Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

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

TAX TALK AUGUST 22, 2010

National Debt: $13,375,345,247,832

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock

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In Striking Shift, Small Investors Flee Stock Market �August 21, 2010, By GRAHAM BOWLEY New York Times, With renewed economic uncertainty, American investors have withdrawn a staggering $33.12 billion from stock market mutual funds so far this year. Continued at � http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/22/business/22invest.html?hp

48 out of 50 states have lost jobs since stimulus �Jay Heflin� The Hill 08/20/10 House Ways and Means ranking member Dave Camp (R-Mich.) on Friday released data complied by his office that shows 48 out of 50 states have lost jobs since the February 2009 enactment of the economic stimulus bill.� "While Democrats promised their 2009 stimulus would create 3.7 million jobs, the reality is far different," stated a release from Camp's office. "To date, 2.6 million jobs, including 2.5 million private sector jobs, have been lost."�� http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/801-economy/115197-camp-48-out-of-50-states-have-lost-jobs-since-stimulus

Jobless claims rise to highest level in 9 months Aug 19, 2010,WASHINGTON (AP) - Employers appear to be laying off workers again as the economic recovery weakens. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits reached the half-million mark last week for the first time since November.

It was the third straight week that first-time jobless claims rose. The upward trend suggests the private sector may report a net loss of jobs in August for the first time this year. http://www.tribtoday.com/page/content.detail/id/545943/Thurs-11-30-am--Jobless-claims-r---.html

California close to issuing IOUs - again By Tami Luhby, senior writer August 19, 2010 NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- California is once again running out of money and may have to issue IOUs within a few weeks. The state's financial crunch stems from the fact that it does not have a budget for the current fiscal year, which began July 1. The governor and lawmakers continue to squabble over how to close an estimated $19 billion shortfall. http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/19/news/economy/california_ious_furloughs/index.htm

Taking Schools Into Their Own Hands, Wall Street Journal, Aug 16, 2010,

As Washington pressures local systems to address failing schools, Rochester, N.Y., Mayor Robert Duffy and other local leaders are weighing an idea that puts power in the hands of mayors rather than school boards. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704268004575417301793522096.html?mod=WSJ_WSJ_US_News_3

State borrowed from capital program to keep budget afloat By Keith M. Phaneuf , Aug 13, 2010, CTMirror.com, Nearly $600 million borrowed from future capital projects to help state government pay its bills has thrown a wrench into Gov. M. Jodi Rell's efforts to bond another $260 million for the planned New Haven-to-Springfield commuter rail line.Rell canceled Wednesday's scheduled State Bond Commission meeting after leaders of the legislature's Finance, Revenue and Bonding Committee questioned why the $580 million in short-term borrowing - approved in April 2009 when the state was more than $1 billion in deficit - still hasn't been repaid. http://www.ctmirror.com/story/7273/state-borrowed-capital-program-keep-budget-afloat

Connecticut:� Losers Again, This Time On School Aid, Race to the Top Connecticut's heart just wasn't in it �August 08, 2010 Hartford Courant

Connecticut's leaders didn't have their hearts in the race for $3.4 billion in federal funds to improve student achievement, despite the thousand of hours they put into it. �This state's share of Race to the Top funding could have been up to $175 million. That's a big loss of money that could have gone to narrowing the state's worst-in-the-nation achievement gap. Losing out on federal funds is becoming a bad habit Connecticut has to break. �Continued at �. http://articles.courant.com/2010-08-08/news/hc-ed-education-race-0808-20100808_1_school-reforms-teachers-unions-top-funding

News from the National Taxpayers Union Foundation

http://action.ntu.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=7103&em_id=3441.0

http://action.ntu.org/site/MessageViewer?dlv_id=7022&em_id=3361.0

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To Learn More About the 9/12/10 March on Washington

Contact newhaventeaparty@gmail.com

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MAPLight.org Congress: New Public Search Tool Shows Company, Industry, & Individual Campaign Contributions to Members of Congress

MAPLight.org has launched a new contributions search tool showing who gave what to whom, and when.

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SHOULD YOU BE EATING THAT FISH?!?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p0F8x4i5GYE&feature=related

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Eminent Domain Abuse Survival Guide

http://www.castlecoalition.org/survivalguide

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The Library of Liberty

http://oll.libertyfund.org/

Long-term debt: The real problem, America�s Debt Crisis This year, U.S. debt held by the public, which does not include money owed to Social Security and other government trust funds, will top 60% of the country's economy as measured by gross domestic product. By 2022 it is projected to reach 100%. And by 2035, it's on track to approach 200%. By comparison, the average debt held by the public between 1960 and 2000 was just 37%, according to information from the debt reduction task force.The large leaps in indebtedness mean, among other things, that by the end of this decade, the vast majority of all federal tax revenue will be swallowed up by just four things: Interest payments on the country's debt, and the payment of Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security benefits.By 2021, the cost of annual interest payments alone would top that of the defense budget and itself eat up more than half of all federal taxes, according to information from the debt reduction task force. http://money.cnn.com/2010/08/19/news/economy/long_term_debt/index.htm

Third-Party Candidates Make Their Case For Equal Treatment

Wildly Different In Platforms, But A United Front�� By DANIELA ALTIMARI, altimari@courant.com ��August 18, 2010� HARTFORD � �

http://www.courant.com/news/politics/hc-third-party-issues-08119-20100816,0,7577961.story

China's trouble with its neighbors should be focus of coverage

By: Austin Bay �Examiner Columnist August 18, 2010

Just released to Congress is the Pentagon's annual report on China's military. Weapons programs got ink, especially its cyberwar programs, its expanding navy, ballistic missile projects. The report summarized China's strategic priorities as "perpetuating Communist Party rule, sustaining economic growth and development, maintaining domestic political stability, defending China's national sovereignty and territorial integrity, and securing China's status as a great power." http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columns/Austin-Bay-Chinas-trouble-with-its-neighbors-should-be-focus-of-coverage-101017369.html

MAJOR FOREIGN HOLDERS OF

TREASURY SECURITIES

(in billions of dollars)

http://www.treas.gov/tic/mfh.txt

Youtube Video on Arizona Immigration Law

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tsH8xvjTAlo

Between a Fiscal Rock and a Hard Place by Howard Gleckman on 19 Aug 2010 | �� The Congressional Budget Office�s annual mid-session update provides some striking evidence of just how challenging today�s fiscal environment is. Because deficits were so high going into the economic slump, and because the financial crash was so steep, Washington must now navigate between two unacceptable outcomes: tight fiscal policy and slower growth now, or bigger deficits and slower growth later. �� CBO�s latest estimates, summarized nicely in this blog by director Doug Elmendorf, paint the choices in stark terms. On one hand, if we let all the Bush tax cuts expire, allow stimulus to come to an end, and permit domestic spending to grow only fast enough to keep up with inflation, we can bring the federal deficit down to 4.2 percent of Gross Domestic Product in 2012, less than half of this year�s 9.1 percent. Once the economy recovers, deficits would settle in at manageable levels of between 2.5 percent and 3 percent from 2014 to 2020. This scenario, which effectively extends current law, sounds pretty good if the deficit is your biggest worry.� http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/blog/_archives/2010/8/19/4608858.html

Another View of the Bush Tax Cuts by Howard Gleckman on 17 Aug 2010, Adam Looney at the Brookings Institution has a nice new paper on the Bush tax cuts. It can be summarized in this picture:� http://taxvox.taxpolicycenter.org/blog/_archives/2010/8/17/4607042.html