Backbench Conservatives say Lib Dems wield too much influence over David Cameron A row over scrapping the 50p top tax rate is threatening to spill over into a wider Tory rebellion over whether the Liberal Democrats are wielding excessive influence over David Cameron. Backbench Tories are angry at the way Lib Dems have delayed the date of election of police commissioners, challenged aspects of the free school programme, revived doubts about the health reforms and engineered the vote against abortion reforms. They also believe Nick Clegg, the deputy prime minister and Lib Dem leader, is acting as a brake on Tory attempts to take a tougher line on the repatriation of powers from the European Union, complaining Cameron should be actively dismantling the ailing eurozone. The 50p tax row was sparked by a letter to the Financial Times from 20 leading economists who called on the government to cut the top rate at the earliest possible opportunity. Led by DeAnne Julius, they claimed the 50p rate “is clearly a self-defeating way for the Treasury to raise the money and a reduction in tax avoidance would be more effective”. Julius was later unable to produce anything more than what she herself described as anecdotal evidence to justify her claim. Conservative sources insisted they had not been behind the FT letter. Cameron will try to defuse the row over withdrawing the 50p tax rate on those earning £150,000 or more by waiting for the outcome of a review commissioned by the chancellor, George Osborne, into whether the tax is bringing in the expected revenue. The review is unlikely to amass sufficient data in time for the spring 2012 budget. Downing Street confirmed that the priority set out in the coalition agreement was to increase personal allowances for the lowest-paid over the parliament. But in a sign of the simmering tensions between the two parties over tax policy, the Tory communities secretary, Eric Pickles, broke ranks by saying he thought the 50p rate, introduced in April, was probably doing more harm than good. Pickles told the BBC: “I think there is a strong and reasonable case to say, ‘Come on, this is not actually contributing very much.’ On balance, it’s probably doing more damage than it’s doing good.” He said he did believe the top rate should be “got rid of” but stressed the timing was up to Osborne. Charles Walker, vice-chaiman of the backbench 1922 committee, said a majority of Tory MPs did want the 50p rate scrapped. Osborne has repeatedly asserted that the 50p rate is temporary. But he needs clear evidence to show it is not producing revenue before he can persuade the public, let alone the Lib Dems, to back off. The Lib Dem president, Tim Farron, said that ending the 50p rate now would be a moral outrage. At a time when Osborne is being forced to admit his tax revenues are going to be lower than expected, he would need to be able to show incontrovertibly that abolition of the 50p tax rate would have little impact on the deficit reduction programme. The coalition could not remove it at least until the end of the public-sector pay freeze in 2013. The increasingly assertive Lib Dems are demanding another wealth tax – possibly a “mansion tax” – if the 50p levy is dropped before the coalition pledge to lift the threshold for paying income tax to £10,000 is achieved. In the Commons, Tory MP Nadine Dorries complained that “the Liberal Democrats make up 8.7% of this parliament and yet they seem to be influencing our free school policy, health and many issues including immigration and abortion. Does the prime minister think it is about time he told the deputy prime minister who is the boss?” Tory MP Mark Reckless complained No 10 had listened to the Lib Dems in delaying the election of police commissioners until next October – and asked if he would now also listen to his own party over a referendum on EU membership. No 10 said Cameron had been assiduous in meeting his own party in recent days, spending time in the tearoom on Tuesday and holding a large dinner for Conservative MPs on Tuesday night. No 10 recognises that Clegg is running a differentiation strategy before his own conference, and has to be given some latitude. Yet there is a cooling in relations, symbolised by the decision not to repeat last year’s political cabinet held to discuss a joint approach to the conference season. Ed Balls, the shadow chancellor, said: “If the chancellor really wants to know how effective the top rate of tax is he should immediately ask the Office for Budget Responsibility, not just HMRC, to produce a report genuinely independent of government.” The government’s current projections show the 50p rate for people earning above £150,000 will raise an additional £12.6bn over the next five years. Economic policy Tax and spending George Osborne Liberal-Conservative coalition Economics Patrick Wintour Polly Curtis guardian.co.uk
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A 500-foot crane collapsed Wednesday at the Washington National Cathedral amid thunderstorms, damaging two buildings and several vehicles. No serious injuries were reported. Officials are still investigating what caused the crane to tip over. (Sept. 7)
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In Gulf Shores, Ala., chunks of tar as large as baseballs washed up on the beach. Samples were being sent for testing to determine if they were from last year’s BP oil spill. (Sept. 7)
Continue reading …Marijuana users are less likely to be obese, according to a new study that would seem to fly in the face of the legendary munchies that are almost synonymous with pot. Researchers were so surprised by the results that they examined a second sample, only to come up with the…
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You know how it is when you go to school and get a new roommate. You never know if you’re going to be stuck with a normal human being or someone whose safety school was the loony bin. Fortunately, for Reddit user bensusername, his new roomie is aware that talking loudly to no one can be a red flag. So, said roomie left a note to assuage Ben’s fears. This is just the kind of communication that is key to a good friendship. Well done, everyone. For those of you who have just met or are about to meet your new college roommate, here are some tips on how to avoid problems before they start:
Continue reading …Deborah Crabtree, Widow, Sues BofA After Being Overwhelmed With Automated Payment Requests
September 7, 2011 No Comment
Robo-signing practices have wreaked havoc across the housing market for some time now, allegedly even leading to wrongful foreclosures. In Hawaii, though, a recent bank-related incident could best be described as robo-dialing. Bank of America reportedly pestered a grieving widow with up to 48 calls per day over a missed mortgage payment after her husband died, according to the Daily Mail. Deborah Crabtree of Honolulu, Hawaii, is now suing Bank of America for what she says were computer-generated calls from the bank as often as every 15 minutes, including during her husband’s wake, according to the report. That despite her explaining that she would make the payment once she received her husband’s life insurance pay out, according to paperwork filed in the lawsuit. Crabtree’s complaint is only the most recent automated mess in the financial industry. Take, for instance, the case of one man who was threatened with foreclosure for failing to pay an overdue balance of $0.00. Also common is confusion over the mortgage modification process, with some being foreclosed on even while they were in the process of negotiating one. Outside of the mortgage industry, banks have gotten themselves into trouble for technical errors, such as when Bank of America sent $30,000 worth of Social Security payments to the wrong person. Or consider that Chase reportedly had a man arrested for a check that they themselves had issued him. The automated phone calls for Crabtree remind of the aforementioned robo-signing practices, shorthand for a number of ways in which banks expedite the foreclosure-filing process. It’s recently been made aware that the robo-signing practices date as far back as 1998, causing more than a few errors along the way. Goldman Sachs, for one, recently agreed with a federal regulator to end robo-signing practices all together, on top of compensating some homeowners for wrongful foreclosures. On Tuesday, it was reported that major banks, including Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo, have been offered a liability-limiting deal to settle claims of wrongful foreclosure practices — specifically robo-signing — in an exchange for an undetermined multi-billion dollar settlement.
Continue reading …NY Times on Poor, Disrespected Obama: Republicans ‘Simply Do Not Like the Man’
September 7, 2011 No Comment
When President Obama announced he wanted to deliver his latest speech on the economy to a joint session of Congress on the same night as a GOP presidential debate, House speaker John Boehner politely requested the administration wait one day. Obama acceded, to the chagrin of the left and the New York Times . Reporter Jennifer Steinhauer devoted a full story to the squabble in Friday’s edition, focusing almost solely on the supposed “disrespect” shown by Republicans to poor, put-upon President Obama: “ G.O.P. vs. Obama: Disrespect or Just Politics? ” While most of those fights stemmed from deep policy divides, the relentless acrimony between President Obama and Congressional Republicans also seems strikingly personal, almost petty. And Democrats worry that Mr. Obama, hampered, too, by his own inexperience and dispassionate style, is increasingly weakened by what they fume is a party that fundamentally disrespects him and his office. They fear the outcome as Congress and the White House face off on a host of new issues: the national deficit and finishing this year’s budget, reauthorization of a controversial federal aviation bill and the fate of the cash-strapped Postal Service. The relationship was foreshadowed in 2009 when Representative Joe Wilson, a South Carolina Republican, yelled “You lie!” during a presidential address to Congress — a remarkably rare outburst on the House floor. Since then, Congressional Republicans have turned down requests for White House meetings, refused to return the president’s call and walked out of budget talks. Hmm. Just how “rare” is it for presidents to be mocked in speeches to Congress, and when does the Times decide to make an issue of it? The Times hid its indignation quite well when President George W. Bush got disrespectful hoots and hisses from Democrats for mentioning Social Security reform in his 2005 State of the Union address. Then, on Wednesday, Speaker John A. Boehner became what historians say was the first ever to tell a sitting president that no, he could not deliver an address to a joint session of Congress on the date of his choice. On Thursday, Representative Joe Walsh said in a Twitter message that he would fly home to Illinois rather than serve as “a prop of another one of the president’s speeches.” It seems they simply do not like the man. Steinhauer eventually confessed that even some Democrats found Obama’s unilateral decision on the speech timing a bit rude, before playing the tired race card. There is the persistent and deeply uncomfortable question of race. Many African-Americans, including black lawmakers, and even white Democrats, have complained that some of the disrespect for Mr. Obama stems from distaste among some whites at the idea of seeing a black man in the Oval Office.
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A group of fans at a high-school football game did something tasteless on Friday night. And now it’s all over the Internet — where their idea started in the first place. After Kirtland High School defeated Thomas W. Harvey High School in Painesville, Ohio, a group of Kirtland fans put up a large banner that
Continue reading …Downward mobility is rampant in the US, with a third of Americans who grew up in the middle class falling out of it as adults, according to a new Pew Study ( pdf ). “A middle-class upbringing does not guarantee the same status over the course of a lifetime,” the…
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