Farm Bill and the Budget Process –Policy Issues, Political Notes Erik Wasson reported on Saturday at The Hill’s On the Money Blog that, “House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) caused a stir on Thursday when he seemed to indicate that a standalone farm bill would come to the House floor after the Nov. 6 election. [...]
By Kate Almquist Knopf - On October 18, 2012, the president nominated Gen. David Rodriguez to be the next commander of AFRICOM. While my invitation to brief him hasn’t arrived quite yet, here’s an advance copy of the seven key points that I would recommend he bear in mind as he prepares for his new role. Africa is diverse. [...]
Due to inaction in Congress, the 2008 Farm Bill expired on September 30. While the big ticket items such as food stamps, crop insurance, and commodity support will continue to receive funding in the interim, there is no support for the lower profile programs that drive innovation, create jobs, and support the next generation of Read the Rest...
Today is Food Day — a nationwide celebration and a movement toward healthy, affordable, and sustainable food. Today we join citizens from across the country in celebrating farmers who produce food sustainably, rural and urban communities that are rebuilding their food systems, and individuals who are working to improve the health of their families and Read the Rest...
Dear Supporter, Our message to Congress has been clear all year: we need an equitable, sustainable farm bill, and we need it this year. Unfortunately, either Congress didn’t hear us, or they just didn’t listen. Congress left town just as the current farm bill expired, and they didn’t bother to finish a new bill or Read the Rest...
By Beth Schwanke - There were lots of critical foreign policy debate topics to cover during the final presidential debate—like the US auto industry—so we didn’t hear quite as much on development issues like climate change or global health as I might have liked. Gaps aside, there were a surprising number of references to the importance of development to [...]
By Rita Perakis - Development Impact Bonds come at a price: private investors provide upfront funding for social interventions and expect a return, including some compensation for the risk they are taking, if outcomes are delivered. Is that price worth paying? The second meeting of the CGD and Social Finance Development Impact Bonds Working Group recently considered this question [...]
By Sarah Jane Staats - It’s not about the grade, it’s about the learning say Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) officials as they prepare to release the US government’s first five* independent development impact evaluations tomorrow. Results will be mixed. They should be. But if the MCC and other development policymakers pay attention to what the impact evaluations tell them—and the [...]
By Todd Moss - We can all agree that it’s unconscionable that, in 2012, there are still 1.3 billion people without access to electricity. But there’s also that pesky problem of greenhouse gases cooking our planet. So, the big question is: should we burn more fossil fuels like natural gas to help bring power to those without? Round One: [...]
By Amanda Glassman - In this post, Gabriel Demombynes, Senior Economist in the Nairobi office of the World Bank, describes some of the issues raised at the Center for Global Development and the African Population & Health Research Center’s first meeting of the Data for African Development Working Group meeting last month. This blog was originally posted to the [...]
Farm Bill –Policy, and Political Notes The AP reported yesterday that, “Small dairy farmers in the Northeast and Wisconsin say a tough year has been made worse by Congress’ failure to pass a new farm bill before the old one expired. “While many farm programs have continued through the harvest season even though the farm [...]
On October 12, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Economic Research Service (ERS) released its Oil Crops Outlook report, “Advancing Soybean Harvest Eases Near-term Prices.” In part, the ERS report stated that, “USDA raised its forecast of the 2012 U.S. soybean yield this month to 37.8 bushels per acre. Coupled with a 1.1-million-acre increase in harvested [...]
By Kimberly Ann Elliott - Value chains is one of the hot buzzwords in agricultural development discussions these days, but middlemen are something to be eliminated. I’m rather puzzled by this seeming contradiction. I’m currently working on a paper on “fair trade” (think certified coffee or chocolate) and one of the benefits cited is that it increases returns to farmers [...]
By Beth Schwanke - From Big Bird to malarkey to binders full of women, it’s been quite the presidential debate series (there was also that whole dramatic shift in the momentum of the race thing). On Monday, we’ll hear from President Obama and Governor Romney for 1.5 Bob Schieffer-moderated hours on foreign policy. The topics have already been announced, [...]
A news releaseon October 18 from the Oklahoma Association of Conservation Districts indicated that, “A major dust storm that closed down interstate 35 in north central Oklahoma provides a vivid example of why it’s critical that the State and Federal Government not turn their back on natural resource conservation and that Farmers and Ranchers continue [...]
: skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Thursday , October 18, 2012 SOCIAL SECURITY NEEDS MORE THAN JUST A TWEAK' Below is an article that digs into the changes that need to be made to salvage the Social Security system . The understatement of the past two centuries . Click on the link to read the : article Social Security Needs More Than Just a Tweak , Mr . President Posted by Legal : Disclaimer at 11:03 AM Newer Post Older Post Home Visit us on Facebook : at facebook.com kopsa.otte Wondering about the IRS's important due: skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Thursday , October 18, 2012 THE IMPORTANCE OF ACCOUNTANTS MENTIONED IN THE PRESIDENTIAL DEBATE Finally us accountants are getting the respect we deserve . President Barack Obama and Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney traded barbs about tax policy and how they would control the budget deficit , with Romney telling Obama at one point that he might need to get a new . accountant Later Obama said he wanted to end corporate tax breaks for companies that ship jobs overseas , Romney: : skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Thursday , October 18, 2012 REPORT : EPA MAY REDUCE USE OF ETHANOL IN GASOLINE NBC News NBCnews.com reports , The EPA may shift corn away from ethanol use in the wake of this summer's fierce drought due to shortages of the grain . nbsp The NBC story states that under the 2007 energy bill , 15.2 billion gallons of ethanol would need to be used this year , with the plan to more than double that by 2022. But a USDA forecast released last week predicted next year's global corn stockpiles
By Nancy Birdsall - This is a joint post with Christian Meyer. Over the last decade, Latin America has seen solid economic growth combined with decreasing (but still very high) income inequality – lifting millions of people out of poverty and fueling the rise of a not-poor-but-not-rich “middle” class. Latin America’s frustrated middle class? Credit: Osmar Valdebenito / flickr [...]
By Liliana Rojas-Suarez - Kenya has instituted a new tax that affects users of M-Pesa — a widely popular phone-based money transfer service used by more than half of Kenya’s adult population. The new 10 percent excise duty on fees charged for money transfer services applies to mobile phone providers, banks, and other money transfer agencies. Operated by Safaricom, the [...]
By Alan Gelb - Even with global sales around $5 billion, the biometrics industry is surprisingly clubby. Most participants at the 2012 Biometrics Consortium Conference I attended recently seemed to know each other. Most were from the US, but some came from Europe, and from India and other developing countries. Their backgrounds were diverse: academics, entrepreneurs, engineers, lawyers, police, [...]By Amanda Glassman - When the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria was created in 2002, it was intended to combat the global burden of these diseases while simultaneously delivering aid in new, innovative ways. In 2012, an increasingly austere budget climate has added pressure for the Global Fund to explore new approaches to global health financing [...]: skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Friday , October 12, 2012 SUPER-LOW INTEREST RATES MEAN BARGAINS FOR SHAREHOLDERS BORROWING FROM THEIR CORPORATIONS It's the worst of times for savers invested in interest-bearing accounts , but the best of times for qualified borrowers , who are enjoying record-low rates thanks to the Fed's policies . Times can be better still for shareholder-owners of closely held corporations fortunate enough to be sitting on a cash hoard . These shareholder-owners may be in the position to borrow: skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Friday , October 12, 2012 FISCAL CRISIS LOOMS FOR WINNER OF THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION After the election , either President Barack Obama or Mitt Romney will have to deal with a deficit that has topped 1 trillion every year for the past three years and is on an unsustainable trajectory . We've made a lot of progress getting the private-sector balance sheet in order . Where we've got a lot of work to do is on the public side , says Mark Zandi , chief economist at Moody's Analytics .
By John May - This is a joint blog with Jean-Pierre Guengant, Researcher Emeritus, Research Institute for Development (IRD), Marseille. Between 1970 and 2010, most emerging countries achieved impressive gains in contraceptive coverage. As a result, their fertility has declined, their population growth rate has slowed down, and many of these countries have been able to capture the economic [...]: skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Thursday , October 11, 2012 INEPTOCRACY I couldn t find it in the dictionary so I Googled it and discovered it is a recently coined new word Read this one over slowly and absorb the facts that are within this definition I love this word and believe that it will soon become a fully recognized English word . At , last we have a word to perfectl y describe our current political situation . INEPTOCRACY in-ep-toc'-ra-cy a system of government where the least capable to lead are elected by the The IRS just issued regulations on who is considered a “full time employee” for the Patient Protection Act. Is it any surprise that it took over 18 pages for a law that was over 2,700 pages?
Just in time for National School Lunch Week, Earth Day Network has teamed up with the Harlem Globetrotters to bring kids a special message: To stay on top of your game, you have to eat right.
Check out their video:
Education
: : skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Friday , October 5, 2012 FARM POLICY EXPERT : LOOK FOR FARM BILL DECISION SOON AFTER ELECTION Lincoln Journal Star JournalStar.com reports it's unclear what the fallout will be after the House and Senate failed to agree on the choice between a one-year farm bill extension and a five-year farm bill last month . nbsp The article notes that federal law says that farm policy reverts to the 1949 farm bill if there's not an operative replacement , taking producers and consumers back to the: : skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Friday , October 5, 2012 YEAREND PLANNING : MAKING THE MOST OF QUICK WRITEOFFS FOR CAPITAL GOODS PURCHASES Although bonus first-year depreciation and more-generous Code Sec . 179 expensing limits have been extended before , another lease on life for these tax breaks is far from certain this time around . Unless Congress acts , additional depreciation deductions under Code Sec . 168 in the placed-in-service year equal to 50 of the adjusted basis of qualified property won't be available: skip to main skip to sidebar Kopsa Otte Agriculture Blog Kopsa Otte CPAs Advisors have been involved in Income Tax Planning , Estate Planning Succession Planning for over 30 years . For more information about Kopsa Otte services , please contact us via e-mail at lkopsa kopsaotte.com or call 800-975-4829. Thursday , October 4, 2012 SOMETHING TO THINK ABOUT This is going to be political so do not look at if you will be offended . Posted by Legal : Disclaimer at 11:38 AM Newer Post Older Post Home Visit us on Facebook : at facebook.com kopsa.otte Wondering about the IRS's important due dates Gain access by clicking the link . below Small Business Tax Calendar Blog Archive 2012 166 October 13 WHY I WILL VOTE FOR ROMNEY COPY OF OLD TAX RETURN SOCIAL SECURITY NEEDS MORE THAN JUST A TWEAK' THE
By Alexis Sowa - Most recent headlines about Pakistan — violent protests on US consulates, Senators agitating to halt all foreign aid there, and the tragic factory fire that killed nearly 300 workers in Karachi – have likely undermined investor confidence in the market. But one headline bucks the trend: the United States has just launched the Pakistan Private [...]