, by the Numbers by Braden Goyette
| @bcgoyette by Braden Goyette
ProPublica, Nov. 3, 2011, 11:08 a.m. The nonpartisan
Congressional Budget Office recently released a much-discussed study [1]showing that
over the past three decades the income of the highest-paid Americans has soared
while the income of others has grown much more modestly. Here’s a rundown of
some statistics illustrating the growing income gap. Continued at …. http://www.propublica.org/article/the-u.s.s-growing-income-gap-by-the-numbers
Forty House Republicans Back Revenue Increases to Cut Deficit ...
Jon Lender: Capitol Project Becomes A
Concrete Mix-Up
Dems push Wall
Street tax despite White House, GOP opposition http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/domestic-taxes/192031-dem-lawmakers-push-wall-street-tax-despite-gop-obama-opposition
Nearing deadline, supercommittee
holds public hearing on two old plans
Stocks fell, capping their first weekly loss since
September, as Europe's debt problems
overshadowed a small gain in U.S.
jobs. The Dow declined 61.23 points, or 0.5%, to 11983.24.
U.S. House Passes Two Bills Aimed at Helping Firms Raise
Capital
52% of Unemployed No Longer Receive Benefits; Average Duration of
Unemployment is 40 Weeks
U.S. House Approves Looser SEC Rules for Closely Held Firms
Bernanke Gives Push to New Stimulus
as Officials Lower Outlook
http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-11-04/bernanke-gives-push-to-new-stimulus-as-officials-lower-outlook.html
*****************
From Bob Young - Please consider
watching INSIDE JOB a documentary film on the lead up to our FINANCIAL
CRISIS, produced, written & directed by
Academy Award nominated filmmaker Charles Ferguson
Click on www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob
below for a review of the film.
*****************
Report: Military Blew $1 Trillion on Weapons Since 9/11 - Wall ...
The Stimson Center
study, "What We Bought: Defense
Procurement From FY01 to FY10"
(PDF), says the military is hardly in dire straits when it comes to funding its
big-ticket items. "The services capitalized on funding to modernize their
forces, especially the major weapons programs that constitute the heart of the
services' capabilities," writes the report's author, Russell Rumbaugh—a retired Army officer and ex-CIA military
analyst. The study shows there's one big reason the brass are concerned about
budget-cutting discussions in Congress: They've been double dipping into the
taxpayer's pocket to finance weapons purchases. Of the roughly $1 trillion
spent on gadgetry since 9/11, 22 percent of it came from "supplemental"
war funding—annual outlays that are voted on separately from the regular
defense budget. Those bills are primarily intended to keep day-to-day
operations running in Iraq and Afghanistan—meaning that if a member of Congress
votes against a supplemental spending bill, she exposes herself to charges that
she doesn't "support the troops" in harm's way. Continued at …. http://forums.wallstreetexaminer.com/topic/1013917-report-military-blew-1-trillion-on-weapons-since-911/
Percentage of Americans Living in Poverty Rises to Highest Level ...
Obama health care law has unexpected beneficiaries
Big Trouble at Big Tobacco
BP to pay $50 million to settle state blast claims - Houston
Chronicle
U.S. Tightens Drone Rules By ADAM ENTOUS, SIOBHAN GORMAN and JULIAN E. BARNES Wall St Journal The Central
Intelligence Agency has made a series of secret concessions in its drone
campaign after military and diplomatic officials complained large strikes were
damaging the fragile U.S. relationship with Pakistan. The covert drones are
credited with killing hundreds of suspected militants, and few U.S. officials
have publicly criticized the campaign, or its rapid expansion under President Barack Obama. Behind the scenes,
however, many key U.S.
military and State Department officials demanded more-selective strikes. That
pitted them against CIA brass who want a free hand to
pursue suspected militants. Continued At ….. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970204621904577013982672973836.html
California - Editorial:
$100,000 pension club not-so-exclusive
Ranks of six-figure state pensioners nearly double in two
years http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/percent-325304-pension-state.html
South Carolina Board Votes
to Cut Benefits for 137,500 Retired State Employees to Address $13 Billion
Funding Shortfall (Adam Beam / The State)
CalPERS $100,000 Pension Club Membership Soars 99% in Two Years,
563% Since 2005 (blog - Teri
Sforza / Orange County Register)
The Lessons From Vallejo,
California’s Bankruptcy (editorial - San Diego Union-Tribune)
The Euro and Your 401(k) By JIM MCTAGUE Barrons With little fanfare, U.S.
taxpayers are helping to bail out Greece Continued at ….. http://online.barrons.com/article/SB50001424052748704760604577011852238080484.html?mod=BOL_hpp_dc
Feds File Massive Fraud Case Against Allied Home
Mortgage
*************************
A Message from Editor
Michael Regan of
CTMirror.org.
Click on the underlined subject to read more…..
It was another week in which the aftermath of a storm
dominated the news. And if Connecticut
Light & Power President Jeffery Butler thought the grilling was tough after
Tropical Storm Irene, he was in for an even worse time following the
pre-Halloween Nor'easter that blacked out most of the state.
Butler warned early on
that it would take at least a week to restore power completely, but by Tuesday Gov. Dannel P. Malloy declared himself "out
of patience," particularly with
the shortage of repair crews. "I'm not interested in excuses or
apologies," the governor said. Late Friday, he ordered an independent review of the response to the storm. "We need to have a very
timely, thorough review of the power companies' performances, to identify what
went wrong, why it went wrong, and most importantly, identify solutions,"
Malloy said.
Legislators were fed up too, and, as Keith Phaneuf noted, had plenty of ideas to offer. One called for mandatory generators at gas
stations: Long lines and short tempers had some towns assigning police to the
few stations with power to run the pumps. Two top Democrats had something
bigger in mind: They proposed legislation that could lead to millions of dollars in fines when utilities are slow to restore power.
Customers of United Illuminating, the state's
other major utility, fared better, with most getting power back by Tuesday. And
as Jan Ellen Spiegel noted, the state's half-dozen small municipal utilities generally had fewer outages and faster restoration after
both Irene and the weekend snow.
In other news: Mark Pazniokas
reported that House Speaker Christopher Donovan, a leading proponent of public
financing for state elections, is accepting money for his Congressional race from lobbyists and others with
an interest in state legislation--and his reformer allies aren't complaining.
Three key Malloy administration officials announced their departures, including chief of staff Timothy Bannon.
And two months after they were scheduled to start work,
members of a labor-management efficiency panel created as part of last summer's
concession deal finally held their first meeting.
*************************
New ed chief seeks $25M for
low-performing districts
Half of 4th- and 8th-graders fail national test in reading
and math
Government Cans Proposal to Hide
Records
by Jennifer LaFleur | @j_la28 Controversial FOIA
proposal would have allowed the government to say certain records didn't exist,
even if they did. The Department of Justice has pulled that proposal.
Related: Government Could Hide Existence of
Records under FOIA Rule Proposal
Lawmakers
Aim to Stop Defense Cuts if Debt Panel Fails by JENNIFER STEINHAUER and ROBERT PEAR NYTimes Nov 5, 2011
Pessimism is mounting about whether a
committee in Congress can come up with a deal to avoid triggering automatic
cuts. Members of both parties and both chambers said they increasingly feared
that the 12-member committee would be unable to bridge deep partisan divisions
and find $1.2 trillion in deficit reduction as required under the law that
raised the debt
ceiling and created the committee in the
summer.
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/us/politics/lawmakers-aim-to-stop-pentagon-cuts-if-deficit-panel-fails.html?emc=eta1
Two Proposed Ballot Measures Aim to Scale Back California's
Public Employee Pensions (blog - Anthony York / Los
Angeles Times)
There's many a gray head in Occupy Wall
Street crowd "I thought it's important that people recognize that
there are a lot of very thoughtful people in this country that identify with
the Occupy Wall Street people," Taylor said. Like many of his fellow
protesters, Taylor said he was concerned with income
inequality in America
and corporate influence in Congress. Continued at ….. http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/11/02/129080/theres-many-a-gray-head-in-occupy.html
Flaws Jeopardize New Attempt to Help Homeowners
White House protest planned against oil pipeline from Canada
...
Renee Schoof, McClatchy Newspapers:
"Thousands of people are expected to mass at the White House on Sunday to
send an environmental message to President Barack Obama: Say no to a proposed pipeline that would import
highly polluting oil from Canada. It's likely to be the biggest environmental
protest in Washington
in a long time." http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2011/11/04/129329/white-house-protest-planned-against.html
Military spends $363,000,000 on weight loss surgery
Greek Leader Survives Vote, Bolstering Deal on … Europe Debt
Rachel Donadio, The New York
Times News Service: "The moves come at the end of a frenetic week that began
with Mr. Papandreou’s surprise call for a referendum on Greece’s new debt agreement with
the European Union.... He was then [backed] away in a humiliating about-face
and saw his domestic support crumble rapidly, even within his own party.... The
confidence vote was essentially cast as a vote on the debt agreement reached
with European leaders in Brussels last week, and its passage suggested that
Parliament was likely to formally approve the deal." http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/05/world/europe/greek-vote-european-debt.html?_r=1