• USPS Norman, OK Training Center Hotel Serves public, postal employees

    Updated: 2010-09-30 18:30:18
    The U.S. Postal Center’s hotel, known as the Norman Hotel and Conference Center, caters to federal employees and large groups, but also is open to the public. The public gets the same benefits from the array of amenities offered to the trainees, Badaroux said. They include a regulation-size gymnasium with a walking track built above [...]

  • NALC: GOP hostility kills prefunding legislation, aided and abetted by misguided USPS priorities

    Updated: 2010-09-30 18:30:18
    September 29, 2010 — On Tuesday, Senate Republicans unanimously blocked a proposal from Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to provide a $4 billion reduction in the $5.5 billion retiree health payment due September 30 under the grossly unfair prefunding provision mandated by Congress in 2006. Reid’s proposal would have deferred the $4 billion payment to [...]

  • Breaking News: Postal Regulatory Commission Denies USPS Rate Increase Request

    Updated: 2010-09-30 18:30:18
    The Postal Regulatory Commission announced its decision rejecting the requested price hike at a news conference Thursday. “After careful consideration, the Commission agreed with the Postal Service that the recent severe recession, and the decline in mail volume experienced during the recession, do qualify as an extraordinary or exceptional circumstance under the law. However, the [...]

  • Why are banks changing their tune about Basel III?

    Updated: 2010-09-30 12:05:28
    I know it’s hard to keep track of  the constant stream of regulatory shifts and re-thinks, but if I remember rightly, the reaction to the agreement on Basel III, the new framework for global capital requirements reached earlier this month, was broadly positive. The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision said it will require lenders to have [...]

  • Burglars big winners from divided Britain, says insurer

    Updated: 2010-09-30 07:50:14
    Burglars are unexpected beneficiaries of a divided Britain in which one in 20 long-term couples now live in different homes, a major household insurer claims. The number of “live-apart-ners” has increased by 40 per cent over the last decade to exceed 1m, Office for National Statistics (ONS) figures show. Now new analysis of 80,000 household burglary [...]

  • Postal Service Places 4 Week Moratorium on Delivery Unit Optimization Implementation

    Updated: 2010-09-30 02:25:52
    The NAPUS National Office received the following e-mail on Tuesday, September 28, 2010, from Dean Granholm, Vice President Delivery and Post Office Operations: “Per our conversation, a national moratorium was implemented last Friday for a period of four weeks. New instructions will be provided to the field at the National Executive Conference Operations Meeting, and [...]

  • PRC to Issue Decision Tomorrow on Extraordinary Postage Increase Request

    Updated: 2010-09-30 02:25:50
    Washington, DC –The Postal Regulatory Commission invites press and interested parties to a short briefing on its decision in the U.S. Postal Service Request for an above inflation, “exigent” price increase for its market-dominant products. This is the first time that the issue of what is an “exceptional or extraordinary” circumstance will be decided under [...]

  • NAPUS: Time Runs Out on Short Term Postal Fix

    Updated: 2010-09-29 18:22:23
    eNAPUS Legislative and Political Bulletin As the days before the election recess ebbs, partisan politics seems to be overtaking Congress’ ability to permit the Postal Service to defer the $5.6 billion payment into the Postal Retiree Health Benefits Fund. The plan was to attach the deferment onto a must-pass stop-gap appropriations bill that needs to [...]

  • Banking is out. Now everyone wants to be… an accountant

    Updated: 2010-09-29 17:18:16
    When I visited my university’s career office, roughly 25 years ago, I had no idea what I wanted to do after graduating, and the careers adviser had only one suggestion to make: accountancy. This prospect – and my own cluelessness about what other careers might be open to me and whether I’d be any good at [...]

  • Warren Buffett 'fund' illustrates rip off management charges

    Updated: 2010-09-29 08:32:37
    If you think the row about fund management charges is a tedious technicality then prepare for a rude awakening. Terry Smith is the latest outspoken multi-millionaire to lob a hand grenade into this debate which will shake the City to its foundations and could bring several institutions crashing down. He claims investors are left with less [...]

  • Things worth reading: 29th September 2010

    Updated: 2010-09-29 06:07:58

  • Jack Mintz: Follow our lead

    Updated: 2010-09-28 23:53:43
    The United States should note Canada’s example and slash corporate income tax rates. Our cuts will ­create 233,000 jobs over a decade. In the past decade, we have witnessed a sharp reduction in corporate tax rates throughout world, except in the one country that probably needs it the most: the United States. Recently, President Barack [...]

  • Roth 401(k) Rollover Bill Update

    Updated: 2010-09-28 20:07:07
    The Small Business Jobs Act of 2010 (H.R. 5297) passed the Senate last week and is expected to be signed into law by the President. As we mentioned in a previous post, there are a couple of retirement plan changes included in this bill. They include: - Add a Roth option for 457(b) plans. This [...]

  • Things worth reading: 28th September 2010

    Updated: 2010-09-28 05:56:39

  • Things worth reading: 27th September 2010

    Updated: 2010-09-27 06:46:32

  • “Wake Up, Washington!” on Women and Retirement

    Updated: 2010-09-24 19:13:26
    As we approach the end of the second week of Retirement USA’s “Wake Up, Washington!” Month” we have learned a great deal about the challenges women face in retirement. Women face special challenges because they make less than men and spend less time in the workforce.  Yet they typically live longer than men, requiring more [...]

  • Things worth reading: 24th September 2010

    Updated: 2010-09-24 06:04:20

  • Round Two: What Happened to My Social Security COLA?

    Updated: 2010-09-23 21:36:14
    : CRFB.org Stimulus.org US Budget Watch Peterson-Pew Commission E-mail list sign up : Subscribe Unsubscribe Search : Home Documents Blog News Events About Contact Recent Posts Round Two : What Happened to My Social Security COLA The House GOP Pledge to America” A Thousand Cuts . What Would It Look Like If the U.S . Adopted Britain's New Budget The Fed Widens the Easing Door Center for American Progress Details What Spending Cuts Could Look Like My View : Gene Steuerle Putting the Tax Cuts in Perspective By month September 2010 33 August 2010 43 July 2010 60 June 2010 63 May 2010 45 April 2010 64 March 2010 65 February 2010 61 January 2010 60 December 2009 49 November 2009 51 October 2009 54 All Archives By Keyword Budget 146 CBO 89 Congress 166 Deficits and Debt 253 Economy 99 Financial

  • To Freeze or Not to Freeze (A Pension Plan)

    Updated: 2010-09-23 17:04:19
    Freezing a defined benefit (DB) pension plan has become common practice over the past decade. Plan sponsors give many reasons for freezing the DB plan, but one of the most common is that the funding requirements are too expensive and volatile. In a recent article, two actuaries from Milliman dissected a sample pension freeze and [...]

  • Things worth reading: 23rd September 2010

    Updated: 2010-09-23 07:20:43

  • Form 8955-SSA Update

    Updated: 2010-09-22 15:49:32
    The IRS/SSA Reporter newsletter (Fall 2010, page 2) provides some preliminary details regarding the new Form 8955-SSA which will be used by employer-sponsored retirement plans to report participants with deferred vested benefits. This new filing is effective for 2009 plan years and replaces the Form 5500 Schedule SSA. Some highlights from the newsletter: There will [...]

  • Things worth reading: 22nd September 2010

    Updated: 2010-09-22 05:29:42

  • My View: Gene Steuerle

    Updated: 2010-09-21 14:18:14
    : CRFB.org Stimulus.org US Budget Watch Peterson-Pew Commission E-mail list sign up : Subscribe Unsubscribe Search : Home Documents Blog News Events About Contact Recent Posts Center for American Progress Details What Spending Cuts Could Look Like My View : Gene Steuerle Putting the Tax Cuts in Perspective NBER Announces Official End of Recession Line’ Items : Fall Edition MARKETWATCH : September 13 17, 2010 Lew : We Must Put Our Nation Back on a Sustainable Fiscal Course' Congratulations to Bill Frenzel and Jim Kolbe By month September 2010 28 August 2010 43 July 2010 60 June 2010 63 May 2010 45 April 2010 64 March 2010 65 February 2010 61 January 2010 60 December 2009 49 November 2009 51 October 2009 54 All Archives By Keyword Budget 146 CBO 89 Congress 166 Deficits and Debt 253 Economy

  • Things worth reading: 21st September 2010

    Updated: 2010-09-21 07:44:31

  • Roth 401(k) Rollover Changes

    Updated: 2010-09-20 19:56:24
    Employers (large and small) will want to be aware of a provision included in a Senate jobs bill last week: the potential to allow eligible rollovers from a traditional 401(k) plan into a Roth 401(k) plan. Business Insurance has a good summary of some of the details, and here are some of the highlights: The [...]

  • MARKETWATCH: September 13 - 17, 2010

    Updated: 2010-09-17 16:54:57
    : CRFB.org Stimulus.org US Budget Watch Peterson-Pew Commission E-mail list sign up : Subscribe Unsubscribe Search : Home Documents Blog News Events About Contact Recent Posts MARKETWATCH : September 13 17, 2010 Lew : We Must Put Our Nation Back on a Sustainable Fiscal Course' Congratulations to Bill Frenzel and Jim Kolbe A Not So Happy Anniversary Disability Insurance Program Seeing Increased Applicants . and Increased Trouble Small Business Aid Bill Close to Enactment Line’ Items : Football Edition White House Turns Toward Travel By month September 2010 23 August 2010 43 July 2010 60 June 2010 63 May 2010 45 April 2010 64 March 2010 65 February 2010 61 January 2010 60 December 2009 49 November 2009 51 October 2009 54 All Archives By Keyword Budget 146 CBO 89 Congress 166 Deficits and

  • ERRP Reimbursement and Website Update

    Updated: 2010-09-17 01:51:49
    A quick update on the Early Retiree Reinsurance Program (ERRP):  Over the past few months, the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has been busy gearing up for the implementation of the ERRP. As you may recall from our earlier posts (1, 2, 3), this is a program that’s part of the larger healthcare [...]

  • PA pension fund warns of weak results

    Updated: 2010-09-16 21:21:31
    Returns need to improve this fall if SERS and PSERS are to meet their 2010 annual targets - or they'll fall further behind

  • “Wake Up, Washington!” launch

    Updated: 2010-09-16 02:25:14
    This morning things were abuzz at the National Press Club as Retirement USA (an initiative of the Pension Rights Center and other partnering organizations) launched “Wake Up, Washington!” Month.  The month is dedicated to raising awareness among policymakers about the Retirement Income Deficit faced by millions of Americans.  We learned that the Retirement Income Deficit [...]

  • Cash Balance Plan Investment Risk

    Updated: 2010-09-10 21:07:24
    A recent article by Vanguard addresses the apparent tradeoff of interest rate risk for investment risk when converting a traditional pension plan to a cash balance pension plan. A couple of quick thoughts on this topic: This is likely true for a traditional corporate pension plan where the plan sponsor has to worry about the [...]

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