Vote on Boehner Plan Delayed Amid Opposition [NYT]
House Republican leaders were forced on Tuesday night to delay a vote scheduled on their plan to raise the nation’s debt ceiling, as conservative lawmakers expressed skepticism and Congressional budget officials said the plan did not deliver the promised savings.
What’s Wrong With America’s Job Engine? [WSJ]
Between the end of 2007 (when American employment peaked) and the end of 2009 (when it touched bottom), the U.S. economy’s output of goods and services fell by 4.5%, but the number of workers fell by a much sharper 8.3%. Today’s puzzle: How and why employers managed to boost productivity, or output per hour of work, like never before during the worst recession in decades?
Americans ‘Disgusted’ as Politicians Fail to Compromise on Debt [Bloomberg]
“They’re not in touch with reality,” said Cheryl Carroll, 51, who lives in Tinton Falls, New Jersey, with her two daughters. She has been applying for jobs in retail and subsisting off her family’s investments since her husband died last year. “They should really get an average American in Congress who knows how to balance their checkbook,” Carroll said. “It would be fixed in a week.”
Obama’s ‘70 million checks’ per month: Actually, it’s even more than that. [WaPo]
The mind-boggling number challenges a common critique of the federal government as a creaky apparatus where tax dollars are lost in the bureaucratic cracks. From the vantage point of the 70 million or 80 million checks, the government is a finely tuned machine that brings in revenue and disperses it back out across the country.
IRS is investigating Bell finances [LAT]
The Internal Revenue Service has opened an investigation into the handling of bonds and employee compensation packages in the financially struggling city of Bell, according to sources familiar with the ongoing probe. At least two IRS agents have been assigned to the investigation and have been in and out of Bell’s red-brick city hall since February, one source said. “They’re sifting and combing through everything,” the source said. The sources requested anonymity because they were not authorized to talk about the investigation.
CPA: Can’t Prepare Anymore [Tax Update]
Definitely not “Current Power of Attorney.”
Employees Can’t Use IRS Computers for Craigslist, eHarmony, Facebook, Foursquare, Gmail, TaxProf, Twitter, Yelp [TaxProf]
Or simply, “Any use that reduces productivity or interferes with the performance of official duties.”
Next Accounting Standard Project: Dairy Cows? [CFOJ]
Bovines at fair value?
ICAEW helps US focus on global standards [Accountancy Age]
International financial reporting standards are in focus at the ICAEW, which is to chair an American Accounting Association debate on the future of the global standards in the US. The panel will include former chairman of US regulator the FASB, Robert Herz, and forms part of the AAA’s annual conference from 6 – 10 August.
Cops: Calif. man tries to fix hernia with butter knife [MSNBC]
The man’s wife called police to say her husband was sick and tired of waiting to get surgery for his rupture and decided to take matters into his own hands on Sunday evening, Glendale Police Sgt. Tom Lorenz told msnbc.com. When officers arrived at the couple’s apartment, they discovered the man, naked and sprawled out on a lawnchair, with a butter knife protruding from his abdomen, Lorenz said. The man was cooperative and even pulled out the knife when asked, he said.
