Federal government
The Federal Government of the United States is the operating backbone of the country which comprises of President Obama at the top and encompasses all the constituent organizations and people down the line.
Veterans Affairs policy altered after Vets falsely declared dead
The federal government has recently accepted that they make a mistake when they made the false declaration of around 100 dead veterans. Their benefits were also withheld and now this policy of declaring veterans dead is set to get altered.
Veterans Affairs policy changed:
A 69 year old Navy veteran, Mike Rieker was one of the people who were falsely considered and announced dead expressed his concerns about how his situation got a lot worse when he heard that his benefits are going to be taken away from him too. He said that he called many offices many times and argued with a lady for over 5 minutes about his death. He had a shy smile on his face when he further added that he had to sell stuff from his house in order to make some payments.
It was David Jolly who is a Republican representative who highlighted the issue and told the Department of Veterans Affairs about it through a letter. This was when the VA realized that they had wrongly stopped giving around 115 people their deserved benefits just because some people thought that they were dead.
This has led the VA to make some seriously sought after changes and are now going to have to update their process to retrieve a lot more information before just going ahead and declaring someone dead to stop the payments. The process is now simple and this: Whenever a veteran is sought to be dead, a letter will be sent to their address to confirm that they have actually died. This was indicated in a letter that was sent to Jolly from the VA on December 10th. This will completely remove the possibility of false termination of benefits as well.
This was certainly something that required attention and it appears as if it has got the kind it needed.
FEGLI and the Living Benefit by Paul Kalra
Paul Kalra, FEGLI and the Living Benefit
Paul Kalra is a financial planner and federal retirement expert in Lake Forest, California.Although most people purchase life insurance for the death benefit protection that it provides, many may not realize that there are other ways in which this financial tool can be used in taking care of additional needs while the insured is still alive.
Commonly referred to as “living benefits,” some life insurance policies today will allow an insured to access the death benefit funds if he or she meets certain criteria, such as being diagnosed with a terminal illness. Today’s FEGLI (Federal Employees’ Group Life Insurance) plans may allow a participant to access this type of feature.
Should the enrollee have a documented medical prognosis whereby he or she has a life expectancy of nine months or less, then they may elect to access a lump sum of cash from their FEGLI plan.
The amount of the lump sum that can be accessed is equal to the participant’s Basic life insurance amount, plus any amount of extra benefit for those who are under the age of 45, that is in effect nine months following the date that the Office of Federal Employee’s Group Life Insurance receives the completed living benefits claim form.1
It is important to note that when living benefits are accessed from a FEGLI policy – or from any life insurance policy – the amount that is taken from the policy will reduce the amount of funds that will be payable to the policy’s beneficiary at the time of the insured’s death.
In the case of living benefits on a FEGLI policy, an annuitant is not eligible to elect only a partial amount of benefit from the plan. Therefore, while an employee may opt to take just a portion of their insurance funds, if an annuitant elects living benefits, his or her survivors will not be eligible for any Basic insurance benefits at the time of the individual’s death.
More about Paul Kalra, CFP, ChFC, CLU:
Paul Kalra has been providing financial services for over 25 years to doctors, business owners and others nearing or in retirement. After a successful career with John Hancock Financial Services,in 2002, Mr. Kalra founded his own firm, Signature America Financial Planning Services, Inc. in Lake Forest, CA.
In his practice as a financial planner, Paul Kalra has found that when people are nearing their retirement years, they are faced with confounding decisions about their retirement plans, 401(k)’s, IRA’s, Social Security, Medicare, life insurance, wealth-preservation and estate planning. What motivated him to focus his practice on helping people in their 50’s and 60’s was when Mr. Kalra began facing such decisions himself and realized that the answers would have been very tough if he were not a financial planner.
Federal government headquarters to be upgraded by Capstone
Capstone Turbine Corporation is the undisputed leader of the micro-turbine energy systems industry with them being the leading manufacturers. They have announced in the past week that they have received a gigantic order for side by side C800 and C200 micro-turbines that will be used in a combined power and heat application at the Federal government headquarters building in Washington DC.
Capstone’s distributor for the South Eastern and the Mid-Atlantic United States, E-finity Distributed Generation has managed to secure the order and it’s all set to be commissioned in the current year.
The micro turbines will be responsible for providing a collective 1MW of power and will aid in offsetting the electrical load of the building. The exhaust-emitted waste heat will alone be employed for the generation of around 315 tons of chilled water for the cooling system of the building. This project will also go a long way in supporting the US federal government in achieving its sustainability goals by the means of cogeneration measures.
The administration of the company has got nothing but excitement to display for the achievement of this project. They believe that this is going to be another huge uplift in their bid towards becoming the go-to turbine energy system manufacturing company. The sales and application team was able to make the federal government’s installation configuration pretty quickly in the urge to meet the requirements of the space. This side by side installation is a great depictive of the ability of modern day technology to cater for the needs of the customer.
This is another feather in the cap of Capstone turbines and soon we are going to be writing about how efficient the system has proved to be after it has been deployed. Here’s hoping that this gigantic project proves to be completely successful.
Clinton endorsed by the biggest Fed Union
Clinton endorsed by the biggest Fed Union
Hilary Clinton didn’t surprise many when she started running for President and recently she has been receiving endorsements like she is a real deal. In the past week, the largest Fed Union endorsed her and her run for president and they had nothing but praise for her. She was called a “powerful ally” and a credible figure that could help pave the road that would guarantee that the Fed Union gets all its requests of increased wages, good jobs and the expansion of benefits granted.
Clinton endorsed by fed union:
The union, known as the American Federation of Government employees is a well-reputed entity in the federal hemisphere and they considered the rival Senator Bernie Sanders also before making the final choice. It’s worth mentioning here that the Maryland governor Martin O’ Malley was not even talked about in this regard. Also, the group mentioned that even though they questioned everyone, the republicans didn’t see it fit to reply.
The American Federation of Government Employees represents around 670 thousand employees and encompasses over a thousand locals from around the country. It is worth highlighting that during the 2008 elections, Clinton wasn’t picked over Obama and this just goes to show that the group actually thinks before making important endorsement decisions.
This makes Clinton’s support tally to rise to around 12 million union members that encompass around 18 labor alliances and unions.
Clinton is looking set to get the prize that she is after and with increased support from the union members, things are looking only bright for her. This AFGE endorsement further paves her way towards glory and it looks as if many other unions are going to follow as this is a big fish and the credibility of the union is such that people are going to have no other choice but to endorse.
Gender pay gap targeted by Obama
President Obama has always been against the huge pay gap that exists between the incomes of the employees of the private sector and the Federal Government. He has been taking steps in this regard for quite some time now and this past week he laid out some new regulations that would require every big enterprise to report the incomes of employees based on ethnicity, gender and race. This would help set up the federal government to monitor the pay gaps and disparities that have continued to exist.
Obama wants pay gap to end:
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is provided with the data and tasked with the responsibility of looking into this matter. The agency will target all the firms that have been allegedly paying women lesser than they pay their cross-gender counterparts. Lawsuits are also in place in this regard and the names of the companies will also be publicly disclosed as an aftermath. This would also be the case if there are any disparities between minorities and whites.
As already mentioned, since the beginning of his administration, Obama has been against the huge pay gaps that exist. Despite his efforts, the average compensation across the two genders hasn’t really changed over the past 7 years. When Obama took control, women made 77 cents for every dollar men made and now the figure has changed to 79.
Obama has repeatedly stressed that this whole situation is not how the modern world should be for women. He considers his own daughters to be at threat of not getting the opportunities that they deserve just because of gender disparities.
While there are issues that will only be resolved over time, the efforts of the President in this regard are clearly of great substance and we can hope for some positive results soon.
Federal government should pave the way for AUV revolution
We live in a world continuously changed and left rattled by technological advancements. The introduction of autonomous vehicles is set to bring about a paradigm shift in the automobile and general transportation industry. The economic and social benefits that this will entail are vast. The federal government needs to be very proactive in this regard to ensure that the US remains the center for this rapidly developing technology.
Federal government to support autonomous vehicle revolution:
The need is ever-increasing. It initially grew as a method for the disabled to move from one place to another without requiring the ability to control the vehicle but since its inception, it has transformed from being a small niche to something huge. People have become increasingly lazy and with the advent of smartphones, people like to sit back every once and a while with their phone in hand to check the notifications that might have piled up. This is the reason why many a people will prefer a way to be able to multi-task while driving.
Apart from this, the economic benefits that the country can get from this endeavor are wide spread. The state of the art technology and engineers that are required for the successful undertaking and completion of such projects is indigenous to the United States and with worldwide brands like Tesla present, the future presents a very viable picture. The federal government needs to play a pivotal rule in this regard if the country is actually going to come front as the pioneer supplier of autonomously perfect vehicles. The government did recently announce that a 10 year long program that amounts to about 4 billion dollars in worth is going to be dedicated for this purpose and here’s hoping that there are other enabling steps that follow too because this can end up being a huge breakthrough.
Federal government advised to establish a Zika Protection Plan
Check Schumer who is a New York based US senator is of the view point that the Americans need to be very concerned about the Zika virus and has urged the federal government to take the mater very seriously and subsequently launch a plan in the bid to contain it.
Form a plan to contain the Zika Virus, says Schumer
Already around 5 people in New York and around 30 in many other states have been infected, early reports indicate. Many health experts have said that the virus finds its origins in South America and the culprit for its transmission is allegedly the Asian Tiger mosquito, Schumer still believes that the virus won’t have many problems in spreading across the country. He backed this argument by saying that the specific mosquito is indigenous in the US.
He further said that if there isn’t a protective plan launched by the government, the outbreak could happens as soon as the coming summer. The “three point plan” proposed by the Senator is what he believes will fight the virus with full force. He has urged the government to formulate the plan before we reach the summer months and to start the vaccination process preferably by the end of the year.
While the Senator is only talking sense, the initiatives that he expects the federal government to take aren’t likely to be undertaken in the near future. Many reports do indicate that the virus can prove to be a big threat to the country and we hope that the authorities look in to the matter before it develops into something that can’t be contained. The protective plan proposed by Check Schumer could go a long way in ensuring the safety and good health of millions of Americans across the country and should be given immediate attention.
How Obama plans to change retirement accounts
2015 saw the introduction of a new retirement account by the name of myRA and there was a lot talked about the account as well. In the budget that is set to hit center stage in 2017, President Obama plans on making some changes in the retirement accounts as well:
How retirement accounts will change in 2017:
- Automatic IRAs: Employees are almost all the times automatically added to the workspace’s 401(k) plan unless they vote out of it. In the coming budget, the President intends to automatically enrol all of the employees into individual retirement accounts. This is indeed a great initiative.
- Employers will have larger tax breaks: Small businesses and their owners are liable to receive tax credit whenever they set up a new retirement plan. The President wants to triple this credit and make the amount go up to 1500 dollars per year for as much as 3 years for small companies that offer retirement plans.
- Port your benefits: The budget will also make the proposal to allow the funding of pilot programs that will be helpful in making benefits portable for those people who would like to change jobs.
- Participate part time: Employers will have the authority to not include the part-time employees in the retirement plans of the country. To be considered eligible for a retirement plan, you would have to work at-least 500 hours per year for 3 or more years.
- 401(k) plans but pooled: Small businesses find it excessively hard to set up and then manage the 401(k) plans. Currently employers that have a “common band” can establish 401(k) plans. Obama intends to remove the common bond requirement.
These alterations are looked forward to by many of the retirees and they can help the federal government in making the post-retirement lives of retirees a lot better.
No further action against General David Petraeus
Ashton Carter who is the Defense Secretary has made the decision regarding the case of David Petraeus. He has indicated that there will not be any further actions taken by the Department against the retired General. This was indicated by a letter that was received by CNN this past week.
No more actions against David Petraeus:
The letter was meant to be received by Senator John McCain who is an Arizona Republican and also the Senate Armed Service Committee chairman.
The options that were available at Carter’s disposal were the following:
- Demote Petraeus to a 3-star general from a 4-star general. This would of course have also affected his retirement salary.
- Not make the demotion decision and allow David to enjoy the complete list of retirement benefits that he will now be set to achieve.
The letter’s credibility was confirmed by an official of the Defense department but there were no further elaborations made in this regard.
The whole situation developed when David acknowledged whilst in court proceedings that he provided Paula Broadwell access to classified material. Along with this, he also mentioned that he was in a personal relationship with the author. David Petraeus will still remain responsible for any wrongdoing that he might have done while being an active servant of the department.
Flint To Be Ordered To Get Lead Pipes Replaced
The water contamination scandal that took place in Flint has been among the news for quite some time now. It has also led to a lot of legal actions being taken but this new lawsuit that you are about to know about can be the one the administration would have feared the most about. An advocacy group coalition claim that the Flint officials made a US federal Safe Drinking Water Act violation by making the drinking water source switch. This could entail the ordering of lead pipe infrastructure replacement with immediate effect.
Flint to replace the lead pipes:
Dimple Chaudhary, who is a senior attorney at the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC) said that this urge to make a federal court intervene is justified because the Flint people can’t afford another miscalculation made by the government agencies who effectively paved the road towards infrastructure devastation and the consequent water contamination. Flint resident Melissa Mays, Concerned Pastors for Social Action, the ACLU and NRDC formed the coalition that filed the complaint. This lawsuit is different particularly because it’s objective is to introduce the role of federal government and not just earn monetary damage compensations.
Kristi Pullen, who is a scientist at the NRDS explained that Flint has been susceptible to damage particularly because around 40 percent of the total population resides below the poverty line which increases their likeliness to develop health problems. The illiteracy rate is also high and a large percentage of the population comprises of children that are between the ages of 5 and 16; making them more vulnerable to get poisoned by lead. Also, there are a lot of kids in Flint that have approximately tripled their blood lead levels over the past few years. This all amalgamates to form an alarming situation in need of attention.
The increasing number of women in Federal Government
There was a time when women weren’t an integral part of a society and we fear those times. We have come a long way and now women constitute a pivotal part of our cabinet. There is a heavy percentage of women present in executive top level positions in the federal government and they have been making some good advancements and taking some noticeable steps in the recent past too. This is not just talk but a report released by OPM in 2014 revealed that around 34 percent of senior positions at federal workplaces are held by women. This though is not also seen in the private sector where women carry only 14.6 percent of the executive positions (this was indicated by a Center for American progress report in 2014).
Women with executive federal government jobs:
The best part about this is that women are found in the upper levels of the government as well. We have seen stark rises in the numbers as in 1976, there were only 21 percent women who held executive positions in both administrative and professional paradigms and now (As indicated by a Merit Systems Protection Board report) the number has gone up to 44 percent. With the passage of another 5 years, we are expected to see even better results.
The former OMB administrator, Karen Evans thinks exactly like we do. She said that women hardly played any role in the cabinet before; just like in 1965 when Johnson had no women in the cabinet and it stayed the same with Nixon in charge. When Carter assumed office, he gave 3 women the change to occupy cabinet and we have only seen advancements ever since.
While we await reports that will surely indicate better results, let’s hope that this trend continues on for an endless period of time.
Americans told to limit sugar use by the Federal Government
Having lesser sugar in your food means lesser calories and that’s normally good for health. That’s probably not exactly what the federal government took heed from when they released a new report urging the Americans to cut back on their daily usage of sugar. Yes, you read that absolutely right.
Federal Government wants you to limit sugar use:
The 2015-2020 Dietary Guidelines for Americans is the report that has made the recommendation to the general public to limit the amount of sugars in diets to under 10 percent of the daily calories. This is not something that’s unachievable when you consider the fact that this equals around 12 teaspoons of sugar daily. But, digest this: A can of coke contains around 10 teaspoons.
On average, Americans take around 13 percent of their daily calories from added sugars and teens normally reach around 17 percent. This is all indicated by the recently released report. Here, it’s worth mentioning that the natural sugar containing foods like milk, apples or raisins aren’t considered “added sugars”.
Another startling fact is that around half of these sugars come from beverages such as the sports drinks, juices and sodas. The intake of these drinks is also increasing considerably.
It’s highly recommended that we start acting on the guidelines made clear by this report because in the longer run, they can do us invaluable good. The quality of life that controlled added sugar intake guarantees is something that we all look forward to but fail to achieve because we succumb to sugary greatness. With the start of the New Year, it won’t be a bad ambition to become more healthy and with sustained daily intake of sugar, we can go a long way in maintain our health as indicated by the report that’s based on statistical and scientific analysis by experts.
New coal leases halted on Federal land
The coal program was reviewed for the first time in three decades this last week and the government has ordered to put a pause on issuing coal leases on the federal land. This order is part of some of the other executive actions that have been taken with the sole purpose to fight climatic disorders.
No more coal leases on federal land:
This halt is something that was long coming. The coal leases were not stopped already because the previous governments didn’t see it to review the coal mining program and Obama finally decided that this needed looking in to. The halt could last around 3 years, as indicated by Sally Jewell, who is the Interior Secretary of the US. The officials are during this tenure going to find out how they can protect the stake of the tax paying community in coal sales that occur from public lands and how the burning of fuels actually worsens the climatic change.
This step is one taken in the right direction when you consider the fact that the federal land encompasses around 40 percent of the whole coal production of the country. The majority of the leases are on public lands in the Western states primarily Colorado, Wyoming, Utah and New Mexico.
This review might be something very good in the longer run in the bid to fight climate change but sadly for the industry it has come at a time where they could have done well without it. Around 50 coal companies since 2012 have gone bankrupt after facing competition from natural gas and the regulations for clean air that have eventually led to the increased prices of fossil fuel burning.
All in all, we don’t believe that the government is going to cut back on its decision of making it last 3 years and it is a very calculated decision.
Federal Budget Deficit Amounted to 14 Billion in December
The Treasury Department said this past week that the budget deficit amounted to around 14 billion dollars for the month of December 2015. When you compare this to the surplus of 2 billion in the same month of 2014, it speaks volumes.
Federal budget deficit 14 billion in December:
This is not something startlingly new. For the third month of the contemporary fiscal year, the government has overspent. For this month, the figures were: Spending: 364 billion. Intake: 350 billion.
The treasury department also indicated that the budget deficit could have gone to around 38 billion dollars had the Government not timed some transactions like benefit payments.
The deficit has risen to be 22 percent now. This is around 216 billion dollars in surplus. It’s worth mentioning for those unaware that the budget year runs from October through September.
There have been stark criticisms pointed at the federal government for this surplus spending but it’s not always easy to calculate your way while operating a gigantic country. That being said, we hope that the government can do some cost analysis and in the future, endure less deficit.
Federal Government set to spend 4 billion on auv development
Federal Government set to spend 4 billion on autonomous vehicle development
The federal government rarely goes all out on funding technological ventures but they have decided to fund the autonomous vehicle development programs heavily, as indicated by the budget reports. A lot of states across the union have been encouraging car makers to design the perfect autonomous vehicle capable of traversing the American roads without any flaw or incompetency. It’s worth mentioning here that US is indeed a big name when it comes to designing and testing the technology required to design such vehicles.
Federal government will fund the autonomous vehicle development:
The CEO of Tesla Motors, Elon Musk recently said that specifically California is the go-to place if you want to check out the latest developments in the autonomous vehicle development department. However, he also readily agreed that there is still need for a lot of enhanced advancements in order for the venture to produce goods that can be considered perfect.
Obama has listened to Musk’s addresses apparently and has realized the importance of developments in this paradigm. He has shown great interest in making great investments in the transportation system that is equipped to support the humans of the 21st century.
The U.S. transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx has acted on the commitment the government made by announcing a 10 year program that could be worth around 4 billion dollars dedicated for accelerating the autonomous vehicle development program and this is excellent news for each and every single one of us.
Even though, the autonomous vehicles were in the beginning targeted at a smaller niche of disabled people, now it’s becoming hugely popular among people from all demographics. This huge dedication of government funds to the program highlight the fact that the government too is aware of the importance of success in this domain. Here’s hoping that we see tangible success soon.
Alabama has sued the Federal Government
Alabama has recently become the second state that has sued the federal government over the whole refugee resettlement propaganda. The state has accused the Obama administration to have failed to consult with the states regarding the placement of the people evacuated from their own homelands.
Federal government sued by Alabama:
The lawsuit was officially filed in a Birmingham Federal court, as reported by Jennifer Ardis, who is the spokeswoman for the Republican Governor Robert Bentley.
Bentley is one of the many Republican Governors that have opposed the settlement of the Syrian Refugees in the states after the November 13 attacks in Paris. The lawsuit has not specifically targeted the Syrian Refugees but it does follow the suit made by Texas, which made the government think about assigning Refugees, places to live in Dallas.
This lawsuit has highlighted many pointers. Firstly, it has brought the argument that the federal government has not been able to follow the Refugee Act of 1980. The act dictates that a government should consult with the states regarding placement and indicates that Alabama wasn’t notified of any such development until the order officially came.
After Texas, this is another blow to the solidarity of the government and it indicates that there are some basic operational flaws that can lead to large misunderstandings and problems. The governors are very adamant and are going to stand firm with their stances against the government. It’s going to be really interesting to see how the government reacts because now they have two suits on the plate for them to deal with. One thing is very valid in this whole scenario and that’s the stance of the states because according to the Refugee act, they should have a say and by the way they have painted the picture, it appears that they didn’t.
The Results Are In! Government Has Failed To Properly Train Federal Employees
The results are in! Less than 20% of Federal Employees are satisfied with the retirement training they have received. -75% report receiving no training at all.
Nearly 1 Million Federal Employees were asked to participate in the 2015 Year-End Retirement Survey conducted by PSRetirement.com. After tabulating the responses, and apart from the surprising number of Federal Employees that were left unsatisfied with their training, there were also a few other interesting insights into the retirement training that the Federal Employees are currently receiving.
¾ of Federal Employees Surveyed Report Receiving ZERO Retirement Training
According to PSRetirement.com’s 2015 Retirement survey over 75% of Federal Employee respondents have not had any retirement training at all. Of the Federal Employees surveyed less than 20% of those stating they have received training also state that they are satisfied with the training they received
Federal Employees Prefer One-On-One Retirement Training
Responding to the type of benefit training these Federal Employees would prefer:
- 42.5% of Federal Employees selected one-on-one training as their preferred method
- 29% of Federal Employees chose group training;
- A surprisingly large number of Federal Employees (28.5%) specifically requested interactive online training, which is something that is predominantly unavailable.
One thing is certain Federal Employees believe that their employer should be doing a better job of training employees on their retirement benefits. We happen to agree.
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