The recession may be claiming a new victim: the 5-10-mph “cushion” police and state troopers across the USA have routinely given motorists exceeding the speed limit. As cities and states scramble to fill budget gaps with revenue from traffic citations, “not only are the (speeding) tolerances much lower, but the frequency of a warning instead [...]
After an email conversation with Australian economist Steve Keen, I had the impression that he might be involved in this task force as well. He’s got a good head on his shoulders. These are the questions he’ll be pondering: With the Bank of Canada’s interest rate set at 0.25%, how is it that 1/3 of [...]
(This is a MUST LISTEN!)In this interview with GATA we continue the saga after just having interviewed Andrew Maguire, the whistleblower out of London. This gives a short and long-term view down the rabbit hole through the eyes of 3 of the GATA board members. GATA was so heavily involved not only in breaking the [...]
Skyservice Airlines, which flies on behalf of tour operators, is shutting down. The charter carrier will announce Wednesday that a receiver will be appointed to oversee the winding down of the debt-laden company, industry insiders said Wednesday. The closing of Skyservice comes after Sunwing Travel Group, which has its own planes, merged recently with Signature [...]
Rising interest rates appear to have taken the sting out of consumers’ lust for shopping. Start of sidebar. Skip to end of sidebar. End of sidebar. Return to start of sidebar. “It was a pretty shocking number,” JPMorgan economist Helen Kevans said of the retail sales figures. “Part of it is pay back for the strong January [...]
(snippet)And as of today, China is a net seller of Treasury debt. If we can’t fund our debts in the bond market, the Federal Reserve will be forced to monetize our deficits by buying Treasury bonds. If that happens, inflation will soar and the price of gold will double or triple almost overnight. The bigger [...]
California, New York and other states are showing many of the same signs of debt overload that recently took Greece to the brink — budgets that will not balance, accounting that masks debt, the use of derivatives to plug holes, and armies of retired public workers who are counting on benefits that are proving harder [...]
A VAT is not coming to America, at least not anytime soon.The Congress just doesn’t have the political will to pass a new tax bill, especially after the brutal healthcare battle.As for deficits: the Chinese can keep funding those.But wait, there is one new tax hike: the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. That’s coming [...]
State audits on income and sales taxes for the smallest businesses as well as out-of-state inquiries on operations in other states are on the rise, accountants say.Speculation among local tax experts is that New Jersey’s and other states’ budget woes are driving not only the recent uptick in audits — one firm reports five times [...]
Central Valley real estate agent Donny Piwowarski last year sold his four-bedroom, 3,500-square-foot house on a half-acre in Tracy for $387,000 — about half of what he paid for it in 2005. Now with tax-filing season here, his situation is getting even grimmer.Under California tax law, Piwowarski owes tens of thousands of dollars in state [...]
