Federation of Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations

MADISON, Wis. � The Wisconsin Supreme Court handed Republican Gov. Scott Walker a major victory on Tuesday, ruling that a polarizing union law that strips most public employees of their collective bargaining rights could take effect.In a 4-3 decision that included a blistering dissent, the court ruled that Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi overstepped her authority when she declared the law void. Sumi had ruled that Republican lawmakers violated the state's open meetings statutes in the run-up to passage of the union legislation. Continued at �. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/14/wisconsin-union-law-_n_877095.html

US Is in Even Worse Shape Financially Than Greece: Gross �13 Jun 2011 | �By: Jeff Cox CNBC.com Staff Writer When adding in all of the money owed to cover future liabilities in entitlement programs the US is actually in worse financial shape than Greece and other debt-laden European countries, Pimco's Bill Gross told CNBC Monday. Much of the public focus is on the nation's public debt, which is $14.3 trillion. But that doesn't include money guaranteed for Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security, which comes to close to $50 trillion, according to government figures. The government also is on the hook for other debts such as the programs related to the bailout of the financial system following the crisis of 2008 and 2009, government figures show. Taken together, Gross puts the total at "nearly $100 trillion," that while perhaps a bit on the high side, places the country in a highly unenviable fiscal position that he said won't find a solution overnight. Complete report at �. http://www.cnbc.com/id/43378973

IMPORTANT READING�..EBRI Study: Retiring at 65 out-of-reach for many Americans, 80+ more realistic� HULIQ.com� Many Americans will still be looking forward to retirement at age 80, a new study from the Employment Benefit Research Institute indicates.� According to the EBRI model, to give 90 percent of households a 50 percent probability of success in the lowest pre-retirement income levels, retirement would have to be deferred to age 84. To achieve a 70 percent probability of success in the lowest pre-retirement income levels, only 2 of 5 households will be able to do so by age 84. And, increasing that probability to 80 percent lowers the number of households to only 1 of 7 by age 84.� Contribution to retirement plans during the pre-retirement years makes a significant difference at any retirement age, indicates the EBRI report: Continued at �.. http://www.huliq.com/10473/ebri-study-retiring-65-out-reach-many-americans-80-more-realistic

Yankee Institute Details

77 Higher Taxes for Connecticut

High Court Upholds Legislators' Ethics Law� By JESS BRAVIN June 14, 2011 Wall St Journal� The Supreme Court Monday upheld a Nevada state law barring legislators from voting when they have a personal interest in the outcome, rejecting arguments that such ethics rules infringe on lawmakers' First Amendment rights. Citing ethics standards dating to 1789, when the first Congress adopted a conflict-of-interest rule, Justice Antonin Scalia's court opinion said a legislator's vote wasn't a form of personal speech. Rather, it was "his apportioned share of the legislature's power" and thus subject to regulation in a way that individual expression was not, he said. The decision marks a setback for some conservative activists who have been fighting to expand the legal definition of "speech" and impose constitutional limits on ethics regulation. In last year's Citizens United case, the Supreme Court endorsed the view that spending by corporations and unions to influence elections is a form of speech that enjoys First Amendment protection. In a 5-4 ruling in January 2010, the court nullified decades of state and federal restrictions on corporate political spending.� Continued at �. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303714704576383593580194506.html

US lawmakers seek reforms of anti-corruption rules By Andrea Shalal-Esa WASHINGTON, June 14 (Reuters) - The Obama administration defended its stepped up enforcement of a U.S. law banning bribery of foreign officials, and warned lawmakers that changes could open loopholes for wrongdoers. "Foreign corruption remains a problem of significant magnitude," Greg Andres, deputy assistant attorney general in the Justice Department's criminal division, told the House Judiciary Committee's subcommittee on crime, terrorism and homeland security. "The problem is as big as it's ever been, if not bigger," Andres said, citing a World Bank estimate that more than $1 trillion in bribes are paid each year, amounting to about three percent of the overall world economy. Continued at �. http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/06/14/usa-bribery-idUSN1424118220110614

Report: Many weapons used by Mexican drug gangs originate in U.S. June 14, 2011 CNN� A trio of Democratic U.S. senators called for tougher firearms laws and regulations after releasing a report that showed a large number of weapons used by Mexico drug gangs originate north of the border. More than 70% of 29,284 firearms submitted to the U.S. Department of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives for tracing by the Mexican government during 2009 and 2010 originated in the United States, according to the report. The report, released Monday, is the latest element in a debate over how large a role the United States plays in arming the ruthless Mexican drug cartels that are responsible for more than 34,000 killings since 2006.� Read complete article at

http://articles.cnn.com/2011-06-14/us/mexico.guns_1_mexican-drug-drug-cartels-drug-gangs?_s=PM:US

US Housing Crisis Is Now Worse Than Great Depression By: Jeff Cox CNBC.com Staff Writer June 14, 2011 It's official: The housing crisis that began in 2006 and has recently entered a double dip is now worse than the Great Depression.

Prices have fallen some 33 percent since the market began its collapse, greater than the 31 percent fall that began in the late 1920s and culminated in the early 1930s, according to Case-Shiller data. The news comes as the Federal Reserve considers whether the economy has regained enough strength to stand on its own and as unemployment remains at a still-elevated 9.1 percent, throwing into question whether the recovery is real. Continued at �. http://www.cnbc.com/id/43395857

More transparency needed at Capitol | Hartford Business

http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article.php?RF_ITEM[]=Article$0@18808;Article&css_display=print

When Smoke Clears: Tax Hikes, A Sham Budget, A Shady Deal Kevin Rennie NOW YOU KNOW �June 12, 2011� Now we wait. The supine General Assembly enacted Gov. Dannel P. Malloy's plan to preserve the size and scope of state government under the guise of economic development. A vast tax increase, some of it retroactive, will fund a budget that continues to grow. The hard part is ahead: results. Those will be harder to fake than balancing the budget. The talk about banishing gimmicks from the state's finances did not last long. What Malloy and legislative leaders had hailed in May as a historic $1.6 billion concession agreement with state employee unions degenerated into so much smoke upon examination that mirrors became unnecessary in creating illusions. Read complete article at

http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/hc-op-rennie-legislature-budget-mallo20110612,0,4247254.column

One step forward, two back - Tax increases, economic development initiatives send mixed messages to CT business�� By Greg Bordonaro and Brad Kane

gbordonaro@HartfordBusiness.com bkane@HartfordBusiness.com

Today� Connecticut wants to attract and grow businesses, and tax them like crazy. ��The state�s business community seems confused and disappointed by this year�s General Assembly legislative session. On one hand, lawmakers passed several sweeping economic development initiatives to grow jobs and attract companies. On the other hand, record tax increases and a controversial paid sick leave measure are leaving behind serious concerns about the future growth of the state�s private sector. http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/news18908.html

State to Amazon: You still have to collect sales tax By Keith M. Phaneuf

Amazon.com and other online retailers have severed their Connecticut business ties, rather than accede to a new state law that will require any online company with a physical presence in the state to collect the sales tax. But now, it seems, the taxman cannot be so easily dodged. http://www.ctmirror.org/story/12941/state-tries-collect-online-retailers-they-sever-ties-connecticut

Amazon cuts ties with CT affiliates By Brad Kane� bkane@HartfordBusiness.com� Online retailer Amazon cut ties with its Connecticut advertising affiliates today, as a result of a new tax state lawmakers passed as part of the two-year budget agreement. In a letter to its advertising affiliates, Amazon said it would immediately cease its Amazon Associates Program in Connecticut because of a the new tax. The provision, better known as the Amazon Tax, requires online retailers to collect a 6.35 percent sales tax from online sales, even if they don't have a physical presence in the state, as long as they enter into advertising relationships with Connecticut-based Web sites.�� Read complete article at http://www.hartfordbusiness.com/article.php?RF_ITEM[]=Article$0@18933;Article

Tom Foley: Outdated policies invite a Connecticut crash - Tom Foley was� the Republican candidate for governor of Connecticut in 2010.� Publication: The Day �06/12/2011 12:00 AM� The facts are clear and simple. Spending in the general fund is budgeted to go up next fiscal year by over $450 million, an increase of 2.5 percent over this year. The governor's "deal" with state workers' unions includes no reduction in either the number of state workers or the overall cost of the state workforce. Gov. Malloy and the Democratic majority are closing this entire budget deficit with increased taxes amounting to more than $2.5 billion. These big tax increases will raise Connecticut's already high cost of living. Most of the increase in taxes will fall on middle-income households. Connecticut households in 2013 will pay on average more than $2,000 more in state taxes than they did last year. With average household income at $68,000, Connecticut's middle-income families will have to again cut back spending to meet their heavy new tax burden, further hurting an already weak economy.� Read complete article at http://www.theday.com/article/20110612/OP05/306129949/1070/NWS13

Libya war costs US taxpayers $2m a day and still no Gaddafi ...� The billion dollar war? Libyan campaign breaks Pentagon estimates costing U.S. taxpayers $2 million a day� http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2001778/Libya-war-costs-US-taxpayers-2m-day-Gaddafi.html

AP Data Show States' Budget Challenges Differ; Combined Unfunded Retirement Liabilities Exceed $1 Trillion (Erik Schelzig / Associated Press) http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5g2brESS2FZL8kAQNX98V96f1IWmA?docId=228f91244a11452da264225585de7aa3

U.S. Underwrites Internet Detour Around Censors� NYTimes By JAMES GLANZ and JOHN MARKOFF� Published: June 12, 2011 �The Obama administration is leading a global effort to deploy �shadow� Internet and mobile phone systems that dissidents can use to undermine repressive governments that seek to silence them by censoring or shutting down telecommunications networks. Read full report at http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/12/world/12internet.html?_r=1

Government Causes Poverty John Stossel June 13, 2011 http://www.foxbusiness.com/on-air/stossel/blog/2011/06/13/government-causes-poverty-0?amp

News from THE HILL http://thehill.com/

Boehner demands that Obama provide legal basis for Libya mission

House panel approves $11 billion increase in defense spending

Bernanke: Debt limit hike is not optional

Group files ethics complaint against Boehner over DOMA defense

Send this one back where it came from� BY GLENN GARVIN� Ggarvin@miamiherald.com ��Neither snow nor rain nor gloom of night stays the U.S. Postal Service from its appointed rounds, as long as it gets a giant bailout. Largely reduced to a delivery service for subsidized junk mail, crippled by sweetheart deals with its labor unions, the Postal Service is a good candidate for the dead-letter box. Instead, its managers are frantically lobbying for a federal bailout nearly twice the size of the one General Motors got.� Make that two bailouts.�

The Postal Service is not only trying to sneak a direct $75 billion payment out of the government without congressional approval, it�s also asking to be let off the hook for a $5.5 billion payment into a trust fund to guarantee the absurdly generous pension benefits it has promised its retirees. When the Postal Service can�t pay those benefits a few years down the line, who do you think will get the bill? Hint: Look in the mirror.� Continued at�.. http://www.miamiherald.com/2011/06/06/2254104/send-this-one-back-where-it-came.html

Three hedge-fund traders were convicted on all charges of fraud and conspiracy, in the latest victory for prosecutors cracking down on insider trading. The verdict came about a month after Galleon founder Raj Rajaratnam was found guilty in a separate but related case.

Shahien Nasiripour: Bank Of America 'Significantly Hindered' Federal Investigation,..., U.S. Official Says �NEW YORK -- Bank of America, the largest U.S. bank by assets, "significantly hindered" a federal investigation into the firm's faulty foreclosure practices on potentially billions of dollars worth of taxpayer-backed loans, a federal auditor told an Arizona court.

The bank withheld key documents and data, prevented investigators from interviewing bank employees or asking certain questions, and was slow to provide information, according to a June 1 declaration by William W. Nixon, a fraud examiner and assistant regional inspector general for audit for the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development inspector general's office. Complete article at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/06/13/bank-of-america-significantly-hindered-federal-investigation_n_876408.html

S&P cut its ratings on Greece's debt by three notches, citing risks that negotiations over a new bailout package could result in default.

Courtney, Himes demand Weiner resign over Twitter scandal

By Deirdre Shesgreen

Seniors on Medicare face cost barrier for cancer meds� By RICARDO ALONSO-ZALDIVAR The Associated Press ...� WASHINGTON � Chemotherapy is now available in a pill, but if you have Medicare, you may not be able to afford it. That�s what happened to Rita Moore when she took her prescription for a medication to treat kidney cancer to her local drugstore. She was stunned when the pharmacist told her a month�s supply of the pills would cost $2,400, more than she makes.� Medicare prescription plans that cover seniors like Moore are allowed to charge steep copayments for the latest cancer drugs, which can cost tens of thousands of dollars a year. About 1 in 6 beneficiaries are not filling their prescriptions, according to recent research that suggests a worrisome trend. Complete article at �.. http://southtownstar.suntimes.com/business/5940692-420/seniors-on-medicare-face-cost-barrier-for-cancer-meds.html