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BP to claim $10 billion U.S. tax credit for Gulf oil spill costs

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I know to a lot of people that this is kind of a shot in the gut. And this may be an unpopular view, but if they are following the tax codes then what is the big deal.

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Oil giant BP PLC will reduce its contribution to U.S. coffers by roughly $10 billion due to a tax credit the company is claiming it incurred from the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.

BP said Tuesday that it is incurring a charge of $32.2 billion from the Gulf response, and as such, it is claiming a $9.9 billion taxation credit.

Asked in a conference call Tuesday about whether the company has discussed the tax credit with President Barack Obama’s administration, outgoing BP Chief Executive Tony Hayward said, “We have followed the IRS regulations as they’re currently written.”

White House officials weren’t immediately available for comment. The Internal Revenue Service said it’s not allowed under federal law to discuss individual taxpayer issues.

But the issue may raise red flags among federal officials, particularly in light of recent efforts by various other entities that have settled with the U.S.

Read more: http://www.mcclatchydc.com/2010/07/27/98224/bp-to-claim-10-billion-us-tax.html#ixzz0uvdxYDBy

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Rangel Scrambling to Make Deal on Ethics Charges

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I don’t have much to say on this. There are sour apples on both sides of the fence.

I am curious how this will play out with the elections.

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Embattled Democratic Rep. Charles Rangel was meeting with the head of the House ethics committee and other top Democrats amid rumors he may try to work out a deal rather than face a full vetting of the charges he is now facing.

A settlement would mean Rangel must admit he committed some ethical misconduct.

House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md., said Tuesday that “everyone would like for the Rangel issue to go away” and that the ethics process with Rangel is not a pleasant one.

Rangel would not respond Tuesday to requests for information about the investigation, citing the “sensitive circumstances” of the probe. He added to reporters: “You will not be able to frame any question, no matter how good you think you are, (to which) I will respond.”

Asked whether there was a deal, Rangel said, “Not that I know of.”

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Consumer Confidence Falls, Lowest Since February

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This really is not good. I heard that back in the hay day’s it was around and above 100.

So why is it so low? Because Obama scares people. The don’t know if they are going to be getting hit shortly with tax increases or have to start paying more for products because because businesses are being slammed.

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U.S. consumer confidence sank in July to its lowest since February on job market worries, underscoring the slow path to economic recovery, and home prices rose in May but without signs of a sustained rebound, reports released Tuesday showed.

The Conference Board, an industry group, said consumer attitudes worsened this month as did their expectations about jobs being hard to get.

The group’s index of consumer attitudes fell to 50.4 in July from an upwardly revised 54.3 in June, below the median forecast of 51 in a Reuters poll.

“There have been quite a few headwinds — the fiscal stimulus is fading, the European situation certainly did have an impact on consumer confidence and inventories are being brought more into line,” said David Sloan, economist at 4Cast in New York. “But clearly the big problem for consumers is jobs.”

U.S. Treasuries trimmed losses and stocks pared gains after the dim consumer confidence reading as investors bought safe government assets.

“Concerns about business conditions and the labor market are casting a dark cloud over consumers that is not likely to lift until the job market improves,” said Lynn Franco, Director of The Conference Board Consumer Research Center.

U.S. single-family home prices rose more than expected in May, still reflecting robust spring sales spurred by now-expired homebuyer tax credits, Standard & Poor’s/Case Shiller home price indexes showed on Tuesday.

May is a strong seasonal period for home sales, S&P said, and buyers who rushed to sign contracts by the April 30 deadline for up to $8,000 in tax credits have until Sept. 30 to close loans.

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Their thought here is that they have to get something passed in order to claim a “victory”. Kind of comical. Another things no one wants.

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Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is introducing energy and oil spill legislation after deciding to give up on a broader bill that would cap greenhouse gases blamed for global warming.

The new bill being unveiled Tuesday has more modest goals like encouraging heavy duty trucks to use natural gas and cars to use electricity. It also has provisions aimed at improving oil spill responses and holding spillers accountable, and increasing funding for the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund.

The bill does not include a renewable electricity standard, despite a last-minute push by some senators, businesses and clean energy advocates. Such a standard would require utilities to produce a certain percentage of their energy from renewable sources.

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Gov’t watchdogs: mortgage program is not working – Yahoo! Finance.

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Of course it’s not working…IT’S A GOVERNMENT PROGRAM!

And for that matter it’s another government program that shouldn’t be in existence.

Government programs got people into houses that they couldn’t afford. Now government programs are suppose to help people that can’t afford their house.

Make sense?

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Government watchdogs told a Senate panel Wednesday that the Obama administration’s effort to help homeowners avoid foreclosure isn’t working and that the Treasury Department has failed to fix the program.

Special inspector general for the financial bailouts Neil Barofsky said the program has not “put an appreciable dent in foreclosure filings,” during a Senate Finance Committee hearing on the $700 billion bank bailout. He also said the Treasury Department has ignored earlier demands that it set clearer goals for the program.

Elizabeth Warren, who chairs a separate Congressional Oversight Panel on the bailouts, said Treasury’s failure to act more quickly could be hurting the recovery.

More foreclosures could force down the price of homes and further hurt the already-ailing housing industry.

The homeownership program aims to reduce mortgage payments for millions of homeowners who can’t afford their monthly bills. Recent data suggest it has helped about 400,000 households avoid foreclosure. About 530,000 have fallen out of the program.

The bailout has provided up to $50 billion for the mortgage modification programs. So far, about $248 million in bailout money has been spent on the program.

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RealClearPolitics – US News – Jul 21, 2010 – 2 groups sue Nebraska city over immigration law.

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Isn’t it just amazing that that groups can sue a city or city or state for passing laws that limit what people that are currently DOING SOMETHING ILLEGAL can do.

Amazing.

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The two lawsuits filed Wednesday against a small Nebraska city for its ban on renting and hiring illegal immigrants worried some in the community that it would only worsen tensions over the new ordinance.

The American Civil Liberties Union and the Mexican American Legal Defense & Educational Fund, also known as MALDEF, filed lawsuits against Fremont, saying the voter-approved ordinance amounted to discrimination.

“I’m so disappointed that a law like this could have passed here. I always thought in this day and age laws are meant to prevent discrimination, not encourage it,” said Mario Martinez, a Mexican American who lives in Fremont with his wife and young child.

The ordinance has divided much of the town. Supporters argue the measure was necessary to make up for what they see as lax federal law enforcement. Opponents say it could fuel discrimination. Both lawsuits filed Wednesday may not quell the debate, but the civil-rights groups hope they will end the ban.

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Obama signs sweeping Wall Street overhaul into law | Reuters.

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Great! Just what our system needs. More regulations.

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President Barack Obama signed into law on Wednesday the most comprehensive financial regulatory overhaul since the Great Depression, vowing to stop risky behavior on Wall Street that imperiled the U.S. economy.

Influential business groups lined up to criticize the new law, underscoring Obama’s uneasy relationship with America’s business community. Some on Wall Street, however, welcomed the clarity offered by the law after months of wrangling in Congress over what should be in the legislation.

The law, which got final approval from the Senate last week, targets the kind of Wall Street risk-taking that helped trigger a global financial meltdown in 2007-2009 and also aims to strengthen consumer protections.

Obama, facing voter unrest over Wall Street bailouts that have failed to spark a strong Main Street job recovery, pledged taxpayers would never again have to pump billions of dollars into failing firms to protect the economy.

“Because of this law, the American people will never again be asked to foot the bill for Wall Street’s mistakes,” Obama said at a signing ceremony attended by some Wall Street bankers, business leaders and lawmakers.

“There will be no more taxpayer-funded bailouts. Period.”

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FOXNews.com – GOP Loses Bid to Block Suit Against Arizona Law.

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I don’t think we expected anything less.

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Senate Democrats have turned back a move by Republicans to block the Justice Department from pursuing its lawsuit to overturn Arizona’s controversial immigration law.

The bid by South Carolina Republican Jim DeMint to nix the lawsuit came out on the losing end of a 55-43 vote. Five Democrats voted against the lawsuit while two Republicans voted not to kill it.

The law requires officers, while enforcing other laws, to check a person’s immigration status if there’s a reasonable suspicion the person is in the country illegally.

The administration argues that the law is unconstitutional because immigration is a federal responsibility. Some claim the law will result in racial profiling.

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CNSNews.com – Obama Administration’s Actions in Auto Bailout Added to Unemployment, Audit Says.

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There is a quote from White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs in response to this audit that kind of made laugh.

“I think it’s important to look at the decision to put into bankruptcy and restructure both Chrysler and GM. I think it is safe to say without that decision that the president made, it is likely that neither of those two auto companies would exist today,” Gibbs said. “Because of the president’s actions to date, there are tens of thousands of auto jobs, auto manufacturing jobs, auto dealership jobs that exist and auto parts manufacturing jobs. “

Now, for the most part, wasn’t the purpose o bailing them out – supposedly – to avoid bankruptcy?

So I think his statement is correct….but his statement reflects “after the fact”.

Those companies should have filed bankruptcy and never taken the bailout…and it shouldn’t have been offered to them either.

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Washington (CNSNews.com) – The Obama administration’s policies in steering the auto bailout drove unemployment up, according to an audit by the Office of Special Inspector General for the Troubled Assets Relief Program (SIGTARP).

“At a time when the country was experiencing the worst economic downturn in generations and the government was asking its taxpayers to support a $787 billion stimulus package designed primarily to preserve jobs, Treasury made a series of decisions that may have substantially contributed to the accelerated shuttering of thousands of small businesses and thereby potentially adding tens of thousands of workers to the already lengthy unemployment rolls – all based on a theory and without sufficient consideration of the decisions’ broader economic impact,” the audit by SIGTARP Neil Barofsky stated.

“It is not at all clear that the greatly accelerated pace of the dealership closings during one of the most severe economic downturns in our Nation’s history was either necessary for the sake of the companies’ economic survival or prudent for the sake of the Nation’s economic recovery,” the audit added.

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Carbon-Control Bill Faces Steep Hill in Senate.

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I think the problem here, thank goodness, is that not only do they not have the Republican vote, but I think everyone realizes their jobs are at stake if they vote for such a …… stupid?…..bill.

It will ONLY help kill the economy.

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Senate efforts to pass an energy bill with carbon controls appeared in doubt Tuesday as leaders said they still lack the needed votes.

After a closed-door meeting of Democratic senators, Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., urged her colleagues to postpone action until the fall, when a better economic climate might help.

But some lawmakers say a delay would push the issue closer to the Nov. 2 elections, in which Republicans hope for major House and Senate gains, making passage even less likely.

Only a handful of GOP senators have said they might back a plan to set prices on heat-trapping carbon emissions. A compromise plan to put controls on emissions from only utilities has not attracted the 60 votes needed to advance it in the 100-member chamber.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said Democrats will meet Thursday to seek “a way forward.” Several colleagues said he faces an uphill hike.

The House voted 219-212 last year for a “cap and trade” energy plan. It would create economic incentives to limit heat-trapping gases from power plants, vehicles and other sources.

The issue quickly bogged down in the Senate. Now, with time running short, even a sharply scaled-back version is in trouble.

Congress traditionally takes a long August recess. After Labor Day, the fast-approaching election will make difficult issues all the harder to resolve.

“Republicans are basically slow-walking us out of time,” Sen. Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich., said Tuesday.

Some senators want a bill that deals only with non-carbon issues such as greater energy efficiency and cleaning up the Gulf oil spill. Others say such a narrowly focused bill would be a waste of time and opportunity.

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Arizona fights Obama challenge to immigration law | Reuters.

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Go Arizona! You have my support and the support of about 75% of the United States.

So of course, if it something that a majority of American’s support….the Obama administration does not.

Not to mention that I think the suit filed against Arizona is crazy. The Arizona law only compliments, and makes better, the federal law.

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Arizona on Tuesday urged a federal judge to reject the U.S. government’s bid to quash its strict new immigration law, arguing the border state is acting within its powers.

The law takes effect on July 29. It requires state and local police to investigate the immigration status of anyone they reasonably suspect of being an illegal immigrant.

The Justice Department filed suit this month seeking to block Arizona’s law, arguing it would undermine U.S. foreign policy and violate the U.S. Constitution — charges rejected by state lawyers.

“Arizona merely seeks to assist with the enforcement of existing federal immigration laws in a constitutional manner,” lawyers for Arizona Governor Jan Brewer said in documents filed with the court late on Tuesday.

“It is (the Obama administration) that is attempting to impose immigration policies and priorities that contravene and conflict with federal law and unambiguous congressional intent.”

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msnbc video: 2008 voter intimidation case stirs controversy.

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Why are they saying there is NO EVIDENCE. You have 2 goons sitting outside a polling place with one of them holding a night stick.

I think the dangers here of letting this go is pretty extreme.

Like J. Christian Adams says, if things like this are or were allowed, then we would have had KKK members standing outside polling stations in the 60′s.

Let’s look at today? Would it be voter intimidation if the KKK was simply standing outside a polling place? Hell yes it would be.

So why would anyone think it would be OK for the Black Panthers to be standing (with our with out a night stick) outside a polling place.

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Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

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House Democrats plan manufacturing jobs push | Reuters.

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WOW! Tax breaks and all. They must be scared of the elections coming up.

But, they will probably throw so much other crap into there that the Republican’s won’t be for it. And that will be the plan.

That way they can say that the Republican’s are against tax breaks and creating manufacturing jobs.

Mark my words.

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Democrats in the House of Representatives are planning action on a number of bills to boost U.S. manufacturing jobs, House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer said on Tuesday.

“We want to focus on … ‘Made in America,’” Hoyer told reporters. “We want to focus on encouraging — and yes, tax benefits would be part of this — expanding manufacturing.”

The push comes as Democrats in the House and the Senate face potentially heavy losses in November elections because of voters anxiety about the high U.S. unemployment rate of 9.5 percent and frustration with Washington in general.

It also follows a poll last month done for the Alliance for American Manufacturing that showed 86 percent of Americans wanted Washington to pay more attention to manufacturing.

The same survey of 1,000 likely voters found a majority no longer believed the United States was the world’s strongest economy and nearly half were worried the United States was too deeply in debt to China.

Scott Paul, executive director of the Alliance for American Manufacturing, said the biggest step Congress could take would be to pass China currency legislation along the lines of that crafted by Senator Charles Schumer and others in Senate.

“We’re pushing very hard for this,” Paul said.

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FOXNews.com – Why is Wal-Mart Spending Millions to Fight a $7,000 Fine?.

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Sounds like Wal-Mart and other businesses are tired of the long arm of OSHA.

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he federal government, whose vast regulatory powers have led some businesses to complain they cannot fight back, has apparently met its match.

Wal-Mart has spent millions of dollars in the past year challenging a federal fine that was levied against the retailer after the stampede death of a temporary employee during a post-Thanksgiving sales blitz at a Long Island, N.Y., store.

The amount of the fine is a pittance for Wal-Mart — a mere $7,000. But the company says the the Occupational Safety & Health Administration, which levied the fine, isn’t playing fair and that the fine could lead to damaging consequences.

“OSHA wants to hold Walmart accountable for a standard that was neither proposed nor issued at the time of the incident,” Wal-Mart spokesman Greg Rossiter said in a written statement. “The citation has far-reaching implications for the retail industry that could subject retailers to unfairly harsh penalties and restrictions on future sales promotions.”

Officials at the Labor Department have reportedly complained that, over the past five months, they’ve used resources equivalent to five full-time lawyers — or 17 percent of the attorney hours in their New York office — in fighting the case against Wal-Mart.

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RealClearPolitics – Video – Rep. Bachmann Creates House Tea Party Caucus.

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Tea Party is going to DC.

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Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.) gets okay to form Tea Party Caucus. National Republican Congressional Committee chairman Rep. Pete Sessions (R-TX) has joined the caucus.