Millionaire homes received unemployment benefits in 2009

Almost 2,400 people in millionaire homes received unemployment benefits in 2009

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By Frank Bass, Updated: Tuesday, October 2, 6:59 AM

Oct. 2 (Bloomberg) -- Almost 2,400 people who received unemployment insurance in 2009 lived in households with annual incomes of $1 million or more, according to the Congressional Research Service.

The report was released after about 1.1 million people exhausted their jobless benefits during the second quarter of 2012, when more than 4.6 million filed initial unemployment claims. Eliminating those payments to high earners is one idea being considered as U.S. lawmakers struggle to curb a projected $1.1 trillion deficit for the fiscal year that ended Sept. 30, with the nationwide jobless rate at 8.1 percent.

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Wonkbook: The number of the day is $3,446

Ezra Klein 7:59 AM ET

According to the Tax Policy Center, that's the blow to after-tax income for the average family if Congress goes over the fiscal cliff. But forget the average, which gets dragged up by the size of the tax increase on the rich. Let's get more specific.

“Sending millionaires unemployment checks is a case study in out-of-control spending,” U.S. Senator Tom Coburn, an Oklahoma Republican, said in an e-mail. “Providing welfare to the wealthy undermines the program for those who need it most while burdening future generations with senseless debt.”

The 2,362 people in millionaire homes represent 0.02 percent of the 11.3 million U.S. tax filers who reported unemploy- ment insurance income in 2009, according to the August report. Another 954,000 households earning more than $100,000 during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression also reported receiving unemployment benefits.

The reported benefits may include those received by spouses or dependents of people who made high incomes, or benefits received earlier in the year before a household member got a high-paying job.

Eliminating the federal share of unemployment benefits for millionaires would save $20 million in the next decade, the congressional researchers said in their report.

Prohibiting Benefits

Congress has expanded unemployment benefits that had been paid for by states and lasted 26 weeks. The federal money lengthened the maximum period to 99 weeks, though the researchers said in practice no state currently offers more than 79 weeks.

Coburn introduced legislation in February 2011 to prohibit federally funded unemployment benefits for people who had at least $1 million in assets in the year before they filed a claim. The Senate voted unanimously for his measure, the Ending Unemployment Payments to Jobless Millionaires Act of 2011. It was later added to another bill, which hasn’t passed the Senate.

Coburn found that 18 households reporting an adjusted gross income that exceeded $10 million received an average unemployment benefit of $12,333 in 2009. The average benefit for 74 households earning between $5 million and $10 million was $18,351. The average household making $1 million or more received $11,113, or about 37 weeks of unemployment benefits.

Payroll Taxes

Unemployment benefits, which averaged about $300 per week in 2011, are paid out of accounts funded by payroll taxes and administered by states. Like Social Security and Medicare, the federal health insurance program for the elderly and disabled, unemployment insurance has no income limits.

The Internal Revenue Service reported that 2,840 millionaire households, or 0.03 percent of tax filers, received unemployment benefits in 2008. Another 816,700 beneficiaries earned between $100,000 and $1 million in 2008, the report said.

The House of Representatives last December passed a bill that would have taxed jobless benefits at 100 percent for single filers with an income of $1 million or married filers earning more than $2 million. The provision, part of a jobs bill written by Michigan Representative Dave Camp, a Republican who leads the House Ways and Means Committee, was dropped before the legislation was sent to President Barack Obama for his signature.

Auctioning Airwaves

Lawmakers voted in February to fund the $30 billion cost of extending unemployment benefits by auctioning public television airwaves and increasing pension contributions by new federal employees. The extension expires at the end of the year.

During the recovery from the recession, real unemployment, including discouraged workers and part-time employees seeking full-time jobs, peaked at 18 percent in January 2010. The number of American workers who collected unemployment benefits topped out at 6.6 million in May 2009, the highest seasonally adjusted number in more than 30 years, according to the Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration.

The average unemployed American is out of work for nearly 40 weeks, according the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Even so, congressional researchers said it’s possible that IRS figures understate the number of households that receive unemployment insurance because the first $2,400 in benefits wasn’t taxed in 2009, although it is now.

Newspaper is reorganizing, delivering more via internet

Newspaper is reorganizing, delivering more via internet

Read more: Local, Economy, Business, News, Post Standard, Layoffs, Job Cutbacks, Syracuse News

Official announcement on Post-Standard layoffs comes Tuesday.  We're hearing 112 staffers are losing their jobs. / Photojournalist Brian Erb

Staffers at Syracuse's Post-Standard found out today if they'll have jobs after January of next year.

Columnist Dick Case, was among those called in to the publisher's office, and told he's being let go.  We are told he is one of 112.  Publisher Stephen Rogers makes the official announcement tomorrow.

Case, who has been with the Syracuse Newspapers for 54 years, says he was pleased that Rogers spoke with him personally.  "I think the community is changing, but so is our business" Case told us. "I think this change to more of an emphasis on the dot com is inevitable."

A quick look around the SU campus affirms his words, with many students walking between classes checking their phones.  All we talked to told us they get their news online.

Former Newhouse School of Public Communications Dean David Rubin says students think newspapers are obsolete, but that the issue here is not how the news is delivered. The issue, he says, is "how do you pay for a collection of talented professional newsgathers? That's the issue."

The Newhouse School Career Development Office is also watching the change:  "It's not the best news, says Director Kelly Brown, "but it's certainly not unexpected." She--and Rubin--say the layoffs actually present new opportunities for current students, who are being trained in social media skills.  Rubin also says the 'demise' of the newspaper could open the door for more media competition, that the internet as the medium levels the playing field and takes out the huge stumbling block of starting up an expensive printing operation.

The Post-Standard's management has said it expects to allow laid off workers to re-apply for 'new' jobs, and that the number in the newsroom will not decrease, however it's expected to be at lower salaries. Not all the layoffs will be in the newsroom:  a press room operator tells us 3 of the 12 workers there have gotten notices, as the paper cuts back its printing schedule.  But many of the people going are working journalists with hundreds of years of community background and experience, and losing that collective knowledge is a concern. "What matters is the people who are doing this, says Rubin, "and are there enough people doing it so they can get a salary and get benefits and be professionally trained so we have a pretty good idea of what's happening in this community."  Figuring out how to make enough money from online operations continues to be an issue for all news media.

Late this afternoon, the Syracuse Press Club Board of Directors issued this statement on the layoffs:
"The Syracuse Press Club is disheartened to learn of the layoffs at the Syracuse Post-Standard Monday. Changes in the delivery of news are inevitable, but the Press Club is greatly disappointed with the decision to lay off journalists with roots here in Central New York. A daily newspaper, and the news people who produce that product, serves a vital role in our community. We wish all staff members at the Post-Standard the best during these changes."

Ikea's Saudi Arabia Catalog Erases Women

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Women missing from Saudi Arabian Ikea mailer.

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By Tiffany Hsu, Los Angeles Times

5:53 a.m. PDT, October 2, 2012

The Ikea catalog distributed in Saudi Arabia is the same as in other countries except for what it's missing -- women.

The Swedish publication Metro has posted a comparison of the Saudi Arabian mailer and the Swedish version, showing that women present in the latter were missing from the former.

In one instance, a pajama-clad woman -- shown standing at a bathroom sink along with a man, young boy and toddler nearby -- was erased from the catalog distributed in the Arab nation, leaving just the three other people in the picture.


Saudi Arabia has been criticized for its treatment of women, who are not allowed to travel or study without male permission, and are expected to avoid driving.

Ikea Group, based in Sweden and the Netherlands, issued a statement saying the altered catalog clashes with its values.

The statement said the company supports "the fundamental human rights of all people" and does "not accept any kind of discrimination."

Ikea Saudi Arabia, the statement said, is run by a franchisee outside the Ikea Group.

"As a producer of the catalog, we regret the current situation," Ikea Group said. "We should have reacted to the exclusion of women from the Saudi Arabian version of the catalog since it does not align with the IKEA Group values."

The company continued: "We are now reviewing our routines to safeguard a correct content presentation from a values point of view in the different versions of the IKEA Catalog worldwide."

In Ikea Group's annual report for 2011, the company notes that societal changes, including "equal opportunities and revolutionary approaches to ensure the rights and protection of women and children," have shaped its products and values.

Billionaire Koch Brothers Try To Buy Court

Billionaire Koch Brothers Try To Buy Court

October 2nd, 2012 12:00 amCarl Hiaasen

The new stealth campaign against three Florida Supreme Court justices is being backed by those meddling right-wing billionaires from Wichita, Charles and David Koch.

They couldn’t care less about Florida, but they love to throw their money around.

Last week they uncorked the first of a series of commercials from their political action committee, Americans for Prosperity. The targets are Justices R. Fred Lewis, Barbara Pariente and Peggy Quince.

They were three of the five-vote majority that in 2010 knocked down a half-baked amendment slapped together by Florida lawmakers seeking to nullify the federal Affordable Health Care Act.

The Florida Supreme Court upheld lower court decisions in finding that the proposed amendment contained “misleading and ambiguous language,” the hallmark of practically everything produced by this Legislature. Stoned chimpanzees have a keener grasp of constitutional law.

Conservative groups have gone after local justices before. In Iowa, a place which has nothing but vowels in common with Florida, three state justices were fired by voters after being vilified for ruling against a ban on gay marriage.

On the November ballot, Lewis, Pariente and Quince are up for merit retention, meaning voters can choose to retain them or not. This simple system was put in place to keep the state’s high court above the sleaze of political races.

The mission of the Kochs, hiding as always behind their super PAC, is to get the three justices dumped at the polls so that Gov. Rick Scott can appoint replacements.

This is worth repeating: If the Kochs have their way, Rick Scott — yes, that Rick Scott — gets to pack the Supreme Court with his own handpicked crew.

Yikes is right.

The head of the Florida chapter of Americans for Prosperity is a person called Slade O’Brien, whose job is to keep a straight face while saying things like: “We’re not advocating for the election or defeat of any of the justices. What we’re attempting to do is call more attention to them advocating from the bench.”

Meanwhile the state GOP’s executive board is less coy. It voted to oppose the retention of Quince, Lewis and Pariente, branding them “too extreme.”

Well, let’s have a peek at these dangerous radicals.

Justice Pariente, 63, has been on the court for 15 years. She was graduated from George Washington University Law School and clerked in Fort Lauderdale under U.S. District Judge Norm Roettger, who was no softie.

Justice Lewis, 64, who was graduated cum laude from the University of Miami Law School, has been on the court almost 14 years. Both he and Pariente were appointed by Gov. Lawton Chiles, not exactly a wild-eyed liberal.

Justice Quince, also 64, is the first African-American woman on the Supreme Court. A graduate of the Columbus School of Law at Catholic University, she worked for years prosecuting death-penalty cases in the state attorney general’s office.

In 1999, she was jointly selected for the high court by Chiles and that wacky left-winger, Jeb Bush.

Twice before, Floridians have voted to keep these justices, but now the Kochs from Wichita say they know better. You won’t see David or Charlie in any of the campaign commercials because they don’t like people to know they’re prying.

Their multinational fortune comes from oil refineries, fertilizers, cattle, commodities, chemicals and paper mills. Next time you reach for Angel Soft toilet paper, think of the Koch brothers.

Both are MIT grads, philanthropists, unabashedly ultraconservative and anti-Obama. They’re spending hundreds of millions of dollars trying to defeat the president and lesser officeholders all over the country who won’t bend to their will. Some Florida Republicans — respected judges and lawyers — are disturbed by the sneak attack on the Supreme Court, which they view as a bald attempt to politicize the judiciary.

The two other justices who voted against the inept Obamacare amendment were similarly singled out two years ago, when they were up for merit retention. Tea Party groups bought TV time blasting justices Jorge Labarga and James Perry, and urging voters to remove them from the court. It didn’t work.

Labarga was retained with about 59 percent of the vote, Perry with 61 percent. Those aren’t bad margins, considering that the justices can’t campaign in their own defense.

This time is different because Americans for Prosperity has a bottomless war chest to use against Lewis, Pariente and Quince. Be assured that Gov. Scott is rooting for the Kochs. He’d love to have three openings to fill on the Supreme Court.

The last thing these guys want is fair judges who know the law; they want partisan judges who’ll obediently support their political agenda

It’s worse than just trying to buy an election. It’s trying to hijack Florida’s justice system at the highest levels.

And all the Angel Soft in the world won’t wipe away the stink.

(Carl Hiaasen is a columnist for the Miami Herald. Readers may write to him at: 1 Herald Plaza, Miami, Fla., 33132.)

(c) 2012, The Miami Herald Distributed by Tribune Media Services Inc.

Photo by “quite peculiar” via Flickr.com

Mother Arrested in NoHo After Leaving Baby in Hot Car

KTLA News

4:41 a.m. PDT, October 2, 2012

NORTH HOLLYWOOD, Calif. (KTLA) -- A mother was arrested after allegedly leaving her 1-year-old daughter in her car with the air conditioning running while she went into a North Hollywood store, authorities said.

Los Angeles police and paramedics responded about 1:20 p.m. to the Ralphs grocery store parking lot at 10900 Magnolia Boulevard and found a baby girl inside a blue Nissan.

"Though air conditioning was running, the vehicle interior was not cooling," said Los Angeles Fire Department spokesman Brian Humphrey.


Whether air conditioning is on or not, it is against California law to leave a child unattended in a vehicle, Humphrey said.

Humphrey said the little girl was taken to a hospital and found to be in good condition. He said an unofficial weather station in the area put the temperature at the time at 106 degrees.

LAPD Det. Gus Villanueva said the vehicle was unlocked.

The child's mother was found inside the grocery store after authorities arrived and she was taken into custody.

She is being booked on suspicion of willful harm to a child, police said.

Police say the baby, along with her 7-year-old brother, have been taken into protective custody because of concerns officers found at their home.

Heat, Red Flag Warnings Continue Across SoCal

KTLA News

4:23 a.m. PDT, October 2, 2012

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- After a scorching hot day on Monday, residents of the Southland are being warned to brace for more heat on Tuesday.

Conditions aren't expected to be quite as hot and dry on Tuesday, but temperatures are still forecast to top 100 degrees in some areas.

The high in downtown Los Angeles is expected to be about 94 degrees. The valleys of the Inland Empire wills see temperatures of about 105 degrees.


Additionally, an increasing onshore flow will bring stronger onshore winds to the region, with gusts between 25 and 30 mph expected in the mountains and Santa Clarita Valley.

The winds and hot weather, along with humidities around 10 percent, will continue to bring critical fire weather conditions on Tuesday.

A red flag warning, indicating high fire danger, is in effect through 6 p.m Tuesday for the Santa Clarita Valley and the San Gabriel Mountains in Los Angeles and Ventura counties.

The Angeles National Forest in L.A. County and Ventura County's Los Padres National Forest are also under red flag warnings.

To stay safe in the heat, forecasters recommend wearing loose, light-weight, light-colored clothing and drinking plenty of fluids.

You should also avoid strenuous activity in the heat, and you should never leave people or pets in parked vehicles, even with the windows open.

Why The Weather Channel is Naming Winter Storms

Tom Niziol Updated 10 mins ago weather.com

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During the upcoming 2012-13 winter season The Weather Channel will name noteworthy winter storms. Our goal is to better communicate the threat and the timing of the significant impacts that accompany these events. The fact is, a storm with a name is easier to follow, which will mean fewer surprises and more preparation.  

Naming Winter Storms

Hurricanes and tropical storms have been given names since the 1940s. In the late 1800s, tropical systems near Australia were named as well. Weather systems, including winter storms, have been named in Europe since the 1950s.  Important dividends have resulted from attaching names to these storms:

• Naming a storm raises awareness.
• Attaching a name makes it much easier to follow a weather system’s progress.
• A storm with a name takes on a personality all its own, which adds to awareness.
• In today’s social media world, a name makes it much easier to reference in communication.
• A named storm is easier to remember and refer to in the future.

(MORE: Check Out the New Storm Names for the 2012-2013 Season)

The question then begs to ask “Why aren’t winter storms named?”  In fact, in Europe the naming of weather systems has been going on for a long time.  Here in the U.S., summer time storms including thunderstorms and tornadoes occur on such a small time and space scale that there would be little benefit and much confusion trying to attach names to them. However, winter weather is different. Winter storms occur on a time and space scale that is similar to tropical systems.

In fact, historically many major winter storms have been named during or after the event has occurred. Examples include “The President’s Day Storm” and “Snowmageddon.” Yet, until now, there has been no organized naming system for these storms before they impact population centers.

“Naming winter storms will raise awareness, which will lead to more pro-active efforts to plan ahead, resulting in less impact on the public overall.”

Tom Niziol

One of the reasons this may be true is that there is no national center, such as the National Hurricane Center, to coordinate and communicate information on a multi-state scale to cover such big events. The National Centers for Environmental Prediction’s Hydrologic Prediction Center (HPC) does issue discussions and snowfall forecasts on a national scale but it does not fill the same role as the NHC in naming storms. Therefore, it would be a great benefit for a partner in the weather industry to take on the responsibility of developing a new concept.   

This is where a world-class organization such as The Weather Channel will play a significant role. We have the meteorological ability, support and technology to provide the same level of reporting for winter storms that we have done for years with tropical weather systems. 

In addition to providing information about significant winter storms by referring to them by name, the name itself will make communication and information sharing in the constantly expanding world of social media much easier.  As an example, hash tagging a storm based on its name will provide a one-stop shop to exchange all of the latest information on the impending high-impact weather system.

(MORE:  Jim Cantore's Famous "Thunder Snow" Video  |  Remembering Snowtober 2011)

There will be many differences from the “tropical model” for naming winter storms. Unlike tropical systems, winter weather takes place at latitudes under extreme energy and forcing from the atmosphere.

Often a weather system that is expected to strike a metropolitan area three days from now has not even completely formed in the atmosphere. Therefore, naming of winter storms will be limited to no more than three days before impact to ensure there is moderate to strong confidence the system will produce significant effects on a populated area.  In addition, the impacts from winter systems are not as simple to quantify as tropical systems where a system is named once the winds exceed a certain threshold. 

The process for naming a winter storm will reflect a more complete assessment of several variables that combine to produce disruptive impacts including snowfall, ice, wind and temperature.  In addition, the time of day (rush hour vs. overnight) and the day of the week (weekday school and work travel vs. weekends) will be taken into consideration in the process the meteorological team will use to name storms.

This is an ambitious project. However, the benefits will be significant. Naming winter storms will raise the awareness of the public, which will lead to more pro-active efforts to plan ahead, resulting in less impact and inconvenience overall. 

Coordination and information sharing should improve between government organizations as well as the media, leading to less ambiguity and confusion when assessing big storms that affect multiple states. It will even make it easier and more efficient for social media to communicate information regarding the storm resulting in a better informed public. And, on the occasion that different storms are affecting separate parts of the country, naming storms will allow for clearer communications.

Finally, it might even be fun and entertaining and that in itself should breed interest from our viewing public and our digital users.  For all of these reasons, the time is right to introduce this concept for the winter season of 2012-13.