Monthly Archives: May 2014

IRS Drops Further Appeals On Invalidated Tax Preparer Regulation

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“The lapse of the deadline marks the conclusion of a two-year battle over whether the IRS had the authority to impose a nationwide licensing scheme on tax preparers.  The IRS had unsuccessfully argued that the ‘Horse Act’ of 1884—a statute passed to govern compensation claims for dead horses brought on behalf of Civil War veterans—had provided it with such authority.  If the licensing scheme had not been struck down, approximately 350,000 tax-return preparers would have been affected by the IRS regulatory regime.”

http://www.accountingtoday.com/news/irs_watch/irs-drops-appeals-decision-invalidating-tax-preparer-regulation-70630-1.html

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Wholesale Prices in U.S. Climb by Most in a Year; Food Prices Surge

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“The 0.6 percent increase in the producer price index was the biggest since September 2012 and exceeded all estimates in a Bloomberg survey of economists, figures from the Labor Department showed today. Over the past 12 months, costs climbed 2.1 percent. Food prices surged by the most in three years.  Wholesale food expenses increased 2.7 percent in April, the biggest jump since February 2011, led by an 8.4 percent surge in the costs of meats that was the biggest since 2003. A confluence of events ranging from drought in the West to porcine epidemic diarrhea is pushing up prices for beef, pork and other foods.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-05-14/wholesale-prices-in-u-s-increase-by-most-in-more-than-a-year.html

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Fed Warns Of Crackdown On Leveraged-Buyout Deals

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“The Federal Reserve warned it may need to take additional action to rein in banks’ funding of corporate takeovers after observing continued deterioration of lending standards this year.  The statements were the latest warning that U.S. regulators want banks to end practices they see as risky in so-called leveraged lending markets. The Fed and the Office of the Comptroller told banks in March 2013 to avoid funding takeover deals that would leave companies with high levels of debt.  Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen said that some bank-underwriting standards had loosened as a response to investor appetite for additional risk, a byproduct of low interest rates.”

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/fed-warns-crackdown-takeover-deals-214000797.html

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WhatsApp’s Founder Goes From Food Stamps to Billionaire

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“For Jan Koum, 38, the windfall would stand in stark contrast to his years as a teenager, when his family relied on food stamps after emigrating from Ukraine. The experience of living in a country where phone lines were often tapped, instilled the importance of privacy in him, said Jim Goetz, a partner with Sequoia Capital Ltd., WhatsApp’s lone venture capital investor.  WhatsApp doesn’t collect information like name, gender, address or age. Instead, users are approved after their phone numbers are authenticated.  ‘It’s a decidedly contrarian approach shaped by Jan’s experience growing up in a communist country with a secret police,’ said Goetz in a blog post yesterday on Sequoia’s website.”

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-02-20/whatsapp-s-founder-goes-from-food-stamps-to-billionaire.html

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Robert Ringer: Handling Change

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rringer-11

“One of the reasons Murphy’s Law is timeless is because of the annoying reality that life never seems to stay in one place long enough to pin it down.  Like a greased watermelon, just when you think you have it under control, it manages to slip from your grasp.  This phenomenon is underscored by yet another reality:  The one thing in life you can absolutely count on is that circumstances will continually change.  What is unknown is when they will change.  That being the case, it’s dangerous to base your decisions on the assumption that everything is going to continue on as it now is.  It won’t.”

http://robertringer.com/handling-change/

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Google, once disdainful of lobbying, now a master of Washington influence

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“Nine years ago, the company opened a one-man lobbying shop, disdainful of the capital’s pay-to-play culture.  Since then, Google has soared to near the top of the city’s lobbying ranks, placing second only to General Electric in corporate lobbying expenditures in 2012 and fifth place in 2013.  This summer, Google will move to a new Capitol Hill office, doubling its Washington space to 55,000 square feet — roughly the size of the White House.  Google’s increasingly muscular Washington presence matches its expanded needs and ambitions as it has fended off a series of executive- and legislative-branch threats to regulate its activities and well-funded challenges by its corporate rivals.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/how-google-is-transforming-power-and-politicsgoogle-once-disdainful-of-lobbying-now-a-master-of-washington-influence/2014/04/12/51648b92-b4d3-11e3-8cb6-284052554d74_story.html

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Google barge, kicked out of S.F. Bay, gets warm welcome in Stockton

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“The arrival of Google’s barge in Stockton has given a city beleagered by bankruptcy and negative press a jolt of excitement and hope.  Some see the arrival of the tech giant’s barge — believed to be some sort of floating showroom — as a potential boost to the economy and a move to help counter its negative image.  Google’s barge is made from dozens of shipping containers. It will be housed at the Port of Stockton for six months while the company completes construction of the boat.  In February the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission ordered Google to relocate the barge because the company did not obtain the proper permits to build it at the port.”

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-google-barge-move-stockton-20140307-story.html

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“Congestion pricing” part of Mtn. View city plan for Google’s growth

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“City Council members have long discussed a hard limit on commuter car trips into North Bayshore. Council members have been inspired by success with such a cap imposed by the city of Palo Alto, which prevents the Stanford campus from expanding unless car trips are kept at 1989 levels.  The council’s goal is to make solo driver car trips only 45 percent of all commute trips into North Bayshore. The number now stands at 61 percent for Google alone. A total of about 6.4 million square feet is potentially coming to Mountain View soon, bringing tens of thousands of more commuters and potential residents to the city with a general plan that makes room for only about 7,000 new homes by 2030.”

http://www.mv-voice.com/news/2014/04/29/congestion-pricing-part-of-plan-to-allow-googles-growth

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San Francisco’s Dumb Ban on Bottled Water

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“San Francisco’s Board of Supervisors voted to ban bottled water from city property and events, as well as food trucks regulated by the city. The legislation is widely acknowledged to be among the strictest bottled-water bans in the country, and in the environmental community at least, it’s being hailed as an important step in ridding landfills of the scourge of plastic bottles. A tad smugly, David Chiu, the city supervisor who authored the legislation, underscored that the ban was intended to change behavior, too, not just packaging. ‘I want to remind people that not long ago, our world was not addicted to plastic water bottles,’ he said. ‘For centuries, everybody managed to stay hydrated.'”

http://www.bloombergview.com/articles/2014-03-14/san-francisco-s-dumb-ban-on-bottled-water

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San Francisco Union Protests City’s Tax Exemptions for Tech Companies

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“San Francisco leaders said the incentives deprived the city of just under $2 million in taxes, while generating $8 million in new revenue.  Union leaders, on the other hand, said lost taxes total somewhere close to $56 million.  San Francisco’s Office of Economic and Workforce Development said the payroll tax breaks offered to Twitter, lured 17 other tech companies to mid-market. They also brought 17 small businesses, 13,000 jobs and more than 5,000 units of new housing under construction in the area.  ‘The 13,000 jobs support so many other jobs and economic activity in the city,’ said Todd Rufo, the mayor’s director of economic and workforce development.”

http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/San-Francisco-Union-Workers-Protest-Citys-Tax-Exemptions-for-Tech-Companies–255424971.html

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