Make New Year's Resolution to Get Free Credit Report

" According to The Washington Post the Federal Trade Commission has estimated that 8.3 million Americans were victims of identity theft in 2005, the most recent data available. But the crown jewel in identity theft, the Social Security number, can be mined easily in the...

Misclassified Workers to File New Social Security Tax Form

" WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service has developed a new form for employees who have been misclassified as independent contractors by an employer. Form 8919, Uncollected Social Security and Medicare Tax on Wages, will now be used to figure and report the...

Falling real-estate prices and rising taxes

" Falling real-estate prices and turmoil in the mortgage market are expected to reduce property values for U.S. homeowners by a total of $1.2 trillion next year, according to Global Insight Inc., a research-and-consulting firm. Nationwide, falling real-estate prices mean...

Children's vaccine recalled

" Haemophilus influenzae type b vaccine, usually called “Hib” vaccine, is routinely given to babies in the United States to protect them from Hib disease. Hib disease causes meningitis (an infection of the protective lining around the brain and spinal cord) and other...

Cost of Living Index - 3rd Q 2007

" Among the 302 urban areas participating in the third quarter 2007 ACCRA Cost of Living Index, the after-tax cost for a professional/managerial standard of living ranged from more than twice the national average in New York (Manhattan) NY to almost 20 percent below the...

Living and Retiring on our tax dollars

" Passage of the property tax cut amendment in the Sunshine state will force local and State governments to run programs and services using public funds more effectively and be more accountable.  Miami Dade school teachers haven't paid for individual healthcare...

Good politics, but terrible economics

"   The expected backlash to the plan started immediately after President Bush, along with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Housing and Urban Development Secretary Alphonso Jackson, outlined proposals Thursday that are meant to help the 2 million borrowers facing...

U.S. taxpayers reported $7.4 trillion of adjusted gross income less deficit i...

" WASHINGTON — The Internal Revenue Service today released the fall 2007 issue of the Statistics of Income Bulletin, featuring data from 134.4 million individual income tax returns filed for tax year 2005. U.S. taxpayers reported $7.4 trillion of adjusted gross income...

Another rate cut might be in the works

" The 30-year fixed mortgage rate fell to a more than two-year low in the week ended Nov. 29, slipping to 6.1 percent from 6.2 percent the prior week. Freddie Mac also reported that the 15-year fixed loan rate fell to 5.73 percent from 5.83 percent over that same time...

Relationship between Foreclosures and House Prices

" BusinessWeek Online (Pallavi Gogoi 11/28/2007) reports that traders dealing real estate futures contracts on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange are betting on double-digit declines in nine out of the 10 biggest housing markets in the U. S. The only exception is Chicago,...