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    US Boosting growth in 2016...

    US Spending Bill May Aid Economy

    WASHINGTON (AP) -- Just as the Federal Reserve is pulling back slightly on the economic accelerator, Congress is pressing down a bit harder.

    The spending and tax-cut package that Congress approved Friday stands to modestly boost growth next year. It could also help drive a shift away from government as a drag on economic growth to a source of potential stimulus.

    "This shift ... is currently being overlooked by financial markets and analysts," said Joseph Carson, U.S. economist at asset manager Alliance Bernstein. "But we believe this will be a key aspect of a more positive and faster growth environment for next year."

    Economists at Goldman Sachs have forecast that increased federal spending and tax cuts should add to economic growth in 2016 for the first time in six years.

    The $1.1 trillion budget deal boosts spending for most Cabinet agencies by about 6 percent next year. A separate tax measure provides $680 billion in tax cuts over 10 years. It would do so mostly by extending or making permanent about 50 different expiring tax breaks.

    That measure follows Congress' approval of a five-year, $305 billion highway bill earlier in December.

    Taken together, the measures could increase growth to about 3 percent next year, Carson estimates, up from a likely pace of about 2.25 percent this year.

    Alec Phillips, an economist at Goldman Sachs, forecasts a smaller gain and envisions overall growth next year of 2.25 percent.

    The picture now looks brighter for state and local governments, too. Their tax revenue has increased as the economy has improved. The economy now has about 4.5 million more jobs than it did before the Great Recession began in late 2007.

    Spending on construction at all levels of government, for example, rose 6.1 percent in October compared with a year earlier. Additional government spending can also translate into more purchases of military equipment.

    The economic lift from government, if it proved significant and if it raised undesirably low inflation, could make it easier for the Fed to continue raising short-term interest rates. On Wednesday, citing the improved economy, the Fed announced its first rate increase in nine years. For seven years, the central bank had kept its key short-term rate at a record low near zero to encourage borrowing and spending.

    Fed Chair Janet Yellen's predecessor, Ben Bernanke, had frequently called on Congress to limit its budget cuts in the short run to help the economy recover. But in recent months Yellen has noted that governments at all levels were spending a bit more. That likely helped set the stage for the Fed's rate increases.

    "Fiscal policy actions at both the federal and the state and local levels look like they are no longer a significant drag on economic growth," Yellen said in May.

    The Fed said Wednesday that any rate hikes next year would likely be gradual and that it may delay further increases if the economy weakens. The Fed's interest rate target will likely remain below its longer-run average all next year, Yellen said, meaning that consumer borrowing rates should also remain at historically low levels.

    Business groups applauded Congress' extension of tax credits, particularly those that enable companies to write off their expenses for big-ticket purchases and research and development expenses.

    They have long complained that the temporary nature of those tax breaks meant companies couldn't be sure they would be available. Next year will be the first year since 2013 that companies will start the year knowing that the credits will be available, Phillips noted.

    "Fiscal instability and uncertainty in the tax code have stifled investment for years," said Mark Weinberger, CEO of consulting firm EY and chair of the Business Roundtable, a group of large company CEOs. "By taking steps to address these long-standing problems, Congress will provide a boost to economic growth, innovation and job creation."

    (KA)

    #2
    A bunch of McJobs heck why not double spending if it works so well.

    Comment


      #3
      CP, I thought they DID double spending...!

      Ever heard of the Holy Ghost pat down? Don't think it would work near as well in Canada as in Texas!!!

      Oh BTW... "throwing the book" at a terrorist is becoming a terrorist defence strategy... Bibles being the weapons of choice in mass destruction" situations!

      Enjoy!

      Security Focus at Churches, Mosques
      33 minutes ago
      BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) -- In Alabama, a Presbyterian church wanted to be able to hire its own police for protection. Mosque leaders around the country are meeting with law enforcement officials as an anti-Muslim furor fuels arson attacks and vandalism. And the Federal Emergency Management Agency has been holding specialized training for congregations for "all hazards, including active shooter incidents."

      Religious congregations across the United States are concentrating on safety like never before following a season of violence, from the slaughter unleashed in June by a white shooter at a historically black church in Charleston, South Carolina, to the killings this month in San Bernardino, California.

      The Council on American-Islamic Relations said 2015 is shaping up as the worst year ever for U.S. mosques, amid the backlash to the Islamic-extremist attacks in Paris and San Bernardino, and the intensifying anti-Muslim rhetoric from Donald Trump and others seeking the GOP presidential nomination. Preliminary 2015 data collected by the civil rights organization found 71 reported cases of vandalism, harassment and threats, with 29 of those incidents occurring since the Nov. 13 assaults in France.

      The Anti-Defamation League, which works to secure Jewish sites, has been organizing safety training around the country with other faith groups, including an Austin, Texas, event with local police and the African Methodist Episcopal Churches of Greater Austin that drew participants from 35 churches and three mosques. The Charleston church attacked in June, Emanuel African Methodist Episcopal Church, is part of the national African Methodist Episcopal denomination.

      Christian churches have been refining their security plans ahead of receiving some of their largest crowds of the year for Christmas. On a FEMA webinar last Wednesday on protecting houses of worship, the chief security executive at The Potter's House, the Rev. T.D. Jakes' megachurch in Dallas, gave tips about behavior that should raise concern, such as a congregant arriving in a long coat in hot weather. If needed, church greeters could give a hug and feel for weapons, said the executive, Sean Smith.

      "I call it the Holy Ghost pat-down," Smith said.

      Congregations and other religious sites have long been targets of violence and vandalism, especially African-American churches going back at least to the civil rights movement. In 2007, a young man on a shooting spree killed two people at an evangelical ministry and two more at New Life Church in Colorado Springs, Colorado. In 2012, a white supremacist killed six people at a Sikh temple in Oak Creek, Wisconsin. And last year, a white supremacist killed three people at a Jewish Community Center and retirement home in suburban Kansas City.

      After the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, Jewish groups led an effort that persuaded Congress to provide grants through the Department of Homeland Security to improve protection of congregations. Even so, a 2013 poll by the Barna Group for Brotherhood Mutual Insurance found nearly 60 percent of Protestant churches nationwide did not have a formal security plan for worship services.

      Now anxieties over security are reaching a new level with national attention focused on mass shootings and terror threats, renewing debate about how far congregations should go to protect themselves given the religious imperative to be open to newcomers.

      In Charlotte, North Carolina, St. Matthew Roman Catholic Church, which draws about 30,000 worshippers to its weekend Masses, this month alerted parishioners to beefed-up security, such as uniformed and plain-clothes police officers at services, and a ban on backpacks, baby strollers and diaper bags in worship areas.

      "People feel that is almost like a weight lifted, in light of what is happening in the world today," said Antoinette Usher, the facilities and operations director at St. Matthew, which has held three security training sessions for staff, including active-shooter training. "They were feeling a little concerned about being a house of worship. You're facing forward. Someone could come in from behind."

      Rod Pires, who runs a church security ministry in the Atlanta area, said he is getting more and more requests for help, including several calls daily from churches asking whether they should arm their members or develop a security plan. Several states allow concealed weapons in churches, including Arkansas, Illinois and North Dakota.

      A bill the Alabama Legislature passed in August would have let Briarwood Presbyterian Church in metro Birmingham hire at least one police officer and perhaps more, giving them the same authority as city or county enforcement on properties that include the church and a large private school. Gov. Robert Bentley refused to sign the legislation, which died on his desk as some lawmakers and administration officials worried the bill could open the door to private police forces statewide.

      "As soon as there's a mass shooting the phone just starts ringing off the hook, and everyone wants a quick solution," said Pires, CEO of Church Security 360 Degrees and former security chief at First Baptist Church of Atlanta. But guns in worship? Pires rejects the idea without a full security assessment and competent people trained to handle firearms.

      Most recently, concern has been focused on mosques. Last Monday, the White House convened meetings of Muslim and Sikh leaders to discuss the uptick in hate crimes against their houses of worship and individual members of their faiths. Sikhs, who wear turbans, are often mistaken for Muslims.

      The alarming cases of harassment include a November anti-Muslim rally with some armed demonstrators outside of an Irving, Texas, mosque, and an arson attack at the Islamic Society of Coachella Valley in California, about 75 miles from San Bernardino. Last weekend, two mosques in the Los Angeles suburb of Hawthorne were vandalized with paint and a fake grenade was left. And the Anti-Defamation League, which also tracks hate crimes, said three California houses run by the Chabad-Lubavitch Hasidic movement received hand-written letters saying Jews should get out of "our white country" and "take the Muslims with you."

      At ADAMS in Sterling, Virginia, one of the largest Muslim congregations in the country, the security guards resigned, saying they felt they could no longer protect the mosque amid the anti-Muslim uproar, ADAMS board chairman Rizwan Jaka said. The guards have been replaced with a more experienced team and the center's leaders are trying to reassure Muslims worried about the risks of attending Friday prayers.

      "Mosques are targets, so it's a natural fear they might have," Jaka said. "We're probably back to normal from a congregational attendance perspective since we got the upgraded security."

      On the FEMA webinar, officials emphasized the need for heightened security for all houses of worship. Katherine Schweit, chief of the active-shooter section in the FBI's Office of Partner Engagement, explained how congregants could create confusion to distract shooters.

      "You can fight by everyone throwing a Bible at them," Schweit said, "and I mean that in a very respectful way because I am a Bible-fearing person."

      (KA)

      Comment


        #4
        Good way to boost growth... Security to the 9's... to prevent "weapons of mass destruction" being used...

        Comment


          #5
          Washington Insider-- Friday
          Budget Deal Emerges
          Fri Dec 18, 2015 06:05 AM CST

          By DTN's Washington Insider

          Here’s a quick monitor of Washington farm and trade policy issues from DTN’s well-placed observer.

          Canada Optimistic US Budget Accord Will End COOL Dispute
          The Canadian government is “cautiously optimistic” that an omnibus bill before Congress will end the ongoing dispute over country of origin labeling (COOL), International Trade Minister Chrystia Freeland said Dec. 16.

          While Canada is “very pleased” with the bill, it remains to be seen if the provisions are passed into law, Freeland told reporters during a teleconference from the WTO ministerial meeting in Nairobi, Kenya. “I want to strongly encourage the Senate to get the job done and repeal COOL,” she said. “We are hopeful this dispute will come to a successful conclusion.”

          The World Trade Organization (WTO) has ruled that the COOL provisions violate US trade obligations and is expected to authorize $1.01 billion in annual retaliatory tariffs as early as Dec. 18.

          Freeland would not comment on whether Canada will wait to see how Congress deals with the bill before making a decision on whether or not to retaliate against US exports, saying only that she is in “hour to hour” contact with Canadian industry, Mexican officials and allies in the US to monitor the situation. “We are not going to deal in hypotheticals here,” she said. “This is a very unpredictable political situation.”

          Freeland did not specifically state that the COOL-related provisions in the bill fully satisfy Canada’s demands that the measures be completely withdrawn. “This is language that is very fresh to us. We have only had a couple of hours to study it,” she said. Freeland noted that while the WTO Dispute Settlement Body could approve retaliation by Canada and Mexico as early as Dec. 18, it is possible that the group’s special meeting could be delayed until Dec. 21, depending on the conclusion of the ministerial meeting.

          Echoing those sentiments, Canadian Agriculture Minister Lawrence MacAulay said Canada is not backing down yet. “That is the bottom line before anything changes on this end,” he said.

          The Canadian ambassador to the United States, Gary Doer, indicated they are not yet ready to celebrate the end of the U.S. COOL rules on pork and beef until the U.S. completes action on the legislation and it is signed into law. “We won’t have a beer to celebrate - a Canadian beer to celebrate - until the President signs the bill,” Doer said.

          ***
          Speaker Ryan: Congress May Move on TPP as Soon as Possible in 2016
          Congress will move as soon as it can in 2016 on considering the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) House Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., said this week. Ryan expressed optimism about the deal, noting that 40% of global gross domestic product (GDP) is covered by the agreement.

          Ryan has been described as an “effective partner” by White House Spokesman Josh Earnest, who also said “We continue to be optimistic that this is something that Congress can and should do in a timely fashion.”

          However, many on and off Capitol Hill are skeptical that any final action on TPP will be completed by the end of 2016 and perhaps not until a new president takes office.

          Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., last week said Obama would be making a “big mistake” if he sought a vote on the 12-nation TPP before the 2016 elections.

          ***

          Washington Insider: Budget Deal Emerges
          By now, almost everyone has heard that a deal has been worked out over the omnibus appropriation bill along with one extending important tax breaks and the Wall Street Journal and others are beginning to report details. In fact, it never was a dollars and cents disagreement as much as it was about “policy riders” that both sides were trying to smuggle into place.

          The House and Senate are expected to vote on the spending bill today.

          The spending bill has a price tag of around $1.15 trillion for FY 2016 and was wrapped up in the dark of night, around 1:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Late the night before, lawmakers had agreed to extend the dozens of lapsed and expiring tax breaks, amid somewhat frantic horse trading. For example, as part of the year-end budget push, the long-standing ban on U.S. oil exports would be lifted, among other policy shifts, the Journal noted.

          As it turned out, Republicans and Democrats need each other to get the final bill passed. So, in a major concession to Democrats, the spending bill won’t cut off federal funding to Planned Parenthood Federation of America, an objective many conservatives had sought.

          Democrats also gave on lifting the oil export ban. “I’ll be able to vote for it with that,” Rep. Kevin Cramer R, N.D., said. “I really felt like this was what would be plausible to get to a yes for me."

          Also, in exchange for lifting the oil ban, the deal would adopt environmental and renewable measures that Democrats want. These include extending wind and solar tax credits, reauthorizing a conservation fund for three years and excluding any measures that block major administration environmental regulations.

          So, the tax measure is poised to pass the House and Senate today, a development that would break Congress’ habit of extending lapsed tax breaks retroactively. To become law, though, the package still must withstand opposition from Democrats concerned that it provides too little for families, Republicans opposed to targeted tax breaks and deficit hawks worried about the impact on the country’s finances.

          In addition, the spending bill doesn’t include any restrictions on the resettlement of Syrian and Iraqi refugees into the United States, as some conservatives wanted. However, it will limit certain travel privileges granted to citizens of 38 friendly foreign countries that are allowed to enter the US without visa, Bloomberg said.

          Another wished-for item by ag interests, language blocking labels for genetically modified foods didn’t make the cut. And while there was considerable support from biotechnology companies, food and beverage manufacturers and agricultural trade groups, the bill to preempt state biotech labeling laws proved too divisive in the Senate.

          A mixed bag of other food policies made their way into the spending measure, Bloomberg says. These would allocate roughly $1 billion in additional funds to agricultural and food safety programs. Also, under the omnibus, biotech salmon couldn’t be marketed until FDA designs labeling guidelines that disclose that the product is genetically modified, even though FDA says the salmon is safe to eat. Alaska’s senators, along with some consumer and environmental advocacy groups pushed for stronger protections.

          The bill also includes provisions that would restrict the scope of a 2015 federal dietary guidelines report to nutrition topics rather than follow the path of an earlier draft that touched on environmental factors, Bloomberg said. It also will reinstate commodity certificates to give farmers flexibility in repaying loans and will limiting EPA regulations on greenhouse gas emissions from livestock operations.

          In a somewhat surprising move in this budget conscious Congress, provisions for implementing the new food safety law were more than doubled to $104.5 million, significantly closer to the administration’s request for fiscal 2016. The Food Safety Modernization Act requires standards for food manufacturers, produce farmers, importers and other businesses along the food chain and advocates argued that it was severely underfunded.

          Speaker Paul Ryan, R-Wis., appears to have moved his members toward cooperation to the point where they seem able to prevent another government shutdown--an accomplishment some thought beyond his reach. While there are plenty of challenges ahead, the budget deal is important and we should give credit where it is due, Washington Insider believes."

          Was that an intended pun... "give credit where it is due"...

          Comment


            #6
            U.S. momentary policy is on a road-to-nowhere.

            Comment

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