Cited: AP

At 63, Paul Skidmore, plans to file for Social Security benefits 3 years before retirement age. The reason is because the office he worked at is closed, his job is gone and after 18 months of searching for a job and his unemployment benefits are exhausted, he has no choice but to retire early.

It is one of the most striking fallouts from the bad economy: Social Security is facing a rare shortfall this year as a wave of people like Skidmore opt to collect payments before their full retirement age. Adding to the strain on the trust are reduced tax collections sapped by the country’s historic unemployment — still at 9.5%.

“All I want to do is work,” said Skidmore, a Maryland resident who was an insurance claims adjuster for 37 years before his company downsized and closed his office last year. “And nobody will hire me.”

More people filed for Social Security in 2009 — 2.74 million — than any year in history, and there was a marked increase in the number receiving reduced benefits because they filed ahead of their full retirement age. The increase came as the full Social Security retirement age rose last year from 65 to 66.

Nearly 72 percent of men who filed opted for early benefits in 2009, up from 58% the previous year. More women also filed — 74.7% in 2009 compared with 64.2% the previous year.

Jason Fichtner, an associate commissioner at the Social Security Administration, said the weak economy has led more people who lost their jobs to retire early. However, it also has forced some people hard-hit by the recession and in need of a bigger paycheck to push back retirement and stay in the work force longer.

“But we’re seeing more people taking early benefits than staying in the workforce longer,” Fichtner said.

Related: Out of work, out of options, into retirement

Like Skidmore, 63-year-old Jan Gissel, a California resident, also was forced into retirement early. She turned to unemployment benefits when her technical support business failed and filed for Social Security last September. Together, the checks are keeping her afloat.

“I knew I had to have an income from somewhere, and my business wasn’t giving it to me,” she said. “I just went online and, boom, three weeks later I had the check.”

Gissel wants to continue working but still hasn’t found a job. Although she didn’t expect to be cashing Social Security checks so soon, she’s grateful for the support it has provided.

“I needed it way earlier than I thought,” she said.

In the annual report of the Social Security program, released August 5, the trustees said that pension and disability payments will exceed revenues for this year and 2011, reflecting the deep recession.

The report forecast that the program would return to the black in 2012 through 2014, but that benefit payments will again exceed tax collections in 2015. For every year after 2015, the report projects that Social Security will be paying out more than it receives in tax collections as 78 million baby boomers begin retiring.

The trustees did not focus on the growth of early retirees in their report, as they don’t expect the early retirees to significantly drain funds over the long-term. Early opt-ins receive smaller monthly checks so that they aren’t projected to receive any more money over a lifetime than they would if they had waited to collect Social Security until their full retirement age.

People entitled to full benefits at 66 would receive 75% of their check if they began collecting four years early. Conversely, if they waited until they turned 70, collecting four years late, they would earn 32% more.

They would receive the decreased — or increased — percentages for the rest of their life.

“From the trustees’ perspective it’s a wash, because they calculate you’ll get the same total benefit,” said Maria Freese, director of government relations and policy at the National Committee to Preserve Social Security and Medicare.

Freese added, though, that beneficiaries generally only opt in early because they have to.

“When you retire early, you are taking a hit in your monthly check, and most people don’t do that voluntarily,” she said. “They either do that because they aren’t healthy enough to keep working or because they lost their job.”

Nora Lopez, 62, a Florida resident, retired from her job as an elementary school teacher last year and began collecting Social Security. She did so, in part, because of health problems. When her school district offered teachers the option of keeping their health insurance coverage until they qualified for Medicare at 65, she decided she could get by on her pension and Social Security.

“I wanted to work as long as I could,” she said. “But it was hard for me to do that.”

“Why should I go out there to the hustle and bustle and stress and all the stuff that’s related to work if I don’t have to?” asked Paul.

Like Jack Dixon, 63 of Florida, who stopped working full-time in April as a tour guide and trolley driver and cut back to working one day, many people just do the math and cash in early. Dixon’s wife and he decided it after she figured out they would be able to get by even on reduced Social Security benefits.

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My Take: It is a shame that people have to go this route just to survive financially. There are so many people that are turning to collection harassment lawyers because they can’t pay their bills because I can’t find a job. At least, those who are old enough to retire early do not have to use the services of FCRA lawyers. Hopefully, they will not have to contact the Social Security attorney either.

Those who are retiring early, however, may need to contact a tax preparation service if they are going to work part-time. I say this because some Social Security benefits are actually taxable now and that makes taxes will more complicated. That is why a CPA is good to have on your side.

Hopefully, these people that are having to retire early are taking advantage of senior financial planning in their area at community centers. They can even take advantage of a retirement calculator on various websites online. I believe they have this at this Baby Boomer Site. All you have to do is become a member and it is free to utilize all the stuff they have.

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Dealing with Foreclosures

Having a high rate of foreclosures generally starts to cripple the housing market when those foreclosures aren’t otherwise tempered by improvements in the economy and for many people who have been involved with things like new home sales, New York commercial title insurance and property analyzing, the recent drop in foreclosures has meant that the housing industry has gotten a lot of attention from various investors who have seen this as a sign that it might be a good time to start investing new money into the economy by building new homes and refurbishing existing properties.

Getting a Car for a Teenager

Buying a car for a teenager can be exciting for the teenager and nerve wracking for the parent and there are a few things to remember when going in to Virginia trade used cars. The first is that it’s usually a good idea to buy an old sedan for a teenager and to resist getting a car that’s considered a sports car because all kids like to drive fast when they first learn to drive and a sports car will only encourage this behavior. Secondly, it’s a good idea to test drive many cars to find the right one and to not buy too soon.

Credit Card Debt Falls for Some

Because banks have become so strict in their lending rules, there has been a decent amount of debt reduction in the past few years simply because nobody has been eligible for new credit card due to the very strict lending laws engaged by the credit card companies. And for many people who have seen their available credit get reduced significantly by their lenders, a number of people have entered into basic debt negotiation so that they can get out of the recession without such heavy debt and leave their credit cards behind as they embrace a debt free existence.

Margins are Strong into 2012

Much research has occurred regarding the amount of employment gains that the year experienced and while most of the businesses that are hiring and using a staffing agency have reported that they are indeed increasing their employment rolls in 2012, there are other encouraging signs that the economy is on the mend such as the fact that many companies are reporting an increase in their operating margins because they have experienced more sales. This is the way that more jobs feeds into the economy because more purchases can be made for all sorts of products from everyday items to special, more expensive purchases.

Ancient Times and Bankruptcy

In ancient times in many countries, such as Greece, the idea of bankruptcy did not exist. If a man could not pay his debts, he and his family would be forced into slavery to repay the debts until the losses were repaid. Indebted slaves often had what was termed protection of “life and limb” which was not a luxury that regular slaves possessed. Of course, in today’s world, a Rockland County New York Chapter 7 lawyer would likely not have to worry about his client facing slavery or any sort of antiquated process as modern bankruptcy laws are much different in today’s society.

Healthy Body, Healthy Mind

A Pilates workout library will allow you to choose workouts with Pilates exercises appropriate to your fitness level and Pilates videos can stream directly from your computer. You can even stream the videos through your TV set! If you find a workout that features Pilates exercise equipment that you don’t have yet, just visit a Pilates online store so that you can purchase Pilates equipment to enjoy unlimited access to free online Pilates workouts and Pilates DVDs online.

Cited: AP

The trustees forecast on August 5 states that Medicare is in better shape because of Obama’s sweeping health care overhaul and should stay afloat 12 years longer than earlier projected. However, the systems top analysts say that depends on cuts in the care system that are highly doubtful.

The annual report by the trustees who oversee Medicare and Social Security, led by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, gives backers of the new health care law evidence of a positive impact on government entitlement programs, but it also undercuts the findings with a host of caveats.

In what amounted to a dissenting opinion, top Medicare actuary Richard Foster warned that the report’s financial projections “do not represent a reasonable expectation” for the hospital fund for America’s elderly.

Kathleen Sebelius, secretary of health and human services and one of the trustees, said they were required to assume current law in making their projections, including a cut in Medicare payments to doctors. She, too, doubted the cuts would ever happen, “which is why we continue to provide cautionary notes” in the report.

The trustees projected the Medicare Hospital trust fund would be exhausted in 2029, or 12 years later than estimated last year.

The news wasn’t as rosy for Social Security, which will pay out more in benefits than it collects in taxes for the first time in decades this year and next year. The Social Security trust funds are expected to be exhausted in 2037, the same date as in last year’s report.

More bad news for Social Security recipients: The trustees project no cost-of-living increase for Social Security recipients next year, the second year in a row with no increase. The adjustments are based on inflation.

The administration delayed the trustees report, which normally comes out in the spring, in order to recalculate projected spending estimates based on changes in the new health care law.

Geithner said that while the report showed “very positive developments” from the new health care law, it also underscored “that we must continue to make progress addressing the financing challenges” facing both Medicare and Social Security.

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“Those reforms require that we achieve very substantial improvements in efficiency and productivity,” he said.

Foster, the Medicare official, said in a statement included in the report that the program’s projected savings might not be realistic.

The short-run projections by his office were similar to those of the trustees, estimating that the Medicare trust fund would be exhausted in 2028, one year earlier.

However, by 2050, government actuaries see Medicare costs growing to more than 8 percent of the economy, compared with 3.6 percent now. The trustees assume Medicare will consume only 6 percent of the nation’s economy in 2050 — a difference that amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars.

The nonpartisan experts said there are two big reasons for their estimate of higher costs:

• The trustees’ report assumes that doctors will absorb a 30 percent cut in Medicare payments over the next three years. The cuts are called for under current law but are routinely waived by Congress because too many doctors would stop seeing Medicare patients.
• Projected savings in the new health care law from cuts to hospitals, nursing home and other institutional providers will prove to be politically unsustainable in the long run.

“For these reasons, the financial projections shown in this report for Medicare do not represent a reasonable expectation for actual program operations in either the short range … or the long range,” Foster said.

Some supporters of the health care overhaul said Foster had embraced a glass-half-empty approach.

“I think that he raises an important point, but he’s too pessimistic,” said Robert Greenstein, head of the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which advocates for the poor.

John Rother, executive vice president of AARP, said it may not be known for years whether the law will generate the kind of savings anticipated on the trustees’ report.

“The purpose of the law was to slow the growth in health care costs,” Rother said. But, he added, “the fact is we really won’t know until some of the regulations get spelled out.”

The trustees said Social Security’s finances have been hurt by the poor economy, but the effects have been partly offset by the health care overhaul. The actuaries assume the law will slow the growth of insurance costs, enabling employers to shift more compensation to wages. That would increase revenue from the payroll taxes that support Social Security.

In the short run, however, the recession is hurting revenues for the retirement and disability program.

For the first time since the 1980s, Social Security will pay out more money in benefits this year and next year than it collects in payroll taxes. The program will post surpluses for a few years after that before returning to permanent deficits in 2015. Unless Congress acts, the Social Security trust funds are expected to be exhausted in 2037. At that point, Social Security will collect enough in payroll taxes money to cover about three-fourths of the benefits owed.

“The fact that the costs for the program will likely exceed tax revenue this year is not a cause for panic, but it does send a strong message that it’s time for us to make the tough choices that we know we need to make,” Social Security Commissioner Michael J. Astrue said.

Obama has formed a bipartisan fiscal commission that is working on recommendations to improve government finances, including those for Social Security. Its recommendations are due in December.

More than 53 million people receive Social Security. Retirement benefits average $1,100 a month while disabled workers get an average of $1,065. Social Security is financed by a 6.2 percent payroll tax on wages below $106,800. The tax is paid by workers and matched by employers.

Over the past 25 years the Social Security trust funds have built up a 2.5 trillion surplus. However, the federal government has borrowed that money over the years he spent on other programs. Now, the feds need to borrow money from public markets, which will add to the annual budget deficits, just to repay the money they borrowed from Social Security.

The Social Security trust funds have built up a $2.5 trillion surplus over the past 25 years. But the federal government has borrowed that money over the years to spend on other programs. The government must now start borrowing money from public markets — adding to annual budget deficits — to repay Social Security.

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My Take: They should never have touched the Social Security fund in the first place! Social Security was set up for retirement benefits and then disability was added to it for the people who became disabled before retirement and those that were retiring. There are millions of people that are disabled and about to retire and will not get the money that they put into the system because the “government” borrowed it.

I think maybe the government needs to join a debt settlement program! Then they should put every department that uses company credit cards and a program for credit card debt reduction. Employees of the government acted like this in business they would soon become job seekers! Even if they were looking for VP jobs, they may not get them because of their reputations and too much. Maybe then they would know how the rest of the country feels.

It is almost like you’re reading the money they do have as gambling money. Maybe that’s what they’re doing is casino gambling online. There is one thing for sure, there are plenty of casinos online for the choosing. My mother taught me a good rule with the government shoots start using. If you can’t pay cash for it, you don’t need to get it and you can’t afford it!

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Cited: AP

Banks are still failing at an accelerated rate and other banks are still struggling despite signs of an improving economy. How can people protect their savings? Can anything be done to turn the banking sector around? The latest quarterly report on the banking industry paid a grim picture. Here are some questions and answers about the US bank failures.

Q: How bad is this wave of failures?

A: A cascade of collapses began last year as the financial crisis struck.

Eighty-four banks have fallen so far this year as tumbling home prices and spiking unemployment pushed loan defaults upward. That’s the largest number in a year since the early 1990s, at the apex of the savings and loan crisis. It compares with 25 bank failures last year and three in 2007. The failures have sapped billions from the federal deposit insurance fund, which guarantees account holders’ money when banks go under. The fund stood at $10.4 billion in the second quarter, its lowest point since 1992.

The biggest failure this year: Colonial Bank, a heavy regional lender in real estate development based in Montgomery, Ala., which became the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history on Aug. 14. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized Colonial and sold its $20 billion in deposits, 346 branches in five states and about $22 billion of its assets to BB&T Corp.

Some analysts believe another 100 to 300 banks could fail before the crisis runs its course, largely because of souring loans for commercial real estate. The number of institutions on the FDIC’s internal “problem list” — those rated by examiners as having very low capital cushions against risk and other deficiencies — jumped to 416 at the end of June from 305 in the first quarter, the agency reported Thursday.

Q: What is behind this?

A: Banks around the country have run into trouble on their loans for construction and development, the fastest-growing category of troubled loans for U.S. banks, especially in overbuilt areas. Many companies have shut down in the recession, vacating shopping malls and office buildings financed by the loans.

Lots of banks have heavy concentrations of these loans in their lending portfolios, and some small banks are considered by regulators to be particularly vulnerable. Delinquent loan payments and defaults by commercial and residential developers have surged to the highest levels since the early 1990s, during the S&L crisis.

At the same time, some recent failures have been smaller banks brought down by garden-variety loans that have soured during the recession. Regulators say they’re concerned about growing delinquencies on prime, conventional home loans.

Q: So even though the economy is starting to recover, banks are still struggling?

A: The condition of the banking industry is what economists call a lagging indicator: It falls behind the state of the economy because the problems take longer to percolate through banks, as opposed to other signposts such as consumer spending, gross domestic product or permits for building construction. That means the pain will continue to weigh on the banking sector while the economy rebounds.

FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair offered a reminder on Thursday: “Banking industry performance is, as always, a lagging indicator.”

Q: What will it take to turn the banking industry around?

A: Not much other than time, experts say.

“The only thing you could do is … to ignore the losses that are already there,” said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics in Washington. That would be a terrible mistake, she said, noting that regulators’ blind eye in the 1980s prolonged the S&L crisis.

“The best thing for the banking industry is just to take it on the chin and move on,” she said.

Q: What about me? What can I do to protect my money in the bank?

A: Accounts are insured by the FDIC up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. Joint accounts are insured up to that amount for each co-owner of the account; individual retirement accounts, or IRAs, held in banks are also insured.

If you have multiple individual accounts at one bank, it’s important to structure them carefully so they don’t exceed the limits. The FDIC has a calculator on its Web site called the electronic deposit insurance estimator, or EDIE, that can help determine how much money in deposit accounts, if any, exceeds the insurance limits. You can find it here: http://tinyurl.com/lt3aok.

If you do have deposit accounts in a failed bank that go beyond the insured limits, you just became a creditor of the bank. Of course, you may only get $.40 on the dollar up to the full amount eventually. You also have to realize that it could take months to even get a percentage of the total back.

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My Take: I definitely do not have to worry about going over the limit in my checking account or savings account. I would never have enough money to even get close to that insurers limit. It would be nice though! I do not know what I would do if the bank I am with did fail and I lost all of my money. I wonder how long it would take the FDIC to return it?

I am old enough to have a parent who lived through the Great Depression. My mother has told me some horrendous stories of what happened to people. I would hope that this country has learned its lessons and not allow the same things to happen again. I cannot even imagine not being able to buy a new or used pair of shoes.

Right now, the economy is bad enough that we are pretty close to what happened in the 30s. I am still waiting for the other shoe to drop. I am praying that it never does. If it does drop, this country is in a world of hurt. As it is, people are selling their Piermont real estate at reduced rates just to avoid foreclosures. I also understand that Rockland County riverfront property is going fairly cheap.

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Cited: Time

Well, the Cash for Clunkers program is over and. It seems that in the final days of the program, car dealers were actually turning away buyers. The reason could be very simple; the government website crashed trying to keep up with all the paperwork. What does it tell you about our nation’s character when the most popular government program in years that was aimed at reviving the economy from its vegetative state was an economically, environmentally and politically lazy handout from 99% of the population to the other 1%?

The Secrets to Cash for Clunkers’ Success

It used to be, when we wanted to use public policy to nudge private behavior, we poked people with a stick: 40 years of issuing health warnings couldn’t reduce smoking as much as hiking taxes so that a pack can cost upwards of $9. But nowadays, Congress would much rather reward than penalize, and bribery as policy has a modern elegance to it. Cash for Clunkers didn’t involve intricate algorithms or a 1,400-page appropriations bill. The only debate was over how much sugar was needed to sweeten the pot. That first billion was supposed to last a few months; when it ran out in a week, a bipartisan coalition voted to squirt $2 billion more into the pipeline. Here, finally, was stimulus policy Americans understood.

Researchers find that people will buy something on sale even if the reduced price is higher than the regular price at another store. “Just seeing the difference between the full and reduced price motivates the purchases,” explains Ellen Ruppel Shell in her new book, Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture. “It is as though, rather than spending the cost of the product, we’re actually earning the savings.”

Which raises the tantalizing question of how such delusional psychology might be applied to our other problems. There are already plans for Dollars for Dishwashers; buyers will get a rebate if they scrap that energy-sucking appliance for a more efficient one. Arizonans debated boosting election-day turnout with the Voter Reward Act, which proposed treating ballots like lottery tickets: one lucky voter would have won a million dollars. New York City pays public-school students to get good grades.

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But these are penny-size ideas. Now that trillion has replaced billion in our fiscal conversations, the scope for inventive incentives is vast. The cost of treating obesity has doubled in a decade, to $147 billion. So how about Cash for Chunkers: we get to trade in that extra 20 pounds for a coupon good at the local farm stand. Roads and bridges crumbling? Why bother allocating $27 billion in stimulus money when we could pay people to reroute or, better yet, stay home? California plans on releasing at least 37,000 inmates to ease prison overcrowding and save $1 billion. It costs $27,000 a year to keep someone in jail. It would be much more efficient to pay thieves not to steal in the first place.

Is this the essential paradox of the age of Obama, that we have to destroy the village in order to save it, bust the budget in hopes we’ll someday balance it, play to self-interest to promote the national interest? Just as the Cash for Clunkers frenzy reached its peak, the Administration quietly released new deficit projections, which pointed to a $9 trillion gap over 10 years. In the middle of a national nervous breakdown over out-of-control spending, we took a summer break from puritanical fretting and got all excited about a federal subsidy for something we already buy more of than we need.

Of course, critics are right that the program will probably drive up the price of used cars for poor people who need them and will have only a marginal effect on the long-term prospects of the auto industry. Subsidies don’t so much increase demand as kidnap it, inspire people to take the money they were saving for a new fridge and apply it to a pickup instead. As for the environmental benefit, the new fleet will save about 160 million gal. of gasoline a year–which sounds awfully good, except that we use 378 million gal a day.

But all that misses the point. The goal of the policy was only incidentally to sell more cars or scrub the air. It was mainly aimed at reviving our animal spirits. We will know, when the history of the Great Recession is written, whether this summer brought the turning point, when we crept out of our little boxes, felt a hunger for the open road, our spirits drunk on the smell of vinyl and the feel of the wheel.

Neither liberal nor conservative, the beauty of the policy was deeply pragmatic. What you do is try a little bit of everything just to see what works. History has shown us that irrational patchwork of solutions has a decent record of accomplishment. If a program like Cash for Clunkers is all it takes to get our economy up and moving again then just maybe that $3 billion was the best throwaway money Washington ever throughout.

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My Take: I think it is a shame that they have stopped the program. The environment was going to get better with more economical vehicles on the road. I think the government just did not anticipate such a large response to the program. Then again, the government is always behind the times.

Hopefully, they will bring the program back at a later date. Maybe even I will be able to afford a car than. Or maybe, they will start a first car owner program like that first homeowner program! That would be interesting! I can just see the 16-year-old rushing to local car dealership to get their first car at a reduced rate. That would be a hilarious site.

If that did happen, more kids would be going to an academy driving school in NY so that they could get a car quicker and then they would make the visit to the New York State DMV. I hope their parents would be smart enough to also make them take a defensive driving course so that they are safe on the road. There is even a NY defensive driving online class for those who cannot make it to a regular classroom

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Cited: CNN.com

Did you know that over 1 million Americans will declare bankruptcy this year? Unbelievably, these bankruptcies will not be because of overspending or a lavish lifestyle but because of medical bills. Medical bills have caused bankruptcies to increase 50% in just six years. In 2001, it was only 46% and that went up to 62% in 2007. In addition, those who have been filing bankruptcy are middle-class, well-educated homeowners according to a report will be published in August in an issue of The American Journal of Medicine.

“Unless you’re a Warren Buffett or Bill Gates, you’re one illness away from financial ruin in this country,” says lead author Steffie Woolhandler, M.D., of the Harvard Medical School, in Cambridge, Mass. “If an illness is long enough and expensive enough, private insurance offers very little protection against medical bankruptcy, and that’s the major finding in our study.”

Woolhandler and her colleagues surveyed a random sample of 2,314 people who filed for bankruptcy in early 2007, looked at their court records, and then interviewed more than 1,000 of them. Health.com: Expert advice on getting health insurance and affordable care for chronic pain

They concluded that 62.1% of the bankruptcies were medically related because the individuals either had more than $5,000 (or 10% of their pretax income) in medical bills, mortgaged their home to pay for medical bills, or lost significant income due to an illness. On average, medically bankrupt families had $17,943 in out-of-pocket expenses, including $26,971 for those who lacked insurance and $17,749 who had insurance at some point. Overall, three-quarters of the people with a medically related bankruptcy had health insurance, they say.

“That was actually the predominant problem in patients in our study — 78% of them had health insurance, but many of them were bankrupted anyway because there were gaps in their coverage like co-payments and deductibles and uncovered services,” says Woolhandler. “Other people had private insurance but got so sick that they lost their job and lost their insurance.”

However, Peter Cunningham, Ph.D., a senior fellow at the Center for Studying Health System Change, a nonpartisan policy research organization in Washington, D.C., isn’t completely convinced. He says it is often hard to tell in which cases medical bills add to the bleak financial picture without being directly responsible for the bankruptcies.

“I’m not sure that it is correct to say that medical problems were the direct cause of all of these bankruptcies,” he says. “In most of these cases, it’s going to be medical expenses and other things, other debt that is accumulating.” Either way, he agrees that medical bills are an increasing problem for many people.

“I think medical bills are something that a lot of families are having a lot of difficulty with. Whether it’s the direct cause of bankruptcy or whether it helps to push them over the edge because they already were in a precarious financial situation, it’s a big concern and hopefully that’s what medical reform will try to address,” he says.

The study may overestimate the number of bankruptcies caused by medical bills yet underestimate the financial burden of health care on American families, because most people struggle along but do not end up declaring bankruptcy, according to Cunningham.

“Bankruptcy is the most extreme or final step for people who are having problems paying medical bills,” he says. “Medical bills and medical costs are an issue that can very easily and in pretty short order overwhelm a lot families who are on otherwise solid financial ground, including those with private insurance.” His group’s research found that medical bills unduly stress 1 in 5 families.

The economic atmosphere became worse a year after the study was conducted. However, the problem is still getting worse for people in the United States because of the high cost of medical care. Bankruptcy numbers are soaring and are expected to get even worse than they were in 2005 when Congress changed the bankruptcy laws. In fact, in 2005 bankruptcy peaked at 2 million filings.

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My Take: I really do not believe that medical bills are the main reason people are filing for bankruptcy. I believe it has everything to do with credit cards. Credit cards make buying anything too easy! Of course, carrying plastic is a lot safer than carrying cash. Nevertheless, there is always a check!

I went bankrupt in 2000 and was because of credit cards. Yes, I do have one credit card now with a zero balance. It is only meant for emergencies. Those emergencies are not for clothes or Christmas presents. An emergency is a flat tire on a rainy night and no money in your pocket and they will not accept a check. You can easily pay this off before the end of the month with this type of small emergency. A big emergency might be a family illness in another state and you do not have the cash to get there.

I highly recommend if you have credit cards, at them all in half and pay them off before you get to a bankruptcy situation. Moreover, go by the rule of “if you don’t have the money, you don’t need it.” If you want something bad enough, stick the money aside and buy it when you have the cash. If you live by this rule financially, you will avoid a whole lot of migraines.

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Other Resources

Real Estate Financing or Refinancing

Are you looking for someone who specializes in low rate purchase mortgage KY and refinancing for KY and IN homes. You can easily find one located in Louisville, KY that is committed to customer satisfaction. Most mortgage companies are approved to originate FHA purchase and refinance mortgages, VA loans, FHA streamline refinances, jumbo loans, conventional mortgages such as Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac loans as well as Rural Housing loans and others. Make sure they are a member of the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and have earned an “A” rating with that agency. You want someone who is realtor friendly and consistently receives exceptional reviews from current and past clients. They should also be a member of the Kentucky Association of Mortgage Professionals and the National Association of Mortgage Brokers especially if you are looking for Lawrenceburg Kentucky mortgage.

The Case of the Defective Product

A defective product can cause serious injury or even early death for both young and old alike. It is now the responsibility of a manufacturer to protect consumers from defective products. At one time, manufacturers did not have to own up to injuries caused by their products. Now, manufacturers are required to warn customers that a defective product is on the market otherwise, the company is liable. To protect consumers from harmful defective products, liability laws were created to help victims in recovering damages for injuries suffered. Texas injury attorneys can help victims get compensation for injuries or deaths from manufacturers that have produced defective products. If you think a defective product has caused you harm or the death of someone, you know, contact an attorney immediately.

Clunker Cash

Would you like to get rid of that useless old clunker in your backyard? Junking that old car for cash is a lot easier than you think! This is a cash program that offers you a removal service and cash for your old clunker. This vendor will have a local professional who buy junk cars contact you to arrange a pickup and payment. In most cases, professionals also sell junk cars. You will not only receive cash or your junker quality service and pickup of your junker at your convenience. How convenient is that? You just collect money!

Credit Card Financing

A credit card receivable financing company can help small business owners succeed by offering a variety of small business loan financing options. It can provide small businesses with an alternative to the traditional bank financing like business cash advance, which is very difficult to obtain and out of reach for most merchants or doctors. We understand that as a small business owner, traditional bank financing may simply not be an option.

Cited: Business Wire

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company sponsored a national survey of firefighters that indicates negative economic effect on Arizona fire departments. The survey was taken by 9500 are departments or 30% of our departments in the country including €109 on a fire departments. The survey was called “Supporting Safer Communities: A National Firefighter Survey.” According to the survey the top challenges in Arizona facing fire departments today are:

• Three-quarters of all fire departments believe staffing, recruitment and retention is at least somewhat challenging in the current economic climate.
• Seventy-two percent say insufficient gear is at least somewhat challenging and 74% state old/outdated gear is at least somewhat challenging.
• Fifty-nine percent of departments have had to increase fundraising efforts and/or grant writing because of budget cutbacks.
• Six in ten departments have delayed replacing equipment and three-quarters have delayed purchasing new equipment.
• Forty-three percent of departments do not have adequate training when it comes to hazardous materials incidents.

“When you consider that firefighters are the first responders to nearly every fire, medical emergency, and natural or man-made disaster in our local communities, it is imperative that we have adequate funding to ensure we keep our communities safe,” said Jeff Piechura, Northwest Fire District Fire Chief, and Chairman of the Arizona Fire Services Institute. “This study is extremely valuable for both its depth and scope - one that effectively shows the needs of today’s fire service in communities across the country and particularly here in Arizona.”

The study was conducted by Ipsos Public Affairs based in New York, and was available online for six weeks from mid-February to March 31, 2009 to all career and volunteer firefighters. Nearly 17,500 firefighters participated, 61% of which hold the rank of fire official (chief, captain or lieutenant). Full results can be found at www.firemansfund.com/firesurvey.

For those working in an industry where fire can be a work hazard. . . There are online vendors that provide clients with Carhartt workwear at an affordable price. With secure online ordering service that offer customer’s access to Carhartt and Bulwark flame retardant work wear from the comfort of their homes. Some may also embroidery and corporate pricing on purchases of 25 or more pieces with FREE Shipping in the U.S. on orders above $100 and the highest quality service possible!

Not all Arizona findings were grim:

Seventy-five percent of fire departments have adequate extrication equipment needed to safely and quickly remove injured people from a vehicle crash.

Eighty-two percent of departments have at least one thermal imaging camera, considered a critical tool to identify hot spots and locate injured or sleeping persons in a burning building.

“As a company, Fireman’s Fund believes it is extremely important to raise awareness of the needs of local fire departments,” said Chuck Kavitsky, Chairman of Fireman’s Fund. “Supporting the fire service means safer communities. That is why we have focused our philanthropic giving to directing grants to fire departments throughout the country.”

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company’s nationwide philanthropic program is designed to provide needed equipment, training and educational tools to local fire departments. Since 2004, Fireman’s Fund has issued grants to more than 1,100 different departments totaling more than $21 million. Independent insurance agencies that sell Fireman’s Fund products are able to direct these grants to support fire stations in their communities. In the last five years, Fireman’s Fund has issued 23 grants to Arizona fire departments, totaling $183,144.

Ipsos Public Affairs is a non-partisan, objective, survey-based research practice made up of seasoned professionals. Ipsos Public Affairs conducts strategic research initiatives for a diverse number of American and international organizations, based not only on public opinion research, but elite stakeholder, corporate, and media opinion research. Ipsos Public Affairs is a member of the Ipsos Group, a leading global survey-based market research company. To learn more, visit: www.ipsos-pa.com.

Fireman’s Fund Insurance Company is a premier property and casualty insurance company providing personal and commercial insurance products nationwide and is a member of the Allianz Group (NYSE:AZ), who provide insurance and financial services around the world.. It is rated ‘AA-’ by Standard & Poor’s Rating Services. It was founded in 1863 with the express purpose of supporting firefighters, Fireman’s Fund continues this effort today through its national philanthropic efforts. For more information, visit www.firemansfund.com.

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My Take: I am very glad that there is somebody out there helping Fireman! Firemen do not get paid enough as it is. Does it still are on the job, feel it is their duty. This makes them honorable men. The same goes for police officers. These two professions are the most underpaid professions in the United States today.

The police and the fire department keep communities alive. In turn, communities should keep police and firefighters happy. It is true that legally neither one of these groups can go on a full, all-out, strike. A full all-out strike is one where nobody is working. Therefore, the only alternative they have is what the police department calls the “blue flu”. It was so named because many police officers uniforms are a dark navy blue. Basically, at least half, if not more, of the working force of either the police or fire department, get sick and cannot come in to work.

Many city governments have started requiring medical proof from employees who are suffering from the “blue flu”. Ironically, almost all of them have the proof. This tells me that the medical profession supports our police departments and our fire departments. If only more of our communities would stand behind these two departments, they would probably have more people working than they do now to save lives.

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A Business for Businesses

One retailer has built a company with one purpose in mind, to help you achieve your particular goals. From custom-decorated apparel to the latest, most exciting promotional products, they are ready—and more than able—to help you from start to finish. This retailer maintains its own garment decorating facility plus an in-house graphic art department that assures you strict quality control and on-time delivery. In addition, they guarantee, on apparel they supply like their promotional T-shirts, that there decorations will last the lifetime of the garment! Check it out! “Impressions” magazines “Best Overall Design” award was given to this retailer.

The cost of doing business in California has been on the rise for a number of years, putting a strain on the budgets of even some of the highest-performing industries on the West Coast, including Hollywood.

Filming companies from the big studios right down to the small guys have been taking their projects out of state over the past decade in order to reduce costs, which include everything from business taxes and parking fees to the high costs of Workers’ Compensation insurance.

By far, one of the chief concerns of all California businesses is the rising cost of Workers’ Comp. insurance, which is required by law for every business, for every sector, for every employee—even if you run a tutoring agency and have one worker for which you are paying and tracking time and attendance.

There are many state agencies, however, that provide various business tax incentives aimed at helping to stem the tide of the business drain out of state.  For example, there are industrial zone credits for companies who set up shop inside an industrial area where otherwise depressed properties lose out on tax-based revenues due to the poor occupancy rates.  Business tax incentives also are being offered to companies who hire a certain number of local workers and utilize the services of in-state vendors.

These tax breaks can offset the high costs of workers’ comp. insurance premiums, which, for many businesses, can suck up as much as 60 percent of their monthly profits.   Another option is to allow a certified payroll reporting company manage the filing of Workers’ Comp. premiums for you.   This is an effective way to cut costs, as premiums are based on a snapshot of your payroll, which is likely a moving target, depending on your business.

By putting the management of your monthly premiums for Workers’ Comp. in the hands of a qualified integrated payroll service provider, who can manage payroll services and needs alongside your other business tax and insurance issues, you save time and money, which, of course, is what it’s all about when it comes to running a company.