Challenger reports a huge jump in layoff announcements. The retail sector is very hard hit.
Tag: Cuts
30,000 police march through London in protest over cuts
30,000 police march through London in protest over cuts 10 May 2012 More than 30,000 officers from all over the country marched through the capital in the only action they are legally entitled to take, in a show of defiance against police reforms and budget cuts. To reflect the number of officer numbers expected to be cut, 16,000 of the marchers wore black baseball caps as they walked from Millbank, past the Home Office to Parliament Square and onto Waterloo Place. The Police Federation, which represents rank-and-file officers, said the sea of black caps showed the number of officers the public will lose over four years as a result of the cuts.
Gingrich cuts staff, aims at Tampa
Gingrich cuts staff, aims at Tampa 27 Mar 2012 Newt Gingrich is cutting back his campaign schedule, will lay off about a third of his cash-strapped campaign’s full-time staff, and has replaced his manager as part of what aides are calling a “big-choice convention” strategy, communications director Joe DeSantis told POLITICO. Michael Krull, a former advance man and a college friend of Callista Gingrich’s who took over the campaign after a staff exodus in June, was replaced last weekend by Vince Haley, who has worked for Gingrich for nine years and currently is deputy campaign manager and policy director.
Greeks protest cuts on eve of bailout decision
Greeks protest cuts on eve of bailout decision 19 Feb 2012 Several thousand Greeks demonstrated on Sunday against punishing austerity measures to reduce the country’s debt, on the eve of make-or-break talks in Brussels on a 130-billion-euro ($ 171 billion) bailout to avert bankruptcy. Riot police shielded the national assembly, braced against a repeat of riots a week ago that saw buildings torched and looted across downtown Athens after a much larger rally involving tens of thousands. Banners such as one reading “Down with the memorandum of hunger” bore testimony to the anger many Greeks feel towards a political elite that allowed the country over the years to rack up a national debt worth 160 percent of national output while the super-rich took advantage of lax tax collection [as with the US].
Senate OKs deal to extend payroll tax cuts for 2 months; demands quick decision on Keystone oil pipeline
Senate OKs deal to extend payroll tax cuts for 2 months; demands quick decision on Keystone oil pipeline 17 Dec 2011 Capping a rare day of congressional bipartisanship DemocRATic/Obusha surrender, Senate leaders agreed on a deal Friday night to extend Social Security payroll tax cuts and jobless benefits for two months. The agreement, which was hailed by the White House, also forces President Obama to decide within 60 days whether to greenlight a Republican-backed [catastrophic] plan for an oil pipeline stretching from Canada to the U.S. Gulf Coast. The deal was reached hours after the White House publicly pulled back on a threat to veto any bill that lumped together the payroll tax cut extension with a Republican demand for a quick decision on whether to build the 1,700-mile Keystone XL pipeline.
Carolina cops threaten to ignore crime due to budget cuts
(RT) Cops in Smithfield aren’t going to answer 911 calls from hotels; they say those are usually hang-ups. And robbery reports? False alarms, mostly. Actually, misdemeanors altogether are going to be ignored — all until the city gives gas money to the PD.
The Smithfield, North Carolina town council nixed funding for patrol car fuel this year by 14 percent, or around $ 10,000 from the previous fiscal year. Police Chief Michael Scott says that that is only enough to keep the vehicles on the road until around February, at which point he is prepared to enforce some drastic new moves that would keep the department from going under — but will also leave a lot of the city’s exposed to crime that cops won’t even bother to investigate.
Scott has asked the town council to let him use the $ 30,000 the city allotted for office supplies and equipment repair so that he can keep the small fleet of patrol cars fueled through 2012. If they aren’t willing to budge, however, he says that the local law enforcement will be forced to ignore 911 reports and not bother with incidents that might not necessarily warrant police intervention.
To the town council today, Scott is expected to announce his own plan for pinching pennies within the department. The Johnston County council refused to shift the $ 30,000 from one budget to another, so in response Scott is suggesting that cops avoid 911 calls from hotels and payphones, “as a very high percentage of these calls are errors in dialing,” he tells the News and Observer. Since burglaries are also often false alarms, the Smithfield PD will stop responding to those as well. Additionally, he is proposing that cops completely avoid the city’s western and southern ends, since the crimes that do occur there are rarely violent.
Other police departments across the country have actually suffered even worse of a fate this year as budget woes have left entire cities without law enforcement. In June, the Alto, Texas city council voted to abolish the entire force for six months to save money, to which Mayor Monty Collins cautioned townspeople to bolt their doors and “buy a gun.”
Romney, at tea party event, to propose cuts in Amtrak, foreign aid, public broadcasting
From: TheWashingtonPost.com
EXETER, N.H. — Mitt Romney will address one of the 2012 presidential contest’s defining issues when he offers his plan to slash federal spending before a gathering of tea party activists.
The Republican presidential hopeful and former Massachusetts governor was to deliver his most detailed fiscal policy speech so far before a gathering Friday of conservative activists at the Washington Convention Center, where the tea party-allied group Americans for Prosperity is holding a two-day event.
Romney has struggled to win over tea party supporters, and his plan will not go as far as some would like. But he says he would cut $ 500 billion in his first term as president.
He would strip Amtrak of federal subsidies, which could threaten the survival of the popular rail network. He would force deep cuts on the National Endowment for the Arts, the Endowment for the Humanities and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. And he would cut foreign aid to “countries that can take care of themselves” or those “that don’t line up with our interests,” he told a New Hampshire audience Thursday night, offering a preview of his Washington address.
Romney said that unless the U.S. takes drastic action, it is headed for a fiscal crisis equal to that in Greece. And he said the fight to cut spending will affect both America’s national security and its moral standing in the world.
“We have a moral responsibility not to spend more than we take in,” Romney said.
To read more, visit: http://www.washingtonpost.com/national/romney-at-tea-party-event-to-propose-cuts-in-amtrak-foreign-aid-public-broadcasting/2011/11/04/gIQAJZh3kM_story.html
Ron Paul to propose $1T in specific budget cuts
By DAN HIRSCHHORN, Politico.com
Ron Paul’s opinions about cutting the budget are well-known, but on Monday, he got specific: the Texas congressman laid out a budget blueprint for deep and far-reaching cuts to federal spending, including the elimination of five cabinet-level departments and the drawdown of American troops fighting overseas.
There’s even a symbolic readjustment of the president’s own salary to put it in line with the average American salary.
Paul will elaborate on the plan during an afternoon speech in Las Vegas ahead of Tuesday’s debate. He’ll say that his plan for $ 1 trillion in cuts will create a balanced federal budget by the third year of his presidency.
“It’s the only plan offered by a presidential candidate that actually balances the budget and begins to pay down the debt,” top Paul adviser Jesse Benton said in a statement ahead of the speech. “And it’s the only plan being offered that tries to reign in the Federal Reserve and get inflation under control.”
Many of the ideas in Paul’s 11-page “Plan to Restore America” are familiar from Paul’s staunch libertarianism, as well as tea party favorites like eliminating the departments of education and energy. But Paul goes further: he’ll propose immediately freezing spending by numerous government agencies at 2006 levels, the last time Republicans had complete control of the federal budget, and drastically reducing spending elsewhere. The EPA would see a 30 percent cut, the Food and Drug Administration would see one of 40 percent and foreign aid would be zeroed out immediately. He’d also take an ax to Pentagon funding for wars.
Medicaid, the children’s health insurance program, food stamps, family support programs and the children’s nutrition program would all be block-granted to the states and removed from the mandatory spending column of the federal budget. Some functions of eliminated departments, such as Pell Grants, would be continued elsewhere in the federal bureaucracy.
To read more, visit: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/1011/66114.html#ixzz1b2aMmbbo
Senate Republican jobs bill urges tax reform and cuts
By Thomas Ferraro | Reuters
Senate Republicans, having rejected President Barack Obama’s jobs bill, offered a sweeping and largely repackaged plan of their own on Thursday.
Their “Jobs Through Growth Act” features a fresh call for tax reform and cuts as well as a number of components previously proposed, but stalled in the Democratic-led Senate.
They include steps to: require a balanced budget; repeal Obama’s overhaul of the U.S. healthcare system; lift prohibitions on offshore energy exploration and promote U.S. trade.
“This is a pro-growth proposal to create the environment for jobs that stands in contrast to the short-term sweetener approach of the Obama administration, an approach that simply hasn’t worked,” Senator Rob Portman, a chief sponsor of the measure, told a news conference.
Republicans unveiled their measure after complaints by Obama that they haven’t offered a jobs-creation plan.
“We just thought it was time to put this all into a package,” said Senator John McCain, another sponsor. “Part of it is in response to the president saying we don’t have a proposal.”
To read more, visit: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/10/13/us-usa-jobs-idUSTRE79A4D220111013
Hard Times: DOJ Cuts Conference Spending By $14 Mil
How considerate of the Justice Department to finally cut back on the extravagant work conferences that stick it to U.S. taxpayers with exorbitant tabs for overpriced food, beverages and fancy party planners.
Heads turned a few weeks ago when a Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General probe revealed that the bloated agency blew more than $ 120 million to host law enforcement conferences that featured “extravagant and wasteful” costs for food, beverages and event planning. The details were astounding.
Examples listed in the inspector general’s report include $ 16 muffins for breakfast, $ 76 lunches, $ 10 cookies and candy bars that cost more than $ 7 each. The agency also wasted thousands on event planning “consultants” and their travel between venues. Considering the DOJ hosted nearly 2,000 conferences between fiscal years 2008 and 2009 that translates into $ 121 million.
In a sampling of 10 conferences that took place in less than a year, investigators determined that the DOJ doled out more than $ 4.4 million. For 10 government conferences paid entirely with taxpayer dollars! A big chunk of it went to “wasteful” event planning services, food and beverages, according to the agency’s inspector general.
This week Attorney General Eric Holder announced that, as part of the agency’s cost-cutting measures the DOJ will graciously limit conference spending to only those that may be “essential.” He also took the opportunity to pat himself on the back for already yielding “significant reductions in conference spending” during the first three quarters of fiscal year 2011. That means conference spending is down $ 14 million over the same period last year, according to Holder.
“The Department of Justice is seeking ways to do more with less while we maintain our commitment to our critical law enforcement mission and our most important public safety priorities,” Holder said after announcing a series of other cost-cutting measures at the DOJ. He said the cost-saving will help the agency utilize its “limited resources in the most effective way possible.”
Other measures that will save the agency some cash include streamlining operations, consolidating or reducing office space, a temporary hiring freeze and limiting travel and training. These brilliant ideas were discovered by the Attorney General’s Advisory Council for Savings and Efficiencies, which Holder credits with saving taxpayers $ 51 million. Created in 2010, the special council provides a framework to identify and implement practices for saving taxpayer money, realizing efficiencies and monitoring savings progress.
Obama mulls tax cuts beyond Republican plans
By Hans Nichols and Margaret Talev, Bloomberg.com
President Barack Obama may press Congress for tax cuts that would exceed his past proposals as well as some of the offerings from House Republicans to strengthen his hand in talks on measures to boost the U.S. economy, according to a person familiar with the discussions.
With Obama set to lay out his plans in a Sept. 8 address to Congress, the administration is focusing on cuts targeted at middle-income Americans to spur consumer spending, which accounts for 70 percent of the economy, said the person, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.
In a speech to a union crowd in Detroit yesterday, Obama said he would challenge Republicans on taxes.
“You say you’re the party of tax cuts?” Obama said before the annual Metro Detroit Central Labor Council rally. “Well then, prove you’ll fight just as hard for tax cuts for middle- class families as you do for oil companies and the most affluent Americans.”
To read more, visit: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-09-06/tax-cuts-exceeding-republican-plans-said-considered-by-obama.html
Obama’s $320 Billion in Health Cuts Targets U.S. Drug Purchases
Obama’s $ 320 Billion in Health Cuts Targets U.S. Drug Purchases —White House plan would also cut $ 248 billion from Medicare, $ 72 billion from Medicaid 19 Sep 2011 President Barack Obama’s deficit-trimming proposal would cut $ 320 billion from U.S. health programs in prescription drug and nursing home spending and by increasing individuals’ payments for Medicare coverage. The biggest cut is a $ 135 billion reduction in drug prices the government pays companies led by New York-based Pfizer Inc. and Whitehouse Station, New Jersey-based Merck & Co. for enrollees in both Medicare, the federal health program for the elderly and disabled, and Medicaid, the U.S.-state program for the poor. [Primary Obusha in 2012!]
