Newsroom:

e-News November 19, 2010

1) The Week Just Past: Huge Tax Increases Looming

2) She Said What About Unemployment?

3) Who Holds Our Debt? China and Japan

4) Noted with Interest: Unions seeking relief from Health Care law

5) A Failure on International Trade and Jobs

6) NYC Civilian Terror Trial: Acquittal on 284 Charges!

7) Does the IRS Have Your Money??

The Week Just Past: Huge Tax Increases Looming

“As Congress reconvened this week for a ‘lame duck’ legislative session, I was struck with the headline in one Capitol Hill publication. It read: ‘With Tax Cuts Close to Expiration, Democrats Searching for a Strategy.’

“Memo to President Obama and Speaker Pelosi, here’s your strategy: Extend all the Bush Era Tax Rates and Prevent Imposition of one of the largest tax increases in the nation’s history!

“This strategy is clear, simple and the right thing to do for America’s struggling economy, struggling job creators and taxpayers.

“As of January 1, lower tax rates for just about every American taxpayer – individuals, families and businesses alike – expire, boosting rates to much higher levels. And yet, the outgoing Congressional Majority remains steadfast in their unwillingness to end the economic uncertainty and allow small businesses to get back to creating jobs.

“A permanent extension of tax cuts is needed to reduce the uncertainty in America that is chilling business investment and hiring. It’s obvious that businesses can’t invest when they don’t know what the rules are, when they don’t know what the tax rates are going to be next year.

“I have introduced legislation to make these tax cuts permanent because this is the most important thing we can do to create jobs. 14.8 million unemployed Americans are relying on our action so that they can get back to work.”

Rodney Frelinghuysen

She Said What About Unemployment?

This week on CNBC, U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said the fact that the U.S. unemployment rate was 9.6% in October 2010 (as opposed to 10.1% in October 2009) “tells you...we’re on the right path.”

Contrary to her rhetoric, the facts show that the U.S. unemployment rate has been 9.5% or above for 15 consecutive months – the longest period since the Great Depression. The unemployment rate hasn’t fallen since spring – when hundreds of thousands of temporary government Census jobs were “created.”

Recommended Reading: John Engler of the National Association of Manufacturers and Jerry Howard of the National Association of Home Builders writing in the Wednesday Wall Street Journal, “Tax Hikes and the Small Business Job Machine. The President says only the rich will be hit with the highest rates. Nonsense.” Read the piece here.

Who Holds Our Debt? China and Japan

Tom Barkley and Meena Thiruvengadam wrote this in the Thursday Wall Street Journal:

“China was a net buyer of Treasuries (bonds) in September for a third consecutive month, raising its holdings to the highest point since April, the Treasury Department said in its International Capitol or TIC Report.

“China’s holdings rose $151 billion to $883 billion to maintain the country’s position as the largest foreign holder of U.S. government debt. Net Treasury purchases in the past three months totaled $39.8 billion.

“Japan remained at No. 2 with its holdings rising to $865 billion from $836 billion in August.

“Among all foreign investors, net purchases of U.S. Treasury notes and bonds totaled $78 billion in September, down from $117.1 billion the previous month.”

Noted with Interest: Unions seeking relief from Health Care law

Union leaders fought hard to nationalize America’s health care and pass Obamacare. Now, instead of complying with the health plan they pushed so hard to pass, many unions are getting waivers for that very same health law!

Here’s the growing list of unions and companies seeking waivers from Obamacare.

A Failure on International Trade and Jobs

President Obama rode into South Korea last week and sought to rewrite the free-trade pact first negotiated by President Bush in 2007. His goal was to accommodate the protectionism favored by his Big Labor allies. Surprise: Seoul refused to reach a new agreement.

The President and the South Korean President, Lee Myung-bak, had vowed to complete the trade pact by the time they met; while President Obama insisted that it would be resolved "in a matter of weeks," without the pressure of a summit meeting.

It is now unclear how the hurdles on nontariff barriers to U.S. cars and beef will be resolved.

In the meantime, an estimated 70,000 American jobs and $11 billion in U.S. exports are being left on the table while the European Union and other competitors have free access to the South Korean market!

Recommended Reading II: an interesting news analysis by Eric Dash and Nelson Swartz in the Tuesday’s New York Times, “A New G.M., but Not an End to the Bailout Era.”

NYC Civilian Terror Trial: Acquittal on 284 Charges!

Did you see the outcome of the first civilian terror trial in New York City?

The first former Guantanamo Bay detainee to be tried in federal criminal court was found guilty on a single conspiracy charge Wednesday but cleared on 284 other counts, including 224 counts of murder in connection with the bombing of our embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998. The outcome seriously undermines the Obama administration's argument that it can successfully put other Guantanamo detainees on trial in U.S. civilian courts.

One years ago this week, on November 12, 2009, Attorney General Eric Holder first announced plans to try admitted 9/11 mastermind Khalid Sheik Mohammed (KSM) in a New York federal civilian court.

After a year of wholly justified public and Congressional opposition, the issues surrounding KSM, and most other terrorists at the Guantanamo Bay detention center, remain unresolved. After the outcome of the first trial in New York, will these other terrorists receive a civilian trial in federal court in the United States? Or will they be tried by military tribunal?

“While we should be relieved that Congress has not allowed the Obama Administration to import more of these men onto our shores and into our communities, it’s about time the Administration stops treating self-acknowledged dangerous terrorists as common criminals,” said Rodney, a member of the House Select Intelligence Oversight Panel.

“And bringing these terrorists to U.S. soil actually jeopardizes our national security. At trial, prosecutors will be forced to reveal U.S. intelligence on KSM along with the methods and sources used in acquiring it. This will enable al Qaeda to better understand our intelligence-gathering techniques and respond accordingly.”

Does the IRS Have Your Money??

The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced this week that it is searching for taxpayers who are owed $164.6 million in undelivered refund checks.

The checks average $1,471, and some individuals may be due more than one.

A total of 111,893 taxpayers are due refunds that could not be delivered because of mailing address errors.

To see if the IRS has your money, visit their “Where’s my Refund?” website at http://www.irs.gov/individuals/article/0,,id=96596,00.html.

A telephone version of "Where's My Refund?" can be reached by calling 1-800-829-1954.