Where is the Money Going?
World’s Richest 400 People Worth more than $4 Trillion; 3 Billion Adults Worth less than $10,000 Each
Bloomberg’s annual listing of the 400 richest people in the world found that they’ve increased their wealth by $92 billion to $4.4 trillion.
Others aren’t as lucky. The Global Wealth Report (pdf) put out by Credit Suisse bank shows that 3.3 billion people, more than 70% of the world’s population, have a net worth of less than $10,000 each.
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100 Biggest Campaign Donors Gave almost as much as 4,750,000 Normal Donors
“The numbers paint the most comprehensive picture to date of an electoral landscape in which the financial balance has tilted dramatically to the ultra-rich," wrote Politico's Kenneth Vogel. "They have taken advantage of a spate of recent federal court rulings, regulatory decisions and feeble or bumbling oversight to spend ever-greater sums in politics — sometimes raising questions about whether their bounty is being well spent.” read more
Missouri Sues St. Louis Suburbs for Funding Government Through Traffic Fines
How are small towns expected to finance their equally small governments? Use of roadway speed traps is the obvious answer. Or so claims one state attorney general. Missouri Attorney General Chris Koster has sued 13 municipalities in St. Louis County for violating state law. Four were accused of using monies from speeding tickets and other traffic violations to pay for more than 30% of their budgets, which is in violation of Missouri law. read more
New State Minimum Wage Laws will Force Walmart to Raise Salaries in 1/3 of Stores
Increases in the minimum wage in 21 states that will go into effect in the new year will mean that some Walmart employees in a third of the company’s U.S. stores will get raises.
Don’t worry about Walmart though. A memo sent last month to store managers shows that the company will narrow the wage gap among its hourly employees, paying less for more skilled workers. read more
Beware of Car Title Loans; Interest Rates Range from 80% to 500%
Similar to the ethically squishy subprime home loan mess, financial institutions are offering loans to people who put up their cars as collateral at rates ranging from 80% to 500% per year. More than 1.1 million American households used car title loans last year. read more
EPA Staff Cut to Smallest Number in 25 Years
The new appropriations bill approved by lawmakers and President Barack Obama slashed another $60 million from EPA’s budget. The spending reduction was crafted by Republicans, who loathe the EPA’s regulatory interference in business operations. But Obama was willing to go along with the cut, too. That shouldn’t come as a surprise since EPA has endured five consecutive years of shrinking budgets while Obama has been in office. Funding for the EPA has dropped more than 20% since 2010.
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Social Security Administration Still Collecting Debts from Children of Overpaid Recipients Despite Promising to Stop
Acting SSA commissioner Carolyn Colvin publicly said the collection efforts would end, but the collections have continued. Some who were reimbursed for the refunds they never received have said the SSA turned around and came after them again for the overpayments. At least five of these individuals are now suing the agency to halt the practice once and for all. The agency’s actions have stirred up members of Congress on both sides of the aisle.
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NASA Spent $349 Million for a Useless Lab Tower for a Project that had Already been Cancelled
The tower “is evidence of a breakdown at NASA, which used to be a glorious symbol of what an American bureaucracy could achieve," wrote the Post's David Fahrenthold. "In the Space Race days of the 1960s, the agency was given a clear, galvanizing mission: reach the moon within the decade. In less than seven, NASA got it done. Now, NASA has become a symbol of something else: what happens to a big bureaucracy after its sense of mission starts to fade.”
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For the First Time, Congress Allocates Money to Protect Battlefields from Revolutionary War and War of 1812
More than 200 years after the fact, Congress has finally decided to spend money on preserving battlefields from some of the most critical wars in American history. In a first, lawmakers have expanded the federal matching grants program that until now only supported landmarks from the Civil War. Now the Civil War Battlefield Preservation Program will also be able to accept requests to fund and preserve battlefields from the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. read more
Ohio Student Mentoring Program Requires Religious Partnering to Receive Government Funds
Signed into law by Governor John Kasich, the new program comes with $10 million in state funding, but school districts that don’t comply with the parochial mandate won’t see a dime of it. Schools cannot work with only a business and a nonprofit, the Ohio Department of Education says. If religion isn’t included, the mentoring program at a school won’t receive funding. “The faith-based organization is clearly at the heart of the vision of the governor,” said the department's Buddy Harris. read more
Congressional Republicans and Democrats Join to Raise Annual Campaign Contribution Limit to $1.5 Million a Couple
The new provision was generated behind closed doors, wasn’t disclosed for public debate, and was a surprise when it was found buried in the spending bill. “The impetus for the measure appears to have been driven by the Republican National Committee, which has aggressively sought ways to shake off its fundraising limitations,” wrote the Post. “[It] will create the opportunity for the wealthiest Americans to buy — and federal officeholders to sell — government influence,” said Wertheimer. read more
New Mexico Fines U.S. over Nuclear Waste Violations
The leak exposed at least 20 workers to radiation.
Citing 37 violations of hazardous waste permits, the state has thus far levied $54 million in penalties against the DOE and its contractor. It is expected to take years to clean up the facility at an estimated cost of more than half a billion dollars. Fifty WIPP staff employees have been at work in the underground facility to make an assessment of the degree of contamination and to draft a cleanup plan.
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When Cops Lose Civil Rights Violation Judgments, They Don’t Pay the Damages
Joanna Schwartz, an assistant professor at UCLA law school, Schwartz reviewed data on police civil rights settlements from 44 large and 37 small or midsized police departments from 2006 to 2011. In 9,225 cases from large cities, officers paid only .02% of the settlements, or $171,300 out of $735 million. In the small or midsized cities, officers didn’t pay any of the $9.4 million awarded to victims. read more
This is the Poorest County in the U.S.: Telfair County, Georgia
The average income last year for Telfair residents was $17,536 after falling 1.2% from 2012. That’s more than $6,000 below the federal poverty line ($23,283 for a family of four), according to the U.S. Census Bureau.
Telfair has only 16,000 residents, 61% of whom are white. African Americans make up 36% of the population. read more
Truck Manufacturer Loses more than $525,000 after Dispute over $53
The buyer determined after driving the truck about 3,000 miles that the vehicle was defective, and returned it to Paccar, demanding a refund.
Paccar went so far as refunding the purchase price of $135,847 plus interest. But it refused to refund the $53 title fee. So the customer sued Paccar in court, and wound up winning a $369,196 judgment, plus a $157,697 attorneys’ fees award.
Paccar is now on the hook for half a million dollars all because it wouldn’t cough up $53.
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Agriculture Dept. Discovers that Americans Buy Fast Food to Save Time
The USDA spent taxpayer dollars on a study that says, “findings show that Americans purchase fast food as a means of saving time.” Seriously. Other discoveries made by researchers include: “Fast food purchasers have different eating patterns than others,” and “They are more likely to engage in eating while at work and while driving.”
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