President Obama signed legislation today designating 2 million additional acres of public wilderness areas.  The federal “wilderness” designation provides the highest level of government protection from logging, mining and other forms of commercial use and development.

“This legislation guarantees that we will not take our forests, rivers, oceans … monuments, and wilderness areas for granted, but rather we will set them aside and guard their sanctity for everyone to share,” Obama said at a White House signing ceremony.  “That’s something all Americans can support.”

The 2009 Omnibus Public Land Management Act is a compilation of over 160 separate legislative proposals, extends across nine states.  It establishes 10 new National Heritage sites, creates 21 new wilderness areas, expands 19 existing wilderness areas in 10 national forests, and grows several national park boundaries.  One of the largest newly protected wilderness areas is 380,000 acres in the eastern Sierra Nevada and San Gabriel Mountains in California.  (More National Park News)

President Obama’s Speech

Following is President Obama’s speech, as provided by the White House:

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Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker will lead a panel to study options for U.S. tax reform and report back to President Obama by December 4.  The panel will study tax simplification, preventing tax evasion, and reducing corporate welfare.

“There are hundreds of billions of dollars in uncollected taxes each year,” said Peter Orszag, director of the White House’s Office of Management and Budget (OMB).  “The task force on tax reform that will be formed by the Volcker board will be examining ways of being even more aggressive on reducing the tax gap.”

Story at Reuters
More Tax Reform News

President Obama has ordered 4,000 additional troops to Afghanistan to train the Afghan army, hundreds of civilian specialists to help Afghanistan rebuild, and billions of dollars in civilian aid to neighbor Pakistan.   Obama had recently ordered an additional 17,000 combat troops to fight militants in southern and eastern Afghanistan near the Pakistani border.

Jimmy Fallon recently joked about this:

“Here’s some good news.  Barack Obama announced he’s bringing home the troops from Iraq.  Unfortunately, they couldn’t get the troops a direct flight home, so now they have a two-year layover in Afghanistan.”

Next week President Barack Obama is expected to sign legislation that will create a new national park to protect a 77-foot high waterfall in New Jersey and 35 acres of historical sites around it.  This will be the first national park Obama will designate during his presidency.

The “Great Falls” waterfall was featured in a philosophical poem by William Carlos Williams.  Beyond its intrinsic beauty, the waterfall and the surrounding community of Paterson, New Jersey are rich in history as one of the key starting locations for America’s Industrial Revolution.

However, the designation has been criticized as not having national significance and that the money used to create and maintain a new national park could be better spent elsewhere.  No doubt the Paterson community will see an increase in tourism.  But will such a small park diminish the national park brand?

The Bush administration thought so and had previously declined protected status for Great Falls.  The Washington Times notes that “a 2006 National Park Service study said the site is neither suitable nor feasible, the park system already includes enough waterfalls and similar cultural sites, and Paterson is already well-protected by the state.  The study noted that Niagara Falls has never been designated a national park because it is protected by New York.”

Story at EcoWorldly
More National Park News

President Obama vowed to help the nation’s small businesses, promising immediate action to thaw frozen credit.

Obama spoke to reporters after he and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner met in the White House with representatives of the Small Business Administration.  Obama called small businesses “one of the biggest drivers of employment that we have” and said his administration is “working diligently to increase liquidity throughout the financial system.”  He talked about famous small businesses such as HP, Apple and Google that grew to become the cornerstone of America ingenuity and productivity.

Geithner said the package will double to $250,000 the new capital investment that can be written off, include provisions to reduce and then eliminate capital gains taxes in stock, and will health insurance more affordable.

In addition, the IRS announced that small businesses will be able to carry back business losses for five years instead of the current two years “in order to increase your cash flow as we come out of this period and allow you to invest more in your operations.”

Story at CNN

Where were our fiscally-conservative Republicans when President Bush and the U.S. Congress took a budget surplus and turned it into a $1 trillion budget deficit, and doubled our national debt from $5 trillion to $10 trillion?

The Republican concern for fiscal responsibility in the recent budget debate rings hollow.  I think it’s clear that NONE of our elected officials on either side of the aisle have any clue what it means to balance budgets and be financially responsible.

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Income taxes are normally due on April 15th unless that date falls on a Saturday or Sunday, in which case they are due on Monday the 16th or 17th.

However, as the recent appointees to President Obama’s cabinet have shown, this tax rule has been changed:

Income tax payments will not be due until you are nominated to a cabinet position.

Please check with your Tax adviser to confirm.

At #8 on the New York Times best-seller list, “Obama: The Historic Journey” was written by Times staff writers and has 165,000 copies in print.  The book’s description:

“The incredible journey of President Barack Obama up to and including the inauguration, with beautiful four-color photos and stellar storytelling.  This is the remarkable story of Barack Obama’s journey to the White House, as told by the greatest cultural recorders in the world, the staff of The New York Times. From the first mention of Barack Obama in its pages (when he was elected president of the Harvard Law Review), to his electrifying speech at the 2004 Democratic Convention, to the days and months of the hard-fought, innovative campaign for Presidency, The New York Times has documented, recorded, and analyzed Obama in all the ways that he has irrevocably changed this country.”

Economists surveyed by the Wall Street Journal gave President Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner failing grades for their plans to save the economy.  Their pessimistic views contrast to Obama’s 60% public approval rating.

On average, the surveyed economists gave Obama a grade of 59 out of 100, and Geithner an average grade of 51.  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke scored better with an average of 71.

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White House officials say that President Obama will sign the $410 billion omnibus spending bill to keep key government agencies funded in 2009.  The bill contains nearly 9,000 earmarks totaling tens of billions of dollars.  Congressional members use earmarks to direct funding to unrelated pet projects.

During his presidential campaign, Obama promised to end wasteful spending, with a focus on reducing or eliminating earmarks altogether.  Many lawmakers including some key Democrats have urged Obama to veto the bill to prove he’s serious about cutting pork.

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