Michaela's Current Event

Title:Obama's Buffett Rule

The article i read talked about Obama’s tax-proposal as part of his re-election campaign and how it would affect citizens of the United States, as well as different opinions on the proposal.This proposal (the Buffet Rule) was named after Warren Buffett, a wealthy american investor who publicly stated that he disagreed with the fact that the rich pay a lower percentage of taxes on their annual income than the middle class do.Obama’s Buffet Rule would specifically target anyone who has an annual income of over $1 million and says that they should pay at least 30% in replacement of the AMT. If this law is put into effect, it is said to raise $47 billion.

In the past, the AMT also known as the Alternative Minimum Tax has been reformed and changed many times for many different reasons, but in this case president Obama is looking to reform this tax in order to level out the playing field between wealthy and middle class citizens. He recently stated "When it comes to paying down the deficit and investing in our future, should we ask middle-class Americans to pay even more at a time when their budgets are already stretched to the breaking point? Or should we ask some of the wealthiest Americans to pay their fair share?"

There is some controversy over this tax reform and many say it will not advance because $47 billion won't reduce federal deficits at all. One of the critics even argues that a tax reform done right won't require a buffet rule.

Probing Question: Do you think the Buffet Rule would help our economy? Why or why not?

Link:http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/09/pf/taxes/buffett-rule/index.htm?iid=Lead

Allie's Current Event

Title: Obama Signs Bill to Help Companies Go Public
Source: CNN Money
Link: http://money.cnn.com/2012/04/05/smallbusiness/ipo-bill/index.htm?iid=SF_E_River

The topic of the article was about President Obama's recent act of signing into law a bill that is intended to make it easier for companies to come publicly traded through allowing audits to be bypassed and requiring disclosures for investors.  The new bill is called Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act.  Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid says “This bill is far from perfect, but it’s a good bill”.  Unfortunately the majority of all consumer groups disagree with this new bill. Some of the controversy relates to the fact that the bill disregards the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). SEC enforces all size, new, business to hold an Initial Public Offering (IPO) - where the first sale of stock is sold to other companies. This new bill is accused with the potential of failed IPOs and investor fraud because of the advertisement online. However, Obama disagrees and says: “For start-up businesses, this bill is a game changer. Because of this bill, startups and small businesses will have access to a bigger pool of investors”.

Probing Question: What type of businesses do you think will benefit from this newly passed bill, Jumpstart Our Business Startups?