by Linda Beale Ways and Means–still distracting with false scandals GOP representatives Camp and Boustany are continuing to beat the dead horse of an IRS “scandal” connected with the way the IRS has attempted to efficiently filter new applications for 501(c)(4) status to provide extra scrutiny to the most likely groups to be engaged in […]

by Linda Beale David Sirota Agrees with me on the Tax Reform “Secrecy” Scandal As I mentioned in an earlier post, Max Baucus has established a secret submission process for Senators to let him know what pet tax loopholes they want to retain (probably the ones that high-paid lobbyists representing corporations with operations in their […]

EPI’s Elise Gould reports on the impact of Social Security as a safety net keeping another 25 million people out of poverty.

“For goodness sakes, of course the employees and the retirees like it, it’s free,” says Republican State Sen. Dave Lewis. 11,000 Helena state employees, retirees, and dependents now go to a state run healthcare clinic which is free. No co-pays, no deductibles, doctors are salaried, wait time is a few minutes, and visits are up […]

David Zurin from The Nation writes The headline juxtaposition boggles the mind: The headline juxtaposition boggles the mind. You have, on one day, “Detroit Files Largest Municipal Bankruptcy in History.” Then on the next, you have “Detroit Plans to Pay For New Red Wings Hockey Arena Despite Bankruptcy.” Yes, the very week Michigan Governor Rick Snyder […]

Glenn Greenwald offers his thoughts on the issue of NSA surveillance: On Wednesday morning, I’ll be testifying, by remote video, before an ad hoc committee in the House of Representatives about NSA disclosures. It begins at 9:30 am ET and will, I believe, be broadcast on C-SPAN. Following my testimony will be an excellent panel […]

This is likely to be a hot issue tomorrow. Today, Italy’s highest court of appeals is hearing Berlusconi’s appeal of his conviction for tax evasion and embezzling from his firm. As I wait for their decision, I write about the issue in general. Things are very different here East of the Channel. There is a […]

Lifted from Robert’s Stochastic Thoughts: Minesweeper in the Washington Post. “It’s like Minesweeper,” former Wyden staffer Jennifer Hoelzer told The Washington Post’s Ezra Klein in June, referring to the computer game in which players slowly probe unknown territory, looking for bombs. “You just have to ask questions to try to get the outlines of what they’re not […]

Wired points to lawsuits fizzling so far, but also more secrecy and claims it is off limits to courts. The Obama administration for the first time responded to a Spygate lawsuit, telling a federal judge the wholesale vacuuming up of all phone-call metadata in the United States is in the “public interest,” does not breach […]

by Linda beale Proposals for Cutting the IRS Budget As the  budget battles loom again in our dysfunctional Congress, one of the targets of the right is, not unexpectedly, funding for the IRS.  Sequestration is already hampering the IRS’s ability to perform its functions.  See $6 collected for every $1.  But the right wants to […]