Day archives: May 29th, 2013

New GAO Reports – Export-Import Bank, DOD’s Workforce, UN Salaries, Worker Safety and Dept. of Energy Sites

EXPORT-IMPORT BANK, Financing of Dual-Use Exports, GAO-13-628R, May 29, 2013 HUMAN CAPITAL, Additional Steps Needed to Help Determine the Right Size and Composition of DOD’s Total Workforce, GAO-13-470, May 29, 2013 SOCIAL SECURITY ADMINISTRATION, Long-Term Strategy Needed to Address Key Management Challenges, GAO-13-459, May 29, 2013 UN COMPENSATION, United Nations Should Clarify the Process and Assumptions Underlying Secretariat Professional Salaries, GAO-13-526, May 29, …

Subjects: Government Documents

CBO – The Distribution of Major Tax Expenditures in the Individual Income Tax System

“A number of exclusions, deductions, preferential rates, and credits in the federal tax system cause revenues to be much lower than they would be otherwise for any given structure of tax rates. Some of those provisions—in both the individual and corporate income tax systems—are termed “tax expenditures” because they resemble federal spending by providing financial …

Subjects: Economy, Government Documents

Report – FDIC-Insured Institutions Earned $40.3 Billion in The First Quarter of 2013

News release: “Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported aggregate net income of $40.3 billion in the first quarter of 2013, a $5.5 billion (15.8 percent) increase from the $34.8 billion in profits that the industry reported in the first quarter of 2012. This is the 15th consecutive …

Subjects: Economy, Government Documents

CRS – 501(c)(4)s and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Tax and Campaign Finance Laws

501(c)(4)s and Campaign Activity: Analysis Under Tax and Campaign Finance Laws: May 17, 2013: “The campaign activities of tax-exempt 501(c)(4) social welfare organizations continue to receive considerable attention. These groups operate with less restriction after the Supreme Court’s decision in Citizens United v. FEC, which invalidated long-standing prohibitions in the Federal Election Campaign Act (FECA) on corporations and labor unions using their …

Subjects: Government Documents, Legislation

CRS – Financial Stability Oversight Council: A Framework to Mitigate Systemic Risk

CRS – Financial Stability Oversight Council: A Framework to Mitigate Systemic Risk, by Edward V. Murphy, Specialist in Financial Economics. May 21, 2013: “The Financial Stability Oversight Council (FSOC) was created by the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (DFA; P.L. 111-203) in 2010 as part of a comprehensive reform of banking and securities …

Subjects: Economy, Government Documents, Legislation

Pew Report – Breadwinner Moms

Breadwinner Moms – Mothers Are the Sole or Primary Provider in Four-in-Ten Households with Children; Public Conflicted about the Growing Trend, by Wendy Wang, Kim Parker and Paul Taylor, May 29, 2013: “A record 40% of all households with children under the age of 18 include mothers who are either the sole or primary source of income …

Subjects: Government Documents

New Book – Citations Out of the Box Copyright

Citations Out of the Box Copyright by Frank G. Bennett, 2013 – PDF version of the book with a Forward by Lawrence Lessig: “This book is a coming-of-age celebration for Multilingual Zotero (MLZ), software that offers an alternative to the time-honoured practice of hand-crafting citations in legal and multilingual publishing. The long-term aim of the project is to improve the quality of …

Subjects: Legal Research

Wal-Mart Pleads Guilty to Federal Environmental Crimes, Admits Civil Violations and Will Pay More Than $81 Million

DOJ News Release: “Wal-Mart Stores Inc. pleaded guilty today in cases filed by federal prosecutors in Los Angeles and San Francisco to six counts of violating the Clean Water Act by illegally handling and disposing of hazardous materials at its retail stores across the United States. The Bentonville, Ark.-based company also pleaded guilty today in …

Subjects: Environmental Law, Government Documents, Legal Research, Legislation

Digital by Default or by Detour?’ Assessing User Centric eGovernment performance in Europe

Digital by Default or by Detour? Assessing User Centric eGovernment performance in Europe – eGovernment Benchmark 2012: “Software is an essential tool of production in every sector of the modern economy. Enterprises of all sorts rely on it to design products, provide services, communicate with customers, and manage operations. But software contributes considerably more value to …

Subjects: E-Government, Intellectual Property

New GAO Reports – Coast Guard, Defense Health Care, Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief

Coast Guard – Clarifying the Application of Guidance for Common Operational Picture Development Would Strengthen Program, GAO-13-321, Apr 25, 2013 Defense Health Care: Department of Defense Needs a Strategic Approach to Contracting for Health Care Professionals, GAO-13-322, May 28, 2013 President’s Emergency Plan For AIDS Relief: Drug Supply Chains Are Stronger, but More Steps Are Needed to Reduce Risks, GAO-13-483, …

Subjects: Government Documents, Health Care, HIV/AIDS

Competitive Advantage: The Economic Impact of Properly Licensed Software

Competitive Advantage: The Economic Impact of Properly Licensed Software – Global Study Conducted for BSA by INSEAD eLab: “Public Services Online: Digital by Default or by Detour? The 2012 eGovernment benchmark provide insight in three broad areas: A demand-side citizen view of public services – based on a representative sample, of 28,000 European internet-using citizens. Three life-events are assessed: starting a business, …

Subjects: Copyright, E-Government, Intellectual Property

Plants that were frozen during the “Little Ice Age” centuries ago have been observed sprouting new growth, scientists say

Via BBC: “Samples of 400-year-old plants known as bryophytes have flourished under laboratory conditions. Researchers say this back-from-the-dead trick has implications for how ecosystems recover from the planet’s cyclic long periods of ice coverage. The findings appear in Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. They come from a group from the University of Alberta, who were exploring an area around …

Subjects: Climate Change

Thank you!