Monday, October 22, 2012

Today's Teamster News 10.22.12

Psst, taxes go up in 2013 for 163 million workers  Associated Press   ...A temporary reduction in Social Security payroll taxes is due to expire at the end of the year and hardly anyone in Washington is pushing to extend it. Neither Obama nor Romney has proposed an extension, and it probably wouldn't get through Congress anyway, with lawmakers in both parties down on the idea...
Looming federal cuts big risk to small companies  Associated Press   ...many in Washington believe that the budget reductions will be put off. But if a deal falls through, it's estimated that 10 percent of the federal budget will be cut. No one knows yet where exactly the cuts might be made, but many economists and lawmakers expect they would have a devastating effect on small companies and slow an already lumbering economy...
Fighting waste and abuse in defense contractor pay  Economic Policy Institute   ...Current law permits federal contractors to charge the government up to $763,029 a year for their employees, while even federal cabinet secretaries are paid no more than $200,000 a year, and the president is paid only $400,000 a year. Manchin’s amendment would lower the cap on maximum allowable compensation paid by government funds to all DoD contract employees from $763,029 to $230,700...
British protesters demand end to "failing" austerity  Reuters   ...Tens of thousands of British protesters marched through London on Saturday calling for an end to public spending cuts and tax rises launched by a government they accuse of elitism and ignorance about the plight of recession-hit voters...
Armed Forces Show Overwhelming Support for Obama  OpenSecrets.org   ...the president has received $536,414 from military donors, compared to Paul's $399,274 and Romney's $287,435, according to research by the Center for Responsive Politics...
Inside Bain's Chinese Sensata Factories, Where Workers Put in 12-Hour Days for $.99-$1.35 an Hour  Alternet   ...They'll get a small tax break for relocating the plant – the one Mitt Romney insisted did not exist during the first debate – and then use those offshore funds to defer taxes on some of the income the company generates...