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
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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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
*****************
How Did Scores of Military Units Lose
Combat Records in the War on Terror? A Q&A With
Peter Sleeth
by Amanda
Zamora | @amzam / ProPublica 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
Are You a U.S.
Military Vet Who Can't Obtain War Records? Tell Us Your Story