The president is prepared to veto legislation aimed at stopping year-end tax hikes and spending cuts, which are collectively known as the ‘fiscal cliff,’ unless Republicans agree to raise tax rates for the wealthy. We speak with Congressman Adam Schiff about how Democrats and Republicans can reach a bipartisan compromise on tax legislation without financially hurting taxpayers. We also hear from both sides of the debate over California Proposition 39 and L.A. County Sheriff Lee Baca answers criticisms over jail violence from the Board of Supervisors. We also look at what the housing market recovery means for entry-level home buyers and more on today's AirTalk.
Obama threatens to go to the mat over ‘fiscal cliff’ plan that avoids tax hike for the rich
As he campaigns for reelection, President Barack Obama is playing hardball with the GOP. The president is prepared to veto legislation aimed at stopping year-end tax hikes and spending cuts, which are collectively known as the ‘fiscal cliff,’ unless Republicans agree to raise tax rates for the wealthy, according to administration officials.
Some Republicans are skeptical that Obama will actually follow through with the veto in light of the fact that he has backed off demands for higher taxes twice in the past. If Obama does not cooperate to pass the legislation, taxes rates for nearly 90 percent of households would rise, military and domestic budgets would be deeply cut, and this might spark a brief recession.
Is Obama bluffing or is he potentially putting the economy at risk? How can Democrats and Republicans reach a bipartisan compromise on tax legislation without financially hurting taxpayers?
Guests:
Adam Schiff, Congressman (D-29), district includes Alhambra, Altadena, Burbank, Glendale, Griffith Park, Monterey Park, Pasadena, San Gabriel, South Pasadena, Temple City
Tom Del Beccaro, Chairman, California Republican Party
Proposition 39: debating ways to tax out of state companies
Currently, companies conducting business in California can potentially increase profits by keeping their headquarters outside of the Golden State. By remaining out-of-state, corporations such as General Motors, International Paper, Kimberly-Clark, and Chrysler are able to avoid paying California taxes on their income.
This trend or loophole has arguably cost the state of California over $1 billion annually in lost tax revenue. A new proposition on this November’s ballot is designed to make up for this loss. If passed, Proposition 39, an “Income Tax Increase for Multistate Businesses Initiative,” would require out-of-state businesses to pay taxes on income made in California and earmark those tax dollars to pay for state projects that “create energy efficiency and clean energy jobs.”
Those in favor of Prop. 39 say that the current loophole encourages companies to send jobs out of state. Opponents say a tax increase would give companies another reason to not invest or hire. New Jersey, Illinois, and Texas have similar laws already, but does that mean that it is appropriate for California to tax out-of-state businesses? How would this measure impact California’s business climate? Would it discourage some companies from conducting business in the state at all?
Guests:
Kevin de Leon, co-chairman of the YES on Prop. 39 campaign, Democratic state senator representing California’s 22nd Senate district (Los Angeles, Alhambra, East Los Angeles, Florence-Graham, Maywood, San Marino, South Pasadena, Vernon, and Walnut Park)
Mike Spence, president, California taxpayer protection committee; Republican who signed the statewide ballot arguments
LA County Sheriff Lee Baca answers criticism from Board of Supervisors over jail violence
Los Angeles Country Sheriff Lee Baca met with the Board of Supervisors on Tuesday to discuss their 63 proposed measures for jail reforms. The board grilled Sheriff Baca on the notorious issues of violence in his jails, specifically the use of excessive force against inmates.
Baca expressed his openness to a collaborative process and fulfilling a recommendation proposed by the Citizen’s Commission on Jail Violence, electing a new inspector general. Still, he clashed with the board – Chairman Zev Yaroslavsky argued that the Board of Supervisors should select the new inspector general.
Sheriff Baca is under mounting political pressure to reform L.A. County jails, and the board has put in place a compliance monitor to track his progress. Baca says he will begin to implement the new reforms, with or without crucial funding, and that a new force policy will be released in January.
Sheriff Baca answers our questions about the events going on in the LA County jail system.
What role do you see this inspector general playing?
“Essentially to oversee what our policies and procedures are and the level of training we provide our deputies, and in the event there is a misconduct issue the investigative process is thoroughly investigating what the facts are… Basically to be a communication link between the department and the supervisors.”
Has the issue been resolved as to who hires this person?
“The person most likely will be selected by the board, and that individual will work within the framework of the department.”
How do you intend to deal with the potential for conflict between your assessments and those of the new inspector general?
“Well, the board will first require that the inspector general must understand the legal ramifications of the power of such and office and there are very distinct rules must be followed regarding California law, regarding labor law, regarding even the board of supervisors, so the individual is just not going to be a loose cannon, they have to look at things from a practical point of view not just a political point of view.”
What do you view as the major outstanding reforms of the 63 proposed measures?
“We have already implemented 20 and hope to have the rest by end of year. Two of the top ones are to fill the position of assistant sheriff with a very experienced individual… I’ve had several resumes and I’m looking very seriously at one at this point. Number two is that training supervision and policy are one of the three cornerstones of improvements that are necessary. I need supervision and that has to be funded, I also created a training bureau for the custody environment, the kind of force that’s used in the community is different than inside a jail, so we have to make sure that jails have a specialized form of need not just a policing need… We are the lowest use of force agency in America when compared to New York system and Chicago system. We have to legitimize the prevention of force as well.”
Did you error in trusting those under you to manage the jails?
“No, I think the findings of the commission were accusations but there were no probative investigations of the accusations. I have investigated some of them and I’m getting contradictive evidence.”
So are you taking issue with the findings of these commissions?
“I questions the facts that make the findings…I will go out and find out whether the facts support the finding… but the recommendations are sensible sound many are things I had been trying to do but I need support and funding to do them. The raggedness of the findings is not my biggest concern, but no I’m not convinced that the individuals being blamed for the problems are the cause of the problems. Force is a spontaneous thing that happened in the jail. One third of all of our force is breaking up fights between inmates. That has nothing to do with shift rotation. We have record low significant force, and all significant force is documented in data system. Commanders were not examining the data system to look for trends…Every person that ever visited the jail including the commission itself never came out saying they saw first hand of anything.”
So you don’t think this is a systemic problem of management within the system?
“There is a lack of the number of additional supervisors which I reported years ago, there was not a force prevention policy, now we have one, and the ability to train people was not sufficiently strong enough, because we don’t have enough training staff. Now all of those are systemic and process oriented.”
Frank Stoltze, KPPC reporter, continues this conversation.
What do you think about the Sheriff’s notions that the findings of the commission were not accurate?
“What’s interesting about the sheriff is on the one hand he does not accept the findings of the commission but on the other hand he accepts the recommendations of the commission… He said that internal investigators only found two of the ACLU complaints to be true, he dismissed the testimony of inmates... I’ll note though that there are former sheriff commanders who testified before the commission that there is this culture of violence or at least a culture of a failure to fully investigate the instances of abuse.”
One of the recommendations was that there are more civilian guards in jails, what problems might come with those lengthy periods of service in jails?
“What they want to do is set up a dual track where you are trained to be a jail guard or patrol deputy which are very different skills right now all deputies carry their first few years as jail guards, the challenge with that is the union has set up this ration where 65 percent have to be deputies and 35 percent have to be civilian guards to protect the number of jobs. They are going to have to deal with the union, which has expressed some opposition to that.”
Who besides inmates testified?
“There were civilians who testified, not just the inmates. This commission found what it described as a persistent deputy on inmate problem. Most of the deputies acted to be professionals and were acting within the law, but there is a problem, with the violence and the failure to report the abuse.”
Why is this issue not getting as much attention?
“All is happening behind bars inside LA county jails. It doesn’t get near attention that the LAPD incidents of abuse got which were video taped… part of the difficulty in getting to this issue is all of this is happening behind closed doors with people who were accused of have been convicted of crimes.”
Weigh In:
Should Sheriff Baca be handling jail reforms on his own? What is the role of entities like the Board of Supervisors and the Citizen’s Commission on Jail Violence in implementing changes? What kind of collaborative process will be most beneficial in L.A. County jails?
Guests:
Lee Baca, Sheriff, Los Angeles County
Frank Stoltze, KPCC reporter
What does the housing market recovery mean for entry level home buyers?
Some blockbuster housing numbers were released yesterday, raising the happy possibility that a housing recovery is finally on its way. According to the Census Bureau, housing construction starts rose an impressive 15 percent in September, to their highest rate in four years.
Housing prices are also creeping up, which may be good news for the economy, but bad news for entry-level buyers in Southern California who have been hoping to get in the market for the first time while the getting was still good.
Are entry-level buyers about to miss the boat, as prices go up? Are we seeing a bit of a pricing frenzy at the entry-level due to shortage? If so, might it be better to wait for more normalizing in prices? Or is this still a great time to buy?
Guest:
Stuart Gabriel, professor of finance and director of the Ziman Center for Real Estate at UCLA
Matt DeBord, KPCC Reporter; writes the DeBord Report KPCC.org
Syrian-American doctors risk their lives to treat victims of Syria’s bloody civil war
Now in its 18th month, Syria’s ongoing civil war between the regime of ruling President Bashar Assad and rebel forces fighting to end nearly five decades of Assad’s Ba'ath Party rule has claimed thousands of lives and created a humanitarian crisis. While the world watches the bloodshed and governments criticize each other for getting involved or turning a blind eye to daily atrocities, a group called the Syrian American Medical Society is taking risks of its own to provide medical care to wounded Syrian citizens in the war zone.
Syrian-American Doctors like pulmonary specialist Zaher Sahloul from Chicago have traveled to the region and made multiple clandestine trips across the Syrian border from Turkey to reach field hospitals and treat the many wounded. The journeys are perilous and have found these volunteer doctors sneaking through holes in barbed wire fences and dodging border guards. Once there, these doctors treat hundreds of casualties under the constant threat of attacks by Syrian military artillery and airstrikes.
Syria’s health care system, once one of the best in the Middle East, is now in shambles and the thousands of refugees that have poured into neighboring Turkey has overwhelmed that country’s medical infrastructure. The cruel irony is that Syria’s leader, Assad, went to medical school with Sahloul and his forces now target hospitals and doctors in the ongoing conflict.
What inspires medical professionals to travel halfway around the world to risk their own lives to treat the victims of another country’s civil war? How should the international community address the unfortunate victims of Syria’s conflict?
Guest:
Dr. Souheil Habbal, M.D., Regional Chief of Allergy, Kaiser Permanente; Volunteers with the Syrian American Medical Society
Hassan Twiet, Head of the L.A. Chapter of the Syrian American Council
As Twitter continues to grow, what’s next for the social media giant?
Two weeks ago, the first Presidential debate generated a record 10 million tweets. The second debate scored over 7 million tweets, a large portion of them mentioning Mitt Romney’s ‘binder full of women’. People following on Twitter don’t have to wait for the debates to be over before finding out who wins. Twitter wants to be a companion for everything you watch on television. The site is making moves to be more accessible to those who don’t even have accounts.
With Twitter turning out these kinds of numbers it begs the question: what’s next for the social media giant? Will there be a fight for ‘the second screen’? What is ‘the second screen’? Does Twitter give citizens a voice that they didn’t have before? Why yell at your politicians or favorite athletes on television when you can just mention them on Twitter?
Guest:
Will Oremus, staff writer, Slate