VA Opposes Much of Bill to Improve Care for Women Veterans

by Les Blumenthal McClatchy Newspapers 5-22-2008 Department of Veterans Affairs officials said Wednesday that they oppose much of a Senate bill to improve care for female veterans even as the number of women seeking VA medical services is expected to double within the next five years.A top VA official admitted during a Senate Veterans Affairs Committee hearing that [...]

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[Source: War On You

Australia's budget

Tax cuts in Labor's first budget

Australia's Labor government unveiled its first budget on May 13th. The new government's main goals in crafting the budget were to reward the electorate with tax cuts and to keep spending under control in order to curb inflation. A raft of tax breaks and benefits, especially for working-class households, will shift some of the tax burden to high-income earners while reducing taxes overall by A$46.7bn (US$43.5bn) over the next four years. At the same time, government spending is set to increase only by a modest 1.1%, resulting in a projected budget surplus of A$21.7bn. The government also plans to delay a significant portion of its spending until next year, when both economic growth and inflation are set to ease.

The 2008/09 budget represents the new Labor administration's first difficult policy test. Since taking office after winning the federal election in November, the prime minister, Kevin Rudd, has fulfilled several high-profile election pledges?including an official apology to Aborigines, ratification of the Kyoto protocol on greenhouse-gas emissions and a decision to reduce military involvement in Iraq. These measures demonstrated that the new government is more in touch with the electorate, but they were successes in part because they produced a "feel-good" effect without requiring immediate sacrifices. Crafting a budget that would fulfil campaign pledges to cut taxes while keeping inflation under control was a task of a different order, presenting genuine dilemmas as the government sought to balance the interests of various political constituencies and conflicting economic imperatives. ...

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[Source: The Economist: News analysis

Feds Accuse Student Of Terror and Espionage For Talking About Constitution

A student of a large bible college in east Texas was accused by federal agents of committing an “act of terror and espionage” after he gave a talk to a group of Boy Scouts in which he encouraged them to educate themselves about the U.S. constitution.Jeff, who wishes to remain anonymous at present, is a [...]

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[Source: War On You

Wealth mismanagement

A candid account of what went wrong

HOW did UBS, a Swiss bank whose core business is the staid one of wealth management, manage to lose $38 billion betting on American mortgage-backed assets, battering its core capital and share price in the process? Shareholders, out in force at the bank?s annual meeting on Wednesday April 23rd in Basel, asked just that question.

The mystery is being resolved. On Monday the bank released a summary of an internal investigation into the causes of the write-downs that had been demanded by the Swiss Federal Banking Commission. The 400-page report is now being chewed over by the regulator. Rivals should read it too. The report gives three broad explanations for the bank?s woes. The investment-banking arm?s preoccupation with growth, the reliance of the control team on flawed measures of risk and the culture of the bank. ...

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[Source: The Economist: News analysis

NORTH AMERICAN UNION Secrecy Reported by CNN

BREAKING NEWS, CNN Money stumbled on to some truth. I was surprised to see this story on CNN Video. They obviously didn’t go far enough, but at least they are willing to mention it.It just shows the masses that this really is happening, and unless we come together to stop it, we are going to [...]

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[Source: War On You -

Providing cover

The Bank of England offers help

AS THE global banking crisis has gone on, central banks have repeatedly had to improvise responses to an ever-worsening financial storm. In America, the Federal Reserve stretched its powers to the limit when it organised the rescue of Bear Stearns. Now the Bank of England has come up with an innovative plan?a ?special liquidity scheme? that may provide at least GBP50 billion ($100 billion) to help troubled British banks.

The need for a new approach has been clear for several weeks. The most obvious sign has been the elevated (Libor) rate at which banks raise funds through the money markets. This is normally quite close to the Bank of England?s base rate, which sets the cost of overnight funds. When the crisis struck last August, however, it soared (see chart). ...

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[Source: The Economist: News analysis - Posted by FreeAutoBlogger]