HEALTH CARE ALLIANCE - The last time Washington tried to fix health care, drug companies, insurers, doctors, and hospitals all scrambled to protect their turf. But, at least for now, these groups seem to be joining in a unified call to fix the system. Plus, Harry and Louise, the couple whose ads helped scuttle the Clinton healthcare proposal, are back.  They’re older and this time around they’re encouraging the federal government “to put health care at the top of the domestic agenda.”  

MASS HEALTH COST “UNSUSTAINABLE” - Two years after the state became the first in the nation with near-universal healthcare, Moody reports that the costs of Massachusetts' pioneering health-care plan are rising at an unsustainable rate. This is not good news for Democrats and Republicans alike that once touted the plan as a possible national model for the more than 47 million uninsured Americans. “Commonwealth Care” is projected to cost $869 million in the current fiscal year...up 41% from last year.

NEXT FED STEP UP – The minutes of the Fed’s last meeting show that the policymakers expect to eventually raise their benchmark interest rate in an effort to slow inflation, but they have not agreed to a timetable. 

SARBANES-OXLEY = CONFUSION - The goal of the 2002 Sarbanes-Oxley Act was to make corporate accounting more transparent, but a new Cato Institute study finds the law's requirements have had the opposite effect. Sarbanes-Oxley sought to achieve its aims by having the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB) mandate that corporations use Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) in reporting their balance sheets to shareholders.  Cato spokesman and former Silicon Valley CEO says, "The first step in the wrong direction came when FASB mandated that companies list 'intangibles' such as 'goodwill' as corporate assets, artificially inflating balance sheets. After that, FASB meddled with the revenue recognition rules, in some cases not allowing companies to report revenue from cash payments received from a customer for a delivered product. Finally, and worst by far, FASB mandated punitive and nonsensical rules for so-called expensing of stock options. FASB is a group of seven theoretical accountants based in Norwalk, Connecticut. Its Web site shows that no FASB member ever started or ran a successful business and that only one member has even held a senior position in a prominent public company other than an accounting firm.... It deeply angers me that government lawyers and naive theoretical accountants have been allowed to impair the economic miracle that democratized the silicon chip, the personal computer, and the Internet."

3.5 MILLION JOBS IN TWO YEARS – Here is some optimism for a change. Economists at the University of Michigan predict that 900,000 jobs will be added next year and that 2.6 million more will be created in 2010. The forecast is based on a belief that the economy will finally begin to rebound in the second half of 2009.

GOVERNMENT HIRING UP NOW – Virtually all state and local governments are in a financial and budget crisis, but 338,000 employees have been added to the public payrolls in the last year...that compares to 195,000 in the prior 12 months. The private-sector shed 418,000 jobs in the past year amid fears that the economy was headed for a recession. 

LABOR UNIONS REVIVAL – After years of decline, Big Labor is setting itself up for a return to the big time in the private sector. The Employee Free Choice Act (EFCA), a bill being pushed by labor groups, would allow workers to skip elections and unionize if a simple majority sign authorization cards. This will have the effect of removing the “secret ballot” from the current process. With just 7.5% of private sector workers belonging to unions, the legislation has become the central issue in the tussle between labor and business. Unions are expected to spend $300 million in political contributions to further their cause. Looks like the resurgence of what killed the U.S. automobile industry and forced many employers to look overseas for cheaper labor.

• The top 1% of taxpayers (income of at least $388,806) earn 22% of all income but pay 40% of the total tax.
• The top 5% of taxpayers (income of at least $153,542) earn 37% of all income but pay 60 percent of all tax.
• The top 10% of taxpayers (incomes of at least $108,904) earn 47 % of all income, but pay 71% of the total tax.
• The top 50% of taxpayers (incomes of at least $31,987) earn 87% of all income, but pay 97.1% of the total tax.
• The lower 50% of earners (incomes below $31,987) earn less than 13% of all income but pay only 2.9% of the total tax.
• Because of refundable credits like the Earned Income Credit, many pay nothing yet get refunds. Taxpayers who earned less than $32,001 and had at least one child or with no children and earned less than $12,120 were eligible for and received $43.7 billion in EIC.