AMERICAN ECONOMY - Trends and Tax Law

"What trends distinguished the U.S. economy over the past decade?" PBS NewsHour 12/31/2019

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SUMMARY:  As the year comes to a close, we look back at the past decade in the American economy -- the first without a recession since record-keeping began in the 1950s.  While unemployment remains at a historic low, wage growth has been sluggish, and inequality continues to divide the country.  David Wessel of the Brookings Institution and The Washington Post’s Catherine Rampell join Jeffrey Brown.

"Is 2017 tax law responsible for declining share of U.S. charitable donors?" PBS NewsHour 12/31/2019

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SUMMARY:  Thanks to large checks from the wealthy, financial contributions to the 100 largest charities in the U.S. rose 11 percent in recent months.  But the share of Americans who give to charity overall continued its long-term slide, with small nonprofits hit the hardest.  A number of factors are at play -- including the 2017 tax law.  Lisa Desjardins talks to the Chronicle of Philanthropy’s Stacy Palmer.

GOP TAX BILL - Old/Failed 'Trickle Down' Religion

"The surprising winners and losers of the latest GOP tax bill" PBS NewsHour 12/18/2017

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SUMMARY:  Who benefits most from the latest GOP tax plan?  Who won -- and who lost -- in the last-minute changes?  With the House poised to pass its tax bill on Tuesday, Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to analyze its impact and some of the surprising details inside.

"Tax cuts alone won’t answer U.S. economic needs, Bloomberg says" PBS NewsHour 12/18/2017

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SUMMARY:  Michael Bloomberg, former mayor of New York City and billionaire investor and business owner, wrote a column this week calling the tax bill a “trillion-dollar blunder."  He tells Judy Woodruff why he thinks Congress and President Donald Trump put politics ahead of true tax reform.

"Sweeping GOP bill set to revamp U.S. tax code, slash corporate rate" PBS NewsHour 12/19/2017

aka "Coming of United States of America Inc."

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SUMMARY:  For Republican lawmakers, it's a day to celebrate.  Cheers went up as the GOP tax overhaul received House passage, signaling the end of a legislative sprint to get the bill wrapped up by Christmas.  Lisa Desjardins joins Judy Woodruff to discuss what ended up in the bill, a minor snag in the Senate, plus the prospects for passing a federal funding bill and avoiding a government shutdown.

The spin......

"U.S. needs to be a ‘little bit patient’ to see robust economic growth from the GOP tax plan, says Thune" PBS NewsHour 12/19/2017

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SUMMARY:  After a year in the majority marked by several legislative speed bumps and dead ends, Republicans are happy with the final tax bill that's poised to pass, according to Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.)  Judy Woodruff asks Thune about the long-term tax increase for the middle class, doubts that the tax cuts will spur the kind of growth predicted by the GOP plan and concerns about a ballooning deficit.

Killing the ACA by the back door.....

"The GOP tax bill deals a blow to the Affordable Care Act.  Here’s how" PBS NewsHour 12/20/2017

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SUMMARY:  The sweeping tax bill passed by Congress on Wednesday extends beyond what you file with the IRS.  It also affects American health care by repealing Obamacare's [ACA] so-called individual mandate.  John Yang learns more from Julie Rovner of Kaiser Health News about that and other health care matters on Congress’ agenda.

The uncharitable Republicans......

"Charities fear GOP tax overhaul will dry up donations.  Here’s how" PBS NewsHour 12/21/2017

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SUMMARY:  Charities are concerned that the GOP tax overhaul disincentives giving.  By doubling the standard deduction, fewer people may end up itemizing deductions, meaning fewer would take the charitable tax break.  Judy Woodruff learns more from Stacy Palmer of The Chronicle of Philanthropy about the effects and gets advice from people who want to give.

AMERICA - Move America Forward, Charity or Political PAC?

"Pro-Troop Charity Misleads Donors While Lining Political Consultants’ Pockets" by Kim Barker, ProPublica 8/5/2014

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Move America Forward has collected millions to send care packages to U.S. troops.  But its appeals often rely on images and stories borrowed without permission, and its assets have been used to benefit political consulting firms and PACs.

In February 2013, Move America Forward announced an ambitious fundraising goal.  The charity, launched in part by one of the most prominent figures in the Tea Party movement, had adopted the 800 Marines in a battalion fighting in Afghanistan and wanted to send them all care packages.

"For some troops, these care packages are the only mail they will receive all year," the group said in one email solicitation.

The charity later described the fundraising drive as a rousing success:  In less than five weeks, all 800 Marines in a 1st Marine Division battalion nicknamed Geronimo were sent care packages and notes in Afghanistan, it claimed.

But that couldn't have been true.  The Marines of Geronimo weren't even in Afghanistan during Move America Forward's fund drive.  Instead, they were deployed more than 3,000 miles away, in Okinawa, Japan.

Move America Forward calls itself the nation's "largest grassroots pro-troop organization," and has recruited a bevy of Republican luminaries, including former Presidents George H.W. Bush and George W. Bush and former Vice President Dick Cheney, to support its efforts.

Yet an examination of its fundraising appeals, tax records and other documents shows that Move America Forward has repeatedly misled donors and inflated its charitable accomplishments, while funneling millions of dollars in revenue to the men behind the group and their political consulting firms.

In several instances, the charity has taken images and stories from other groups and from veterans themselves without permission to use in fundraising appeals.

Last year, Move America Forward even solicited funds by claiming a partnership with Walter Reed National Military Medical Center, the largest hospital for wounded service members in the country.  No such partnership existed, Defense Department officials say.

The charity's funds and other assets also appear to have been used to subsidize three conservative political action committees, records show.

Charity watchdogs have long criticized Move America Forward for spending too much on administrative fees and having little outside oversight.  For instance, it earned zero stars out of a potential four from the rating organization Charity Navigator.

But experts on campaign finance and taxation say Move America Forward's practices may trigger more than bad ratings.  Its activities could violate tax rules, which prohibit charities from engaging in partisan politics or overly benefiting the people who run them.

"They're playing audit roulette," said Marcus Owens, a lawyer who once ran the division on tax-exempt organizations in the Internal Revenue Service.  Owens said Move America Forward reminded him of the Coalition for Freedom, a charity linked to then-Senator Jesse Helms that lost its tax-exempt status with the IRS largely because of its political activities in the mid-1980s.  "They're betting the IRS won't find them, or won't find them in time."

The driving force behind Move America Forward is Sal Russo, 67, the longtime political consultant who is listed on the 10-year-old charity's tax returns as chief strategist.

Russo is better known for helping to form the Our Country Deserves Better PAC, also known as the Tea Party Express, one of the largest Tea Party groups in the country.  Consultants from his Sacramento-based firm, Russo, Marsh and Associates, also set up two other PACs, the Move America Forward Freedom PAC and the Conservative Campaign Committee, to aid conservative causes and candidates.

Russo and his associates have previously drawn attention for lavishing funds raised through the committees on themselves, using this money on an Alaskan cruise and fancy hotels as well as paying themselves huge consulting fees.

CHARITIES - How to Choose One That Really Works

Note that I'm a believer that if you are truly charitable you do NOT take a tax deduction.  Charity means giving without expecting a return.

"How to choose a charity that really delivers" PBS Newshour 12/22/2013

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JOHN LARSON:  And now to a topic on the minds of many this time of year: charitable giving.  Studies show that Americans are among the most generous in the world, but donations are partially fueled by tax deductions.  And for some time now, there’s been talk about capping those deductions.  For more about all of this, we are joined now by Ken Berger.  He’s the CEO of Charity Navigator, which rates how effective charities are at actually getting donations to those in need.  Ken, thanks so much for joining us.

KEN BERGER:  Thank you for having me.

JOHN LARSON:  First of all, that cap on deductions, it’s not the law of the land yet, but if it should become law, what do you anticipate the effect would be?

KEN BERGER:  Well, there’s some debate on that, but essentially, billions of dollars less will be given to charity, most likely.  The percent of the overall is in question, but certainly billions of dollars less would be given to charity.

CHARITIES - Telemarketing Sharks

"One donation to charity telemarketer spawns more solicitation calls" by Kendall Taggart, Center for Investigative Reporting 11/14/2013

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Judith Johnson of Stacyville, Iowa, doesn’t get out much anymore.

Legally blind and living on a small Social Security pension, the 72-year-old used to go to church once a week.  She stopped out of fear that her new walker would snag on the railroad tracks she had to cross to get there.

But Johnson, whose tiny apartment is decorated with crucifixes, still believes it’s her duty to help those less fortunate.

So when telemarketers call on behalf of cancer patients, homeless veterans or disabled firefighters, the retired secretary finds it hard to say no.

That penchant for giving made Johnson the target of America’s billion-dollar charity fundraising industry.

In one recent year, callers persuaded her to write 25 checks to 11 different charities.

The repeated calls were no fluke.

Each one can be traced back to a single source – Associated Community Services, a Michigan-based company that is one of the nation’s largest charity telemarketing firms.

After Johnson gave to one charity, the firm put her on a list that got her bombarded with calls for nearly a dozen more company clients.  Telemarketers sometimes called several times a day.

Johnson told one phone solicitor she couldn’t afford to give to a charity called Children with Hair Loss.

“She said, ‘You’re going to let this poor little child be bald-headed when they’re only 4 years old?’ ” Johnson recalled.  “I really felt bad for the children, so I think I gave her around $10.”

Unbeknownst to Johnson, about $1.75 of that donation made it to the charity.  The telemarketing firm pocketed the rest.

Johnson’s story is just like that of millions of Americans who give once over the phone only to find themselves flooded with calls for more causes.

To track how this happens, the Tampa Bay Times and The Center for Investigative Reporting scrutinized how a single company, Associated Community Services, operated in one state that has amassed a treasure trove of data.

Reporters interviewed 10 current and former employees and examined internal company documents subpoenaed by the Iowa attorney general.  Iowa regulators used the records, which provide a rare glimpse into the inner workings of the charity industry, to build a case against the firm.  Earlier this year, a judge in Iowa ordered Associated Community Services to stop soliciting in that state until it fully complied with a subpoena.  The telemarketer is appealing the ruling.

In interviews, phone solicitors described the tactics they used to persuade donors to give.  Along with the records, which include details about every Iowa donor who gave 10 times or more, their descriptions reveal a deliberate strategy of targeting trusting donors and exploiting their generosity to fuel profits in the name of charity.

From March 2010 through June 2011, nearly 400 Iowans made 10 or more donations to the firm’s charity clients.  Total number of donations from the frequent-donor group: more than 5,500, worth a combined $102,000.

Associated Community Services would hit up its most reliable givers dozens of times in a year, with no regard for their age or financial situation.

Calls came so often that nearly half of the repeat donors gave to two different charity clients in a single day.

In an email, company officials said they call people on their hot list randomly and do not purposefully call multiple times a day.

“If the stars aligned properly, it is possible that a potential donor phone number could be called for several charities in one day,” President Richard Cole wrote.  “But this would be an unusual incident.”

Cole also said the company does not target the elderly and has no way of knowing the age or financial situation of the people they call.

But the Iowa attorney general found that most of the company’s prolific donors – those who gave 20 times or more – were 69 or older.

The top donor was a man in his 80s in Dubuque.  In just over a year, he made 38 donations totaling $1,375 to 13 of the telemarketer’s charities.

Six times, he gave to two of the firm’s clients on the same day.

The Iowa data details one company’s operations in a state with roughly 3 million residents.  But industry experts and the firm’s employees who worked the phones say it is representative of how Associated Community Services and many other telemarketers do business across the nation.

Industry experts said such practices are used primarily by telemarketing companies that do cold-calling and take a percentage of the donations raised, rather than a flat fee, for their service.

The vast majority of the nation’s 1.6 million nonprofits do not use telemarketing firms.  Charities that hire these phone solicitors wind up with a fraction of what gets raised.  Financial filings by clients represented by Associated Community Services show the firm and its related companies keep as much as 85 cents of every dollar donated.  Once charities pay their own administrative costs – including rent and salaries – it often means pennies on the dollar make it to those in need.

"America's Worst Charities"

AMERICA - Fallout Over Komen Charity's Decision (Updated)

"What's Behind Komen Charity's Split From Planned Parenthood?" PBS Newshour 2/2/2012

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JUDY WOODRUFF (Newshour): And to the fallout over a decision made by one of the country's best known breast cancer charities.

On Tuesday, the Susan G. Komen Foundation revealed that it would stop providing grant money to Planned Parenthood clinics for breast screening. The foundation said it would no longer give money to any group under investigation by any branch of the government. Planned Parenthood is the subject of an investigation led by Republican Congressman Cliff Stearns.

The move sparked a political firestorm, and at least one official from within the Komen organization has resigned.

For more on all this, we turn to Shari Roan, who is covering the story for The Los Angeles Times.

Another excerpt

JUDY WOODRUFF: But, just finally, Shari Roan, in a broad sense, again, what does this represent, this battle now out in the open between these two significant organizations, both of which support women's health?

SHARI ROAN, The Los Angeles Times: Right.

I think this is what's astonishing to most people, is that these two iconic women's health organizations are now -- now appear to be on opposite sides of the fence. And many people who support one organization have often supported the other.

Certainly, on a local level, Planned Parenthood affiliates work very closely with their local Komen affiliates. They support each other's fundraisers and events. And this is causing a lot of people to be very uncomfortable and to really feel like they have to choose sides.

So it's a really unfortunate development. And I think it's going to linger on for some time, as people try to decide where to put their support in the future.

So, the Komen Foundation gives in to the Gestapo tactics of Republican's and anti-abortionists.

UPDATE

"Komen Charity Reverses Planned Parenthood Grant Cuts" PBS Newshour 2/3/2012

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HARI SREENIVASAN (Newshour): The about-face came after two days of anger from many women and supporters, and after the breast cancer charity offered two different explanations for its decision.

First, Komen leaders said they would cut grants to Planned Parenthood because of a new policy barring money to organizations being investigated by the government. Then yesterday, Komen officials cited concerns over how Planned Parenthood provided mammograms and other follow-up services.

This morning, Komen's founder, Nancy Brinker, apologized in a statement saying: "We have been distressed at the presumption that the changes made to our funding criteria were done for political reasons, or to specifically penalize Planned Parenthood. They were not."

POLITICS - Boehner and Catholic Charity

"For House Speaker Boehner at commencement address, scrutiny of Catholic charity" by Katherine Shaver, Washington Post 5/14/2011

Katy Jamison strode toward her graduation from Catholic University on Saturday wearing the requisite black robe and mortar board — plus a neon green message to House Speaker John A. Boehner (R-Ohio).

“Where’s the compassion, Mr. Boehner?” said the 8-by-10-inch sign pinned to her chest.

Jamison, 26, said Boehner, the keynote speaker at Catholic’s graduation and recipient of an honorary law doctorate, had cut too much in the federal budget aimed at protecting the poor. Doing so defied the Catholic church’s teachings, she said, and will hurt the people she hopes to help with her newly minted master’s degree in social work.

“His policies reflect different values than the values of social work professionals, which are to help people who are poor, vulnerable and repressed,” Jamison said.

Jamison and about 30 other students, all graduate students in social work, were part of a small, quiet protest against the House speaker. There were no jeers or chants. Several protest organizers said they didn’t want to detract from the ceremony. While there was no outward protest from the faculty, many did not join the students in their standing ovation to Boehner’s sometimes teary speech.

A letter signed by 83 students and sent to university president John Garvey on Thursday said Boehner was an inappropriate keynote speaker because the fiscal 2012 budget resolution that he had championed severely cut funding for food assistance, programs for low-income children and help for the homeless.

“Does the Catholic University administration really believe that Speaker Boehner is the example of Catholic leadership we should aspire to follow as we make our way into the world?” the letter said.

Another letter to Boehner signed by 83 Catholic University professors and academics from Boston College, Fordham University and other Catholic schools said the speaker had ignored his moral obligation to make protecting the poor a priority. The letter called his legislative record of helping the poor “among the worst in Congress.”

Speaking from the eastern steps of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception, Boehner urged the more than 1,500 graduates to cultivate humility, patience and faith. He choked up and dabbed his eyes while recalling how his high school football coach had called on the morning he became House speaker to tell him “you can do it” and how his parents often told him, “If you do the right thing for the right reason, good things will happen.”

Boehner, who attended Catholic high school and Jesuit Xavier University, a Catholic college in Cincinnati, made no mention of politics. He came close only when recounting that when asked recently by a high school student what he prayed for before White House meetings with President Obama, he had told the student, “I always ask God for the courage and wisdom to do His will, not mine.”

Before telling the graduates, “All right, off you go,” Boehner drew laughs and applause when he said, “So there you have it — humility, patience and faith and, as always, a few tears from me.”

Garvey said he invited Boehner to give the keynote address because of his support for Catholic education.

“He’s been a good leader for his party,” Garvey said in an interview following the ceremony. “He’s himself a good Catholic, and he represents the church well.”

Boehner was unavailable after the address, and a university spokeswoman said he had to hurry off to catch a flight. Asked about the protest, Boehner spokesman Michael Steel said Boehner was “deeply honored” to deliver the graduation address. “He hopes it spoke to all members of the graduating class, regardless of their backgrounds or affiliations,” Steel said.

Students who did not protest Boehner said they were impressed that their relatively small school attracted the House speaker, regardless of whether they agreed with his politics.

“He kept [his speech] focused on the faith and on us,” said Ryan Soccio, 21, of Rhode Island, who received his bachelor’s degree in politics. “He kept it anti-political, which I thought was a good idea.”

POLITICS - The "Charity" Gravy-Train to Influence

"Congressional Charities Pulling In Corporate Cash" by ERIC LIPTON, New York Times 9/5/2010

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Representative Joe Baca has achieved near celebrity status in his suburban Los Angeles district, as much for his record of giveaways — Thanksgiving turkeys, college scholarships, spare boots for firefighters — as for anything he has done in Congress.

That generosity is made possible by the Joe Baca Foundation, a charity his family set up three years ago to aid local organizations. It provides another benefit, too: helping the Democratic congressman run something akin to a permanent political campaign.

Joe Baca T-shirts and caps are given out at the charity’s events, where banners display his name. Local newspapers mention the charity’s donations, and cable stations show appearances by Mr. Baca and his family at functions his foundation supports.

“It’s great,” said Laura Goodloe, 36, as she watched her 8-year-old son, Jordan, play at the arena in San Bernardino, Calif., where the Baca Foundation offered a free basketball clinic last month. “He is giving back to the community.”

But unlike most private foundations, Mr. Baca’s gets little of its money from its founders’ pockets. Instead, local companies and major corporations that have often turned to Mr. Baca’s Washington office for help, and usually succeed in getting it, are the chief donors.

A review by The New York Times of federal tax records and House and Senate disclosure reports found at least two dozen charities that lawmakers or their families helped create or run that routinely accept donations from businesses seeking to influence them. The sponsors — AT&T, Chevron, General Dynamics, Morgan Stanley, Eli Lilly and dozens of others — contribute millions of dollars annually in gifts ranging from token amounts to a check for $5 million.
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Despite rules imposed in 2007 to curb the influence of special interests in Congress, corporate donations to lawmakers’ charities have continued, thanks to a provision that allows businesses to make unlimited gifts to them. And while business executives say they want to give to a good cause, their pattern of spending — contributions that often are not disclosed, in apparent violation of ethics rules — suggests another reason.

Altria, the cigarette maker, for example, sent at least $45,000 in donations over a six-week period last fall to four charitable programs founded by House members — including Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the Republican leader, and Mr. Clyburn, the Democratic whip — just as the company was seeking approval of legislation intended to curb illegal Internet sales of its cigarettes. An Altria spokesman said the donations were not related to the measure, which all four congressmen backed. (The other two are Mr. Boyd and Representative Bart Stupak, Democrat of Michigan.)

Tom Williams, a spokesman for Duke Energy, acknowledged that the company participates in lawmakers’ charitable events in part to get access to them and push its agenda. “We are not apologetic about it at all: it is part of our overall effort to work with policy makers,” he said. “Social settings are always a good way to get to know people.”

This "working with policy makers" MAY be legal, BUT is it ETHICAL? In my book, this is just a softer version of bribery.

Do you think Joe Mailman or Sue Checkout-Counter have the EQUAL opportunity, or leverage, to "working with policy makers?"