Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Today's Teamster News 01.01.13

Obama, Senate Republicans reach agreement on ‘fiscal cliff’  Washington Post   ...The Senate approved a bipartisan agreement early Tuesday morning to let income taxes rise sharply for the first time in two decades...
Both sides get wins in tax deal  The Hill   ...Democrats will get key tax breaks for the middle class in the deal, though they failed to get an extension of a 2-percentage-point payroll tax holiday...
Ahead of "milk cliff," McConnell piecing together new farm bill  CBS News   ...To stop milk prices from climbing to $8 a gallon come January, Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is scrambling to piece together what is essentially a new farm bill using select scraps of the bipartisan extension deal approved Sunday by both the Senate and House agriculture committees...
The middle class languishes as the super-rich thrive  Los Angeles Times   ...The policy positions on both sides presage smaller government, which is not the right prescription for an economy still struggling to recover. There will be lower federal spending at a time when the government participation in the economy is still crucial; there will be less take-home pay for the middle class and the working class, who pump almost everything they have into the marketplace...
The Human Toll of Europe’s Economic Statistics  New York Times   ...After three years of grinding austerity, the Greek gross domestic product has shrunk by 25 percent. The unemployment rate among young people is now at 50 percent, and over all about one fourth of Greeks are out of work...
Community Center Says It Has Been Told to Cease Its Storm Relief Program  New York Times   ...officials from the New York City Housing Authority, which owns the building, told her to stop the relief efforts before the end of the year so that the center could be cleaned, and turn over supplies to city-run relief operations...
Kasich remains mum on right-to-work initiatives  Youngstown Vindicator   ...Kasich still isn’t biting on questions related to efforts to ban mandatory union membership and dues payments, via right-to-work petitions being circulated in the state for the next general election...