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U.S.

“Everything is on the table….No one is safe.” : August 2016 U.S. Federal State & Local Shenanigans

Incomplete list of U.S. Federal/State/Local Government self-destruct announcements for August 2016:

Bill & Hillary Clinton claim they paid 34.2% of their income to federal income taxes.  They also claim they paid 9.8% of their ‘adjusted’ income to charity, mostly to their own charity informally called Clinton Family Foundation (which, by the way, is how they keep their daughter Chelsea employed, it’s officially called the Bill, Hillary & Chelsea Clinton Foundation).

Flip-Flopper Hillary: According to The Washington Times, Hillary Clinton helped create the not-so-free Obama regime’s free trade deal known as Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP), but now as a presidential candidate Hillary Clinton claims she will cancel TPP becasue it’s not free or fair to the working class!

The Washington Post revealed that despite Donald Trump claiming his golf courses are worth tens of millions of U.S. dollars his state tax filings are claiming otherwise, but only because Trump is trying to reduce paying his fair share of taxes.  

California: Victor Valley Wastewater Reclamation Authority laid off 13 people.  VVWRA is paid by how much sewage water flows into their privately run treatment plant, and sewage flows crashed by 22% (since 2010), forcing VVWRA to conduct across the board layoffs.  VVWRA blames the city of Victorville for diverting one-millions gallons of sewage into the city run treatment plant.  The city of Victorville counters by blaming delayed construction of a new pipeline on VVWRA.  That pipeline is supposedly functional now, and was 94% funded by taxes from the federal government (through FEMA).  Not only has Cupertino based Apple avoided paying its fair share of taxes to the not-so Golden State, as well as the United States, but apparently failed to pay the equivilant of $14-million USD in taxes to the European Union!  The Guardian reports that the Obama regime is threatening the European Union (an ally of the U.S.) for demanding U.S. companies like Apple pay their fair share in taxes!  And San Francisco based Uber failed to pay Taiwan the equivilant of $6.3-million in taxes!  The government of Taiwan (an ally of the U.S.) says Uber hasn’t paid taxes since 2013!

Colorado: The Colorado Weekly Homebuyers List reports at least six property owners/businesses facing federal and state tax liens, just in Boulder County.

Delaware: Illinois based HVS Convention, Sports, and Entertainment Consulting ties Delaware with Idaho for the 8th highest hotel tax rate in the U.S.

Florida: Brevard County Court warning of layoffs due to state taxpayer funding cuts.  The county Clerk of Courts told local news that 28 jobs could be eliminated between now and January 2017.  Local news reports say Brevard County Court has been eliminating jobs since 2008; from 480 to now less than 3-hundred.

Idaho: A Fourth District Judge has thrown out a lawsuit challenging the 2014 law that heaps huge taxpayer funded incentives on companies moving to The Gem State.  Tens of millions in tax breaks (supposedly in the form of “reimbursements”) have already gone to companies like California based Amy’s Kitchen and Ireland’s Glanbia Foods. Agricultural news source Capital Press also revealed that an undisclosed food producer was recently given a $15-million tax credit for creating a piddly 80 jobs in Boise.  The state Depatment of Commerce claims that tax ‘reimbursments’ helped create 4,737 new jobs. But if companies aren’t paying their fair share of taxes how are the state and local governments going to make up for it?  By hitting Idaho residents with jacked up taxes and fees, of course.

If you’ve got a family and you’re thinking about moving to Idaho to get a job with one of those taxpayer subsidized companies, think again.  The Gem State is one of the worst when it comes to affordable child daycare, and the state government does nothing about it.  Economic Policy Institute says the average Idaho family spends $6-hundred per month per child on daycare.  Child Care Aware says from 2013 to 2014 childcare costs in Idaho skyrocketed by 19.9%!  Even a daycare operator says it’s not worth it to raise a family in Idaho: “Ultimately, when you do the math, and mom is only making X amount, how much of that money is going toward lunches out, and extra clothing, and taxes, and gas to get to and from? You have to look at all of that and see if it’s cost-effective.”-Megan MacCleary, Megan’s Munchkins Preschool, whose income from her daycare operation is so low she qualies for Medicaid (even though daycare rates have gone up Idaho still ranks third lowest for daycare operator/worker pay)

Indiana: Ball State University economist Michael Hicks warned that taxpayers are being raped in the name of saving the corporate retail industry: “We are in the fourth or fifth iteration of government subsidizing new development at the urging of property developers, consultant firms and bond attorneys. Each time a shiny new strip mall is opened, a small-business owner somewhere else is eventually put out of business. The cycle continues. Consultants get rich, local economic developers claim jobs and local taxpayers get struck with empty retail infrastructure they didn’t need, and not enough money to fix the schools…”

Kansas: More proof of Failed State-ism; yet again monthly state tax collections failed to cover state government expenses.  August tax collections were $10-million USD short of what was needed!  Blame unAmerican corporate America: “Individual income taxes beat estimates for the second month of the fiscal year, which is encouraging, but corporate, sale and use tax receipts continue to lag pulling down the overall totals.”-Nick Jordan,  Secretary of Revenue

Kentucky: Illinois based HVS Convention, Sports, and Entertainment Consulting says Kentucky experienced a 19.32% hotel tax revenue growth, the biggest growth in the U.S.

Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority warning of mass layoffs due to being ‘in the hole’ by $100-million USD!  At least 60 MBTA janitors are being laid off, for a start.

Michigan:  Proof of Failed State-ism; Montcalm County Sheriff Department warning deputies of possibly layoffs due to the county being in the financial hole by $1.5-million USD.  County administrators revealed that since 2012 tax collections have fallen behind expenses by an average of $2-million per year!  (if the private sector can’t pay people enough, then people can’t pay taxes)

New Jersey: More proof of Failed State-ism; The city of Paterson shutdown 36 taxpayer funded summer camps, warned of 250 layoffs, forced furlough days for remaining employees, and  intentionally increase police issued traffic tickets to generate cash!  Even with the layoffs, and forcing police to arbitrarily issue 30-thousand (80 per day) additional money generating traffic tickets, city administrators whine that they will still be short $2.1-million USD!  The New York Times revelaed that when Chris Christie became governor he reduced the $30-million in taxes owed by the now dead Trump Taj Mahal Casino Resort to just $5-million!  Now we know the reason why Trump went from being a Democrat to being a Republican; bribery!

New Mexico: Cibola County prison shutting down by October, 3-hundred jobs affected!  The prison has been operated by the evil for profit Corrections Corporation of America (CCA) since 1998, CCA refused to say why they’re shutting the prison down.  It might be connected to the fact the federal government’s own study shows “They do not save substantially on costs and … they do not maintain the same level of safety and security.”

New York: The town of Oyster Bay is $700-million USD in debt, 103 employees have been retired early and another 150 will be laid off!    John Venditto, town supervisor for 18 years, warned “Everything is on the table. There will be a proportion between non-exempt employees and exempt employees. No one is safe.”

By the way, former Oyster Bay commissioner Frederick Ippolito had his federal court sentencing delayed. He pled guilty to failing to pay taxes on a $2-million consulting fee he was paid while serving as the town’s planning and development commissioner.

Ohio: According to Crain’s Cleveland Business the Internal Revenue Service has filed federal tax liens against 21 businesses.

South Carolina: Illinois based HVS Convention, Sports, and Entertainment Consulting says South Carolina experienced a negative 3.22% hotel tax revenue ‘growth’, the biggest decline in the U.S.

Washington DC: The Congressional Budget Office says within ten years taxpayer spending on military and civilian government jobs will hit a 53 years low, due to crashing tax revenues and skyrocketing costs of operations (especially due to ObamaCare).  Already the Internal Revenue Service has eliminated 17-thousand tax collecting jobs in the past six years!

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

JULY 2016 U.S. FEDERAL/STATE/LOCAL GOVERNMENT SHENANIGANS

Business/Economics

“It’s not like they’re taking jobs from Americans” 5-million migrants refuse to leave! : U.S. Job Losses & Closings 15 June 2016

Incomplete list of U.S. job loss announcements and shutdowns.

Alabama: What construction industry recovery? In Decatur, after 24 years Marvin’s Building Materials shutting down by July.

California: In Salinas, Foothill Packing has been fined $235-thousand USD for falsely firing U.S. citizens and replacing them with H-1B migrants: “The employer claimed the workers — who were U.S. citizens — had failed to meet production standards. Investigators found that many of them had consistently exceeded the production of many of the foreign workers doing the same jobs, yet Foothill did not terminate these foreign workers.“-U.S. Department of Labor press release

Electric car maker Tesla has been caught directly importing migrants to work in The Golden State!  The San Jose Mercury News reports that the migrants are not legal H-1B workers but are illegal immigrants.  The newspaper tracked an immigrant from Slovenia who worked for Tesla.  When confronted Tesla administrators flat denied employing the immigrant. Watch the video:

Idaho: The Fire Chief of Chubbuck resigned in connection to the planned merger of the city of Chubbuck’s fire department with the city of Pocatello (both cities are dealing with cash problems despite continually telling the taxpayers the economy is good): “Whether the consolidation goes forward or not it’s not going to be affected by whom the chief is at the time.”-Joshua Ellis, Chubbuck city councilman

Speaking of Chubbuck and Pocatello, the county of Bannock made an appeal to property owners to pay their property taxes, warning of fines and interest charges.  It sounded like the county is having problems with property tax collections, which would not be happening if the economy was good.  I gotta message for Bannock County: “You can’t squeeze blood from a turnip.”

Kansas: In Wichita, Via Christi Health eliminating 70 more jobs on top of the 80 they’ve already cut!  Yet, at the same time hospital administrators told local news that they plan to hire 80 people!

Massachusetts: The city of Boston Weak and the college of Babson announced they will create their own migrant ‘visa’ program to get around the federal H-1B!   An unnamed ‘official’ connected to the scam flat out lied and said “It’s not like they’re taking jobs from Americans, they’re giving jobs to Americans.”

Michigan: Benton Harbor Area Schools eliminating 43 jobs in an effort to save $1.4-million USD.  However, local news sources say the district is also planning on creating 12 new positions.

New Jersey: Inspira Medical Center eliminating at least 67 jobs at two locations by August.  Saks Fifth Avenue eliminating 137 Short Hills jobs by September!

New York: Old Country Buffet issued a shutdown WARN for their Bay Shore operation, 42 jobs gone by mid-September.  Unnamed sources say the Daily News laid off 22 people, after attempts to sell the newspaper failed.

North Carolina: Charlotte based Too Big to Jail Bank of America announced it will ‘accelerate’ its job destruction by 8-thousand jobs as part of its “digital banking” plan!  It’s blamed on a sudden 15% increase in people using digital banks instead of brick-n-mortar banks (never mind the fact that increase was forced by BoA shutting down 23% of its offices since 2009).

Oregon: Law firms (American Immigration Lawyers Association and  American Immigration Council) in Oregon are suing the federal government over the H-1B program,  not because H-1B is taking jobs from U.S. citizens but because their foreign clients were turned down for H-1B visas!

Texas: Big 5 Sporting Goods shutting down five of its eight Texas stores!  Local news media say administrators refused to talk about it.    Recently two people were convicted and sentenced to federal prison for seven years, for running an H-1B scam.  They were falsifying H-1B documents to bring in migrants from India.  An Indian news source stated the H-1B program was created “to create a low-cost workforce in the US.”  This news came at the same time it was revealed the oil industry in Texas was employing thousands of people from around the world.  The recent oil industry BS hit one Texas town hard as it was home to many of the migrants: “80 to 100 families have relocated to their home country primarily because of job changes and changes in the economy.”-Richard Rowell, business owner in Katy City

Washington DC:  More proof U.S. jobs are going to immigrants; during a Congressional hearing it was revealed that at least 5-million migrants violated their H-1B visas and now refuse to leave the United States!  This means they’re now illegal immigrants but the federal government isn’t doing anything about it, a grand total of 10-thousand visa violation cases were investigated out of the now 5-million violators known to be in the U.S.!   Despite the latest revelations, the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) issued a  new Visa Waiver Program which allows immigrants to enter the United States without getting visas from U.S. consular officers!

Indian news media revealed that the U.S. government is making bank on its H-1B visa program.  At the end of last year the Obama regime jacked up the fees paid by foreigners for H-1Bs by $4-thousand USD!  The U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services handles the H-1B applications.

FALSE FLAG: DENMARK REPORTS 50,000 MIGRANTS “DISAPPEARING”!

14 June 2016: “We are announcing that we have decided to close down our operations effective today.”

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification.

I found a 2010 AFL-CIO analysis (titled The Public Availability of WARN Notices: Lack of Accessibility and Disclosure…) which proves what I’ve been suspecting in my search of state WARN notices; most states are not complying with federal WARN regulations and are not publicizing or tracking mass layoffs.

Former employees who receive severance are not counted as unemployed!

Employees of religious non-profits might not qualify for unemployment assistance: “If the non-profit organization is a church, you may or may not be entitled to unemployment. It all depends upon state regulations for church employers. In many cases, churches are allowed to set their own rules regarding unemployment benefits, meaning the church can choose whether to offer benefits to former employees.”

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”

Business/Economics

“Why are we killing ourselves…?” “There has certainly been a seismic shift…” “It just makes you sick.” : U.S. Job Losses & Store Closings, 22 August 2015

Incomplete list of publicly announced layoffs & shutdowns:

“The management of employment is a great human and social responsibility, that cannot be left in the hands of the few…To cause job losses means to cause serious social damage…”-Pope Francis, hypocritically criticizing layoffs despite the fact the Catholic Church is shutting down church and charity operations all over the United States

“Our real unemployment rate…..because you have ninety million people that aren’t working. Ninety-three million to be exact. If you start adding it up, our real unemployment rate is 42%.”-Donald Trump, interview with Time

U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says Illinois, Missouri and Rhode Island are all tied for 15th worst unemployment rate in the U.S., for July.

Alaska: In Anchorage a second Alaska Club handball-racquetball center will shutdown this year.  The property is for sale. It’s blamed on crashing memberships: “There has certainly been a seismic shift in the number of people playing racquetball and handball.”-Robert Brewster, president

Arkansas: The sale of the vacant Majestic Hotel has been suspended indefinitely.  Apparently the Missouri based ‘corporate’ buyer is facing legal problems with his own creditors.  If the sale had gone through it would have been a big loss for the people of Hot Springs as their own Board of Directors had agreed to sell the $2-million USD property for only $680-thousand!

Connecticut: Laser maker Lumentum shutting down their Bloomfield factory.  No details about when or how many jobs will be lost.  As with most U.S. corporations they are consolidating manufacturing in anticipation of a worsening economy: “…in order to meet our customers’ future cost expectations...”

Illinois: At least three camps leased by the Girl Scouts of Southern Illinois being shutdown due to crashing membership and increasing maintenance costs.  The camps in Salem, Makanda and Worden will shutdown by the middle of 2017: “We just have too many camps for the size of our council.”-Villie Apoo, Girl Scouts ceo

Kansas: In Topeka, Aussie themed Florida based Outback Steakhouse shutdown with little notice, 60 jobs lost.  The manager hinted that profits have crashed, but refused to give a specific ‘official’ reason to local news media.

Massachusetts: The Massachusetts Institute of Technology says cell phones can be used to more accurately count the number of unemployed people.  Researchers noted that in European cities where big layoffs took place there was a 51% drop in cell phone usage.  Even the number of cell towers needed to handle the calls dropped by 20%.

Michigan: In Grand Haven, after 36 years RK Jewelers shutting down in September.  In Niles, God refuses to help ‘his’ British empire founded Salvation Army Food Pantry stay open.  The local Salvation Army Major blames a decrease in donations and a steady increase in poor people: “We have been seeing for the last three or four years a lot of new folks that we’ve never seen before.”-Major William Walters

Minnesota: ObamaCare forcing North Memorial Medical Center to shutdown its Home Care operations, at least 1-hundred jobs lost!  4-hundred patients affected!

New Jersey: The state Department of Labor and Workforce Development says 13-thousand 6-hundred people lost their jobs in July! 

New York: In Greenport, after 15 years Cuvee Bistro and Bar shutting down in September.  Family health problems are blamed.

North Carolina: A-hole ‘lawmakers’ are trying to pass a new bill that would make it harder for unemployed people to qualify for unemployment assistance (stop calling it a ‘benefit’!)!

Ohio:  God refuses to stop the shutdown of ‘his’ Good Shepherd Parish in East Toledo, and ‘his’ Advent Lutheran Church in Sylvania.  It’s blamed on decreasing members (The Rapture? or maybe people have woken up to The Lie) and increasing costs of operations.  The Lodge restaurant in Lancaster shutdown.  The property owner, who bought the Lodge from the Elks Club in 2010 and then shelled out more money for major renovations, revealed he’s been trying to sell the building for some time, but for various reasons the deals fall through.  The United Way, Kiwanis and Rotary Clubs lamented the loss of their favorite meeting place.

Oregon: In Saint John’s Bar, The Central Hotel restaurant and bar shutting down by the end of the month, 11 jobs lost.  The property owner is selling it to a property developer.   The restaurant operator also admitted they never had any intention of running a restaurant anyway: “…we ended up taking over the restaurant, which is never something that we planned on doing. We just kind of said, ‘Why are we killing ourselves to do this financially?’….it has been a huge financial strain.”-Risa Davis, co-owner

Tennessee: In Nashville, reports say the Granny White Market (aka Purple Cow) is being forced to shutdown by the greedy property owner who suddenly told the store owner he had six weeks to vacate: “After 19 years he tells me we need to close the doors. It just makes you sick.”-Dan Smith, Purple Cow owner

Washington: The evil city administrators of Bellingham forced local taxpayers to buy homeless shelter Aloha Motel for $1.5-million, and now they’ll shut it down for demolition in September!  A homeless man who’s lived their since 2014 asked “We’re told we have ’til August 31 to get out, but where else am I supposed to go?”     Linds Pharmacy in Coupeville shutting down next week.  The owner says he put Linds Pharmacy up for sale more than a year ago and Rite Aid was the only interested buyer.  The pissed owner blames his forced sale on ObamaCare insurance companies: “Our main financial challenge has been the pharmacy insurance companies and their continual lowering of fees and insistence on patients using their mail-order houses. Lowered prescription volumes, coupled with lowered fees, equals financial problems.”-flyer distributed to loyal customers

West Virginia: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics says The Mountain State has the worst ‘official’ unemployment rate (7.5%) in the United States, for July.

Wisconsin: After 64 years God refuses to stop the shutdown and sell-off of ‘his’ Redeemer Lutheran Church in Caledonia.  Church leaders would rather blame it on people being sinful, but maybe it’s something called The Rapture: “Churches across the board are having this kind of problem….It’s hard to have them when you don’t have a lot of people.”-Doris Kidd, church secretary

21 August 2015: Federal Reserve confirms no recovery!

WARN=Worker Adjustment & Retraining Notification

The U.S. Department of Labor (DoL) no longer issues mass layoff reports: “On March 1, 2013, President Obama ordered into effect the across-the- board spending cuts (commonly referred to as sequestration) required by the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act, as amended. Under the order, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) must cut its current budget by more than $30 million, 5 percent of the current 2013 appropriation, by September 30, 2013. In order to help achieve these savings and protect core programs, the BLS will eliminate two programs, including Mass Layoff Statistics, and all ‘measuring green jobs’ products. This news release is the final publication of monthly mass layoff survey data.”