The passage of Health Care Reform last year hardly ended the debate about health care reform. Since the Republican takeover of the House in November, symbolic efforts have been made to repeal the law. Though repeal will go nowhere unless or until President Obama leaves the White House, hearings and committees have sprung up to […]
Public Policy: Federal Debt Not So Divisive Outside DC
The news is full of stories about tensions among Democrats, Republicans, and Tea Party Freshman Congresspeople about how to deal with the federal deficit. The heat generated by the debate in the nation’s capital should be of special concern among nonprofits and charities, as the quick political response has been to cut deep into the […]
#ProAging: Federal Budget Cuts Senior Housing & Programs
The fierce debates about the federal deficit, its origins, and how (quickly) to pay it down have affected almost every sector of the US population. The short-term problem of a government shut-down seems to have been pushed down the calendar by a couple of weeks, but only by pressing a host of cuts to the […]
Social Media: Arab Revolutions. Your Nonprofit’s Outreach: Possible Connections
Tunisia and Egypt have removed their long-entrenched autocratic rulers. Yemen is in upheaval, Libya has erupted only in the last 24 hours, and even Iran’s theocratic oligarchy is being threatened again by protests. The political, economic, and religious dimensions of these revolutions is beyond the expertise of our humble blog, but the revivified debate over […]
#Aging: Will the Social Security Earnings Penalty Affect Me?
AARP published a useful Q&A as part of a series on tax-issue for those approaching retirement age. This particular article helps the reader identify which payments are classified as “Special Payments” under the current tax code and how they must be reported to the IRS. Here’s a definition of “Special Payments” from AARP: Special payments […]
#PublicPolicy: Battle Over Federal Budget Puts Nonprofits In Firing Line
We have not seen much love in Washington DC recently, and the presentation of President Obama’s budget for 2012 is not likely to be taken as a gesture of friendship. As soon as the dust settled after last November’s midterm elections, both political parties and numerous commissions began to draw up agendas to discuss the […]
Net Neutrality Neutered
The FCC voted 3-2 to pass the rules it had drawn up with the ‘help’ of telecommunications companies like Verizon and AT&T. In the ways of Washington over the last several months, almost no one is happy with the plan. And yet again the Obama Administration is being called to the mat. Well, AT&T seems […]
‘Lame Duck’ Seems A Misnomer – Or A Political Attack (On Net Neutrality)
Lame-duck Congresses refer to those sessions that follow a November election through the winter holidays. Some number of Congress people have just lost their seats, but the newly elected replacements do not get to move in until they are sworn in in January. Thus the ‘duck’ is too ‘lame’ to fly, though it is alive […]