Daily Must-Reads November 28

WirePoints: Does Illinois violate its own budget and accounting laws? The state itself says yes

One reason why Illinois is a fiscal wreck is that the state’s budget and accounting are muck, and they are prepared — according to the state itself — in open violation of state law.

Points and Figures: ObamaCare health exchanges won’t work

There is a debate right now about whether to establish a state run health care exchange, or let the federal government administer the exchange.  It’s a poor Solomon’s choice.  Neither will work.

Huffington Post: High School Graduation Rates By State: U.S. Department Of Education Releases First-Ever National Data

The U.S. Department of Education has released a first-ever list detailing state-by-state four-year high school graduation rates.

Daily Herald: Khan Academy on Illinois pensions

The free online school of everything has taken on the Illinois pension crisis.

This video is from Khan Academy, the heralded online video series that can teach you about algebra, physics or whatever else you want to learn when you have nothing else to do.

New York Post: ‘Poverty’ like we’ve never seen it

The federal government now considers a family of four in New York City to be poor if its pre-tax income is below $37,900.Even with full medical coverage.

The calculation helps explain why newly revised Census Bureau figures hike the number of poor Americans to 49 million as of last year, further widening an already yawning gap between ordinary perceptions of poverty and how the government sees it.

ABC News: Durbin Wants No Entitlements in ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal

Medicare and Medicaid savings should be part of future debt-reduction efforts, but not on the table in talks regarding the impending “fiscal cliff,” the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate said.

Zero Hedge: America's Lost Decade In One Simple Chart

Forget the stock market's dismal decade of much-ado-about-nothing and ignore the USD Dollar's declination; when it comes to reflection on what this once great nation has 'created' since 2001, the following chart from Pennsylvania's Department of Public Welfare sums it up better than most.

Daily Must-Reads November 27

USA Today: Are we living in the Hunger Games?

You know the story: While the provinces starve, the Capital City lives it up, its wheeler-dealer bigshots growing fat on the tribute extracted from the rest of the country.

We don't live in The Hunger Games yet, but I'm not the first to notice that Washington, D.C., is doing a lot better than the rest of the country. Even in upscale parts of L.A. or New York, you see boarded up storefronts and other signs that the economy isn't what it used to be. But not so much in the Washington area, where housing prices are going up, fancy restaurants advertise $92 Wagyu steaks, and the Tyson's Corner mall outshines -- as I can attest from firsthand experience -- even Beverly Hills' famed Rodeo Drive.

Chicago Tribune: CPS boss proposes 5-year moratorium on school closings

Trying to help sell drastic school closings this year, Chicago Public Schools is planning to commit to a five-year moratorium on shuttering schools starting in fall 2013. New schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett announced the commitment to a moratorium Monday at a City Club luncheon.

The New York Times: Norquist Says Some Republicans Are Having ‘Impure Thoughts’ on Taxes

Grover Norquist on Monday found a new way of dismissing a handful of Republican lawmakers — including the House majority leader — who are now publicly wavering about the pledge they signed to never vote for a tax increase.

One of the more amazing post-election spectacles is the media celebration of Republicans who say they're willing to repudiate their pledge against raising taxes. So the same folks who like to denounce politicians because they can't be trusted are now praising politicians who openly admit they can't be trusted.

The New York Times: Mortgage Interest Deduction, Once a Sacred Cow, Is Under Scrutiny

A tax break that has long been untouchable could soon be in for some serious scrutiny.

Reuters: Warren Buffett calls for a minimum tax on the wealthy

Warren Buffett, the legendary investor who changed the debate about U.S. tax reform in 2011 with a call for the rich to pay more, is now calling for minimum tax rates for millionaires.

Forbes: The U.S. Supreme Court Allows New Challenge To Obamacare To Go Forward

Under the heading of “it’s not over until it’s over”, the United States Supreme Court has vacated a decision by the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, ordering the appellate court to hear arguments on the constitutionality of two key provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Reason: Treat the Tax-Me-More Crowd to a Voluntary Additional Tax

As the clock ticks toward a tax increase scheduled to take effect at year end, expect to hear a lot from the “tax me more” crowd.

These are wealthy individuals who profess to favor increases in their own tax bills. A series of recent articles help define the genre, which was pioneered by Warren Buffett last year in his New York Times op-ed piece that ran under the headline “Stop Coddling The Super-Rich.”

The Hill: Obama faces huge challenge in setting up health insurance exchanges

The Obama administration faces major logistical and financial challenges in creating health insurance exchanges for states that have declined to set up their own systems.

Daily Must-Reads November 26

Crain's Chicago Business: Unions have a new enemy — their own members

Multinational corporations have a new ally in their battles with organized labor: unionized workers.

As organized labor loses leverage in a race-to-the-bottom global market, some workers are becoming so disillusioned by what their unions can, or rather can't, do for them that they want out. The disaffected include dozens of machinists at Caterpillar Inc.'s plant in Joliet who crossed the picket line during a strike last summer and are planning unfair labor practices complaints against the union.

CNBC: Morgan Stanley’s Doom Scenario: Major Recession in 2013

The global economy is likely to be stuck in the “twilight zone” of sluggish growth in 2013, Morgan Stanley has warned, but if policymakers fail to act, it could get a lot worse.

Points and Figures: The Keynesian Way To Rebuild America

My mayor, Rahm Emanuel penned an editorial for the Washington Post.  In it, he advocates bringing the Chicago way to the rest of America.  I would disagree.  Say what you will about the corruption in Chicago-and it’s rampant-but the logic behind the Chicago Way is not the way forward.  The Chicago Way is not out of the box thinking.  It’s more of the same.

WSJ: The Fiscal Cliff Drama, in Infographics

The “fiscal cliff,” when a package of spending cuts and tax increases is set to go into effect unless the White House and Congress negotiate an alternative, is fast approaching. Here’s a look at the players, their positions and the fallout if a deal isn’t reached.

NBC: Feds say teachers hired stand-in to take their certification tests

It was a brazen and surprisingly long-lived scheme, authorities said, to help aspiring public school teachers cheat on the tests they must pass to prove they are qualified to lead their classrooms.

NBC Chicago: Lawmakers Face Gambling, Prisons, Assault Weapons

Lawmakers will be staring down some of the higher-profile issues in Illinois when they begin their fall session Tuesday. But resolution of gambling, state facility closures, immigration and medical marijuana proposals could come in the form of dramatic confrontation, negotiating-table settlements, anticlimactic if symbolic votes, or no decisions at all.

Thinking about buying a house? Or a municipal bond? Be careful where you put your capital. Don’t put it in a state at high risk of a fiscal tailspin.

Eleven states make our list of danger spots for investors. They can look forward to a rising tax burden, deteriorating state finances and an exodus of employers. The list includes California, New York, Illinois and Ohio, along with some smaller states like New Mexico and Hawaii.

Daily Must-Reads November 25

CNBC: The Millionaires Who Pay the Highest Tax Rate

Warren Buffett and Mitt Romney have managed to create one of the enduring myths of our tax debate: that the rich pay a lower rate than the rest of America.

The Washington Post: How to rebuild America

Rahm Emanuel, a Democrat, is mayor of Chicago and represented Illinois’ 5th District in the U.S. House from 2003 to 2009. He was White House chief of staff from January 2009 to October 2010.
Too much post-election analysis has focused on voter demographics and campaign mechanics, leaving Democrats in danger of drawing the wrong lessons from our electoral success.

Northwest Herald: Quinn could play Santa Claus by reforming state tax code

If Gov. Pat Quinn is looking to moonlight during the holiday season, he ought to consider becoming a gift wrapper at Sears.

After all, the governor promised the retail giant $150 million in subsidies within the last year. He might as well have tied it with a bow on top. Welcome to the goofy world of Illinois corporate welfare.

Examiner Editorial: If top 5% paid 40% of taxes, what is their 'fair' share?

But income taxes, taken in isolation, do not tell the whole story, because lower-income Americans do pay payroll taxes. But even taking into account all forms of taxation, the top 1 percent still paid 22 percent of federal taxes while earning just 13.4 percent of household income. The top 5 percent paid 40 percent of all federal taxes, despite earning only 26 percent of all income. No matter how you slice the numbers, it's hard to understand why anyone would think the wealthy aren't already shouldering a burden commensurate with their blessings.

Why America’s private-sector unions are in decline

THEY lined up near the TV cameras, waving signs that read “On Strike”. Many wore the lurid T-shirts of OUR Walmart (Organisation United for Respect at Walmart), the group organising the protest.

Millions of Americans are unemployed and businesses are looking to cut costs by letting people go. But in this tough economic climate, there is one industry starving for talent and fresh workers: web and technology development. Brandon Passley, founder and owner of Vokal, a Chicago application engineering company, is one of the many entrepreneurs and managers struggling to fill positions in his field.