Middle Class Dismissed

Investors can’t beat the machines: Computer-dominated trading takes over

"The implication of all this for individual investors is straightforward: Don’t trade. Short-term trading has become so dominated by Wall Street’s computers that individuals—and professional managers—almost certainly will lose out to them over time. The obvious alternative, experts say, is to buy and hold diversified index funds with very low expenses. Odean says some of the poorest performances in his studies were turned in by traders who were the most confident of their abilities. This led them to trade even more often and incur even more risk." Continue reading →

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Flying the Government Skies

"The sequester cuts about $637 million from the FAA, which is less than 4% of its $15.9 billion 2012 budget, and it limits the agency to what it spent in 2010. The White House decided to translate this 4% cut that it has the legal discretion to avoid into a 10% cut for air traffic controllers. Though controllers will be furloughed for one of every 10 working days, four of every 10 flights won't arrive on time. The FAA projects the delays will rob one out of every three travellers of up to four hours of their lives waiting at the major hubs. Congress passed a law in 2009 that makes such delays illegal -- if they are the responsibility of an airline." Continue reading →

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USPS to raise stamp prices again, blames shrinking delivery volume

"The U.S. Postal Service board will look into hiking postage prices on all types of mail, as losses continue to plague the agency, the chief of the board said Friday. It would affect those sending first-class mail, the most common type of mail consumers use, as well as businesses that mail periodicals, newspapers, magazines and marketing material. In the three months ended March 30, the agency lost $1.9 billion. The service was hurt as the volume of first-class mail decreased by 4.3%, said USPS chief financial officer Joseph Corbett. 'It's extremely difficult to compete with free,' Corbett said, referring to electronic bill paying." Continue reading →

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Affordable Care Act Summary for Self-Employed, Unemployed, and Early Retirees

"Much of the discussion around The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) aka Affordable Care Act aka Obamacare has been about politics. For most full-time workers that wish to keep their employer-provided health insurance, little will change. However, things will be very different for the self-employed, unemployed, uninsured, and those seeking semi-retirement or early retirement. You can use it even if you already have employer-provided insurance, although you may become ineligible for certain tax credits. There’s way too much information to cover everything, but here’s my summary of the developments." Continue reading →

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The First Obamacare Tax That Went Into Effect

"Slipped into the bill by Sen. Harry Reid (D-Nev.) behind closed doors in the middle of the night, the Obamacare 10 Percent Excise Tax on Indoor Tanning replaced the planned Obamacare 'Botax' on cosmetic surgery and has been in effect since July 2010. Industry estimates from the Indoor Tanning Association show that 30 million Americans visit an indoor tanning facility in a given year, and over 50 percent of salon owners are women. There is no exception granted for those making less than $250,000. Obamacare taxes will eventually impact everyone. It is estimated that Obamacare will result in more than 20 new taxes." Continue reading →

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Four Obamacare Taxes That Hurt Mothers Most

"1. The 30-35 million Americans who use a pre-tax Flexible Spending Account (FSA) at work to pay for their family's basic medical needs face a new Obamacare cap of $2,500. This will squeeze $13 billion of tax money from Americans over the next ten years. Now, a mother looking to sock away extra money to pay for braces will find herself quickly hitting this new cap, meaning she would have to pony up some or all of the cost with after-tax dollars. 2. Americans facing high medical expenses were allowed a deduction to the extent that those expenses exceeded 7.5 percent of adjusted gross income (AGI). Obamacare now imposes a threshold of 10 percent of AGI." Continue reading →

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Obamacare: Taxpayers Must Report Personal Health ID Info to IRS

"When Obamacare’s individual mandate takes effect in 2014, all Americans who file income tax returns must complete an additional IRS tax form. The new form will require disclosure of a taxpayer’s personal identifying health information in order to determine compliance with the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate. As confirmed by IRS testimony to the tax-writing House Committee on Ways and Means, 'taxpayers will file their tax returns reporting their health insurance coverage, and/or making a payment'." Continue reading →

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What About Karzai Cash Before 9-11?

"The entry below at History Commons (www.historycommons.com) includes a reference to a Vanity Fair article and the note that 'Blee hands Massoud a briefcase full of cash.' That would be before 9/11, given that Massoud was assassinated a couple days before 9/11. I've also seen references to Karzai being aligned with / working with Massoud in the years before 9/11. Did cash payments to people like this accelerate in July/August 2001, amidst intensified covert operations in Afghanistan or elsewhere in Central Asia?" Continue reading →

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How I Printed So Much Money in Zimbabwe That the Country Experienced Hyper-Inflation

"The former head of Zimbabwe's central bank, Gideon Gono, wrote a book in 2008, Zimbabwe's Casino Economy. The book is about his running of the bank during the country's period of hyper-inflation." Continue reading →

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Dodd-Frank Creates A Prebuilt Loan Predicament

"Loans with rates and fees above certain thresholds are supposed to be designated 'high cost' by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau and thus subject to fewer legal protections. The bureau earlier this year decided to call loans high-cost if they have an annual percentage rate of more than 6.5 percentage points above a national average and 8.5 percentage points for many loans under $50,000. Lenders to manufactured-home buyers say many of their loans would fall into the high-cost category with this regulation, which goes into effect in January. They warn that they won't make such loans because they carry increased legal risk." Continue reading →

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