On July 9, 2013, the Financial Stability Oversight Council voted to categorize American International Group (AIG) and GE Capital as systemically important according to a Washington Post article on the same day. The designations were provided for by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act after the financial crisis of 2008. AIG came […]
Brand USA: a Gravy Train Keeps Rolling
On the increasingly rare occasion that Congress gets around to passing a bill, it is not at all uncommon for the final version to include measures that bear no relation to the legislation’s title or stated intent.
Fraud? What, Me Worry?
While most of the public was focused on the Obama Administration’s announcement that the employer mandate under Obamacare would be delayed a year, another postponement was slipped in under the radar. The administration decided to forgo, for the time being anyway, implanting the anti-fraud measures for those individuals that accept taxpayer-funded subsidies to purchase health […]
Heard It Through the Grape Vine
What would you think of a government that believes too many raisins are being grown and harvested in a particular year so it decides to confiscate a portion of the crop? Even worse, more often than not, the government will not pay the farmer for the portion of the crop it has taken. Sounds almost Soviet-esque doesn’t […]
Farm Bill, Part 2: Divide (the Bill) and Conquer (the Conservatives?)
Rep. Frank D. Lucas (R-Okla.), Chairman of the House Agriculture Committee, has proposed a strategy to move the chamber’s recently failed 2013 Farm Bill forward to passage by the House and on to conference with the Senate’s already passed version. Stung by the unprecedented defeat of a recurring piece of legislation once considered “must pass” […]
Bottom Feeders Take a Bite Out of the Farm Bill
On June 10, 2013 the Senate passed its version of the Farm Bill, which included provisions to operate catfish inspections by the Food Safety and Inspection Service (FSIS). Senators John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Jean Shaheen (D-N.H.) sponsored an amendment that would have eliminated the program, but a vote was blocked by Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie […]
What’s the Presidency For?”
On June 12, actor Robert Redford wrote an editorial in USA Today criticizing the president for taking little to no action with respect to global warming…oh pardon…climate change. Redford stated, “Clearly, the president understands the climate issue. But he owes more to future generations than his intellectual acknowledgement about the hardships they will face if […]
Waking Up to Reality
The press and many fans of Obamacare are beginning to wake up to problems with the healthcare law. It appears reality, not the Utopia that was promised, is settling in. I have written about this in an earlier blog found here. Now, the New York Times is pondering another possible scenario with respect to the law and employers. […]
Boneheaded Bonuses and Boondoggles
Just when you thought the IRS had been properly chastised and humbled for its egregious behavior with respect to its over-the-top spending on training conferences, some $50 million between 2010 and 2012, the agency is now preparing to hand out $70 million in bonus money to its employees. This is being done in spite of […]
Unchanging Laws in a Marketplace of Change
The Center for Disease Control released a June 2013 report showing the number of households using only wireless telephone services is on the rise. This trend reinforces the need to update existing telecommunications law to reflect the current state of the marketplace. No longer are Americans reliant on only one form of communication service, but […]