Minnesota government shuts down as talks fail

Minnesota stumbled into its second government shutdown in six years on Thursday, with a partisan divide over taxes and spending to close a $5 billion deficit becoming only more bitter as a midnight deadline came and went without agreement.

Any hope of a last-minute budget deal between Democratic Gov. Mark Dayton and Republican legislative leaders evaporated around 10 p.m., when Dayton appeared to say he and Republicans were still fundamentally divided over how much the state should spend the next two years and that he saw no chance of avoiding a shutdown.

"It's significant that this shutdown will begin on the Fourth of July weekend," Dayton said. "On that date we celebrate our independence. It also reminds us there are causes and struggles worth fighting for."

Republicans appeared again minutes later, and tried to hang blame for the shutdown around the governor's neck. They said the two sides were closer than he admitted, and they criticized his refusal to call a special session so lawmakers could pass a "lights on" budget bill to keep government running. Dayton refused, saying he's been clear for months that he would only agree to a total budget approach.

"I think the governor's insistence that we pass a full budget is not going to be of much comfort to Minnesotans who are going to see delays on the highways because construction projects stop," said Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, R-Buffalo. "It's not going to comfort people who can't use our state parks, or who can't get a driver's license.

Minutes later, Republicans tried to hang blame for the shutdown around the governor's neck. They said the two sides were closer than he admitted, and they criticized his refusal to call a special session so lawmakers could pass a "lights on" budget bill to keep government running. Dayton refused, saying he has been clear for months that he would only agree to a total budget approach.

"I think the governor's insistence that we pass a full budget is not going to be of much comfort to Minnesotans who are going to see delays on the highways because construction projects stop," said Senate Republican Leader Amy Koch. "It's not going to comfort people who can't use our state parks, or who can't get a driver's license."

A shutdown would force thousands of layoffs, bring road projects to a standstill, and close state parks just ahead of the Fourth of July weekend. The effects were already being felt hours ahead of the deadline, as people rushed Thursday to get driver's and fishing licenses, and park officials began warning campers to pack their gear and leave.

Though nearly all states are having severe budget problems this year, Minnesota stood alone on the brink of a shutdown, thanks to Dayton's determination to raise taxes on high earners to close a $5 billion deficit and the Republican Legislature's insistence that the gap should be closed by cutting spending.

Negotiations between Dayton and legislative leaders were fitful Thursday, starting and stopping with no outward signs of progress. After talks broke down for the last time, Dayton and GOP leaders gave conflicting accounts of the last few rounds of offers.

U.S. won't pursue bulk of CIA detention cases

Justice Department has opened full-scale criminal investigations into the deaths of two prisoners in U.S. custody overseas during the Bush era, Attorney General Eric Holder confirmed Thursday.

Holder also announced that he had closed most of the preliminary detainee-abuse inquiries that he authorized in 2009, which caused significant controversy for the White House at the time. But he said that he had authorized special prosecutor John Durham to dig deeper into two cases.

“Mr. Durham has advised me of the results of his investigation, and I have accepted his recommendation to conduct a full criminal investigation regarding the death in custody of two individuals. Those investigations are ongoing,” Holder said in a statement. “The Department has determined that an expanded criminal investigation of the remaining matters is not warranted.”

Holder said Durham examined allegations or indications of abuse involving 101 detainees captured in military conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as others taken prisoner in the broader war on terror.

The attorney general did not identify the two cases that are still being pursued by investigators, but a source who spoke on condition of anonymity and is familiar with the investigations told POLITICO they are the cases of Gul Rahman, who apparently died of hypothermia while in Central Intelligence Agency custody in Afghanistan in 2002, and Manadel al-Jamadi, a prisoner who died in 2003 at the U.S. military-run Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq.

Justice Department did not identify the two detainees at the center of the criminal investigation. But government officials, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said the first case involved the well-publicized death of Manadel al-Jamadi, who died in CIA custody in 2003 at the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. He became publicly known as "the Iceman" after his body was photographed packed in ice and wrapped in plastic.

The second case involves the death of Gul Rahman, who died in 2002 after being shackled to a cold cement wall in a secret CIA prison in Afghanistan known as the Salt Pit, the officials said.

Beginning in 2002, Justice Department lawyers wrote a series of then-secret legal opinions authorizing intelligence officers to use increasingly harsh interrogation methods such as sleep deprivation, slapping and waterboarding on dozens of terrorism suspects in an effort to elicit information about al-Qaida.

Holder stressed Thursday that any intelligence officials who acted "in good faith" within the scope of the Justice Department's legal guidance at the time would not face prosecution.

The review that led to the full criminal investigations focused primarily on whether "unauthorized interrogation techniques were used by CIA interrogators" and, if so, whether they amounted to criminal violations of statutes against torture or other measures, he said.

In a nod to the tensions surrounding the issue, Holder was careful to emphasize the "incredibly important service to our nation" that intelligence officials provide.

Law-enforcement and intelligence officials declined to discuss the nearly 100 cases involving detainee treatment that were dropped. It is not clear if any involved deaths.

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Vermont

Vermont is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. The state ranks 43rd in land area, 9,250 square miles (24,000 km2), and 45th in total area. Its population according to the 2010 census, 630,337, is the second smallest in the country, larger only than Wyoming. It is the only New England state not bordering the Atlantic Ocean. Vermont is the smallest landlocked U.S. state, and is one of two landlocked states in the northeast (the other being Pennsylvania). Lake Champlain forms half of Vermont's western border, which it shares with the state of New York. The Green Mountains are within the state. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Québec to the north.

Originally inhabited by two major Native American tribes (the Algonquian-speaking Abenaki and the Iroquois), much of the territory that is now Vermont was claimed by France in the early colonial period. France ceded the territory to the Kingdom of Great Britain after being defeated in 1763 in the Seven Years' War (also called the French and Indian War). For many years, the nearby colonies, especially New Hampshire and New York, disputed control of the area (then called the New Hampshire Grants). Settlers who held land titles granted by these colonies were opposed by the Green Mountain Boys militia, which eventually prevailed in creating an independent state, the Vermont Republic. Founded in 1777, during the Revolutionary War, it lasted for fourteen years. While independent, it abolished slavery. When it joined the Union, it was the first state to have abolished slavery. Vermont is one of seventeen U.S. states (along with Texas, Hawaii, the brief California Republic, and each of the original Thirteen Colonies) that each once had a sovereign government. In 1791, Vermont joined the United States as the fourteenth state and the first outside the original Thirteen Colonies.

Vermont is the leading producer of maple syrup in the United States. The state capital is Montpelier, which with 7,705 people is the least-populated state capital in the country. Its most populous city is Burlington, which has a metro population of 211,261 residents.

Economy

In 2007, Vermont was ranked by Forbes magazine as 32nd among states in which to do business. It was 30th the previous year. In 2008, an economist said that the state had "a really stagnant economy, which is what we are forecasting for Vermont for the next 30 years. In May 2010, Vermont's 6.2 percent unemployment rate was the fourth lowest in the nation. This rate reflects the second sharpest decline among the 50 states since the prior May.

According to the 2005 U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report, Vermont's gross state product (GSP) was $23 billion. This places the state 50th among the 50 states. It stood 38th in per capita GSP.

Components of GSP were:

Government – $3,083 million (13.4%)

Real Estate, Rental and Leasing – $2,667 million (11.6%)

Durable goods manufacturing – $2,210 million (9.6%)

Health Care and Social Assistance – $2,170 million (9.4%)

Retail trade – $1,934 million (8.4%)

Finance and Insurance – $1,369 million (5.9%)

Construction – $1,258 million (5.5%)

Professional and technical services – $1,276 million (5.5%)

Wholesale trade – $1,175 million (5.1%)

Accommodations and Food Services – $1,035 million (4.5%)

Information – $958 million (4.2%)

Non-durable goods manufacturing – $711 million (3.1%)

Other Services – $563 million (2.4%)

Utilities – $553 million (2.4%)

Educational Services – $478 million (2.1%)

Transportation and Warehousing – $484 million (2.1%)

Administrative and Waste Services – $436 million (1.9%)

Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting – $375 million (1.6%)

Arts, Entertainment, and Recreation – $194 million (.8%)

Mining – $100 million (.4%)

Management of Companies – $35 million (.2%)

Canada was Vermont's largest foreign trade partner in 2007. The state's second largest foreign trade partner was Taiwan.The state had $4 billion worth of commerce with Québec.

One measure of economic activity is retail sales. The state had $5.2 billion in 2007. In 2008, 8,631 new businesses were registered in Vermont, a decline of 500 from 2007.

Personal income

The median household income from 2002 to 2004 was $45,692. This was 15th nationally. The median wage in the state in 2008 was $15.31 hourly or $31,845 annually. About 80 percent of the 68,000 Vermonters who qualify for food stamps, actually received them in 2007. 40 percent of seniors 75 years or older live on annual incomes of $21,660 or less.

Agriculture

Agriculture contributes $2.6 billion, about 12 percent, directly and indirectly to the state's economy. However, another study claims that agriculture contributes 2.2 percent of the state's domestic product. In 2000, about 3 percent of the state's working population engaged in agriculture.

Michelle Obama visits Vermont

First lady Michelle Obama visited Boston and Vermont yesterday, as she and President Obama made a final dash for cash before the close of a fund-raising quarter that will provide the first relative measure of the strength of the 2012 White House contenders.

Republican front-runner Mitt Romney, making his second bid for the presidency, posted an early marker Tuesday when his staff announced he expected to raise $15 million to $20 million.

The first lady’s stops yesterday were expected to raise more than $1.2 million for the Democratic National Committee, whose primary focus now is ensuring the president’s reelection. The president had his own fund-raising trip to Philadelphia.

Final reports for the quarter are due in the middle of July.

Michelle Obama’s visit to the Chestnut Hill home of philanthropists Elaine and Gerald Schuster, the fifth such stop on a fund-raising tour that started in May, provided her with the opportunity to to make her financial pitch in very frank and personal terms.

A spectator, Melissa Richardson-Bronson, was impressed the President's wife traveled to such a small state. "That Vermont is something, and they are going to support a small state like Vermont," is how Richardson-Bronson described the message the First Lady's trip sent Vermonters.

Mrs. Obama said she hopes the whole nation joins forces, asking itself "What can I do to help military families?" "We have you in our hearts. We have you in our prayers, and we have your back," Michelle Obama told the audience to conclude her speech. They rose and applauded, many clamoring to snap photos of the First Lady.

From the military facility, Mrs. Obama traveled by motorcade to two separate private fundraisers for her husband's presidential reelection fund. Together, the parties were expected to rake in around $500,000 in donations. A small handful of protesters were waiting for Mrs. Obama outside a hotel where she was appearing. They were accusing President Obama of not doing enough to end overseas fighting. WPTZ-TV reports that more protesters were outside a science center on Lake Champlain where Mrs. Obama was appearing next.

Both of the political fundraisers were closed to most representatives of the Vermont media. One single print reporter was allowed inside of each event.

She told an audience of about 120, which included Governor Deval Patrick but was mostly women, about her transformation as a political wife, as well as the toll the presidency takes on her husband each day.

Debt relief

Debt relief is the partial or total forgiveness of debt, or the slowing or stopping of debt growth, owed by individuals, corporations, or nations. Traditionally, from antiquity through the 19th century, it refers to domestic debts, particularly agricultural debts and freeing of debt slaves. In the late 20th century it came to refer primarily to Third World debt, which started exploding with the Latin American debt crisis (Mexico 1982, etc.). In the early 21st century, it is of increased applicability to individuals in developed countries, due to credit bubbles and housing bubbles.

International debt relief

War reparations

In the mid-20th century, the 1953 Agreement on German External Debts, which substantially reduced German's war reparations, was a notable example of international debt relief. Part of the reasoning was that German's World War I reparations were deeply resented in Germany, and credited internationally as a cause of World War II, and thus debt relief helped reconciliation and peace in Europe.

Third world debt

Debt relief for heavily indebted and underdeveloped developing countries was the subject in the 1990s of a campaign by a broad coalition of development NGOs, Christian organizations and others, under the banner of Jubilee 2000. This campaign, involving, for example, demonstrations at the 1998 G8 meeting in Birmingham, was successful in pushing debt relief onto the agenda of Western governments and international organizations such as the International Monetary Fund and World Bank. Ultimately the Heavily Indebted Poor Countries (HIPC) initiative was launched to provide systematic debt relief for the poorest countries, whilst trying to ensure the money would be spent on poverty reduction.

The HIPC programme has been subject to conditionalities similar to those often attached to IMF and World Bank loans, requiring structural adjustment reforms, sometimes including the privatisation of public utilities, including water and electricity. To qualify for irrevocable debt relief, countries must also maintain macroeconomic stability and implement a Poverty Reduction Strategy satisfactorily for at least one year. Under the goal of reducing inflation, some countries have been pressured to reduce spending in the health and education sectors.

The Multilateral Debt Relief Initiative (MDRI) is an extension of HIPC. The MDRI was agreed following the G8's Gleneagles meeting in July 2005. It offers 100% cancellation of multilateral debts owed by HIPC countries to the World Bank, IMF and African Development Bank.

Arguments against debt relief

Opponents of debt relief argue that it is a blank cheque to governments, and fear savings will not reach the poor in countries plagued by corruption. Others argue that countries will go out and contract further debts, under the belief that these debts will also be forgiven in some future date. They use the money to enhance the wealth and spending ability of the rich, many of whom will spend or invest this money in the rich countries, thus not even creating a trickle-down effect. They argue that the money would be far better spent in specific aid projects which actually help the poor. They further argue that it would be unfair to third-world countries that managed their credit successfully, or don't go into debt in the first place, that is, it actively encourages third world governments to overspend in order to receive debt relief in the future. Others argue against the conditionalities attached to debt relief. These conditions of structural adjustment have a history, especially in Latin America, of widening the gap between the rich and the poor, as well as increasing economic dependence on the global North.

Personal debt relief

Origins

Debt relief existed in a number of ancient societies:

Debt forgiveness is mentioned in the Book of Leviticus, in which God councils Moses to forgive debts in certain cases every Jubilee year – at the end of Shmita, the last year of the seven year agricultural cycle or a 49-year cycle, depending on interpretation.

This same theme was found in an ancient bilingual Hittite-Hurrian text entitled "The Song of Debt Release".

Debt forgiveness was also found in Ancient Athens, where in the 6th century BCE, the lawmaker Solon instituted a set of laws called seisachtheia, which canceled all debts and retroactively canceled previous debts that had caused slavery and serfdom, freeing debt slaves and debt serfs.

Additionally, the Qur'an supports debt forgiveness for those who are genuinely unable to pay. The injunction is as follows:

If the debtor is in difficulty, grant him time till it is easy for him to repay. But if ye remit it by way of charity, that is best for you if ye only knew.

—Qur'an 2:280 

Contemporary

Personal debt has become an increasingly large problem in many developed countries in recent years, due to credit bubbles. For instance, it is estimated that the average US household has $19,000 in non-mortgage debt. With such large debt loads, many individuals have difficulty making repayments on debts and are in need of help.

There are many companies who offer debt consolidation services. However, such services may not always be in the best interests of the person involved and may involve taking out a loan secured by a person's home. Marketing materials are designed to persuade customers to take up the company's offer rather than offering a personal best solution for reducing debt. Where debt has become a problem, it is often best to turn to an independent consumer's association for advice before calling debt consolidation companies as consumer's associations often have great experience with such problems and may be able to advise the most effective avenues for debt relief- for the price.

As long as some form of Chapter 7 bankruptcy debt relief exists within American law, the credit card companies must pay attention, and do as much as they can to help their clients repay debts through relatively traditional means (depending upon the service those clients have entered). Even leaving bankruptcy aside, it is in the best interest of credit card companies that their debtors at least feel some motivation to continue repaying their accounts and not simply disappear or view those ever growing balances as untouchable.

Tax treatment

In US tax law, debt forgiven is treated as income, as it reduces a liability, increasing the taxpayer's net worth. In the context of the bursting of the United States housing bubble, the Mortgage Forgiveness Debt Relief Act of 2007 provides that debt forgiven on a primary residence is not treated as income, for debts forgiven in the 3-year period 2007–2009. The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 extended this by 3 years to the 6-year period 2007–2012.

Bankruptcy and non-recourse loans

The primary mechanism of debt relief in modern societies is bankruptcy, where a debtor who cannot or chooses not to pay their debts files for bankruptcy and renegotiates their debts, or a creditor initiates this. As part of debt restructuring, the terms of the debt are modified, which may involve the debt owed being reduced. In case the debtor chooses bankruptcy despite being able to service the debt, this is called strategic bankruptcy.

Certain debts can be defaulted on without a general bankruptcy; these are non-recourse loans, most notably mortgages in common law jurisdictions such as the United States. Choosing to default on such a loan despite being able to service it is called strategic default.