₦airaland Forum

Hmmm the week of showing off designer shoes and Ferrari Portofino cars to the masses, especially to the hungry ones on NL begging u to check out dere signatures hoping to emulate dis wasted materialism. Everyday many post acct numbers and a sad story for a donation.

Like dem said above about vanity.

hey team lickers, check out ur beloved clown.

"Not sure why Stone Cold Steve Austin is trending but y'all remember when he hit Trump with a Stunner? Those were the good days"

Not sure why Stone Cold Steve Austin is trending but y'all remember when he hit Trump with a Stunner? Those were the good days pic.twitter.com/pPomjG2XOc

— Johnny (@DaMightyEcho) September 18, 2020

luscioustrish:
I almost thought it was Bobrisky

yo slay bae, that joke played out a few days ago. save ur data.

ZooOga:
Imagine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's country just went into another nationwide covid-19 lockdown but he travels to Washington for an empty photo op. smh on this news.

hmmm, very clean streets in more ways than one.

Video shows the streets of Israel as the country enters a second lockdown at the start of the Jewish new year.

Video shows the streets of Israel as the country enters a second lockdown at the start of the Jewish new year. pic.twitter.com/yrRDNyaRmf

— The Hill (@thehill) September 18, 2020

Dem should go see AGF Malami and presents dey contracts.

Justice will be served. Maybe.

Chachess6:
Even cardi B endorsed Joe Biden

she may be an ex-stripper but she's deep and recognizes her African ancestry. " I don't dance no more, I make money moves."

“I Am Missing Nigeria” – Cardi B, After Leaving The Country -

https://www.nairaland.com/5573893/missing-nigeria-cardi-b-after


Cardi B 'stands behind' Colin Kaepernick in refusing Super Bowl show

Rapper ‘got to sacrifice a lot of money’ by not playing halftime
Grammy nominee will perform in Atlanta on Saturday
https://www.theguardian.com/music/2019/feb/02/cardi-b-colin-kaepernick-super-bowl

Cardi B turned down an offer to perform at the Super Bowl, she said, in order to “stand behind” the former San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick, who “stood up” for minorities by kneeling down during playings of the pre-game anthem.

sorry if already posted. u chaps are quite busy in this thread. and sorry about the double Giuliani posts. the bot banned me last night but a super mod cleared it and released me quickly.

A former staffer on the White House coronavirus task force endorsed Joe Biden and accused Trump of having blood on his hands because of his “horrific” handling of the pandemic.

Olivia Troye served as Mike Pence’s lead task force staffer for six months.
‘It was awful’: Ex-Pence aide endorses Biden, blames Trump for U.S. coronavirus deaths
Olivia Troye, an ex-White House homeland security adviser who served as Vice President Mike Pence’s lead task force staffer for six months, endorses Biden in a video released by political advocacy...
nydailynews.com

I saw this interesting colonialism theme thread in the NL algorithm. worth a bump.

" foundations through his organization Atlantic Philanthropies"

pls don't be a non-thinking mumu that swallows the headline bait. these public announcements are a deception. a clever tax shelter dodge to wisely benefit his family and/or heirs. many millionaires/billionaires follow the same script. most notably Naija's favorite, Bill Gates and his good buddy Warren Buffet. The upper crust and royal families in the UK and Europe take this to another whole level of expertise.. been doing so for centuries. trusts, off-shore banking, shell corporations, etc, etc. perhaps Madueke, Saraki, and a former vice president tapped into this scheme (Panama Papers).

for A First Class students. Others go catch up on the latest BBNaija eviction news, or find a good simp post in romance or tribal war thread in politics section.

Estate tax in the United States

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Estate_tax_in_the_United_States

"If an asset is left to a spouse or a federally recognized charity, the tax usually does not apply."

there's more important things to focus on during dis very serious global pandemic.
international travel has halted to and from many countries and many foreign governments have been on extended leave, including our honourable NASS members.

glad she made it home safely. prayers work most of the time.

some get trafficked out of the country or worse, (used for the unmentionable).

My pastor trafficked me to Russia for prostitution – Victim

Florence Abu, a hairstylist, said she was lured to Russia where she worked as a sex worker for several months against her will.

By Osaruonamen Ibizugbe September 16, 2020 5 min read

https://www.premiumtimesng.com/news/headlines/414885-my-pastor-trafficked-me-to-russia-for-prostitution-victim.html

CoronaVirusRelo:
"You know, putting a national lockdown, stay at home orders, is like house arrest. Other than slavery, which was a different kind of restraint, this is the greatest intrusion on civil liberties in American history."

- Bill Barr

Biggest threat to America after Trump

Imagine, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's country just went into another nationwide covid-19 lockdown but he travels to Washington for an empty photo op. smh on this news.

The article's writers went all in. Too much/long to post in a thread. Synopsis, Giuliani's 3rd wife ran his pockets with their divorce settlement.

Invisible company owned by Rudy Giuliani got taxpayer-backed PPP money — but where did it go?
Giuliani's payroll company got a PPP loan from a Trump-friendly bank — but lists no employees. Was it fraud?


ROGER SOLLENBERGER
SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 8:00PM (UTC)

https://www.salon.com/2020/09/16/invisible-company-owned-by-rudy-giuliani-got-taxpayer-backed-ppp-money--but-where-did-it-go/

I'm hearing all types of fraud stories cornering those ppp coronavirus relief package loans.


Invisible company owned by Rudy Giuliani got taxpayer-backed PPP money — but where did it go?
Giuliani's payroll company got a PPP loan from a Trump-friendly bank — but lists no employees. Was it fraud?

https://www.salon.com/2020/09/16/invisible-company-owned-by-rudy-giuliani-got-taxpayer-backed-ppp-money--but-where-did-it-go/

ROGER SOLLENBERGER
SEPTEMBER 16, 2020 8:00PM (UTC)
Additional reporting was contributed by Kathleen O'Neill.

A payroll company owned by Rudy Giuliani, President Trump's personal attorney, took between $150,000 and $350,000 in taxpayer-backed emergency small business loans this spring. It's unclear what Giuliani did with the money.

The loan reveals a previously unreported, 18-year-old company owned by Giuliani. A Salon investigation offers new insight into mechanisms of the former New York mayor and federal prosecutor's elaborate and purposefully obscure business, income and payment arrangements, which have reportedly been the subject of subpoenas from federal investigators in the Southern District of New York.

Giuliani initially told Salon he was ignorant of the purpose of this company, which has handled payroll needs across more than 18 years and lists him as CEO. Financial experts tell Salon that one of two scenarios is likely true: Either Giuliani directly employs a number of people through this unknown company, and pays them substantial salaries, or the company misrepresented its finances to the government when it applied for the loan — which would likely constitute fraud, a felony.

Independent journalist Wendy Siegelman appears to have been the first to report both the company and the loan.

According to government records, the loan, which was part of the Small Business Administration's Payroll Protection Program coronavirus relief package, was awarded on April 28 to a company called World Capital Payroll Corp., a registered "S Corp" headquartered at 445 Park Avenue in Manhattan. Those records show that the company received between $150,000 and $350,000 in taxpayer-backed federal funds, which can be fully forgiven by the government if the company proves they were put toward payroll and related expenses. (Giuliani's new private law firm is registered at that same address.)

Importantly, in order to receive a loan amount in that range, a company was required to prove that it spent between $720,000 and $1.68 million on payroll and employee benefits. Because the SBA caps eligible salary amounts at $100,000, this means that World Capital Payroll would have had to directly employ between seven and 16 people, roughly speaking, in 2019 — and paid them all $100,000 or more for their services.

In order to prove eligibility to their lender, applicants must submit official tax and payroll forms.

According to PPP databases, however, World Capital Payroll did not report having any employees or any jobs saved. That in itself is not entirely uncommon. It is unclear, however, who else the company may directly employ other than Giuliani himself, who did not reply when asked that question several times over several days through various points of contact.

Multiple financial experts and PPP lenders told Salon that business owners cannot use PPP money to pay employees of separate businesses they own. Owners would need to submit separate applications for each entity that has its own tax ID. It is not clear whether WorldCapital Payroll Corp has any subsidiaries with employees, and if so, it is not clear why Giuliani would not recall such a company.

World Capital acquired its loan through Signature Bank, which at one point came under scrutiny from financial officials for loans made while it had ties to the Trump family as well as the family of Jared Kushner, the president's son-in-law.

World Capital Payroll classified itself under "other financial vehicle" on its loan application, even though PPP applications offer "payroll services" as an option. That choice puzzled financial experts who spoke with Salon, and one SBA official described it as "weird."

(About three out of every 10,000 companies that applied for a PPP loan categorized themselves under "other financial vehicle."

New York state's business registry lists WorldCapital Payroll Corp, with no space between the first two words, with Giuliani as CEO. In a call with Salon, Giuliani confirmed that it was the same company. The reason for the discrepancy in spelling was not immediately clear. The company lists different addresses on its official New York registry and its PPP loan: its New York address is at an office of Giuliani Partners; the PPP address is the office of Giuliani's personal law firm.

Giuliani incorporated WorldCapital Payroll Corp in Delaware on Jan. 8, 2002, the same day he registered Giuliani Partners and Giuliani Safety & Security in New York, and just over a week after entering the private sector following two terms as mayor of New York City. Before that, Giuliani had worked at the Justice Department under Ronald Reagan for eight years, including more than five years as U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York, where he became famous for prosecuting the mob and white collar crime.

Two days after incorporating in Delaware, on Jan. 10, 2002, Giuliani registered WorldCapital in the state of New York. According to the Delaware listing, WorldCapital Payroll is a stock corporation authorized for 1,000 shares.

Asked what he used the PPP loan for, Giuliani told Salon in a text message, "get lost."

"Write whatever lie you want to it's a waste of time to communicate with you," he added. Salon, he said, "hates the president," and he, Giuliani, was "just collateral target."

"No need to discuss this. I am comfortable that I follow the law and ethical rules. Knock yourself out," he wrote.

According to multiple reports and individuals familiar with the case, Giuliani's business dealings have been under investigation as part of a broad federal probe led by the FBI and the Southern District of New York, the office Giuliani once led. Last October his former business associates Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman were arrested at Dulles International Airport outside Washington as they waited to board an overseas flight, leading to the investigation into Giuliani. Those arrests were on unrelated campaign finance charges, but came just one day after the duo met Giuliani for drinks, and just as impeachment hearings were heating up in Congress.

Giuliani later called Salon back to offer more information, saying that he had in the meantime asked a corporate bookkeeper about WorldCapital.

In Giuliani's telling, his bookkeeper had just explained to him the function of WorldCapital. This seems implausible, since Giuliani created and owns the company, and appears to have used it to process payroll to employees of a number of his global firms for the last 18 years. As stated above, to receive a PPP loan in the reported amount, the company was required to prove that directly employed between seven and 16 U.S. employees, at a minimum.

"It's what's called a 'paymaster,'" Giuliani said, invoking a common term for a company that handles payrolls for multiple entities. Giuliani's main known entity is his consulting firm, Giuliani Partners.

"We have three or four different companies," he said. "A client will pay Giuliani Partners a fee and we'd keep it and run the business with it, and then we pay our employees with it, through the payroll company."

WorldCapital "has no clients other than my companies or the people we subcontract with," Giuliani said.

"I don't take a salary from Giuliani Partners," he added, explaining that he takes a cut of that firm's profits after he pays his employees. His payments also go through WorldCapital Payroll, he said.

Giuliani may not draw a regular salary from Giuliani Partners LLC — which multiple reports have said has been the subject of federal investigation — but the law requires him to take one from WorldCapital Payroll. According to the SBA's loan database, WorldCapital registered as an "S Corp" and is therefore required to pay all employees a "reasonable" salary tied to industry norms.

It's unclear what salary Giuliani pays himself as CEO of WorldCapital Payroll. The PPP salary cap is $100,000 — any salary in excess of that amount must be reduced back to $100,000.


Roger Sollenberger is a staff writer at Salon.

abeg, who has liver and budget to collect petition signatures during a pandemic?

obembet:
Sharia law loading

yup

"Sharia law was adopted in June 2001"

Breonna Taylor's family to receive $12M settlement ... from City of Louisville, KY


BY MARTY JOHNSON - 09/15/20 01:02 PM EDT

Breonna Taylor's family to receive $12M settlement

The city of Louisville has reached a $12 million settlement with the family of Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old Black woman who was shot and killed in her own home by plainclothes Louisville police officers in March.

Initial news of the deal came Tuesday morning, just over six months to the day that Taylor was killed. The New York Times and the Courier Journal first reported the specific amount of the settlement, which was already thought to be a multi-million deal.

Louisville officials expected to announce 'substantial' financial...
The Hill's 12:30 Report - Presented by Facebook - Latest with the...
The deal is the largest settlement that the city has paid in a police misconduct case, shattering the previous top figure of $8.5 million, according to the Courier Journal.

Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer (D) and Taylor family attorneys, including prominent civil rights attorney Ben Crump, are expected to provide more details on the deal at a press conference Tuesday afternoon.

BREAKING

https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/516499-breonna-taylors-family-to-receive-12-million-settlement

© Patrick Smith/Getty Images

kofimoses:
hey hey hey.

i just saw this info trending ....

Do you know how ANGRY Trump gets because #TrumpisaPedo is trending?

Do you know how ANGRY Trump gets because #TrumpisaPedo is trending?

***VERY***

He even tweeted in response to it.pic.twitter.com/XMM8JjO58S

— Grant Stern  (@grantstern) September 15, 2020

kramacc:
Hey guys, I have always had my suspicion about her and this said man, he helps my dad during his constructions where she was mostly present.
It all started when i noticed her closeness with this man, I couldn't overlook it but i kept it aside till a relative who stays at home throughout confessed to me that this man is always coming to our home most times as i was not staying at home at that period cos i was in school.

When i came back from school i noticed he was always showing up even at a point i saw him in the house, immediately he saw me i could see he was disoriented and don't know which way he was to go.

Since then I don't greet him and he didn't complain or asked me the reason which i guess he has figured the relative has told me, he then stopped showing at my house

The thing is the relative couldn't tell my dad cos he believes my dad wouldn't believe him, this is the same situation i'm in too.

I like this woman tho even as i know she doesn't really have my best interest at heart, she has kids for my father already.

I really love my father but i hate to be the one to tell him this cos i don't even know how he would react to this.

xvideos may have the answer for you courtesy of art illustrator Dukes Hardcore Honeys . i won't post the direct links.

" Giving my thick booty stepmon some special attention "

" Blackmailing my moms friend for that big black a ss"

Some of dem suffering tough times in the 1st world/developed nation.

Housing crisis: The 59-year-old woman who lives in a van

By Michael Buchanan
Social affairs correspondent, BBC News

https://www.bbc.com/news/education-54153376#:~:text=%22I%20don't%20want%20to,of%20a%20small%20camper%20van.

"I don't want to live like this, no-one should live like this - but I don't have any options," says Polly Richardson who finds herself at the sharp end of the lack of affordable homes in England.

For more than a year, she has lived out of a small camper van.

"This is my home. I've two sets of clothes in a box. I've got my cups and saucers in this drawer, my pans under this bed, and I have a little camping cooker.

"Winter time was horrendous because there was no heating."

The 59-year-old grandmother of four from east Yorkshire, is one of half-a-million households that aren't even counted as waiting for a council or housing association property, according to the National Housing Federation.

New research commissioned by the Federation from Herriot Watt University says the real number of people in England waiting for such homes is 3.8 million, representing 1.6 million households, or 500,000 more than is indicated by official government data.

"I've got belongings in people's garages," says Polly.

She spent years working as a retail manager but after taking time off to look after her sick father, and then having a big argument with her sister, she found herself being forced to move into the van in March 2019.

"Without a job, you can't have a house. Without a house, they won't give you a job. I'm hoping somebody out there will give me a job," she says.

Landlords 'ban' benefits claimants despite ruling
Coronavirus: Call to lift benefits to help renters
Legal victories over 'No DSS' letting agents
The National Housing Federation say 90,000 homes for social rent need to be built each year for the next decade to meet demand but, according to official figures, just 6,338 such homes were completed in 2018-19, down 84% since 2010-11.

The main advantage of social housing - where either the local council or a housing association are the landlord - is that it's more affordable than private rented accommodation, typically around 50% of market rents, and usually offers a more secure tenancy.

"What we are seeing is an escalating need for social housing and a lack of supply," says Kate Henderson, chief executive of the National Housing Federation.

"Investing in social housing would boost the economy, it would create thousands of jobs, it would support supply chains in the construction industry and it would provide better, more secure, safe housing for people in need."

The lack of suitable properties leaves large numbers of families living in overcrowded accommodation.

Abigail McManus, a 27-year-old single mother lives in a two-bedroom flat in Leeds with her three young children - two daughters aged six and two and a little boy who's five months' old.

Leaving her house is a daily grind as she struggles to manoeuvre her double buggy down the stairs.

Abigail has been bidding weekly for a three-bedroomed ground floor property for years, without success.

She says the council are encouraging her to search further afield to increase her chances being allocated somewhere suitable to live.

But she says: "My whole family live on this estate, so I'd like to try and stay as close as possible.

"As a single parent, who doesn't drive, it would be hard for me to get anywhere and I'd feel more isolated than I already do, if I move too far from this area."

Image caption
Mum of three Abigail McManus struggles to get her double buggy into her flat
When she was prime minister, Theresa May altered the way in which councils could use funding to allow them to build more homes.

Her government predicted the change would lead to 10,000 new council houses each year, a figure that hasn't been reached since 2013-14.

While local authorities believe building that number is possible, experts say the pandemic could create problems in the construction industry.

The Ministry of Housing said it "didn't recognise" the figures in the new analysis carried out by the National Housing Federation, describing them as a "major overestimation".

It also highlighted its £11.5bn investment in affordable homes, to be spent between 2021 and 2026, some of which will be used on building homes for social rent.

ZooOga:
Unbelievable!

LMAO check out the maskless MAGA cult run to get a spot for their dear leader as the gates open in Minden, Nevada


https://twitter.com/FirenzeMike/status/1304947856407760896

Crying 😂 pic.twitter.com/KgAl2neYrY

— ALBΞRT MacGloan (@AlbertMacGloan) September 13, 2020

45's personal lawyer news

OPENSECRETS NEWS

Giuliani associate sanctioned over foreign interference in 2020 election

By Anna Massoglia and Karl Evers-Hillstrom
September 10, 2020

https://www.opensecrets.org/news/2020/09/giuliani-associate-sanctioned/

The Treasury Department on Thursday sanctioned pro-Russian Ukrainian lawmaker Andriy Derkach over his alleged attempts to interfere with the 2020 presidential election by planting misleading accusations of corruption against Democratic nominee Joe Biden.

Derkach is linked to the Kremlin and is the son of a former KGB officer. He worked with President Donald Trump’s lawyer Rudy Giuliani to supply conservative news outlets with dirt on Biden and his son, Hunter. Derkach also sent information about the former vice president to Senate Republicans investigating the Bidens, prompting U.S. intelligence officials to warn lawmakers not to participate in foreign influence campaigns.

Trump has insisted that Russia is not trying to boost his campaign, but multiple Trump administration agencies have said the opposite. The Treasury Department on Thursday labeled Derkach “an active Russian agent for over a decade” and indicated that he “waged a covert influence campaign centered on cultivating false and unsubstantiated narratives” to influence the upcoming 2020 election. The Treasury’s designation will freeze Derkach’s assets in the U.S.

Derkach publicly released edited tapes portraying a false narrative of conversations between Biden and former Ukraine President Petro Poroshenko. As vice president, Biden threatened to withhold aid to Ukraine unless Poroshenko fired the nation’s top prosecutor whom Western nations criticized as being corrupt. Derkach also tried to spur “corruption investigations in both Ukraine and the United States designed to culminate prior to election day,” according to the Treasury Department.

Trump appeared to bring up Derkach’s tape earlier this week at a Labor Day press conference at the White House, telling the press corps, “he’s right on tape and you don’t want to cover it. You should be ashamed of yourselves.”

OpenSecrets’ Foreign Lobby Watch database sheds some light on Derkach’s foreign influence campaign. From February through July, Derkach contracted with a firm called Global Management Association Corp in an attempt to set up meetings with the White House and members of Congress.

Derkach met with Giuliani and claims they “discussed available information on international corruption and the need to investigate it in the United States.” Planned activities in Justice Department records filed in April included “meeting with US officials” but the foreign agents did not disclose making any U.S. government contacts for Derkach before the contract ended, according to his most recent FARA filing on Aug. 15.

Giuliani, who spoke at the Republican National Convention last month, has reportedly come under scrutiny from federal prosecutors for failing to register as a foreign agent. He also worked with Lev Parnas and Igor Fruman to allegedly funnel foreign money to pro-Trump super PAC America First Action. Foreign influence laws aren’t often enforced, but in 2018 a jury convicted former Trump campaign official Paul Manafort for failing to register as a foreign agent of the Ukrainian government in 2018, among other charges.

The firm Derkach worked with, Global Management Association Corp., is little more than a rebranded shell company that served as a Russian-linked oil company’s foreign agent to buy Ukrainian polling data in 2019. Andrii Artemenko, an associate of Giuliani and business partner of Erik Prince who came under scrutiny during the Mueller probe, ran Global Management Association Corp using the name “Andy Victor Kuchma.”


Artemenko previously collaborated with Michael Cohen, Felix Sater and Michael Flynn to push for a plan to lift U.S. sanctions on Russia. Artemenko’s wife, Oksana Kuchma, who is listed as an officer on records for many of his companies, incorporated what appears to be a new company in Florida called K & D III LLC in 2019 but it has kept a low profile and its function is not yet clear. One of the officers on the new company is Sergey Knyazev, is the chairman of the Ukrainian National Police and who met with Trump in 2018.

House Democrats impeached Trump late last year over charges that he solicited foreign interference from Ukrainian officials to help his reelection bid. The Senate acquitted Trump on a near party line vote.

Former top Department of Homeland Security official Brian Murphy filed a whistleblower complaint Wednesday alleging that acting secretary Chad Wolf told him to stop providing assessments of Russian interference in the 2020 election. Murphy said those orders came from Robert O’Brien, Trump’s national security adviser

Feel free to distribute or cite this material, but please credit the Center for Responsive Politics.
For permission to reprint for commercial uses, such as textbooks, contact the Center: info@crp.org

President Donald Trump’s lawyer and former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani talks to journalists outside the White House on July 1, 2020. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Unbelievable!

LMAO check out the maskless MAGA cult run to get a spot for their dear leader as the gates open in Minden, Nevada


https://twitter.com/FirenzeMike/status/1304947856407760896

salford1:
Hmmm. The elections can't come fast enough.

i'm hoping voters break ballot records during the early voting period before Nov. 3rd.
the 3rd will bring astronomical long lines and broken or limited voting machines in certain voting districts.

MABA

Bankruptcy filings are mounting. And that's just the tip of the iceberg

By Matt Egan, CNN Business

Updated 8:08 AM ET, Fri September 11, 2020

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/11/business/bankruptcies-recession-economy/index.html#:~:text=For%20instance%2C%20aviation%20bankruptcy%20filings,even%20reached%20its%20height%20yet.

The orphaning of EFCC

September 13, 2020 in Barometer, News Update

No one is sure who exactly is behind the proposal to bring the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC) firmly under the rule of the Justice minister and Attorney General of the Federation (AGF. But an executive bill is being proposed to make doubly sure that if the anti-graft body ever imagined itself autonomous, it must be set free from its delusions. Abubakar Malami, the AGF who has had a running battle with the former EFCC chairman, Ibrahim Magu, is widely believed to be behind the proposal. He overcame Mr Magu in July through an inelegant removal, and has sought very strongly to rein in the organisation, citing constitutional provisions.

The proposed amendment to the EFCC Act provides for the appointment of a board for the EFCC, headed by a chairman, and a director general to effectively run the organisation. Both are to report to the AGF who has been accorded immense powers to control and shape the organisation. This, naturally, has been interpreted as a weakening of the EFCC and a surreptitious attempt by the AGF to gain full control of the body to end the kind of squabble and challenge he faced in the days of Mr Magu. But Mr Malami, who has the ear of the president, insists he does not need any amendment to gain any powers he doesn’t already have by virtue of the constitution. Few believe him, considering how fiercely Mr Magu defied him over what was interpreted as his meddlesomeness.

After the passing of former Chief of Staff, Abba Kyari, Mr Malami has come to wield enormous influence in the corridors of power. And with the general acquiescence of the National Assembly, which has comingled its operations and philosophy with those of the executive branch, there is little hope that the amendment would suffer either outright rejection or extensive reworking. Mr Magu’s fall was largely engineered by the AGF, regardless of what the public believed to be the former’s personal flaws. The EFCC is today run by an acting chairman. Before a new chairman is appointed, whatever he is called, it seems clear that the anti-graft body must wear new clothes, whether it fits well or not.

Right from the start, the EFCC had been controversial, partly because of the undisciplined and arbitrary approach adopted by the appointing presidents who virtually turned the organisation into an attack dog against opponents. And because the rate of corruption in Nigeria was gargantuan, the EFCC in its battles against powerful and corrupt public and private officials, was intrinsically bound to be controversial. Consequently, after many years of suffering harassment from EFCC agents, powerful officials began to advocate reform of the organisation, feigning to make it either more independent or efficient.

In November 2017, the Nigerian Law Reform Commission (NLRC) had advocated the unbundling of Nigeria Financial Intelligence Unit (NFIU) from the EFCC, arguing that such decoupling was necessary to confer independence and effectiveness on the NFIU. In late 2018, the NFIU was finally separated from the EFCC, made autonomous, but domiciled in the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Strictly speaking, that unbundling did not negatively impact the EFCC. However, in July, with the National Assembly never fond of the EFCC, the legislature began moves to reduce the grip of the police on the anti-graft body, believing that it would make the organisation more responsive to the rule of law. Finally, Mr Malami has stolen the thunder of all the aspiring reformers by advocating a strange restructuring. It is even more strange that without scrutinising the proposal, nor finding out whether the proposal is altruistic, the executive has embraced the AGF’s advocacy.

But whether the president and the AGF like it or not, the power of control does not reside in the title of the EFCC boss, call him chairman or DG. What is clear is that a deliberate plot to defang the organisation is afoot, regardless of who is behind the plot. Mr Malami’s aides suggest that he does not need any constitutional amendment to acquire more powers. Yes, he does, because he had engaged in a bruising battle with the former chairman, Mr Magu, and feared that new or additional provisions would be needed to make it clear beyond a shadow of doubt who is boss. What the presidency needs is not the needless amendment it is targeting, but greater autonomy for the EFCC, a more careful method of appointing the right and qualified candidate into that office, and better, altruistic supervision as already envisaged by the constitution. The amendment being sought is a reflection of the undisciplined leadership that has turned most African countries into the graveyard of sound constitutions and the rule of law. It is alarming that today’s public officials are so tragically short-sighted, and are unable to see how their self-serving reforms are orphaning an otherwise great institution simply because its former boss was despised.

https://thenationonlineng.net/the-orphaning-of-efcc/

U.S. budget deficit hits all-time high of $3 trillion

The U.S. budget deficit hit an all-time high of $3 trillion for the first 11 months of this budget year, the Treasury Department said Friday.

The sea of red ink is a product of the government's massive spending to try to cushion the impact of a coronavirus-fueled recession that has cost millions of jobs.

The deficit from October through August is more than double the previous 11-month record of $1.37 billion set in 2009. At that time the government was spending large sums to get out of the Great Recession triggered by the 2008 financial crisis.

With one month to go in the 2020 budget year, which ends September 30, the deficit could go even higher. The Congressional Budget Office is forecasting the deficit this year will hit a record $3.3 trillion. However, the government often runs surpluses in September so it is possible the final figure for this year could come in just under $3 trillion.

"While we expect policymakers to enact another fiscal relief package, it won't come soon enough to have an impact on this year's deficit," Nancy Vanden Houten of Oxford Economics said in a research note.

That would still put the deficit well above last year's imbalance of $984 billion. The previous record deficit for a fiscal year was $1.4 trillion in 2009 in the aftermath of the financial crisis.

Boost in unemployment benefits
Congress has passed a series of relief bills totaling nearly $3 trillion that provided support such as a $600-a-week boost in unemployment benefits, up to $1,200 in payments to individuals, and aid for small businesses trying to retain their workers.

However, many of the support programs ended in early August and efforts to approve another measure to restore the expired programs have so far failed in Congress. That has raised concerns among economists that with so many people still out of work and so many businesses struggling to re-open, the economic recovery could wither by late this year.

After declining sharply in May and June, the number of Americans filing for weekly unemployment benefits has remained steady at more than 800,000 in recent weeks.

"The labor recovery still has a long way to go given filings remain historically elevated," Bank of America economists told investors in a new report. They also said Congress is unlikely to pass another round of fiscal stimulus before the election, "creating a speed bump for the recovery."

Debt may exceed GDP in 2021
The CBO is forecasting that by the end of this year, the amount of government debt will equal 98% of the total economy and then next year it will exceed 100% of gross domestic product, the economy's total output of goods and services. That's a level not seen since the huge government debt buildup in the 1940s to pay for fighting World War II.

By comparison, the debt held by the public totaled 79% of GDP at the end of 2019 and stood at 35% of GDP in 2007 before the Great Recession.

Even with huge amounts of debt being added, the government's interest costs to finance the debt are actually down 10% this year to $484 billion compared to what the government spent on interest payments last year. Treasury officials said the lower figure is due to lower interest rates this year as the country went into recession.

Through August of this year, tax revenue totaled $3.05 trillion, 1.3% below the same period last year. Spending totaled roughly $6 trillion, up from $4.16 trillion for the same period last year.

First published on September 11, 2020 / 5:37 PM

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-budget-deficit-hits-all-time-high-of-3-trillion/

MABA ....... Make America Broke Again

2009 was on Bush and 2020 is squarely on 45


U.S. budget deficit hits all-time high of $3 trillion

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/us-budget-deficit-hits-all-time-high-of-3-trillion/



That's more than double previous record of $1.4 billion set in 2009 during the Great Recession.

salford1:
Disstroy, when are you taking up my challenge of posting your earnings from you super high IQ?
The challenge is still on the table.
Or are you going to chicken out as usual?Nincompoop.

lolz, go easy on the new chairman of the thread lickers association.