Related: Debt Commission Caps Kerry's Career
"Book suggests Kerry gained from inside information; Mass. senator, other lawmakers deny allegations" November 17, 2011|By Donovan Slack, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - A new book about insider trading by members of Congress accuses Massachusetts Senator John F. Kerry and his wife of making tens of thousands of dollars from trades in stock in medical companies at the same time the senator was working on health care legislation.
The book by a conservative researcher at the Hoover Institution says the Kerrys’ trades occurred during debate and passage of President Obama’s health care overhaul in 2009 and 2010 as well as during debate and passage in 2003 and 2004 of a Medicare prescription drug benefit.
The transactions, listed on financial disclosure reports filed by the senator and correlated with his legislative work by author Peter Schweizer, involved purchases before the laws passed of stocks in drug companies and medical device makers that stood to profit from the legislation and the dumping of stocks in companies that did not.
Schweizer said in an interview yesterday that he has no proof that the senator traded on inside information, but he said the profits for the Kerrys, like those of some other lawmakers, raise questions that deserve investigation....
An aide to Kerry said allegations of insider trading are “patently false.’’ Kerry spokeswoman Jodi Seth said the senator did not have anything to do with the trades, which involved his wife, Teresa Heinz Kerry.
“He is not and never has been a beneficiary of his wife’s trusts, which were established before they knew each other and which are also controlled by independent trustees,’’ Seth said.
She also said Kerry was not on Capitol Hill during much of 2003 and 2004 because he was running for president.
Schweizer’s book, “Throw Them All Out,’’ was released Tuesday. It also recounts stock transactions by House Speaker John Boehner, an Ohio Republican; former House speaker and now ranking member Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat; and Representative Spencer Bachus, an Alabama Republican who chairs the House Financial Services Committee.
They are all scum.
All have denied they profited from trading on inside information, and some lashed out at Schweizer, saying his conclusions are baseless and politically motivated.
Translation: He's hit a nerve.
Schweizer yesterday said he stands behind the book.
“The facts stand for themselves,’’ he said.
The allegations, first reported Sunday by “60 Minutes,’’ have prompted the introduction of two bills that would prohibit members of Congress from trading on inside information, including one sponsored by Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown, a Republican. Currently, members of Congress are exempt from insider trading laws....
Oh, Congress is above the law?
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"Kerry warns of economic disaster if supercommittee fails; Deficit impasse would trigger cuts, shake confidence" November 08, 2011|By Michael Levenson, Globe Staff Cut
Senator John F. Kerry warned yesterday that the country could face an economic calamity with rising unemployment rates, escalating interest costs, and deep cuts to social programs if the so-called supercommittee cannot meet a Nov. 23 deadline to fashion a deficit-reduction deal.
First of all, I'm tired of the fear-mongering, and secondly, that's already happening.
The failure to reach an agreement would send a very dangerous signal to global markets that Congress is incapable of handling the nation’s financial problems, he said. In addition, he said, the automatically triggered cuts would gut programs for the poor.
Now you SEE WHO is CALLING the SHOTS, Americans.
About 100,000 children would be forced out of the Head Start program, 35,000 low-income children would lose child-care services, 173,000 tenants could be evicted from subsidized housing, and 1 million pregnant women and young mothers would lose supplemental nutrition support, he said.
I say end the wars and aid to Israel and Wall Street and all that could be paid for and more.
Homeland security efforts also would be slashed, he said, with layoffs hitting 9,000 Transportation Security Administration screeners and 3,700 agents of the FBI, the Drug Enforcement Administration, and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
Fine.
“It’s very difficult, it’s very, very tough, and the stakes could not be higher,’’ Kerry, a member of the bipartisan-deficit reduction panel, said in an interview with Globe editors and reporters. “A lot of people just aren’t digesting the full measure of this challenge to the country.’’
Part of Kerry’s message seemed targeted to critics in his own party, some of whom have said it might be better to let the committee fail and accept the automatic cuts that would result, because those cuts would spare Medicaid while cutting defense.
Related: Worship War Day: Pentagon Cries Poverty
Yeah, the defense cuts are going to be restored.
In addition, Kerry is facing pressure from his allies in the AFL-CIO, the AARP, and liberal groups, which are planning a large march to his office in downtown Boston tomorrow, to demand Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare not be slashed as part of any deficit-reduction deal.
Kerry said the best option for Democrats and the country as a whole is to reach a fair deal that restores the markets’ confidence and asks each side to budge.
You SEE WHO IS REALLY IMPORTANT TO THEM, right?
He argued the ultimate goal is to preserve Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and other programs by making sure they are financially solvent in the future. As a percentage of gross domestic product, federal revenues, he said, have fallen to a 60-year low while spending has hit a 60-year-high, and 40 cents out of every dollar spent is borrowed.
“It’s simply not sustainable,’’ he said....
Well, you Democrats had two years of a filibuster-proof majority and you didn't even rescind the Bush tax cuts. Please excuse me if I don't buy into the disingenuous diarrhea you are spewing because it's election season again.
Btw, the empire is unsustainable but I don't see anyone reigning in that.
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And your survival depends on elite largesse:
"Charities fight bid to cap deduction for gifts" October 18, 2011|By Beth Healy, Globe Staff
The Boston Foundation and three other major local nonprofit organizations yesterday urged Senator John F. Kerry to oppose the cap on tax deductions for charitable giving by wealthy donors that President Obama has proposed.
The Massachusetts nonprofits are joining hundreds of charities nationwide in lobbying against any changes to the tax code that could reduce incentives for charitable giving, saying organizations across the country stand to lose as much as $7 billion a year if the president’s cap on deductions is adopted.
“In Massachusetts, charitable giving is particularly important,’’ said Paul Grogan, president of the Boston Foundation and one of the four signers of a letter sent to Kerry yesterday. “Some of the biggest economic engines we have are nonprofits - educational, medical, and cultural.’’
The presidents of the United Way of Massachusetts Bay and Merrimack Valley, Catholic Charities, and Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston also signed the letter.
Hey, I give my $2 a week.
The president proposed the cap as part of his 2012 federal budget submission, which must be approved by members of Congress. The letter-writers targeted Kerry, a Democrat, because he is on the congressional bipartisan super committee that will recommend ways to reduce the federal deficit.
The committee, appointed earlier this year, is due to report its proposals by Nov. 23.
Kerry’s office declined to comment on the letter....
The provision would generate an estimated $321 billion in additional taxes over 10 years, according to Independent Sector, a Washington group that lobbies on behalf of nonprofits.
But Grogan called the proposal “penny wise and pound foolish.’’ Nonprofits, including the Boston groups, argue that given the state of the economy, it’s the wrong time to make charitable giving less attractive. Less money going to charities would hurt the poor, not the wealthy, they argue.
“We understand the challenges facing Congress and we support efforts to meet those challenges, but we do not believe that low-income individuals should suffer the dual burdens of reductions in philanthropic resources and government services,’’ the letter to Kerry said.
Wealthy donors tend to give more to education, and medical and arts institutions, according to research from the Joint Taxation Committee, which is to be presented at a hearing today in Washington before a Senate committee.
Nonwealthy donors tend to give more to religious organizations, the Joint Committee reports....
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At least Democrats defend working people:
"Unions urge Kerry to drive hard bargain on deficit; Fear cuts in entitlements; plan Hub rally" November 05, 2011|By Bobby Caina Calvan, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - Massachusetts labor unions are turning up the pressure on Senator John Kerry, warning him against embracing cuts to social programs as he negotiates with other members of the congressional supercommittee that is charged with reducing the government deficit.
Some union leaders in Massachusetts say they are concerned by Kerry’s public statements that seemed to reflect a desire for a “grand bargain.’’ Although what specifically is being discussed by the supercommittee remains a secret, such a bargain would raise taxes and probably reduce spending on programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security.
“To be frank, I am exasperated by the talk of so-called ‘grand bargains’ that would shred our safety net,’’ Richard Rogers, the executive secretary-treasurer for the Greater Boston Labor Council, wrote in letter sent to Kerry earlier this week.
The president of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO, Steven A. Tolman, said labor may be “parting ways’’ with the state’s Democratic senator on the subject of entitlement cuts.
The AFL-CIO, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, and other unions are promising a rally of thousands of members in Boston next week, followed by a march through the city to the offices of Kerry and Senator Scott Brown, a Republican.
Organizers of the Wednesday rally said cuts to Social Security and the country’s two largest health care programs “would constitute a betrayal of the seniors, veterans, and workers who have paid into the safety net and retirement system for years.’’
Yeah, they are NOT entitlements!
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The lack of public information about the committee’s negotiations has frustrated some union leaders. Unions have launched letter-writing campaigns and phone banks to put pressure on Kerry.
A Kerry spokeswoman said the senator has sought the input of labor leaders, while refusing “to retreat to predictable partisan corners.’’
“He needs no reminder that there’s a right way and a wrong way to put America’s fiscal house in order,’’ said the spokeswoman, Whitney Smith. Kerry, she added, helped prove in previous budget crises that “we can balance the budget without doing it on the backs of those most in need.’’
Kerry met with national labor leaders in Washington earlier this week. Last week, he attended the first executive committee meeting of the Massachusetts AFL-CIO presided over by Tolman, its new president.
“We know Senator Kerry has a tough job in trying to find a balance,’’ Tolman said.
In a letter to Kerry, Tolman conveyed “the grave concern of our membership with any proposal that would substantially change the benefits of workers that have toiled long and hard for a dignified retirement.’’
Unions, however, were careful about pinning too much blame on Kerry.
“Our frustration is with the entire process,’’ said David Schildmeier, a spokesman for the Massachusetts Nurses Association. He says his union does not fault Kerry. Still, he said, “We expect him to defend the middle class, defend Medicare and Medicaid, and Social Security.’’
Rogers, of the Greater Boston Labor Council, a federation of more than 150 unions, was less forgiving, saying that Kerry’s office has not responded to the letter-writing campaign.
“Not even a form letter,’’ he said.
“We’re frustrated. What we’re asking Senator Kerry to do is to hold the line, and not let our social safety net be shredded in some grand bargain,’’ Rogers said in an interview yesterday.
“We’d rather have no deal than a bad deal,’’ Rogers said.
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Related: Panel admits defeat in bid to trim deficit
"Mass. research funding at risk; Schools, hospitals lobby against cuts by Congress" November 14, 2011|By Tracy Jan, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - Massachusetts university and hospital officials, determined to prevent erosion of the research and development pillar of the state’s economy, have joined a lobbying slugfest over congressional efforts to slash hundreds of billions from the projected national debt....
The cuts, the latest in a series, could imperil parts of the state’s medical and scientific sectors, which have become a critical economic driver. The sectors have sustained the Bay State through the recession, supported tens of thousands of jobs, trained young scientists with hopes of discovering cures, and anchored the life sciences industry in Massachusetts, the officials contend.
Even if the so-called congressional supercommittee reaches an agreement, leaders of Massachusetts universities and other institutions expect their research funds to be a part of its budget reduction calculus.
At stake is no less than Massachusetts’ future and the underpinnings of the nation’s economic competitiveness, say university presidents, hospital executives, and industry representatives who have been making regular trips to the capital to lobby Congress to preserve research money.
Boston and Cambridge, with one of the densest concentrations of biotechnology and pharmaceutical companies in the country, is the epicenter for medical research. And Boston is home to the five independent hospitals receiving the most funds from the National Institutes of Health in the nation, said John Erwin, executive director of the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals. Only California receives more NIH funds overall....
At MIT, whose rise as an elite engineering university is directly tied to the research investments made by the Department of Defense during World War II, a diverse pool of federal agencies sponsors 71 percent of its research. In the most recent fiscal year, MIT received about $1.3 billion in federal dollars, with $469 million for on-campus research and $804 million for work at its Lexington-based Lincoln Laboratory. The money comes predominantly from the Pentagon and the NIH, but also from the Department of Energy, the National Science Foundation, and NASA....
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"Mass. industries wary of the fallout" November 22, 2011|By Matt Viser, Globe Staff
WASHINGTON - The more than $1 trillion in federal budget cuts that could come in January 2013 would slash Massachusetts’ research funding, Medicare payments to hospitals, and contracts for defense companies - all vital sectors of the state’s economy.
The state stands to lose more than $680 million in federal research funding, about 9 percent of what it is estimated to receive. Hospital officials warn of longer wait times, fewer physicians, and an overall reduction of services at certain hospitals.
The defense cuts would also hit the region particularly hard, given that about 4 percent of the New England economy dependson defense spending. Slicing projects involving major contractors like General Electric and Raytheon could trigger job cuts in areas that have helped Massachusetts weather the economic storm better than other states....
Really?
Related: Boston Globe Giving You the Business
Hey, what is ONE MORE LIE in a paper FULL of 'em?
One reason Massachusetts may be disproportionately hurt by defense cuts is because the state has benefited disproportionately from defense spending in recent years - due in part to a powerful delegation adept at securing earmarks....
This from the allegedly liberal, antiwar state of Massachusetts.
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