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Correction Regarding the Longer-Term Effects of the Manager’s Amendment to the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, December 20, 2009. Letter to the Honorable Harry Reid. Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, Incorporating the Manager’s Amendment. Cost estimate for the amendment in the nature of a substitute to H.R. 3590, incorporating the effects of changes …
News release: “Credit risk in bank trading activities continued to decline in the third quarter of 2009, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency reported today in the OCC’s Quarterly Report on Bank Trading and Derivatives Activities: Third Quarter 2009.”
The Rise of Chinas Auto Industry and Its Impact on the U.S. Motor Vehicle Industry, Rachel Tang, Analyst in Industrial Organization and Business, November 16, 2009 The automobile industry, a key sector in Chinas industrialization and modernization efforts, has been developing rapidly since the 1990s. In recent years, China has become the worlds fastest growing …
News release: “EPIC has filed a complaint with the Federal Trade Commission, urging the FTC to open an investigation into Facebooks revised privacy settings. The EPIC complaint, signed by nine other privacy and consumer organizations, states that the “changes violate user expectations, diminish user privacy, and contradict Facebooks own representations.” EPIC cites widespread opposition from …
Federal Estate and Gift Taxes, Economic and Budget Issue Brief, December 18, 2009. “The scheduled repeal of the estate tax in 2010, followed by a reversion to a $1 million effective exemption amount thereafter, has raised interest in modifying the estate tax. Proposals include making permanent the repeal of the estate tax; maintaining the current …
Follow up to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change: Draft of Global Climate Pact, today’s White House announcement: A Meaningful and Unprecedented Breakthrough Here in Copenhagen – “In a much-anticipated United Nations climate change conference in Copenhagen, Denmark, the President arrived after nearly two weeks of work with the firm intention of seizing the …
Follow up to previous postings on government implementation of whole body scanning technology at airports, this news: On December 17, 2009, EPIC filed a lawsuit against the Department of Justice concerning the use of devices that capture images of individuals stripped naked. The Transportation Security Administration has confirmed the Whole Body Imaging machines are being …
Tracking the Nation’s Bank Failures – banks, saving banks and thrifts that have failed since the beginning of 2008 – last update December 11, 2009 at which time the number was 158. Check this site for regular updates. Related postings on financial system
HHS Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report December 18, 2009: Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorders — Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network, United States, 2006 “In 2006, on average, approximately 1% or one child in every 110 in the 11 ADDM sites was classified as having an ASD (approximate range: 1:80–1:240 children [males: 1:70; females: 1:315]). …
CDCs Ethics Program for Special Government Employees on Federal Advisory Committees (OEI-04-07-00260), December 2009. “We found that CDC had a systemic lack of oversight of the ethics program for special Government Employees (SGEs). That is, CDC and its SGEs did not comply with ethics requirements in 2007.”
News release: “The Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), on behalf of its members, released proposed guidance today on reverse mortgage products. The guidance is designed to help financial institutions ensure that their risk management and consumer protection practices adequately address the compliance and reputation risks raised by reverse mortgage lending. The proposed guidance addresses …
“The MetroMonitor is a quarterly, interactive barometer of the health of Americas 100 largest metropolitan economies. It examines trends in metropolitan-level employment, output, and housing conditions to look beneath the hood of national economic statistics to portray the diverse metropolitan trajectories of recession and recovery across the country. The aim of the MetroMonitor is to …
