ECONOMY -- BUSH'S IRS QUIETLY SLASHING CORPORATE TAXES: In its final days in office, the Bush administration is looking to push through about "about 20 highly contentious rules," that weaken health care and workers' rights and degrade the environment. The administration is also making sure to wreck the tax system on its way out the door. Time Magazine's Stephen Gandel reported that in the past year, the Internal Revenue Service has been "unusually aggressive in doing what it can to lower corporate taxes, going above and beyond what has been allowed in the past." In 2008, the IRS has issued 113 notices, "many of which will lower the taxes companies will pay this year and in the future." Gandel noted that this number breaks the record of 111 notices, set in 2006, "and is nearly double the 65 issued in the last year of Bill Clinton's presidency." These changes "drain billions of dollars of badly needed tax revenue at a time when the federal deficit is mushrooming," and many of the changes "may lower corporate tax revenue for years to come." One proposed change would enable companies to significantly reduce their taxes for as long as 20 years.
ECONOMY -- NEW JOBLESS CLAIMS REACH 26-YEAR HIGH: The Labor Department said today that the number of "first-time filings for state unemployment benefits jump[ed] by 58,000 to a 26-year high of 573,000." The total number of individuals collecting unemployment benefits rose to 4.43 million, the highest level since 1982, while the rate at which total unemployment increased was the highest since 1974. Bloomberg reports this morning that the extended rise of unemployment increases the likelihood that the current recession "will turn into the longest slump in the postwar era." Economic analysts at UCLA are releasing a report today predicting that the recession will "feature four quarters of negative growth (followed by very tepid growth rates) and rising unemployment rates that last through 2010." In addition, the report predicts that the national economy will contract by 4.1 percent in this quarter alone. Notably, the increases in unemployment figures may understate actual numbers of unemployed, because such figures count only those individuals actively looking for work and many workers have all but given up on finding a new job.
TORTURE -- REP. REYES URGES OBAMA TO KEEP TORTURE DEFENDERS HAYDEN AND McCONNELL: CongressDaily reported yesterday that House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Sylvestre Reyes (D-TX) said that President-elect Obama should keep Michael McConnell on as Director of National Intelligence and Michael Hayden as head of the CIA. Reyes said such action is needed to preserve "continuity" in the intelligence sector because we live in "a world that is very dangerous." Reyes dismissed concerns that both Hayden and McConnell have defended the Bush administration's use of torture on suspected terrorists and insisted that "there are some options that need to be available" to interrogators. "We don't want to be known for torturing people. At the same time we don't want to limit our ability to get information that's vital and critical to our national security," Reyes said. Indeed, Hayden and McConnell have similar views. McConnell has refused to make the CIA comply with the Army Field Manual rules, which forbid torture, while Hayden has dismissed torture as a mere "legal term." Hayden also reportedly retaliated against the CIA's inspector general for being an outspoken critic of waterboarding.
ECONOMY -- NEW JOBLESS CLAIMS REACH 26-YEAR HIGH: The Labor Department said today that the number of "first-time filings for state unemployment benefits jump[ed] by 58,000 to a 26-year high of 573,000." The total number of individuals collecting unemployment benefits rose to 4.43 million, the highest level since 1982, while the rate at which total unemployment increased was the highest since 1974. Bloomberg reports this morning that the extended rise of unemployment increases the likelihood that the current recession "will turn into the longest slump in the postwar era." Economic analysts at UCLA are releasing a report today predicting that the recession will "feature four quarters of negative growth (followed by very tepid growth rates) and rising unemployment rates that last through 2010." In addition, the report predicts that the national economy will contract by 4.1 percent in this quarter alone. Notably, the increases in unemployment figures may understate actual numbers of unemployed, because such figures count only those individuals actively looking for work and many workers have all but given up on finding a new job.
TORTURE -- REP. REYES URGES OBAMA TO KEEP TORTURE DEFENDERS HAYDEN AND McCONNELL: CongressDaily reported yesterday that House Intelligence Committee chairman Rep. Sylvestre Reyes (D-TX) said that President-elect Obama should keep Michael McConnell on as Director of National Intelligence and Michael Hayden as head of the CIA. Reyes said such action is needed to preserve "continuity" in the intelligence sector because we live in "a world that is very dangerous." Reyes dismissed concerns that both Hayden and McConnell have defended the Bush administration's use of torture on suspected terrorists and insisted that "there are some options that need to be available" to interrogators. "We don't want to be known for torturing people. At the same time we don't want to limit our ability to get information that's vital and critical to our national security," Reyes said. Indeed, Hayden and McConnell have similar views. McConnell has refused to make the CIA comply with the Army Field Manual rules, which forbid torture, while Hayden has dismissed torture as a mere "legal term." Hayden also reportedly retaliated against the CIA's inspector general for being an outspoken critic of waterboarding.
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