Sunday, March 31, 2013

WORK OPPORTUNITY TAX CREDIT (WOTC)

Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) Program


On January 3, 2013, the President signed into law the American Tax Payer Relief Act of 2012, which authorizes an extension of the WOTC program:

  • Continues authorization of all veteran target groups (including those implemented under the VOW to Hire Heroes Act) until December 31, 2013
  • Retroactively reauthorizes all WOTC non-veteran target groups, from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2013
  • Retroactively reauthorizes Empowerment Zones, which determines eligibility for the summer youth target group, from December 31, 2011 to December 31, 2013


e-WOTC Account Information

 
The Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) is a federal income tax credit that provides incentives to private for-profit employers to encourage the hiring of individuals from certain targeted groups of jobseekers who traditionally have difficulty finding employment.
Employers can reduce their federal income tax liability up to $9,600 during the first year of employment of a member of a targeted group, depending on the target group. There is no limit to the number of qualified employees for which an employer may receive this tax credit.

WOTC Targeted Groups

  • Qualified Temporary Assistance to Needy Families Recipients
  • Qualified Veterans/Disabled Veterans
  • Qualified Unemployed Veterans
  • Qualified Ex-felons
  • Qualified Designated Community Residents (residing in an Empowerment Zone)
  • Qualified Vocational Rehabilitation Referrals
  • Qualified Summer Youth (residing in an Employment Zone)
  • Qualified Food Stamp Recipients
  • Qualified Supplemental Security Income Recipients
  • Qualified Long-term Family Assistance Recipients
  • Qualified Disconnected Youth

BIG DATA : The Next Frontier


Internet of the Things



Tuesday, March 26, 2013

IMF security director discusses his transition from the Secret Service

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Monday, July 25, 2011
WASHINGTON—Making the transition from law enforcement to private sector security can be challenging because skills obtained in the public sector don’t necessarily translate to the corporate world.
Like many security professionals, Vincent O’Neill, chief of HQ security operations for the International Monetary Fund, began his career in the public sector, spending 20 years as an agent with the U.S. Secret Service. While he is an expert at protecting presidents and high-ranking officials, and conducting criminal investigations, O’Neill told Security Director News he had a lot to learn when he joined the IMF eight years ago.
For example, one of his primary responsibilities at IMF is to manage contracts for the organization’s electronic security systems including video surveillance, access control and data storage. He is also charged with managing the contract for the organization’s third-party guard force. Contract management was not a skill he learned in the Secret Service, he said.
“I was put in this position and expected to know everything or learn everything quickly. It was sink or swim,” he said. “One thing that I did in the Secret Service was work long hours, so working hard was not something I was unaccustomed to.”
O’Neill said one of the best decisions he made early on was not to pretend he knew it all. “Don’t try to fake that you know everything,” he said. “This was one of those times when you have to swallow your ego.” He credits other staff members with being very patient with him and helping him build his knowledge base, particularly when it came to technology. He also said a strong professional network of security practitioners and law enforcement officers has been an incredible resource for him throughout his career.
Another strategy that worked well for O’Neill was simply sitting back and listening to the needs of the organization, something that also runs counter to the training of most law enforcement officers. “Law enforcement wants to immediately take charge, they’re reactive,” he said. “But the best thing you can do as manager of security is listen first and not take charge.” Fortunately, security managers often have the luxury of a little time and are able to absorb things before taking action. “That can be a big adjustment for most guys when they come into private security, to just relax and listen and evaluate and then start making some recommendations,” he said.
Looking back, O’Neill said he would have been more involved in the technical aspect of the Secret Service and tried to learn more about IT and technical skills. He said individuals with a business or an IT background are often better prepared for positions in the private sector than those with law enforcement or military experience. “Someone who has a business degree can be just as successful as someone with a law enforcement background,” he said. Especially individuals with an IT background would be “way ahead of the game,” he said.
But his law enforcement background has been beneficial to him, especially when it comes to relating to people, he said. Especially at the IMF, which has 187 member countries representing many different cultures, O’Neill said he often has to deal with domestic issues. As a matter of fact, workplace violence is one of his biggest daily concerns. “It’s terrifying because we screen visitors and they’re escorted by our staff, but staff members have badges and they can just walk into the building and they aren’t searched,” he said. There’s little stopping an upset employee from entering the building and O’Neill said he works hard to educate employees to recognize and report individuals who demonstrate unstable behavior.




Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Portugal is currently sitting on gold reserves worth more than 16 billion euros, which is up 1.4 billion euros on its value at the beginning of the year. Its gold reserves currently amount to 382.5 tonnes - more than that held by the United Kingdom and almost double the amount held jointly in the vaults of major gold-producing countries South Africa and Australia.
Due to these huge reserves, and in a bid to ease the burden the bailout has had on Portugal, neutral analysts have called on the European Union to give Portugal the go-ahead to delve into these stocks, but only to give them up as a guarantee at substantially lower interest rates being charged by the EU’s major shareholders and the IMF.
The World Gold Council (WGC) suggested earlier this month that the European Parliament pushes for Portugal to be allowed to offer gold as collateral for sovereign debt issuance.
“Portugal has gold reserves in excess of 20 percent of its financing requirements over the next two years”, the World Gold Council said in a report based on research done on its behalf by the London-based group, Europe Economics.

Portugal’s gold is not the collective property of the Eurozone and is the sole beneficiary of the gold held at the Bank of Portugal in Lisbon.
But it would still need EU approval to associate its gold with any financial transaction.
The WGC stresses the obvious point that money (euros) “is abstract – numbers on a computer screen. By contrast, gold is concrete. Gold bars might sit in a warehouse or a vault. Creditors could go see them.”
While its stressed monetary actions raise considerable issues of reliability, “the concreteness and simplicity of gold as collateral makes it more credible.
“Physical gold bars could be transferred to a third party location (e.g. London). The Portuguese government would get them back when their debts were redeemed and would not get them back if they defaulted. It is difficult to see how a policy could be more credible”, the European Economics report argues.
Despite the substantial quantity of gold held by the Bank of Portugal on behalf of its citizens, the last occasion its gold was touched was in September 2006, when 20 tonnes was sold off. Despite its gold
vault being closed for business the past six years, Portugal’s gold reserves are half now of what they were in 1975.
Nonetheless, Portugal’s reserves represent the highest proportion of GDP (9.49 percent) in the developed world, and when including all nations is only behind Lebanon which stands at 10.32 percent.
Meanwhile, data for October 2012 shows the United States as the overwhelming leader of gold reserves in the world, with a stock amounting to 8,133.5 tonnes, followed by Germany in a distant second with 3,395.5 tonnes. Next on the list is the IMF with 2,814 tonnes, Italy (2,451 tonnes), France (2,435.4 tonnes), China (1,054.1 tonnes), Switzerland (1,040.1 tonnes), Russia (936.7 tonnes), Japan (765.2 tonnes), the Netherlands (612.5 tonnes), India (557.7 tonnes), the ECB (502.1 tonnes), Taiwan (423.6 tonnes) followed by Portugal on 382.5 tonnes.
It has also emerged recently that while the state holds onto its gold riches, its citizens are ridding themselves of the metal at a record rate. Last year, an estimated 13 tonnes of second-hand gold were exported out of Portugal. Most of this gold was obtained by melting down jewellery purchased off desperate consumers by the more than 5,000 registered gold buyers in Portugal.

GOVERNO SEM GOVERNAÇÃO?



 O Governo tem destinado no QREN, para investimento na criação de emprego, um total de 5.582 (5 mil milhões e 582 mil Euros), sendo Público: 235 mil 769 Euros, Privado: 2 mil milhões e 172 mil Euros, e Comunitário (FEDER) : 3 mil milhões 173 mil Euros. (Consultar. Site “Compete”).

O défice público que significa que não existe cobrança de impostos, dado o número de falências e o crescente diário, constante e perigoso número de desempregados, é de 4 mil milhões e 400 mil Euros. O dinheiro do  QREN, por incrível que possa parecer, destina-se a investimentos empresariais nos CPLP. A criação de emprego em Portugal, é assim, uma Utopia.

Em 4 anos futuros, o pagamento de impostos das grandes empresas, e de joint ventures financeiras ligadas a Holding’s de Bancos de Investimento, deixarão de ser efectuados em sede de Portugal. A “mentira conveniente” da classe política, é a de apelar ao investimento estrangeiro, quando esse investimento é realizado nas operações financeiras na Bolsa de Valores, exactamente e não ingenuamente, para assim obterem retornos desse capital que segue para África.

A reforma do Estado, que deveria ser efectuada pelo Tribunal de Contas, e não decidida por presumíveis “entendedores” da organização financeira do Estado, serve apenas para despedir cegamente, os excedentários, e cegamente significa: “quem são os excendentários?” e “quem é que decide quem são os excendentários?”, novamente, e face à lei, deveria ser  competência legal do Tribunal de Contas essa análise técnica, e não partir de decisão governamental, com ou sem, acordo parlamentar.

Neste caso, o cenário de uma fracção populacional inactiva, prolonga a crise do défice público, porque os “inactivos” são uma despesa orçamental pública colossal.

Os banqueiros, pouco interessados nos depósitos bancários oriundos do “trabalho”, dado que não vinga a competitividade empresarial portuguesa, face à globalização, e face à globalização, resta a Portugal recorrer das exportações tradicionais, para novos mercados, que não exactamente o mercado comunitário em crise e também, com a desistência de reformular o valor do trabalho em relação ao tipo de contrato laboral, que na minha opinião, o conceito da “flexibilidade” dos contratos laborais, encontra-se em contradição com as políticas dos Países emergentes, porque nos Países em Desenvolvimento, os contratos de trabalho asseguram os impostos. A acrescentar ainda a ideia conceptual da “refundação do Estado”  muito vazia de conteúdo ideológico, não observando critérios de competências versus salários, e questionando :“Para quê Governo sem Governação?”.

 

Cielo e terra (duet with Dante Thomas)