Super PACs in Federal Elections: Overview and Issues for Congress, R. Sam Garrett, Specialist in American National Government, April 4, 2013 “This report explores what super PACs are, how they developed, and what they raised and spent in the 2010 and 2012 election cycles. As of this writing, Congress has not amended the Federal Election… Continue Reading
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Author Archives: Sabrina I. Pacifici
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 Koreas Nuclear Weapons: Technical Issues
North Koreas 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 programincluding weapons-usable fissile material and warhead estimatesand assesses current developments in achieving denuclearization. Little detailed open-source information is available about the DPRKs 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
Report – The U.S. Continues to Be One of the Least Taxed of the Developed Countries
“The U.S. was the third least taxed country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) in 2010, the most recent year for which OECD has complete data. Of all the OECD countries, which are essentially the countries the U.S. trades with and competes with, only Chile and Mexico collect less taxes as a… 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
IMF – Jobs and Growth – Analytical and Operational Considerations for the Fund
IMF Report: “Job creation and growth with inclusion are imperatives that resonate today in every country. While some advanced countries face the challenge of supporting aggregate demand with limited fiscal space in the aftermath of the Great Recession, many countries have to address ways to generate growth and create jobs in the face of the… Continue Reading
Energy-related carbon dioxide emissions declined in 2012
EIA: “Energy-related carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions in 2012 were the lowest in the United States since 1994, at 5.3 billion metric tons of CO2 (see figure above). With the exception of 2010, emissions have declined every year since 2007. The largest drop in emissions in 2012 came from coal, which is used almost exclusively for… Continue Reading
Does Auditor 'Commentary' in Unqualified Audit Reports Reflect Financial Misstatement Risk?
Czerney, Keith, Schmidt, Jaime J. and Thompson, Anne, Does Auditor ‘Commentary’ in Unqualified Audit Reports Reflect Financial Misstatement Risk? (April 1, 2013). Available at SSRN “According to auditing standards, explanatory language added at the auditors discretion to unqualified audit reports should not indicate increased financial misstatement risk. However, in practice, an auditor is unlikely to… Continue Reading
IRS Releases the Dirty Dozen Tax Scams for 2013
News release: “The Internal Revenue Service…issued its annual Dirty Dozen list of tax scams, reminding taxpayers to use caution during tax season to protect themselves against a wide range of schemes ranging from identity theft to return preparer fraud. The Dirty Dozen listing, compiled by the IRS each year, lists a variety of common scams… Continue Reading
