KeNo's Housing and Economic Portal: Saturday April 2 Housing and Economic stories

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TOP STORIES:

States push harder for online sales tax collection - (finance.yahoo.com) Tax-free shopping is under threat for many online shoppers as states facing widening budget gaps increasingly pressure Amazon.com Inc. and other Internet retailers to start collecting sales taxes from their residents. Billions of dollars are at stake as a growing number of states look for ways to generate more revenue without violating a 1992 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that prohibits a state from forcing businesses to collect sales taxes unless the business has a physical presence, such as a store, in that state. States are trying to get around that restriction by passing laws that broaden the definition of a physical presence. Retailers are resisting being deputized as tax collectors. Until recently, the Supreme Court ruling has meant that Wal-Mart Stores Inc., based in Bentonville, Ark., would collect taxes from shoppers in all states with sales taxes, whether those shoppers buy items on or off the Web, because it has stores nationwide.

BANKER ON HOW TO SOLVE DEBT CRISIS: The Public Needs To Work Harder For Less Money And 50% Fewer Benefits - (www.businessinsider.com) An investment banker from BarCap recently told the Forum of Economic News that he's got the solution to bring "competitiveness" back to the European Union. Cut benefits by half, and make everyone work harder. The comments from Hans-Jörg Rudloff, the head of the Management Board of investment bank Barclays Capital, will obviously infuriate the public, who will remember that BarCap paid out bonuses that were so good this year that bankers gathered at a bar immediately after work for a champagne toast to everyone receiving "at least a £600,000 bonus."

Dennis Kucinich: Libya Air Strikes Could Be 'Impeachable Offense' – (www.huffingtonpost.com) Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio) has panned President Obama's decision to participate in Saturday's missile attack on Libya, going so far as to question whether the strikes should be considered an "impeachable offense." In a lengthy statement dated March 18 and re-printed in full on his website, Kucinich notes: While the action is billed as protecting the civilians of Libya, a no-fly-zone begins with an attack on the air defenses of Libya and Qaddafi forces. It is an act of war. The president made statements which attempt to minimize U.S. action, but U.S. planes may drop U.S. bombs and U.S. missiles may be involved in striking another sovereign nation. War from the air is still war. As Politico is reporting, Kucinich raised the prospect of impeachment during a Saturday conference call, and is just one member of a group of liberal House Democrats questioning the constitutionality of U.S. missile strikes against Libya. The congressman mainly objected to the fact that Congress was not consulted before the air strikes, Raw Story reports. In an interview, he told the site, "And I'm raising the question as to whether or not it's an impeachable offense. It would appear on its face to be an impeachable offense."

Supreme Court Denies Effort to Bar Details of Fed Bailout – (www.nytimes.com) The Supreme Court refused to hear an appeal from an association of bankers trying to keep the names of financial institutions that received Federal Reserve loans from becoming public. The Federal Reserve will publish new details about its emergency lending to banks during the 2008 financial crisis after the Supreme Court on Monday rejected an industry appeal for secrecy. The Fed said it would release detailed information soon about its main emergency aid program, the so-called discount window, breaking a policy of confidentiality that dates to its founding in 1913. The Fed was required by Congress to publish similar data about its other lending programs last year. “The board will fully comply with the court’s decisions and is preparing to make the information available,” David Skidmore, a Fed spokesman, said. The disclosures could embarrass some of the nation’s largest banks, which are eager to focus public attention on their renewed profitability, by returning a spotlight to the extent of their dependence on federal aid during the crisis. It also signaled a victory for Bloomberg News, which first requested the data in 2008.

After panic buying, Chinese seek refunds on salt - (www.latimes.com) Misguided shoppers cleared stores of the seasoning in the midst of a panic about radiation from Japan, some paying 10 times the normal prices. But few are allowed to return it for refunds. The panic buying of salt that swept China last week amid fears of radiation from Japan has been replaced with a new frenzy: how to get a refund. Many shoppers now reportedly feel buyers' remorse after realizing that there was no shortage of salt in China and that radiation from the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant in northeastern Japan posed little threat to coastal sea salt deposits. The hoarders are now lining up at grocery stores to ask for their money back, especially from shopkeepers who charged as much as 10 times the normal prices for the seasoning, according to Chinese news reports. "I regret it very much. I will never behave this silly anymore," a woman who bought enough salt to last her four years told the West China City News in Nanjing. She was denied a refund. A local television station in southern Yunnan province interviewed a farmer standing next to a 110-pound sack of salt he had bought that turned out not to be edible. It also wasn't returnable.