Top Stories
Rich Middle East Arabs Continue to Fund Terrorist Groups
Publicly, U.S. government officials have said they’re making progress in their attempts to cut off international funding of terrorist organizations. Privately, they tell a much different story.
A classified communiqué from Secretary of State... read more
Stock Market Taken over by Computers
Location, location, location … it’s not just the most important aspect of real estate but soon the stock market as well.
The longstanding image of traders on an exchange floor buying and selling is giving way to the ultra-fast wizardry of co... read more
Federal Reserve Finally Forced to Reveal What it Did with $3.3 Trillion
For two years, politicians and the media have been expressing opinions about the $700 billion set aside for the “Wall Street Bailout” by the Treasury Department and about the bailouts of mortgage enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. But that ... read more
TSA Finally Starts Checking All Air Passengers against Terror Watch List
More than nine years after the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and more than six years after the 9/11 Commission made its recommendations for improving security in the United States, the federal government has finally figured out a way to ... read more
Gay Partners Gain Medicare Hospital Visitation Rights
The Obama administration is in the final stages of approving new rules requiring hospitals that accept Medicare and Medicaid to grant visitation rights to same-sex partners. The regulations, developed by the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Servi... read more
Is it Time to Bring Back the Reagan Leveling of Wage and Investment Tax?
Adopted with the blessing of conservatives like President Ronald Reagan and Democrats in Congress, the Tax Reform Act of 1986 equalized taxes on income from investments and income from wages. It ended the practice of lower taxes on income from w... read more
Are Permanent Wage Cuts Just around the Corner?
Large manufacturing companies are using the weak economy as leverage to force organized labor into accepting different levels of wages for workers that would last long into the future, even after a recovery kicks in.
Use of two-tier labor sy... read more
St. Louis Worst City for Crime; Colonie, NY the Safest
CQ Press’s annual City Crime Rankings has declared St. Louis, Missouri, the worst urban center for crime, displacing Camden, New Jersey, which finished with the second highest crime rate after occupying the top spot last year. Other top crime-ri... read more
Obama Halts Sermons during Soup Kitchen Meals
Faith-based organizations that accept federal funding cannot proselytize while providing social programs to the needy, under a new executive order signed by President Barack Obama. The order changes the original initiative, adopted by President Ge... read more
Sen. Kyl Denounces Earmarks…Except His Own for $200 Million
Much maligned by Republicans since the election, earmarks are defined under U.S. Senate rules as a spending item inserted “primarily at the request of a senator” that goes “to an entity, or (is) targeted to a specific state.” This definition fits ... read more
Corporate Profits Hit Record High
Unemployment may be high, but business is booming…or at least corporate profits are. New data from the Department of Commerce’s Bureau of Economic Analysis shows businesses earned profits at an annual rate of $1.66 trillion in the third quarter ... read more
Who’s Hiring? Big Companies and U.S. Government
The best bets to find employment in the public and private sectors are with large corporations and the federal government, according to a new Gallup poll.
Forty-two percent of companies surveyed with at least 1,000 employees said they were h... read more
Supreme Court to Decide if AT&T Has Personal Privacy Rights
Corporations could win privacy rights reserved until now for individuals if the U.S. Supreme Court finds in favor of AT&T in a case that will be heard early next year.
At issue is whether AT&T can block the release of company documents, prev... read more
Insurance Industry Gave $86 Million to Chamber of Commerce to Oppose Health Care Bill
While the health insurance industry publically negotiated with Congress last year over the shape of the healthcare reform law, it secretly funneled more than $86 million to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce so it could criticize ideas, such as creati... read more
Federal Judge Orders CIA to Release Records on Secret Experiments on Soldiers
The CIA is being forced to produce specific information regarding secret tests conducted on thousands of soldiers over a 25-year period.
In response to a lawsuit filed by three veterans groups and six individual veterans, a federal judge, Ja... read more
New Members of Congress Include 33 Republican Small-Business Owners
Thanks to this year’s Republican wave, the number of small-business owners in Congress will triple in size in January. Thirty-three new lawmakers, all Republican and including two women, make their living running small enterprises. The last Cong... read more