Dear Sir or Madame-
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In this November 18, 2009 Publication:
House Likely to Delay Estate Tax Consideration
Europe Remains Uncertain About Stable Economic
Recovery
Emerson CEO Says US Is Hurting Manufacturers
Q-C Die Workers Seek $200,000
Die Casters Take Stance against Magnesium Tariff
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House Likely to Delay Estate Tax Consideration
House Democrats are likely to delay consideration of estate tax legislation until after
the Thanksgiving recess, aides said.Democratic leaders are still discussing the path
forward, but any delay could make a one-year extension of current law more likely,
rather than a permanent resolution of the issue. Such a move would be simpler to get
through Congress, but it would frustrate business groups, which argue that short-term
fixes would hurt estate planning by family-owned businesses.
Congress is under extreme pressure to act by the end of the year. If it does nothing,
current law will make the estate tax disappear on Jan. 1, only to return in 2011 at
higher rates and lower exemptions. Few lawmakers are eager to pass a retroactive bill
that would tax people after they die and after their estates are already distributed.
But consensus on the issue has proven elusive, and the House Democratic Caucus is
showing signs of a split. Members are also focusing more on job-creation legislation,
which may take precedence over the estate tax.
Democratic leaders want to move a permanent extension of the 2009 structure of the
estate tax, which features a $3.5 million per-person exemption and a top rate of 45
percent. Liberals are upset that such an extension — which would cost $233.6 billion
over 10 years and benefit the country’s wealthiest families — would not be offset, even
as they have to scrape up every dollar they can to offset health care legislation.
Meanwhile, a moderate faction led by Shelley Berkley, D-Nev., has offered a proposal
that would be more favorable to estates. It would gradually bring the top rate down to
35 percent, and push the exemption up to $5 million and index it for inflation.
Berkley’s legislation mirrors a plan supported by a bipartisan group of senators during
the budget debate earlier this year. The amendment — offered by Blanche Lincoln ,
D-Ark., and Jon Kyl , R-Ariz. — was adopted by a 51-48 vote, signaling that Republicans
and moderate Democrats had the clout to get a better deal for estates than the 2009 rate
Europe Remains Uncertain About Stable Economic Recovery
The AP (11/12) reports, "Europe's emergence from the worst
downturn since World War II remains fragile and uncertain, marked as much by anxiety as
by relief." Most observers "suspect that after five consecutive quarters of shrinking,
the economies of the 16 countries that use the euro likely left recession in the third
quarter of 2009." Official figures "will be published on Friday by the European Union
statistics agency Eurostat." The eurozone's "uptick has largely been driven by temporary
factors such as restocking by companies who had run down inventories and by massive
government stimulus programs such as the cash for clunkers effort to pay people to scrap
old cars and buy new ones." Unemployment, "now at 9.7 percent in the euro countries, is
also likely to put the brakes on growth." The European Commission "now predicts the
eurozone economy will grow 0.7 percent next year."
Emerson CEO Says US Is Hurting Manufacturers
Bloomberg News (11/12, Daley) reports, "Emerson Electric Co. Chief
Executive Officer David Farr said the U.S. government is hurting manufacturers with
regulation and taxes and his company will continue to focus on growth overseas." Emerson
"will keep expanding in emerging markets, which represented 32 percent of revenue in
2009." Companies will "create jobs in India and China, 'places where people want the
products and where the governments welcome you to actually do something,' Farr said."
Emerson, which Farr said "employs about 125,000 people worldwide, has eliminated more
than 20,000 jobs since the end of 2008 to lower expenses." Farr added, "What do you
think I am going to do? I'm not going to hire anybody in the United States. I'm moving.
They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs." Emerson's growth strategy "includes
some acquisitions and continued investment in technology."
Q-C Die Workers Seek $200,000
Former employees of Quad-City Die Casting have filed an involuntary bankruptcy petition
in hopes of recovering $200,000 they say is owed them in medical bill reimbursements and
vacation pay they never received.
The petition was filed last week in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Peoria, Ill.
About 100 Quad-City Die workers — including 70 members of Local 1174, United Electrical,
Radio and Machine Workers of America, or UE, — lost their jobs when the Moline plant
closed in September.
To view the rest of this article, click here.
Die Casters Take Stance against Magnesium Tariff
The magnesium die casting industry in the U.S. has been facing a significant
disadvantage over the past few years. In the opinion of NADCA and a number of magnesium
die casters, this is mainly due to the tariffs being placed on imported magnesium
alloys.
”The companies in the magnesium die casting industry are being irreparably harmed by the
tariffs being placed on imported magnesium alloys, and they have no voice in this
matter,” said NADCA president Daniel L. Twarog.
To read more about what steps are being taken to fight against these tariffs, click here to login and view the
November issue of Die Casting Engineer.
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CastExpo'10 will be held March 20-23 in Orlando, FL. To complement the
show floor, CastExpo is held in conjunction with the annual Metalcasting
Congress, where the latest advancements in metalcasting research and
practice is presented every year.
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