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Monthly Archives: April 2013

New GAO Reports – NextGen Air Transportation System, Private Pensions

NextGen Air Transportation System – FAA Has Made Some Progress in Midterm Implementation, but Ongoing Challenges Limit Expected Benefits, GAO-13-264, Apr 8, 2013: “The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is pursuing key operational improvements to implement the Next Generation Air Transportation System (NextGen) in the “midterm,” which is 2013 through 2018. These improvements focus on establishing… Continue Reading

Reduce, reuse, recycle: green technologies and practices at work

BLS – Reduce, reuse, recycle: green technologies and practices at work, by Audrey Watson: “Fifty-seven percent of businesses in the United States used green technologies or practices to improve energy efficiency within their establishments in August 2011, and over half used green technologies and practices to reduce or eliminate the creation of waste materials as… Continue Reading

The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant

CRS – The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) Block Grant: A Primer on TANF Financing and Federal Requirements. Gene Falk, Specialist in Social Policy – April 2, 2013 “The Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant provides federal grants to the 50 states, the District of Columbia, American Indian tribes, and the territories… Continue Reading

New – Central Library of the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union and of the European Council

Carlo Marzocchi – Head of Sector, Library & Information Service: “The Council of the European Union is the European Union institution where the Member States’ ministers responsible for specific areas (e.g. finance, health, education) meet to discuss issues of common concern within their countries. The European Council consists of the Heads of State, or Government,… Continue Reading

CRS – Drones in Domestic Surveillance Operations

Drones in Domestic Surveillance Operations: Fourth Amendment Implications and Legislative Responses. Richard M. Thompson II, Legislative Attorney. April 3, 2013 “The prospect of drone use inside the United States raises far-reaching issues concerning the extent of government surveillance authority, the value of privacy in the digital age, and the role of Congress in reconciling these… Continue Reading

CRS – North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons: Technical Issues

North Korea’s Nuclear Weapons: Technical Issues. Mary Beth Nikitin Specialist in Nonproliferation, April 3, 2013 “This report summarizes what is known from open sources about the North Korean nuclear weapons program—including weapons-usable fissile material and warhead estimates—and assesses current developments in achieving denuclearization. Little detailed open-source information is available about the DPRK’s nuclear weapons production… Continue Reading

Speech by Chairman Bernanke on stress testing banks

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke At the “Maintaining Financial Stability: Holding a Tiger by the Tail” financial markets conference sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, Stone Mountain, Georgia April 8, 2013 “…we currently have two distinct but related supervisory programs that rely on stress testing. The first is the stress testing required by the… Continue Reading

WikiLeaks Launches Public Library of US Diplomacy

News release: “The Kissinger Cables are part of today’s launch of the WikiLeaks Public Library of US Diplomacy (PlusD), which holds the world’s largest searchable collection of United States confidential, or formerly confidential, diplomatic communications. As of its launch on April 8, 2013 it holds 2 million records comprising approximately 1 billion words. WikiLeaks’ publisher… Continue Reading

Recovering from the Global Financial Crisis: Achieving Financial Stability in Times of Uncertainty

Ojo, Marianne, Recovering from the Global Financial Crisis: Achieving Financial Stability in Times of Uncertainty (April 4, 2013). Business Expert Press, June 2013. Available at SSRN “Why are some global financial crises more difficult to recover from and overcome than others? What steps are necessary in ensuring that financial stability and recovery is facilitated? What… Continue Reading

"Leaning Against the Wind" and the Timing of Monetary Policy

“Leaning Against the Wind” and the Timing of Monetary Policy, by Itai Agur, Maria Demertzis. April 03, 2013 “If monetary policy is to aim also at financial stability, how would it change? To analyze this question, this paper develops a general-form framework. Financial stability objectives are shown to make monetary policy more aggressive: in reaction… Continue Reading