September 10, 2012
From: The Federation of
Connecticut Taxpayer Organizations
Contact: Susan Kniep,
President
Website: http://ctact.org/
Email: fctopresident@aol.com
Telephone: 860-841-8032
Metropolitan District Commission (The MDC )
Votes to Put $800 Million Dollar Bond
Referendum on November, 2012 Ballot
http://cmgr.themdc.com//ucmprd/groups/public/documents/public/mdc_437793.pdf
Members Towns Include
Bloomfield, East Hartford, Hartford, Newington, Rocky
Hill, West Hartford, Wethersfield and Windsor
FAQs
| The Clean Water Project
Review Minutes of Previous MDC Meetings
at
http://press-releases.themdc.com/MeetingMinutes.aspx?mtype=DBM
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State of Connecticut CMT and CAP Test Scores for 2012
- How Does Your Town Compare?
Click the following web link: http://www.ctact.org\upload\home\BOB2012CMT.xls
Contact fctopresident@aol.com or ryoung0@snet.net with any questions.
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U.S. Debt Hits $16 Trillion
State learns price of
universal preschool: $264 million
Retired state official told to repay $411,688 in disability
payments
Survey finds manufacturing thriving in Connecticut; other
businesses struggle more
Lembo says state must rein in spending to avoid another deficit
Lembo
reported a $143.6 million General Fund deficit for the 2011-12 fiscal year.
What the Federal Budget Is Hiding
Ex-Mayor Of Bridgeport, Out Of
Prison, Seeks Return To Law Practice
TAXPAYER
BRAGGING RIGHTS! The Federation will periodically recognize within its
publications an effective Taxpayer or Taxpayer Group working to improve
government.
One such group is the Avon
Taxpayers Association under the leadership of its President, Flo Stahl, who is also a Board Member of FCTO. As union contracts are being negotiated in
towns throughout the State, Flo in her article Let the Sunshine In states her case for
Transparency in Public Sector Union Contract Negotiations which are now held
behind closed doors. Flo
notes the following…. What makes the practice of closed negotiations insidious
is that it perpetuates a culture of mystery and opaqueness. This is the same
culture that is charged with producing the equivalent of a financial hammer
because we live or die by these contract decisions for years. When the secretly
negotiated contract finally does become public, its opaqueness continues with
language that almost always requires knowledge of prior provisions and terms to
make any sense of it. Click Let the Sunshine In to read Flo’s
article in its entirety.
In addition to concerned taxpayers in Connecticut stepping
forward to improve government, taxpayer advocacy is effective throughout the
country as in Westerville, Ohio
Taxpayer group is asking voters to strip $16
million from wasteful ... spending. “The goal is to force school officials to
address a history of questionable spending practices that have resulted in
annual tax increases. The group leading the charge – Taxpayers
for Westerville Schools – also wants the district to consider
logical cost-saving measures that have been repeatedly suggested by local
residents, but largely ignored by the school board.
Are you a concerned taxpayer or a member of a group working
for reform? We will be glad to highlight
you in our next publication. Write to fctopresident@aol.com
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Debt Collectors Cashing In on Student Loan
Roundup September 8, 2012 Andrew Martin, The New York Times News
Service: As the number of people
taking out government-backed student loans has exploded, so has the number who
have fallen at least 12 months behind in making payments — about 5.9 million
people nationwide, up about a third in the last five years. In all, nearly one
in every six borrowers with a loan
balance is in default. The amount of defaulted loans — $76 billion — is greater
than the yearly tuition bill for all students at public two- and four-year
colleges and universities, according to a survey of state education officials. Continued at
….. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/business/once-a-student-now-dogged-by-collection-agencies.html
OECD downgrades outlook for world economy The Hill, By Erik Wasson Sept 6, 2012 By Erik Wasson The Organisation for Economic
Co-operation and Development (OECD) on Thursday downgraded its outlook for the
global economy compared to an earlier May assessment. The OECD said uncertainty
resulting from the eurozone crisis and the “fiscal
cliff” looming in the United
States at the end of the year is
particularly affecting the manufacturing sector and slowing growth. The report
finds non-OECD developing countries becoming more effected
by the languorous pace of global trade due to economic retrenchment in Europe. For the United States, the OECD predicts
2.3 percent gross domestic product growth in calendar year 2012, up from 1.8
percent last year. But the United
States has the most robust growth, with the
G-7 advanced developed countries averaging 1.4 percent growth. Continued at ….. http://thehill.com/blogs/on-the-money/economy/247709-oecd-downgrades-outlook-for-world-economy
As posted on CTNewsJunkie.com OP-ED | The State of Modern Capitalism
by
Jonathan Pelto
Sep 6, 2012 The concept that Connecticut taxpayers need to pay the
world’s biggest hedge fund $115 million dollars to stay in Connecticut is,
understandably, a hard thing to truly understand. They managed to pay
their CEO $3.9 billion last year and we have to cough up $115 million, or they’ll
move? Read complete report http://jonathanpelto.com/2012/09/06/connecticut-the-state-of-modern-capitalism/
Get Your Daily Fix of CTNewsJunkie.com at http://ctnewsjunkie.com/
RPT-Chicago teachers, school officials
resuming talks to avert strike
Gary Jason: The coming pension wars Sept 6, 2012 Current news reports remind us that,
while our national attention is rightly focused on the upcoming election, the
looming fiscal crisis caused by public-employee pensions grows ever closer. Moody's recently warned that the
realistic and responsible accounting rules it is now applying to municipal and
state governments are revealing that the unfunded public-employee pension
liabilities at the state and local levels appear to be about $2.2 trillion, or
nearly triple recent estimates. Moody's has warned that it will downgrade bond
ratings accordingly for state and municipal governments. Continued at ….. http://www.ocregister.com/opinion/public-370675-billion-illinois.html
Defense contractors hesitate over layoff
notices before election By Jeremy Herb, The Hill, Sept 9, 2012 - Lockheed CEO Bob
Stevens first raised the prospect of mass layoff notices in June, when he said
the lack of guidance from the Obama administration
could compel the company to issue layoff notices to all 123,000 employees
because it was unknown where the cuts would fall. Continued at …… http://thehill.com/blogs/defcon-hill/industry/248313-defense-contractors-hesitate-over-layoff-notices-before-election
Is Connecticut's debt changing outlook for
bonds on Wall Street? By Keith M.
Phaneuf When measured against its
sluggish economy, Connecticut's huge bonded and pension debt ranks worst among
all states, a leading Wall Street publication asserted this week. Continued at …… http://www.ctmirror.org/story/17313/big-state-debt-changing-outlook-connecticut-bonds-wall-street
State Trooper Files Labor Complaint Over
Dues by Hugh McQuaid
| Sep 7, 2012 12:30pm A state trooper has filed a complaint with the Board of
Labor Relations accusing the Connecticut State Police Union of denying him the
right to know how union dues are spent.
The claim rests on case law that requires a non-union employee, who is
nonetheless represented by the union in collective bargaining, to continue to
pay a portion of their dues as a representation or agency fee. The law also
requires the union to provide an explanation of how that money is spent. The officer, Trooper First Class Marc Lamberty, made the complaint in late July following months
of correspondence with the union’s president, Andrew Matthews. Lamberty resigned from the union in June 2011 in the midst
of a vote by state employees on a concession package. Continued at ….. http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/state_trooper_files_labor_complaint_over_dues/
Murphy, McMahon spar over personal
financial woes
Feel Good Movie Angers Union Boss By Larry Sand On September 4, 2012 · Showing how painful the truth can
be, AFT boss Randi Weingarten goes bonkers over a new
film in which a teachers union is presented fairly. Won’t Back Down, a movie
due to open nationally on September 28th, centers around two determined
mothers, one a bartender and the other a teacher, who team up and try to
transform their failing public school in Pittsburgh. Facing a powerful and
entrenched bureaucracy, administrative corruption and the teachers union, they
devote their lives to making a difference in the education and future of their
children. Continued at ….. http://unionwatch.org/feel-good-movie-angers-union-boss/
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From ProPublica September 6, 2012 This article is
part of an ongoing investigation: Eye on the Bailout As big banks return their TARP money, Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac continue to be a drain.
The Bailout: By The Actual Numbers by Paul Kiel ProPublica,
Sept. 6, 2012, 9:16 a.m. Quick, how many billions in the red are taxpayers on
the bailout of GM? AIG? Fannie and
Freddie? Is it true that the government has reaped a profit from bailing
out the banks? It should be easy to find answers to such questions. But while
it's a snap to find rosy administration claims about the bailout,
finding hard numbers is much more difficult. That's why, since the bailouts
began in 2008, we've maintained a frequently updated site to provide them. Now
we've retooled our database to make it even easier to find these
sorts of answers. So you can
effortlessly discover that it's $27 billion for GM, $23 billion for AIG, $91 billion for Fannie, $51 billion for Freddie, and yes, the bank
investments have so far returned a profit of $19 billion. We also make it easy for you to see which investments have resulted in losses (39 so
far in total) and to sort bailout recipients by how far in the red or
black they are. As always, our scorecard page adds it all up and shows where
both bailouts — the Troubled Asset Relief Program, better known as TARP ($55
billion in the red) and Fannie and Freddie (negative $142 billion) — stand
right now. Ultimately, the bailout of GM seems likely to result in the TARP's single biggest loss. But since the government still
holds about a third of the company's stock (currently worth about $10 billion), we don't
include it on our list of losers yet. It's possible the
government will sell the stock for more than it's
currently worth, recouping more of its investment. For now, the reigning bust
is the $2.3 billion investment in the bank CIT, which landed in bankruptcy less than a year
after its bailout. Second on the list is Chrysler, which resulted in a $1.3 billion loss.
Continued at …… http://www.propublica.org/article/the-bailout-by-the-actual-numbers
The Bailout Scorecard
Our frequently updated database tracks every dollar. In the scorecard, we provide a summary generated from the latest numbers.
Bailout Recipients
Our bailout recipient list tracks the companies to which Treasury has committed money.
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Divided by Immigration Policy John
Leland, The New York Times News Service, Sept8, 2012
"The outpouring was intense this summer when President Obama
announced that his administration would temporarily stop deporting many illegal
immigrants who came to the United
States as children…. Now, friends, siblings
and spouses who for years shared the same precarious status find themselves on
opposite sides of a divide, one preparing for lawful work or access to student
loans, the other bracing for the tap of an immigration official. …. “the Obama administration deported 1.1 million illegal
immigrants, more than any presidential administration since the 1950s.” Read complete
article at http://www.nytimes.com/2012/09/09/nyregion/divided-by-immigration-policy.html?pagewanted=all
Reuters Reports: BP sought to blame blue-collar workers: U.S. By David Ingram WASHINGTON | Thu Sep
6, 2012 - BP executives wanted to
concentrate blame for the Deepwater Horizon oil spill disaster on "blue
collar rig workers" in order to save themselves, U.S. government lawyers
wrote in a court document that until Thursday was partially redacted. According
to the newly public and complete version of the court document, Justice
Department lawyers are taking an even harsher tone against BP Plc for the 2010
oil spill than previously thought, invoking the language of class conflict. The
August 31 document from the Justice Department was already notable for its
strong wording about what the government considers gross negligence on the part
of the London-based oil giant and its management. Continued at ….. http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/09/06/us-bp-oilspill-blue-collar-idUSBRE8851DF20120906
US lays out examples of "gross
negligence" by BP
Chicago braces for possible teachers' strike
-- its first in 25 years ... By Faith Karimi,
CNN September 7, 2012 Chicago
is bracing for a
teachers' strike that could affect hundreds of thousands of students next week
in the nation's third-largest school district. Teachers
and support staff set a walkout date for Monday, which would mark the first
time they have gone on strike in 25 years. "This is a difficult decision
for all of us to make," said Karen Lewis, the union president .
"But this is the only way to get the board's attention and show them we
are serious about getting a fair contract which will give our students the
resources they deserve." If it happens, it will affect about 400,000
students, including some from neighborhoods struggling with crime and gang
problems. Continued at http://www.cnn.com/2012/09/07/us/illinois-teachers-strike/index.html
After Failed Congressional Bid, Donovan Is
Left With Campaign Debt by Christine
Stuart, Sep 7, 2012, He may have dropped his third party bid, but House Speaker
Chris Donovan is still working to raise money to pay off what could be about
$84,000 in campaign debts, according to the Federal Election Commission. Continued at …… http://www.ctnewsjunkie.com/ctnj.php/archives/entry/after_failed_congressional_bid_donovan_is_left_with_campaign_debt/
What bankruptcy means for Journal Register
Company newsrooms .. Journal Register Company, which owns the New
Haven Register, Middletown Press and Register Citizen, filed for bankruptcy on Thursday in an effort to shed “legacy obligations” that include
significant debt, pension liabilities and expensive long-term leases on
buildings we no longer use. What does
this mean for the newsrooms that I lead as editor of JRC’s
newspapers in Connecticut?
Continue reading at ….. http://connecticutnewsroom.wordpress.com/2012/09/06/what-bankruptcy-means-for-journal-register-company-newsrooms/
Student Loans: Debt for Life Even if you buy into the notion that
education debt is good debt, at what point does it become too much of a good
thing? Mark Kantrowitz, publisher of FinAid.org,
which researches financial aid, estimates that student debt, compounded by
rising enrollments, is growing by nearly $3,000 a second. Read complete article
at http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2012-09-06/student-loans-debt-for-life
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Visit the Federation’s Website for Previous Publications
http://ctact.org/
The following are articles you may find of interest from a
previous publication:
Are You a
Proud CT Property Owner Keeping Your Property In Pristine Condition You could find your
property defined under State Law as Deteriorated, Deteriorating, Substandard or
Detrimental to the safety, health, welfare or general economic well being of
the community.
Report:
Connecticut Economy Weaker Than Experts Believed
Sane
politics: Don't follow Connecticut | New Hampshire OPINION01
For U.S.
unions, holiday begins somber election countdown
Rentschler field piling up financial losses | WTNH.com
Connecticut
Baldwin
leaves state holding the bag For more than 250
Thousand Dollars
Who Pays for
Party Conventions? Taxpayers may be surprised to learn that at
least in part, they do.
Connecticut
General Assembly: How They Voted
How the state Senate voted on key bills >>
How the state House voted on key bills >>
SmartTowns website
http://www.smarttowns.org/.
Memoir of a
nuts & bolts prosecutor
Do Naugatuck Valley tax scandals point to wider issues? | The ...
Wall Street
agency poses tougher test for state pensions' health High Tide:
From a Swiss Money Laundering Probe of UBS to Fortune 500 Companies' Codes of
Conduct Collective
Bargaining and Human Rights
How Fed makes
money for taxpayers
Nine school
districts to apply for Race to the Top federal money
States Cutting the Most Government Jobs - 24/7 Wall St.
Taxes: How
much should the rich pay?
Check Out State Employee
Salaries, Pensions, Vendor Payments and More at the
Connecticut
Transparency Website