Letter: Congress should be bipartisan, flexible, and civil

Letter: Congress should be bipartisan, flexible, and civil

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Brophy | Friday 27 April 2012 - 8:57 pm | | Brophy Blog | No comments

From College Major to Career

From College Major to Career

Choosing the right college major can make a big difference in students' career prospects, in terms of employment and pay. Here’s a look at how various college majors fare in the job market, based on 2010 Census data. Some popular majors, such as nursing and finance, do particularly well, with unemployment under 5% and high salaries during the course of their careers.
(More: Generation Jobless: Young Men Suffer Worst as Economy Staggers)

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Brophy | Friday 27 April 2012 - 8:20 pm | | Brophy Blog | No comments

DERSHOWITZ ON ZIMMERMAN AND COREY

 I have always liked Dershowitz.  Although he is a Jewish liberal of the first magnitude;  he seems to be able to use common sense when analyzing factual data

 I was always a skeptic on the Zimerman-Martin case;  i tuned it out as soon as Al Sharpton started beating the warm drum.

When torture was a hot liberal issue, Dershowitz weighed in.  Would you not torture a prisoner if one million lives are at stake.  What's wrong with you, of course you would, and SHOULD.

 

Dershowitz Blasts Zimmerman Prosecution: 'Not Only Immoral, But Stupid'

With ABC News’ release of the George Zimmerman photo showing blood flowing freely from his head, the question becomes whether Angela Corey, the prosecutor in the case, had access to the photo before charging Zimmerman with second-degree murder.

 

 

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Brophy | Friday 20 April 2012 - 7:26 pm | | Brophy Blog | No comments

OBAMA AND HIS BUFFETT TAX PLAN

President Obama’s Secretary Paid Higher Tax Rate Than He Did

gty barack obama ll 120410 wblog President Obamas Secretary Paid Higher Tax Rate Than He Did

Brendan Smialowski/AFP/Getty Images

President Obama today released his 2011 federal income tax, with he and his wife reporting an adjusted gross income of $789,674. The Obamas paid $162,074 in total tax – an effective federal income tax rate of 20.5%. The Obamas also reported donating approximately 22% of their income to charity — $172,130.

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Brophy | Saturday 14 April 2012 - 4:37 pm | | Brophy Blog | No comments

CATHOLIC BISHOPS - ON RELIGIOUS LIBERTY

United States Conference of Catholic Bishops
Ad Hoc Committee for Religious Liberty
Our First, Most Cherished Liberty
A Statement on Religious Liberty


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Brophy | Friday 13 April 2012 - 5:58 pm | | Brophy Blog | No comments

USA DEBT > EU DEBT

America's Debt Is Greater than Entire Eurozone's (and U.K.'s) Combined Debt

The Republican side of the Senate Budget Committee will release this chart later today, clearly showing that America's debt is greater than the combined debt of the entire Eurozone and the U.K.:

As the chart shows, America's debt is currently $15.1 trillion, while the Eurozone (which includes France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Spain, the U.K., and others) has a combined debt of $12.7 trillion. (All dollar amounts are in U.S. dollars, and the data refers to closing 2011 numbers.)

The Eurozone is larger than the United States, so America's debt per capita also exceeds the Eurozone's. According to the Census Bureau, the U.S. has a population of 313 million, whereas the Eurozone has a population in excess of 331 million.

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney frequently warns that the United States should not become like Greece. "We need to rein in government and unleash the extraordinary vitality and creativity of the American people," Romney wrote in a December op-ed. "We must not wait to suffer a crisis like Greece's or Portugal's to right the ship of state."

But with charts like this, that formulation might already be out of date, considering the enormity of America's debt burden.

Brophy | Tuesday 10 April 2012 - 9:34 pm | | Brophy Blog | No comments

IRS ENFORCE OBAMACARE

White House has diverted $500M to IRS to implement healthcare law By Sam Baker - 04/09/12 05:15 AM ET Tweet

The Obama administration is quietly diverting roughly $500 million to the IRS to help implement the president’s healthcare law.

The money is only part of the IRS’s total implementation spending, and it is being provided outside the normal appropriations process. The tax agency is responsible for several key provisions of the new law, including the unpopular individual mandate.

Republican lawmakers have tried to cut off funding to implement the healthcare law, at least until after the Supreme Court decides whether to strike it down. That ruling is expected by June, and oral arguments last week indicated the justices might well overturn at least the individual mandate, if not the whole law.

“While President Obama and his Senate allies continue to spend more tax dollars implementing an unpopular and unworkable law that may very well be struck down as unconstitutional in a matter of months, I’ll continue to stand with the American people who want to repeal this law and replace it with something that will actually address the cost of healthcare,” said Rep. Denny Rehberg (R-Mont.), who chairs the House Appropriations subcommittee for healthcare and is in a closely contested Senate race this year.

The Obama administration has plowed ahead despite the legal and political challenges.

It has moved aggressively to get important policies in place. And, according to a review of budget documents and figures provided by congressional staff, the administration is also burning through implementation funding provided in the healthcare law.

More from The Hill • Another Obama health law faces court challenge • Inviting Bill Clinton on campaign carries risk, reward for Obama • Juan Williams: Four cases will determine high court’s standing • RNC video previews strategy against Obama ‘hypocrisy’ • NRA, Club for Growth attack primary-threatened Sen. Lugar • The man who wants to be the Marco Rubio of Texas • DNC chairwoman says GOP ‘rooting for economic failure’

The law contains dozens of targeted appropriations to implement specific provisions. It also gave the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) a $1 billion implementation fund, to use as it sees fit. Republicans have called it a “slush fund.”

HHS plans to drain the entire fund by September — before the presidential election, and more than a year before most of the healthcare law takes effect. Roughly half of that money will ultimately go to the IRS.

HHS has transferred almost $200 million to the IRS over the past two years and plans to transfer more than $300 million this year, according to figures provided by a congressional aide.

The Government Accountability Office has said the transfers are perfectly legal and consistent with how agencies have used general implementation funds in the past. The $1 billion fund was set aside for “federal” implementation activities, the GAO said, and can therefore be used by any agency — not just HHS, where the money is housed.

Still, significant transfers to the IRS and other agencies leave less money for HHS, and the department needs to draw on the $1 billion fund for some of its biggest tasks.

The healthcare law directs HHS to set up a federal insurance exchange — a new marketplace for individuals and small businesses to buy coverage — in any state that doesn’t establish its own. But it didn’t provide any money for the federal exchange, forcing HHS to cobble together funding by using some of the $1 billion fund and steering money away from other accounts.

The transfers also allow the IRS to make the healthcare law a smaller part of its public budget figures. For example, the tax agency requested $8 million next year to implement the individual mandate, and said the money would not pay for any new employees.

An IRS spokeswoman would not say how much money has been spent so far implementing the individual mandate.

Republicans charged during the legislative debate over healthcare that the IRS would be hiring hundreds of new agents to enforce the mandate and throwing people in jail because they don’t have insurance.

However, the mandate is just one part of the IRS’s responsibilities.

The healthcare law includes a slew of new taxes and fees, some of which are already in effect. The tax agency wants to hire more than 300 new employees next year to cover those tax changes, such as the new fees on drug companies and insurance policies.

The IRS will also administer the most expensive piece of the new law — subsidies to help low-income people pay for insurance, which are structured as tax credits. The agency asked Congress to fund another 537 new employees dedicated to administering the new subsidies.

The Republican-led House last year passed an amendment, 246-182, sponsored by Rep. Jo Ann Emerson (R-Mo.) that would have prevented the IRS from hiring new personnel or initiating any other measures to mandate that people purchase health insurance. The measure, strongly opposed by the Obama administration, was subsequently dropped from a larger bill that averted a government shutdown. Tweet View Comments

josephtbrophy | Monday 09 April 2012 - 07:15 am | | Brophy Blog | No comments

REAL UNEMPLOYMENT DATA

NFP Big Miss: 120K, Expectations 205K, Unemployment 8.2%, "Not In Labor Force" At New All Time High

Tyler Durden's picture



March NFP big miss at just 120K. Unemployment rate declines from 8.3% to 8.2%. Futures slide, for at least a few minutes before the NEW QE TM rumor starts spreading. The household survey actually posted a decline in March from 142,065 to 142,034. Considering Birth Death added 90K to the NSA number, the actual number was almost unchanged. And as always, as we predicted when Goldman hiked its NFP forecast yesterday from 175K to 200K saying "if Goldman's recent predictive track record is any indication, tomorrow's NFP will be a disaster", Goldie once again skewers everyone. Finally, Joe LaVorgna's +250,000 forecast was just 100% off... as usual.

The unemployment rate drops to 8.2% for one simple reason: the number of people not in the labor force is back to all time highs: 87,897,000.

Birth Death:

Brophy | Friday 06 April 2012 - 11:47 am | | Brophy Blog | No comments