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Saturday, March 23, 2013

Saberpoint: The Accounting Racket: Back in Business

This is my last tax season with Megatax (not their real name). ?I don't know, the corporate atmosphere just seems a bit hostile.

No, that's not really true. ?What is true is that Megatax company charges way too damn much money. ?In about a third of the clients, I feel offended when the computer picks the price. ?Often the price strikes me as over the line into abusive territory. ?The franchise owner programs the desired price into the computer, and prices are based on the number of forms prepared and the relative complexity of each. ?In many cases, this provides a reasonable price for the work done. ?In other cases, it equates to about $400 an hour. ?I mean, I'm good, but I'm not THAT good. ?$200 an hour is closer to reality. ?The Big Four I'm not.

But how can they pay my huge salary without charging such prices? ?Easy. ?My salary isn't huge, it's minimum wage plus bonus. ?There is pressure from above to avoid overtime at all costs, so tax preparers often work off the clock to keep up or to avoid offending clients with poor service. ?This game is really popular with a lot of greedy accounting firms: ?pressure the staff to "eat time," work off the clock, or get fired. ?Obviously, I am not worried about getting fired, as the company needs me a lot more than I need them.

I have applied for my federal e-file number so I can begin filing returns electronically. ?I have a sizable hunk of business lined up in corporate tax returns. ?I will do what I can at Megatax, but ?after April 15, it's sayanara baby. ?Then it's gonna be Stogie, Light and Puff, ?Tax Accountants. ?Yeah baby. Hope I won't make an ash of myself.

Source: http://saberpoint.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-accounting-racket-back-in-business.html

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Texas House adds extra $1B to schools in budget

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) -- Public schools gutted of $5.4 billion two years ago would recapture about half of that lost funding under spending plans offered by the Texas House on Thursday, and top Republicans have not ruled out restoring even more before Gov. Rick Perry signs a new state budget.

Teachers groups that have marched on the Capitol, demanding the Legislature reverse historic classroom cuts that resulted in thousands of layoffs, applauded another $1 billion for schools in a 2014-15 state budget plan approved by the House Appropriations Committee.

School districts are hopeful lawmakers can cough up even more money following the unexpected moves by the House, which came after education emerged as the dominant issue of the 140-day session.

Republican Rep. Jim Pitts, the chief budget-writer in the House, didn't dampen that optimism.

"It's not over 'til it's over," Pitts said.

Yet there are realities. Although the extra $1 billion approved Thursday is on top of $1.5 billion the House and Senate previously committed toward undoing the 2011 cuts, Pitts cautioned that it was unlikely that all funding slashed two years ago would be restored in the final two months of the session.

Democrats and teachers say the money is there ? notably in the projected $12 billion socked away in the state's Rainy Day Fund. But Perry and Republicans who control the Legislature are opposed to tapping that piggybank for anything other than one-time expenses, and school funding is a recurring tab.

The Senate did not include the extra $1 billion in the budget plan it overwhelmingly passed earlier this week.

"The more I talk to the House members, it is the priority of the Texas House, both Republicans and Democrats, to restore public education," Pitts said. "We challenge the Senate to have that same priority."

Pitts also revealed Thursday that he wants to slip schools another $500 million immediately with a supplemental spending bill. That would let the House boast of putting a total of $3 billion extra toward education, though the extra money in the supplemental bill wouldn't repeat in the 2014-15 budget.

"We like what Chairman Pitts is talking about. It's certainly a step in the right direction," said Clay Robinson, spokesman for the Texas State Teacher Association.

The House budget spends a total of $93.5 billion in general revenue, which comes largely from sales taxes collections and is the pot of money that lawmakers wield most control over how to spend. The Senate budget passed Wednesday spends about $600 million more than the House version.

Included in the House budget is $10.9 million for the Texas Department of Public Safety to begin whittling a backlog of sexual assault kit analyses in criminal investigations. Pitts called the spending the "first significant funding of this program by the state."

Although the House budget unanimously passed through committee, the hearing was not without tense exchanges over how the state is spending money.

Democratic Rep. Sylvester Turner, vice chairman of the committee, asked colleagues why the unpaid $161 million tab for fighting wildfires in 2011 would not come out of the Rainy Day Fund when it was clearly a one-time expense.

Turner argued the money could otherwise go toward putting even more money to education. But using the Rainy Day Fund is a tough thing to get through the legislature, and Democratic Rep. Donna Howard said areas hard-hit by the wildfires need money by April.

"I think I know how to add, and I think I know how to read and I think I understand what the rules are," Turner said. "But what is the Rainy Day Fund for? Are we just building a reserve just to say we have a nice reserve? Are we never going to touch it?"

Pitts expects the full House to take up the budget in early April.

___

Follow Paul J. Weber on Twitter at http://www.twitter.com/pauljweber .

Source: http://news.yahoo.com/texas-house-adds-extra-1b-144717567.html

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Agriculture disputes threaten new US-EU talks

WASHINGTON (AP) ? President Barack Obama used Washington's grandest stage ? the State of the Union speech ? to announce negotiations with Europe aimed at creating the world's largest free trade agreement. Just weeks later, there are signs that old agriculture disputes could be deal-killers.

European Union leaders don't want the negotiations to include discussions on their restrictions on genetically modified crops and other regulations that keep U.S. farm products out of Europe. But Obama says it's hard to imagine an agreement that doesn't address those issues. Powerful U.S. agricultural lobbies will do their best to make sure Congress rejects any pact that fails to address the restrictions.

"Any free trade agreement that doesn't cover agriculture is in trouble," said Cathleen Enright, executive vice president at the Biotechnology Industry Organization, which promotes biotechnology, including genetically modified products.

That would threaten the dream of a behemoth free trade deal between the world's two largest trading partners that together account for more than half of the world economy. It would lower tariffs and remove other trade barriers for most industries. Some analysts say the deal could boost each economy by more than a half-percentage point annually and significantly lower the cost of goods and services for consumers.

Agricultural issues have long bedeviled attempts to expand free trade across the Atlantic and have led each side to file complaints against the other before the World Trade Organization, an arbitrator in trade disputes. While the U.S. protests EU restrictions, Europeans want the U.S. to reduce agricultural subsidies.

Genetically modified organisms, or GMOs, have been a core part of the dispute. Agricultural scientists change the genetic makeup of agricultural products to improve their quality and boost production. In Europe, there is widespread public opposition to GMOs. The EU argues that the risks of altering the genetic pool are unknown. It has strict rules and imposes a heavy burden of proof before such crops can be grown or imported in the EU.

U.S. companies say that genetically modified products have been proved safe by scientific studies and are being excluded based on irrational fears. They accuse Europe of trying to help their own farmers by keeping out American products.

While they have little expectation that the EU would end the restrictions, they say it would be a victory if it clarified what it describes as opaque rules and also set timelines for considering products. Regulators now take what they call a precautionary approach, declining approval of products until they can be more certain of their safety.

But any move to water down the regulations could provoke a backlash in Europe.

"My reading of the mood in Europe around genetically modified crops is that it's extremely negative," said Paul DeGrauwe, a professor of economics at the London School of Economics. "It's going to be very difficult."

Indeed, the top EU trade negotiator, Commissioner Karel De Gucht, seemed to rule out a compromise in remarks this month: "A future deal will not change the existing legislation. Let me repeat: no change."

The U.S. and the EU have similarly intractable disagreements on what the two sides call sanitary issues in meats. U.S. poultry products are restricted in the EU because U.S. companies use chlorine to sanitize the meat. Pork is also restricted because U.S. farmers use a feed additive that makes pigs leaner. The two sides partially resolved disputes over U.S. beef after an agreement that U.S. farmers would restrict hormones in cows intended for the European market.

Some European officials say the agricultural differences should be discussed after a major trade deal is completed. This month, French President Francois Hollande called for excluding sensitive issues, including the sanitary standards, from the talks. In the past, France has been among the most adamant of the European countries about protecting agricultural interests.

Obama, in a talk with his export council this month, suggested this could be a deal-breaker.

"There are certain countries whose agricultural sector is very strong, who tended to block at critical junctures the kinds of broad-based trade agreements that would make it a good deal for us," he said. "If one of the areas where we've got the greatest comparative advantage is cordoned off from an overall trade deal, it's very hard to get something going."

Powerful U.S. agricultural groups could probably block a trade deal from winning approval in Congress. In interviews, representatives of many of these groups said they would oppose a deal that didn't address the regulatory differences.

Robert Thompson, an academic at Johns Hopkins University and a former economist for the Agriculture Department, said that the agricultural issues could easily upend the talks.

"I'm not expecting an agreement to emerge any time soon," he said. "I'm thinking years."

Of course, the rhetoric at the beginning of talks might not preclude compromise in the end. In his talk with the export council, Obama expressed optimism. He noted that austerity measures in response to the debt crisis in the EU have caused European countries to look to a free trade deal as a rare opportunity to boost the economy and improve competitiveness.

"I think they are hungrier for a deal than they have been in the past," he said.

___

Melvin reported from Brussels.

___

Follow Desmond Butler on Twitter at http://twitter.com/desmondbutler

Follow Don Melvin on Twitter at http://twitter.com/Don_Melvin

Associated Press

Source: http://hosted2.ap.org/APDEFAULT/89ae8247abe8493fae24405546e9a1aa/Article_2013-03-23-US-EU-Trade/id-98923ae97ed24f47829b6e6d7a514692

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March Madness: Which team is the best academically?

The Belmont Bruins score a perfect 1,000 in the Academic Progress Rate, a metric the NCAA has used to improve the academic standards for March Madness teams.?

By Stacy Teicher Khadaroo,?Staff writer / March 21, 2013

Belmont players celebrate winning the Ohio Valley Conference men's tournament championship earlier this month in Nashville, Tenn., which qualified them for March Madness.

Wade Payne/AP

Enlarge

The Belmont Bruins have virtually no chance of winning the NCAA men?s basketball tournament. Ranked No. 11 in the Midwest bracket, they?ll be thrilled just to survive their second round game against the Arizona Wildcats Thursday night.

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But by one measure, at least, the Nashville, Tenn., university is the prohibitive tournament favorite.

Belmont?s men?s basketball team boasts a 100 percent Graduation Success Rate (GSR), a graduation formula that accounts for student transfers. It also scores a perfect 1,000 in the NCAA?s Academic Progress Rate (APR), a formula set up in 2004 to reward teams whose students stay academically eligible and stay in school.

In fact, if teams advanced in March Madness based on academic achievement, Belmont would be national champion, according to a simulation by the website Inside Higher Ed.

Recent years have shown progress in bringing up the academic standards of teams in the NCAA tournament. The average GSR for this year?s men?s teams is 70 percent, up from 67 percent last year, according to an analysis by Richard Lapchick, director of The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport at the University of Central Florida in Orlando.

New restrictions on postseason play for teams that don?t make benchmark academic scores are having an effect. The University of Connecticut men?s team, for one, has to sit out March Madness this year because of its academics.?

But more tweaks ? such as adding incentives to coaches? contracts or raising the NCAA?s benchmarks ? are needed, said Mr. Lapchick and other reform advocates in a press call Thursday.

A review of 50 college football and basketball coaching contracts shows that average bonuses for athletic achievements were 11 times greater than bonuses for academics, said Tom McMillen, a former Maryland congressman and University of Maryland basketball star who now serves on the University System of Maryland Board of Regents.

?It?s time that universities start treating coaches as if they are also teachers and mentors,? said Education Secretary Arne Duncan during the press call. ?Too often today, coaches are for some reason disconnected from the university. That must stop. They must see themselves and be seen by the community as ? protectors of their student-athletes? best long-term interests.?

Colleges could also insert ?clawbacks? into coaching contracts, which would allow them to recoup bonus money if problems relating to academic performance are uncovered after a coach has left, Mr. McMillen said.

The coaching fraternity is wary of such ideas, saying coaches already have clear incentives to improve academics.

?Coaches are champions of their student-athletes graduating,? says Jim Haney, executive director of the National Association of Basketball Coaches, in an e-mail. ?Coaches whose programs fall below the necessary team APR minimum for eligibility for the NCAA Men?s Basketball Championship are in jeopardy of losing their jobs, assuming they had been the coach the previous four years.?

?Written or not into coaches? contracts there is a heavy burden on coaches to graduate their student-athletes and to maintain eligibility in the Men?s Basketball Championship.?

Mr. Haney notes that 74 percent of men?s basketball student-athletes who entered in college in 2006 graduated.

But Lapchick and others see a need for continued improvement.

Raising academic requirements further could have a positive impact, he said.

Currently, the minimum APR score to qualify for March Madness is 930, but 79 percent of the teams in this year?s men?s tournament already score above 950, Lapchick notes in his report, suggesting that the NCAA could move the bar upward.

The NCAA could also shine a brighter light on the racial gap in college players? graduation rates, which doesn?t factor into current standards. The teams in this year's men?s basketball tournament have an average GSR of 90 percent for white players, compared with 65 percent for African-Americans.

If such gaps affected eligibility for tournament play, ?that would have an immediate effect? on universities? approach to supporting athletes and to their admissions policies, Lapchick said. ?The schools need to accept only students that have a competitive chance academically.?

At some schools, student athletes, including black student athletes, graduate at significantly higher rates than their non-athlete peers.

Schools like Duke, Villanova, and Notre Dame ? which have graduation rates of 100 percent for both their male and female basketball teams ? can be looked to as models, said Ben Jealous, president and CEO of the NAACP, during the press call. He also pointed to Xavier University ? which boasts a 97 percent GSR for all its Division I athletes.

Xavier attracted national media attention in 2010 for a particularly tenacious nun and academic adviser who knocks on players dorm-room doors to be sure they stay on track to graduate (see video).

Source: http://rss.csmonitor.com/~r/feeds/csm/~3/WDADobfXogM/March-Madness-Which-team-is-the-best-academically

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Friday, March 22, 2013

With New Zynga.com, the Gaming Giant Inches Further Away From ...

zynga_HQ_outdoors Zynga?s initial success in the casual gaming industry was also one of its biggest liabilities. The social gaming giant rose to prominence tied almost inextricably to Facebook, each platform feeding off of the other to drum up happy, FarmVille-loving customers.

But Zynga and Facebook are too close, and need distance from one another. If too large a part of their respective businesses continue to rely on the other, their fates rise and fall together.

That?s why next week, you?ll start to see a slightly different Zynga.com homepage. Instead of asking you to sign in to Zynga through Facebook, as has been customary, users will soon be able to start creating their own exclusive Zynga.com accounts, completely separate from Facebook.

?It?s a reflection of some changes that we made about a year ago to the site,? Zynga CTO Cadir Lee told AllThingsD. ?We?re listening to players who want to bring in friends from other parts of their lives to play.?

zynga-facebook380 This also marks the end of what Lee called an ?experiment with Facebook that wasn?t working out,? referencing the two companies? recently amended contract, which ended a number of exclusive agreements that bound them more tightly than many other game developers were with Facebook. That deal kept Zynga from hooking up with other social partners ? like Twitter, or perhaps even Yahoo ? making Facebook the exclusive social platform for users to authorize with Zynga.

It?s yet another step in the slow separation between Facebook and Zynga, both of which have admitted for a long time that, while each owes much of its financial success to the other, it is far too risky for both to sink or swim on the public market together. Facebook has made steps to embrace other game development studios on its platform, in the hope of diversifying its studio game offerings.

This isn?t a complete separation, mind you. Zynga games played on Facebook still account for an enormous amount of Zynga?s revenue, and Facebook gets a healthy cut of that. The two still want a good relationship. And users can obviously still connect with Facebook to play games with friends.

But if Zynga wants to make it on its own, it needs something that doesn?t lean so heavily on Facebook: A network. While Zynga gamers have social avenues to find one another inside of Zynga, the tight-knit network feel just isn?t there.

Next week?s new sign-up rollout is a step in that direction. I?d expect more in the months to come.

Source: http://allthingsd.com/20130321/with-new-homepage-rollout-zynga-inches-further-away-from-facebook/

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French ex-President Sarkozy investigated for allegedly swindling frail heiress

Remy De La Mauviniere / AP, file

Liliane Bettencourt pictured at the Elysee Palace on April 18, 2005.

By Kari Huus, Staff Writer, NBC News

Former President Nicolas Sarkozy came under formal investigation on Thursday for allegedly taking illegal donations from France?s richest woman when she was suffering from Alzheimer?s disease.

"Nicolas Sarkozy, who benefits from the presumption of innocence, had been notified that he has been placed under formal investigation for taking advantage of a vulnerable person in February 2007 and during 2007 to the detriment of Liliane Bettencourt," the prosecutor in the southwestern city of Bordeaux said in a statement after a hearing, Reuters reported.

Investigating Judge Jean-Michel Gentil is looking into conflicting accounts of how many times Sarkosy visited the home of Bettencourt, the heiress to the L?Oreal cosmetics fortune in the run-up to his?2007 election victory.

Bettencourt, now 90,?was judged to be suffering from dementia in 2006. She has since come under the legal guardianship of her family.

Suspicions surfaced three years ago when a former account to Bettencourt made allegations about large donations from her accounts were directed to Sarkosy's campaign.

Sarkozy, 57, lost his immunity from prosecution in May when he was defeated in a bid for re-election by Socialist Francois Hollande.

The ex-president has recently seen a surge of popularity in polls and has hinted at running again in 2017. His supporters say the case against him is politically motivated.

The preliminary charges filed on Thursday mean the investigator has probable cause to believe there was a crime, but he could still drop the charges later.

Even if the charges are not proven, he could be under a cloud of suspicion for months or years.

If he is convicted, Sarkozy could face a prison term of up to three years.

Reuters and The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Source: http://feeds.nbcnews.com/c/35002/f/653387/s/29d95859/l/0Lworldnews0Bnbcnews0N0C0Inews0C20A130C0A30C210C1740A58540Efrench0Eex0Epresident0Esarkozy0Einvestigated0Efor0Eallegedly0Eswindling0Efrail0Eheiress0Dlite/story01.htm

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