Tag Archives: Money/Economy/Taxes

American Bankruptcies 1994-2009

This is from abiworld.org:

Quarterly Business Filings by Year (1994-2009)

Year 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Total
1994 13,858 13,617 12,878 12,021 52,374
1995 13,123 12,216 12,648 12,891 51,878
1996 13,388 13,992 13,198 12,887 53,465
1997 13,831 13,991 13,456 12,653 53,931
1998 12,410 11,552 10,346 9,888 44,196
1999 9,180 10,378 8,986 9,020 37,564
2000 9,456 9,243 8,211 8,413 35,472
2001 10,005 10,330 9,537 10,013 40,099
2002 9,775 9,695 9,433 9,500 38,540
2003 8,814 9,331 8,446 8,294 35,037
2004 10,566 8,249 7,574 7,778 34,317
2005 8,063 8,736 9,476 12,798 39,201
2006 4,086 4,858 5,284 5,586 19,695
2007 6,280 6,705 7,167 7,985 28,322
2008 8,713 9,743 11,504 12,901 43,546
2009 14,319 16,014

Fed survey shows US recession may be over

Economic activity is stabilizing or improving in the vast majority of the country, according to a new government survey, adding to evidence that the worst recession since the 1930s is over.

The Federal Reserve’s snapshot of economic conditions backs predictions by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and most other analysts that the economy has started to grow again in the current quarter.

In the survey released Wednesday, all but one of the Fed’s 12 regions indicated that economic activity was “stable,” showed “signs of stabilization” or had “firmed.” (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

Ha!

Congressman Rangel (D – NY), chairman of tax-writing Ways and Means Committee, also ducks taxes

This is scarcely worth posting. It seem very clear that taxes are for us little people, and not our leaders who feast off them.

“Earlier this month the Chairman of the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee ‘amended’ his 2007 financial disclosure form—to the tune of more than a half-million dollars in previously unreported assets and income. That number may be as high as $780,000, because Congress’s ethics rules only require the Members to report their finances within broad ranges. This voyage of personal financial discovery brings Mr. Rangel’s net worth for 2007 to somewhere between $1.028 million and $2.495 million, while his previous statement came in at $516,015 and $1.316 million.

When you’re a powerful Congressman and working diligently to increase tax rates to pay for President Obama’s health-care plan, we suppose it’s easy to lose track of one of your checking accounts.” (online.wsj.com)

John Stossel – a Libertarian in Manhattan (and on television!)

“I don’t agree with the conservatives who want government to play the role of morals policemen, and I don’t agree with the nanny state liberals. I’m a libertarian.

If you live and work in Manhattan like I do, it can be tough to be a libertarian. It means I’m surrounded by people who vehemently disagree with me – especially in the mainstream media. My kids went to school with Senator Al Franken’s. I went on his radio show thinking I could have a decent argument with him about economics, but no. He wouldn’t entertain a fair debate. He just yelled at me and called me a liar.

Georgetown University Professor John Hasnas has this take on what it feels like to be a libertarian these days:

It feels bad. Being a libertarian means living with an almost unendurable level of frustration. It means being subject to unending scorn and derision despite being inevitably proven correct by events.

Imagine spending two decades warning that government policy is leading to a major economic collapse, and then, when the collapse comes, watching the world conclude that markets do not work.

Imagine continually explaining that markets function because they have a built in corrective mechanism; that periodic contractions are necessary to weed out unproductive ventures; that continually loosening credit to avoid such corrections just puts off the day of reckoning and inevitably leads to a larger recession; that this is precisely what the government did during the 1920’s that led to the great depression; and then, when the recession hits, seeing it offered as proof of the failure of laissez-faire capitalism.

Yup. It often feels bad. But so what? It’s our job to fight for freedom.” (Read more from blogs.abcnews.com)

Stricter Tax Codes Causing Wealthiest Americans to Renounce Citizenship

“As offshore havens comply with transparency demands, a growing number of ultra-wealthy Americans are handing back their passports

Private client lawyers and relocation specialists are reporting a surge in wealthy Americans living abroad who are prepared to give up their citizenship to avoid the scrutiny of US tax authorities.

Although such a move means they have to pay an exit tax, lawyers say this is a price people have become more willing to pay this year, now the fall in asset values has reduced the size of the imposition.

Jay Krause, a partner at private-client specialist law firm Withers, said: ‘The number of inquiries from US citizens wanting to expatriate from their citizenship has increased rapidly in the last year.’

The level of interest is set to increase following the tax disclosure deal between the US Government and UBS of Switzerland, involving the names of 5,000 alleged US tax evaders being handed over to the authorities. The UK concluded a tax deal with Liechtenstein last week.

Because of this, many ultra-wealthy individuals who have chosen to become stateless now cruise outside coastal waters in their mega-yachts in the belief that if they stay on the move, tax authorities will not be able to catch up with them. One analyst who did not want to be named, has estimated the number of stateless tax evaders amounted to a few thousand.

This implies the quantity of money outside the grasp of global tax authorities could be trillions of dollars.

Under US tax laws, the worldwide income of any US citizen or resident is subject to tax. The US is the only country in the world that requires its citizens to stump up, no matter where they live. . . .” (Read more from wealth-bulletin.com)

Barney Frank now talking compromise on Fed Audit

Well that didn’t take long. Just days ago, I posted this video in which Barney Frank, questioned by a constituent, expressed support for Ron Paul’s audit of the Fed. He’s now talking about a compromise:

“WASHINGTON (Reuters, Sat Aug 29, 8:23 pm ET) – Rep. Barney Frank, the chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee, hopes to craft a compromise bill with lawmakers who want to open Federal Reserve monetary policy decisions to audits, a spokesman for Frank said on Saturday.

A bill sponsored by Texas Republican Rep. Ron Paul that would allow the Government Accountability Office, a federal watchdog agency, to audit Fed interest-rate decisions has won the co-sponsorship of more than half of the House.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has warned the bill would compromise the U.S. central bank’s policy-making independence and could undermine financial markets and the economy.

The Financial Times reported on Saturday that Frank hoped to bring forward compromise legislation that would safeguard the Fed’s independence, while enhancing transparency and creating checks and balances for the central bank’s use of emergency lending powers.

Steven Adamske, a spokesman for Frank, told Reuters the congressman would work with Paul on a compromise bill. He said compromise language had not yet been written and provided no further details. A spokesman for Paul could not be reached….” (Read more from dailypaul.com)

If it doesn’t reveal an answer to this question, then the compromise bill is bullshit: WHO GOT THE FUCKING MONEY???

(independence my ass)

California’s Prison/Union Problem

“There are now 15 to 20 assaults a week here at Folsom. And while inmates used to mix with one another, Folsom today is entirely segregated by race — in the cafeteria, on the yard and in the cell blocks.

. . . .

Experts agree that the problem started when Californians voted for a series of get-tough-on-crime laws in the 1980s. The state’s prison population exploded immediately. It jumped from 20,000 inmates, where it had held steady throughout the 1960s, 1970s and early 1980s. Today there are 167,000 inmates in the system.

Jeanne Woodford was warden of San Quentin during the prison population boom.

‘The violence just went out of control,’ she remembers. ‘And then the programs started going away. I was there during an 18-month lockdown. It was just unbelievably horrific.’

California wasn’t the only state to toughen laws in the throes of the 1980s crack wars. But Californians took it to a new level.

Voters increased parole sanctions and gave prison time to nonviolent drug offenders. They eliminated indeterminate sentencing, removing any leeway to let inmates out early for good behavior. Then came the ‘Three Strikes You’re Out’ law in 1994. Offenders who had committed even a minor third felony — like shoplifting — got life sentences.

. . . .

But behind these efforts to get voters to approve these laws was one major player: the correctional officers union.

In three decades, the California Correctional Peace Officers Association has become one of the most powerful political forces in California. The union has contributed millions of dollars to support “three strikes” and other laws that lengthen sentences and increase parole sanctions. It donated $1 million to Wilson after he backed the three strikes law.

And the result for the union has been dramatic. Since the laws went into effect and the inmate population boomed, the union grew from 2,600 officers to 45,000 officers. Salaries jumped: In 1980, the average officer earned $15,000 a year; today, one in every 10 officers makes more than $100,000 a year.

. . . .

Today, 70 percent of that budget goes to pay salaries and benefits to the union and staff. Just 5 percent of the budget goes to education and vocational programs — the kind of programs that study after study in the past 10 years has found will keep inmates from returning to prison.” (Read more from npr.org)

NPR anti-union?

Federal Reserve Loses Bloomberg FOIA Lawsuit, Sensitive Disclosures Forthcoming

This is HUGE!

“Just out from Bloomberg:

Aug. 24 (Bloomberg) — The Federal Reserve must make public reports about recipients of emergency loans from U.S. taxpayers under programs created to address the financial crisis, a federal judge ruled.

This is in relation to a lawsuit filed by Bloomberg LP against the Federal Reserve on November 7, 2008, in Southern District of New York (08-09595), in which Bloomberg sought material loan and collateral data in relation to emergency loans released by the Fed, and which were previously claimed to be non-FOIAble.

This is a large blow against the Fed and specifically against organizations using FOIA loopholes from providing critical information, particularly in cases involving trillions of taxpayer dollars bailing out huge, systematically and politically embedded financial organizations (which lately is pretty much all of them).” (Read more from zerohedge.com)

The Fed owns Washington. I don’t doubt that these criminals will find a way to blow of this ruling. Hopefully, their doing so will further expose them and rally more support for Auditing the Fed.

Bernanke says US economy on cusp of recovery

(more from news.yahoo.com)

From the guy who said there was no housing bubble and that the high home prices were supported by the strength of the economy (July 2005), that a dramatic drop in housing prices was unlikely (July 2005), that the motor vehicle sector was strengthening and the housing ‘correction’ wasn’t going to have a major impact (November 2006), that he expected moderate growth in the middle of the year and that the broader mortgage market was healthy (February 2007), that income and employment would grow and that the economy would see moderate growth for the remainder of 2007 (July 2007).

<sarcasm>Phew! I feel so much better.</sarcasm>