Why don’t the Democrats want to see tax breaks taken away?

Comment:  Democrats trying to block their tax dodge
11-30-2012

Why don’t the Democrats want to see tax breaks taken away?

A Democrat familiar with the talks says the administration proposal includes closing loopholes and deductions. Plain and simple.

If taxes are raised on the upper class Americans, that means that they will still be able to keep their deductions on their INCOME and not pay their fair share of taxes, and they will get more back at tax time, or pay no tax at all.

• 10 Filthy-Rich, tax-dodging hypocrite CEO’s pushing for disastrous austerity on america (sott.net)
• Tax break cap for homeowners (newsobserver.com)

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Republicans scoff at White House’s opening bid

By Olivier Knox, Yahoo! News The Ticket
11-29-2012

Bolstered by his reelection, President Barack Obama on Thursday made a detailed opening bid to Congressional Republicans for averting the so-called fiscal cliff — the mix of tax hikes and deep spending cuts that risk plunging the economy into a new recession come 2013. Republicans flatly rejected the offer, which mostly repackaged Obama’s previous budget and jobs-creation plans while looking to avoid future fights over raising the country’s debt limit.

Obama’s proposal, delivered by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to Republican House Speaker John Boehner, called for $1.6 trillion in new tax revenues over 10 years plus some $400 billion in savings in popular entitlement programs including Medicare, the government health care plan for seniors. It also included some relief for Americans hit by the home foreclosure crisis and an extension of both the payroll tax holiday and unemployment assistance.

The package also includes a roughly $50 billion jobs plan, mostly infrastructure spending.

The White House is using the blueprint to address the thorny issue of hiking the federal debt limit.

Right now, Congressional approval is required before the federal debt ceiling can be raised. Opposition to boosting the debt limit by many Republican lawmakers in 2011 brought the U.S. government close to default. Still smarting from that debacle, the White House wants to give lawmakers the right to block a debt increase rather than vote to approve it.

The offer landed with a thud on Capitol Hill, where Republicans bluntly rejected it and expressed shock that the president would essentially stick to the plan he trumpeted starting in September 2011 and all through the campaign. It includes tax increases on the richest Americans, something Republicans have publicly refused to approve.

 

“I remain hopeful that productive conversations can be had in the days ahead, but the White House has to get serious,” Boehner told reporters. “This is not a game. Jobs are on the line. The American economy is on the line. And this is a moment for adult leadership.”

“No substantive progress has been made in the talks between the White House and the House over the last two weeks,” Boehner charged.

In response, the White House redoubled its assault on Republicans for refusing to raise taxes on income above $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for families.

“Right now, the only thing preventing us from reaching a deal that averts the fiscal cliff and avoids a tax hike on 98 percent of Americans is the refusal of Congressional Republicans to ask the very wealthiest individuals to pay higher tax rates,” spokesman Josh Earnest said. “It’s time for Republicans in Washington to join the chorus of other voices – from the business community to middle class Americans across the country – who support a balanced approach that asks more from the wealthiest Americans.”

In a sign of the political gamesmanship at work, Republican aides — not the White House — disclosed the offer even as they panned it. And the early response from White House aides was to point to Obama’s victory over Mitt Romney to suggest that Americans will side with the president over his political foes.

Despite Boehner’s blunt words, there have been signs on both sides that a compromise could be worked out. Some Republicans have publicly said they will support raising tax revenues, a party taboo, while the White House signaled that Obama would not insist that the wealthiest Americans pay the same tax rates they faced under Bill Clinton.

Chris Moody contributed to this report.

 

 

 

Union Greed Over Jobs

Comment By Bob L.
11-21-2012

Companies

Unions

Here is a good example of how greedy Unions are, it shows that they will even throw another Union under the bus to get more money from their Union Members.

It is just like Obama, he Support the Unions and not jobs.

Instead of going after Corporate and Board of Directors wages they would rather sit back and watch them get bigger wages then pay their Employees, this is why these Companies are going broke because they are not putting this money back into the Company.

• Obama, Unions, and The Twinkie Demise (socyberty.com)
• Walmart rattled by growing unrest ahead of Black Friday’s strike | Sarah Jaffe (guardian.co.uk)
• Why are they going after Walmart and not Sears, Toys are Us, Target and Kohl’s who are doing the same thing, why not go after all the rest of them, why not shut down all businesses, better yet picket any Company that does not pay $50.00 Dollars an hour.
  

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Failed talks with union spells end to Twinkie-maker Hostess

By Tom Hals | Reuters
11-20-2012

(Reuters) – Hostess Brands Inc will proceed with a plan to go out of business after the maker of Twinkie snack cakes said last-minute talks with striking workers broke down on Tuesday.

Hostess and its striking bakers union were pressed by New York Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain into mediation to try to end the walkout and save the company and its 18,500 jobs. Drain acted as a mediator during the private talks.

Hostess, which also makes Wonder Bread and Drake’s cakes, will ask Drain to approve a plan to begin a piece-meal lidquidation of the 82-year-old company. It has said that its operations were crippled by the bakers’ strike and that winding down is the best way to preserve its dwindling cash.

Hostess plans no further comment prior to an 11 a.m. ET hearing on Wednesday.

A representative of the Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM), which went on strike November 9, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Ken Hall, the general secretary of the Teamsters, Hostess’ largest union expressed disappointment at the failed talks. The Teamsters had accepted an 8 percent cut in wages in an attempt to save the company.

“This is a tragic outcome and our thoughts and prayers go out to all Teamster Hostess members and all Hostess employees,” Hall said in a statement.

The BCTGM leaders have said they believe there are buyers prepared to bid for the company, and bankers and analysts expect the company’s best-known brands to live on under a new owner or owners.

Bankers have said rivals including Flowers Foods and Mexico’s Grupo Bimbo were very likely to be interested in parts, but not all of, the brands. Neither company could be reached for comment.

Private equity firms have also shown interest. Sun Capital Partners is interested in bidding for all of Hostess, according to a source familiar with Sun’s plans, and Metropolous & Co is also interested, according to Daren Metropolous, a principal at the firm.

Officials at Sun did not respond to requests for comment.

Hostess runs 33 bakeries, 553 distribution centers, about 5,500 delivery routes and 527 bakery outlet stores throughout the United States. Bakery operations ceased last week, though product deliveries to stores continued in order to sell already-made products.

The company has blamed union wages and pension costs for contributing to its unprofitability. Hostess Chief Executive Gregory Rayburn has also said the company’s labor contracts have deterred would-be bidders for the company and its assets.

In addition to its unionized workforce, analysts, bankers and restructuring experts have said that a fleet of inefficient and out-of-date factories has also eaten up costs. They have said some brands may be more valuable once they were separated from the factories and sold to non-union competitors.

The case is In re Hostess Brands Inc, U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York, No. 12-22052.

(Reporting by Tom Hals in Wilmington, Delaware and Martinne Geller in New York; Editing by Gary Hill, Tim Dobbyn, Richard Chang and Edwina Gibbs)

Driver, high on pot, killed woman in wreck

Comment by Bob L.
11-11-2012

Washington, and Colorado just passed a law for Medical Marijuana, but it seems that the law was miss leading, here in Washington they kept saying Medical, not Recreational, now we have death with Guns, Alcohol, and now  Marijuana. (of a drug or medication) used for recreation  and enjoyment rather than to treat a medical condition: recreational drugs such as marijuana and alcohol.

Where is this Drug going to come from Mexico and who is going to profit??? Politicians are known to be GOOD LIARS.

This could have been in a School zone with kids getting out of School, or it could be any where people get together on the street or parking lot, is this what you want to see happen by allowing this law to stay legal.

Now with all these Dangerous laws being passed, laws should be stiffened and not just a slap on the hand because it is now legal, and if the Courts don’t enforce tougher penalties then you should be able to sue Judges, Lawyers and any one who has it put on a ballot as an accessory, just like you would for aiding and abetting or wrongful death, because they are just as guilty as if they were there to pull the trigger.

• Police: Driver smoked pot before rollover wreck, six teens injured (krem.com)
• Medical Marijuana Community Reacts To Amendment 64 Passing (kktv.com)
• What Legal Pot in Washington Will Look Like (txwclp.org)

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Charge: Driver, high on pot, killed woman in Interbay wreck

By LEVI PULKKINEN, SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF
Thursday, November 8, 2012

A 49-year-old man accused of killing a woman during a crash in Seattle’s Interbay neighborhood has been charged with vehicular homicide following allegations he was high on marijuana when the crash occurred.

Filing charges earlier this week, King County prosecutors contend Timothy W. Durden caused an eight-car pileup on Elliott Avenue West when he drove into traffic on July 17.

Rosemary Tempel, 56, was killed in the crash, which also saw a 63-year-old woman injured. Durden also was hurt in the wreck.

At 6:20 a.m., Durden was driving his Jeep Grand Cherokee northwest on Elliott when he cut into a two-way center lane and drove with traffic for some time, a Seattle detective told the court.

Durden then veered into southbound traffic, sideswiping a car waiting to turn from the two-way center lane, the detective continued.

The Renton man’s SUV then drove over Tempel’s Subaru Impreza, crushing her. She was rushed to Harborview Medical Center, where she died.

That initial collision caused a chain reaction that saw five other cars damaged. A piece of Durden’s car – likely its right wheel – slammed into an oncoming Subaru Forester; the driver of the car suffered a broken arm when she collided with another vehicle to avoid Durden’s.

Responding to the 125-foot-long crash scene, firefighters pulled Durden from his SUV and took him to Harborview.

According to charging documents, Durden told police he used marijuana medicinally but denied using any immediately before the crash.

A blood test showed undigested THC – the chemical in marijuana that acts on the brain – was in his bloodstream, the detective continued. Two grams of marijuana were found near his crashed car, as were several business cards from a medical marijuana dispensary.

“This information explains Durden’s delayed response to the threat posed by the presence” of the car stopped in the turn lane, the detective told the court. “It also explains Durden’s lack of situational awareness as to his vehicle’s position in the roadway.”

Durden has been charged with vehicular homicide and vehicular assault. He is not currently jailed.

• Police: Driver smoked pot before rollover wreck, six teens injured (krem.com)
• Medical Marijuana Community Reacts To Amendment 64 Passing (kktv.com)
• What Legal Pot in Washington Will Look Like (txwclp.org)

Is College Education helping America?

Comment By Bob L.
11-03-2012

Do we need just College Educated jobs, NO, we need jobs for all legal Americans because not all will go to College.

Some use College just to hide or run from this Country to keep from having to go into the Military to protect this Country, (these are what you call Cowards) Just like Obama, (how many years did he serve in the military to say that he was qualified do the job as Commander in Chief). BIG FAT ZERO.

Has College Education done anything to keep America and all Americans working or has it put more on the outside looking in, just look at where we are today, and even college grads are not coming up with a job.

This Country needs people who know the value of a DOLLAR, but some people are out spending money that they don’t own, so they think they can spend as much as they want, just look around and you can see how much money has been wasted.

These people who have a college education have proven that they don’t know the true value of the all mighty Dollar, they talk about infrastructure, but when it comes to maintaining   infrastructure, they spend more money elsewhere, by doing this they take away from other places that needed it.

Sure we need more jobs, but let’s do it by repairing what we have, not adding more, if you look you can see that it is not working, all it is doing is falling behind on what should be done, where has all this money gone that was slated for the infrastructure, it is not hard to see if you have your eyes open, but if you are a YUPPY who is telling these elected official’s where to spend this money, then it should come out of their pockets, not the Taxpayer who needs a steady full-time job that is not a public servant, we need more private sector jobs.

A good example of poor planning, trolleys, over the years they have gotten rid of any history that once was, Electric trains, same thing, now that everyone is pushing for green, but the only problem is no matter what you do is not going to be green, if you want to cut down the use of oil and gas, that means going electric, but to go electric commuter, that takes Coal, Gas, and Nuclear.

How much money are they going to spend before they find out that there is not enough money to cover what they want, a good example, how much money have they stuffed in to taking over abandoned old track and then tear out them out and put down asphalt, (these abandoned tracks could have been used for Commuting) if they had any brains, they would have thought about the future, but they were more for spending money to make YUPPIES Happy so they would get reelected.

What is going to happen when these tree that they planted in the middle of these roads grow up, what about what these ruts will do getting under the roads and tearing up the asphalt, did they ever think about that, or were they just lining some ones pockets and producing public works jobs, and what is going to happen when they go to maintain all this green? (Cause traffic problems while they work on the middle of these road gardens.)

Like they say history repeats its self, but now it cost more to bring it all back.