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Linus Pauling Categories
Tag Archives: unemployment
Uneasy economy dashes retirement confidence
Stocks have bounced back but Americans continue to have serious doubts about their retirement security. The percentage of workers who said they’re “not at all” confident about having enough money for a comfortable retirement grew to 27 percent from 22 percent in 2010, according to an annual survey of workers and retirees released Tuesday, March 15. Read More
Unemployed during 2010? These tax tips may apply
If you were among the millions out of work at any point in 2010, your tax return may look quite different this year.
Many people fail to realize that they must pay taxes on unemployment benefits. For 2010 all unemployment benefits received will be considered taxable income. That is a big change from 2009 when a temporary exemption was granted for the first $2,400 received. Read More
Foreclosure activity up across most US metro areas
The foreclosure crisis is getting worse as high unemployment and lackluster job prospects force homeowners in an increasing number of U.S. metropolitan areas into dire financial straits.
In Seattle, Houston and Chicago, cities that were relatively insulated from foreclosures early on in the housing bust, a growing number of homeowners are falling behind on mortgage payments and finding themselves on the receiving end of foreclosure warnings. Read More
State of US personal finance: How are we doing?
Just as President Barack Obama took a reassuring tone in the State of the Union address, there are reasons for optimism when it comes to our personal finances.
The stock market has come back, companies are starting to hire again and economists are increasingly upbeat about the future. But unemployment remains stuck at more than 9 percent, home prices are falling and the pace of foreclosures is accelerating. Read More
New tax law packed with obscure business tax cuts
The massive new tax bill signed into law by President Barack Obama is filled with all kinds of holiday stocking stuffers for businesses: tax breaks for producing TV shows, grants for putting up windmills, rum subsidies for Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
There is even a tax break for people who buy race horses.
Millions of homeowners, however, might feel like they got a lump of coal. Homeowners who don’t itemize their deductions will lose a tax break for paying local property taxes.
The business tax breaks are part of sweeping legislation that extends…read more Read More
Highlights of the tax package passed by Congress
Highlights of the tax package passed by Congress late Thursday, December 16, and sent to President Barack Obama. It would cost about $858 billion; most provisions, which were to expire Jan. 1, would be extended for two years, unless noted.
The package extends:
—Lower rates for taxpayers at every income level. The top rate, on taxable income above $379,150, would stay at 35 percent, instead of increasing to 39.6 percent…read more Read More
AP analysis: Economic stress falls to 18-month low
Job gains around the country offset higher foreclosures and helped reduce the nation’s economic stress in October to an 18-month low, according to The Associated Press’ monthly analysis.
Stress fell in 56 percent of the roughly 3,100 U.S. counties analyzed and in 28 of the states, the AP’s Economic Stress Index shows. Demand overseas for U.S. semiconductors and strength in technology companies have helped lower unemployment…read more Read More
Survey: Economic growth will be tepid through 2011
The pace of the U.S. economic recovery will remain steady but slow in the face of persistently high unemployment and heavy debt burdens, according to a new survey.
The National Association for Business Economics survey, set to be released Monday, found economists now expect growth of 2.7 percent this year, up slightly from the previous forecast of 2.6 percent.
For 2011, the group still expects an economic expansion of 2.6 percent…read more Read More
GOP economists criticize Fed’s bond-purchase plan
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke’s plan to rejuvenate the economy by having the Fed buy $600 billion in Treasury bonds is coming under renewed attack — this time from fellow Republican economists.
They argue that pumping many more dollars into the economy could eventually trigger inflation and weaken the dollar too much. The economists are making their case in a letter to Bernanke and in ads to run this week in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. The Treasury bond purchases “risk currency debasement and inflation, and we do not think they will achieve the Fed’s objective of promoting employment,” the economists wrote…read more Read More
Consumer prices rise moderately but inflation tame
Consumer prices rose moderately in October but there was little sign of inflation as the cost of autos, clothing and hotels fell.
The Labor Department said Wednesday, November 17, the Consumer Price Index rose by 0.2 percent last month, an increase from September’s 0.1 percent rise. Wall Street analysts had expected a slightly larger increase. It was the fourth straight rise. Gasoline prices accounted for most of the increase, rising by 4.6 percent in October, the biggest gain since July.
Excluding the volatile food and energy categories, the core consumer index…read more Read More
US panel urges action on Chinese currency
A congressional advisory panel is recommending that U.S. lawmakers prod the Obama administration into tougher action against what it calls China’s policy of keeping its currency undervalued.
With a wary eye on the United States’ enormous trade gap with China, the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission said Wednesday, November 17, that China is creating global imbalances and using “market access-limiting practices” that fall outside its World Trade Organization commitments…read more Read More
Why Fed bond-buying plan is raising trade tensions
The Federal Reserve’s plan to buy more Treasury bonds has incited critics at home to complain of inevitable high inflation and financial turmoil.
It turns out many foreigners are pretty angry, too. They say the Fed’s $600 billion program is a scheme to give U.S. exporters an unfair edge — one that endangers the global economy.
Is it? Or is the Fed’s plan a credible way to help end a desperate jobs crisis and revitalize a still-tepid economy?
In either case, few dispute that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke is taking a gamble…read more Read More
In a tough economy, old stigmas fall away
The Goodwill store in this middle-class New York suburb is buzzing on a recent weekend afternoon. A steady flow of shoppers comb through racks filled with second-hand clothes, shoes, blankets and dishes.
A few years ago, opening a Goodwill store here wouldn’t have made sense. Paramus is one of the biggest ZIP codes in the country for retail sales. Shoppers have their pick of hundreds of respected names . . . read more Read More
More working families getting government food aid
Lillie Gonzales does whatever it takes to provide for three ravenous sons who live under her roof. She grows her own vegetables at home on Kauai, runs her own small business and like a record 42 million other Americans, she relies on food stamps.
Gonzales and her husband consistently qualify for food stamps now that Hawaii and other states are quietly expanding eligibility and offering the benefit to more working, moderate income families . . . read more Read More
Consumer confidence rises only slightly in October
Americans’ confidence in the economy rose only slightly in October from September, according to a monthly survey, as they continue to grapple with job worries.
The weak outlook comes in the face of a rebounding stock market and underscores challenges retailers face as they prepare for the holiday shopping season, which is expected to see only modest gains from a year ago.
The confidence report and another report that showed a drop in home prices helped send stocks lower in early trading . . . read more Read More
