• Health Care and Taxes

    Updated: 2010-10-31 14:30:30
    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 Health Care and Taxes Social Security and National Security NTU , US PIRG and Heritage Get Specific Pay As You Go and the Tax Cuts MY VIEW : Gene Steuerle MarketWatch : October 25-29, 2010 Establishing Goals and Demolishing Myths How to Build a Fiscal Consolidation Package : Some Lessons from the IMF By month October 2010 53 September 2010 41 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 All Archives By Keyword Budget 156 CBO 91 Congress 179 Deficits and Debt 270 Economy 109 Fiscal News 95 Health Care 122 National Debt

  • USPS Suspends Accepting Inbound International Mail From Yemen

    Updated: 2010-10-30 23:22:54
    WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service has temporarily suspended acceptance of inbound international mail originating in Yemen effective October 30, 2010.  This service suspension has been issued in response to the potential threat posed by suspicious packages arriving in the U.S. aboard international flights originating in Yemen . The Postal Service has also heightened awareness [...]

  • Social Security and National Security

    Updated: 2010-10-30 16:34:13
    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 Social Security and National Security NTU , US PIRG and Heritage Get Specific Pay As You Go and the Tax Cuts MY VIEW : Gene Steuerle MarketWatch : October 25-29, 2010 Establishing Goals and Demolishing Myths How to Build a Fiscal Consolidation Package : Some Lessons from the IMF A Letter in Support of Raising the Retirement Age By month October 2010 52 September 2010 41 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 All Archives By Keyword Budget 156 CBO 91 Congress 179 Deficits and Debt 270 Economy 109 Fiscal News 95

  • How Wayne Rooney could score multi-million pound tax cut

    Updated: 2010-10-30 07:23:19
    Wayne Rooney has suffered a bit of a bad press of late after renegotiating a five-year contract, said to be worth  £200,000 a week. Now tax lawyers and accountants calculate he could save millions of pounds in tax if he sidesteps HM Revenue & Customs (HMRC) using similar tactics to earlier footballers, including Dennis Bergkamp [...]

  • Appeals Court Sets Schedule For USPS Appeal Of PRC’s Denial Of Rate Increase

    Updated: 2010-10-29 23:14:50
    The U.S. Postal Service on October 22, 2010 appealed the Sept. 30 ruling of the Postal Regulatory Commission denying the Postal Service exigent price request. According to court records: The United States Postal Service hereby petitions this Court for review of Order Number 547 of the Postal Regulatory Commission (PRC), issued on September 30, 2010, [...]

  • Pay As You Go and the Tax Cuts

    Updated: 2010-10-29 20:40:32
    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 NTU , US PIRG and Heritage Get Specific Pay As You Go and the Tax Cuts MY VIEW : Gene Steuerle MarketWatch : October 25-29, 2010 Establishing Goals and Demolishing Myths How to Build a Fiscal Consolidation Package : Some Lessons from the IMF A Letter in Support of Raising the Retirement Age Standard and Poor's Upgrades British Debt Outlook By month October 2010 51 September 2010 41 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 All Archives By Keyword Budget 156 CBO 91 Congress 179 Deficits and Debt 270 Economy 109

  • USPS Updates Leased and Owned Facilities Data

    Updated: 2010-10-29 15:12:26
    USPS Leased Facilities Report The Postal Service maintains more than 25,300 leased spaces in its facilities inventory nation wide. Below is the current national listing of leased postal facilities which includes all fifty States and U.S. Territories. USPS Owned Facilities Report The Postal Service maintains more than 8,500 owned facilities in its inventory nationwide. Below [...]

  • USPS Using Temporary Schedule Changes To Avoid Paying Employees Overtime

    Updated: 2010-10-29 15:12:24
    It appears management officials in many USPS offices across the country are using “temporary schedule changes” to avoid paying Postal Employees overtime. There are also reports that USPS is using Full-time Regular employees like Part-Time Flexibles. Here are two Western Region grievance settlements “Temporary Schedule Changes to Avoid Overtime (PDF)” that may be of interest [...]

  • NAPUS President Rapoza Requests a Continuance of DUO Moratorium

    Updated: 2010-10-29 15:12:22
    October 28, 2010 NAPUS President Bob Rapoza has sent a second request to Postal Service headquarters to continue the moratorium on the DUO program until after the December holiday mailing season. Rapoza’s letter to USPS Vice President of Labor Relations stated that NAPUS has not yet received a response to his October 20th request to [...]

  • Why leading accountants say Child Benefit fines will not work

    Updated: 2010-10-29 11:04:29
    Leading accountants say Treasury proposals to fine higher rate taxpayers who fail to disclose that a spouse or civil partner is claiming Child Benefit will not work. George Bull, a partner at Baker Tilly, explained: “There is no legal requirement in tax law for a husband to disclose his wife or civil partner’s income to HM [...]

  • DIY pensions: 10 tips to make the most of SIPPs

    Updated: 2010-10-29 07:39:43
    Fed up with politicians and insurance companies making a mess of your retirement plans? Don’t get mad; get even with a Self-Invested Personal Pension (SIPP). I have invested in SIPPs and other personal pensions for about 15 years. Here are 10 tips to make the most of yours; 1: Why not do-it-yourself? SIPPs can be used [...]

  • Things worth reading: 29th October 2010

    Updated: 2010-10-29 07:35:47

  • The madness of doing more QE

    Updated: 2010-10-28 22:11:13
    To QE2 or not to QE2? On both sides of the Atlantic, policymakers are considering whether to order another dose of quantitative easing, a process that involves buying up public and private debt in order further to depress longer term interest rates. Most people know it as switching on the printing presses. In the US, a [...]

  • 2011 IRS Pension Limits and Social Security Wage Base

    Updated: 2010-10-28 20:22:49
    The IRS just published the retirement plan limits for 2011.  Most of the limits for retirement plans are unchanged – again.  They’re the same as 2009 and 2010: Maximum annual pension plan benefit $195,000 Maximum annual addition for defined contribution plans 49,000 Maximum 401(k) elective deferral 16,500 Maximum catchup contribution (age 50 and over) 5,500 [...]

  • BBC strikes: your questions answered

    Updated: 2010-10-28 18:44:28
    So. The unions are finally going out on strike at the BBC? Well, one of them is. The National Union of Journalists. It will stage two 48-hour strikes, on 5, 6, 15 and 16 November. Bringing BBC News to a grinding halt? Probably. And on bonfire night! Probably? The last strikes that were called (and then called off), to take [...]

  • MPs to examine BBC licence fee deal

    Updated: 2010-10-28 12:25:02
    Ivan Lewis, the new shadow culture secretary, has written to John Whittingdale, the chairman of the House of Commons Culture, Media and Sport select committe, asking for the committee to launch an inquiry into the hastily-agreed BBC licence fee settlement. An inquiry is a long-winded and formal process, involving the solicitation of evidence and views and [...]

  • Things worth reading: 28th October 2010

    Updated: 2010-10-28 06:06:16

  • Biofuels: a growing evil

    Updated: 2010-10-27 17:53:58
    Last week I attended the Chicago Mercantile Exchange’s “global financial leadership” conference in Florida – I know, it was a rough old assignment, but someone’s got to do it – in which Ian Goldin, a former vice president of the World Bank and now director of Oxford University’s Martin School, lambasted the subsidies being doled [...]

  • A Letter in Support of Raising the Retirement Age

    Updated: 2010-10-27 16:37:19
    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 A Letter in Support of Raising the Retirement Age Standard and Poor's Upgrades British Debt Outlook CNN Money Exclusive : Britain's Austerity : 4 Lessons for Washington Demagoguing 101 : Social Security Blinder on the Fiscal Policy Paradox Two More Members For the Announcement Effect Club Line’ Items : October Surprise Edition Geithner Supports U.S . Medium-Term Fiscal Targets at the G-20 By month October 2010 45 September 2010 41 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 All Archives By Keyword Budget 156 CBO 91

  • New stealth tax (NEST) will force 7m to contribute to pensions

    Updated: 2010-10-27 08:07:10
    About 7m mostly low-paid people who do not currently have any pension savings will automatically have 4 per cent of their earnings docked after April, 2012, to fund a new State-sponsored retirement fund proposed today by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP). An estimated 1m employers, mostly small businesses, will also be compelled to contribute [...]

  • Things worth reading: 27th October 2010

    Updated: 2010-10-27 07:18:44

  • Nationwide house prices fall while millionaire mansions double

    Updated: 2010-10-26 14:16:52
    Nationwide Building Society figures which show house prices fell by an average of 0.7 per cent this month, indicate the emergence of a two-tier housing market. Ordinary mortals’ house prices are falling as mortgage lending slumps to its lowest level in a decade but the number of mansions fetching over a million pounds more than doubled [...]

  • Things worth reading: 26th October 2010

    Updated: 2010-10-26 06:31:29

  • Final Hybrid Plan Regs: Market Rate of Return

    Updated: 2010-10-26 03:13:40
    We’ve been waiting quite a while for some official guidance on many of the technical issues involved with cash balance and other hybrid retirement plans. Last week we received final regulations for some issues, and proposed regulations for others. This post focuses on what constitutes a Market Rate of Return. A brief recap: typically a [...]

  • We shouldn’t settle for a ‘C’ in retirement

    Updated: 2010-10-25 22:08:22
    For the second consecutive year, the Australian Centre for Financial Studies and human resources consulting firm Mercer have issued the Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, which compares retirement income systems of several different nations and rates them based on their “adequacy, sustainability, and integrity.”  This year’s index ranked the Netherlands #1 out of 14 countries [...]

  • Demagoguing 101: Social Security

    Updated: 2010-10-25 18:23:39
    : 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 Demagoguing 101 : Social Security Blinder on the Fiscal Policy Paradox Two More Members For the Announcement Effect Club Line’ Items : October Surprise Edition Geithner Supports U.S . Medium-Term Fiscal Targets at the G-20 MARKETWATCH : October 18 22 FHFA Projects Fannie and Freddie Costs United Kingdom Outlines 130 Billion in Savings By month October 2010 42 September 2010 41 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 All Archives By Keyword Budget 156 CBO 91 Congress 179 Deficits and Debt 270 Economy 109 Fiscal

  • FHFA Projects Fannie and Freddie Costs

    Updated: 2010-10-21 22:25:42
    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 FHFA Projects Fannie and Freddie Costs United Kingdom Outlines 130 Billion in Savings From Sound Bites to Solutions More on COLAs and the CPI-E Lessons from Monetary Policy for Fiscal Policy Bank Failures Reach 300 Mark Line’ Items : BCS Edition CNN Money Exclusive : How to Avoid a Debt Doomsday By month October 2010 36 September 2010 41 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 All Archives By Keyword Budget 156 CBO 91 Congress 179 Deficits and Debt 270 Economy 109 Fiscal News 95 Health Care 122 National Debt 84

  • United Kingdom Outlines $130 Billion in Savings

    Updated: 2010-10-21 16:00:34
    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 United Kingdom Outlines 130 Billion in Savings From Sound Bites to Solutions More on COLAs and the CPI-E Lessons from Monetary Policy for Fiscal Policy Bank Failures Reach 300 Mark Line’ Items : BCS Edition CNN Money Exclusive : How to Avoid a Debt Doomsday The FY 2010 Deficit By month October 2010 35 September 2010 41 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 All Archives By Keyword Budget 156 CBO 91 Congress 179 Deficits and Debt 270 Economy 109 Fiscal News 95 Health Care 122 National Debt 84 Process and Rules 62

  • Timing of Multiemployer Plan Withdrawal Liability Estimates

    Updated: 2010-10-21 01:50:01
    We are receiving requests from a few multiemployer pension clients to estimate their withdrawal liability as they contemplate getting out of the pension business. One common problem that these clients experience is that the withdrawal liability they get from the pension fund is not as current as they thought it would be. For example, a [...]

  • Cash Balance Plan Fees

    Updated: 2010-10-18 00:39:55
    We’re starting to see a lot of interest from prospective cash balance plan (CBP) clients as we march towards the end of 2010. Small and midsize businesses are attracted to the large retirement deduction opportunities of CBPs. After explaining the technical details of these plans, prospective clients invariably ask the question: What are the fees [...]

  • Paying for PBGC coverage

    Updated: 2010-10-14 15:22:15
    One of the advantageous provisions of the Pension Protection Act (PPA) is that it removed some technical obstacles limiting the ability of certain plan sponsors to make large deductible contributions to their defined benefit (DB) and defined contribution (DC) retirement plans. The issue in question is the overall “25% of compensation” limit which is intended [...]

  • Phila city pension plan broke by 2015? Update

    Updated: 2010-10-12 22:21:52
    Northwestern U finance prof Josha Rauh says Philadelphia's pension plan is the worst-funded of 77 big-city plans he and his fellow scholars reviewed.

  • PPACA Starting to Impact Retiree Health Plans

    Updated: 2010-10-06 01:53:33
    In the retiree benefits world, there is a general consensus that several provisions in the Patient Protection and Access to Care Act (PPACA) may cause employer sponsors of retiree health plans to rethink those programs. These changes include: - Filling of the Part D “doughnut hole” (2010-2020) - Guarantee issue insurance with no pre-existing condition [...]

  • Another 5500 Extension Appeal

    Updated: 2010-10-05 15:34:49
    Despite the DOL’s rejection of a previous request by the American Benefit Council for automatic extension of time to file the 2009 Form 5500 until December 31, 2010, the American Society of Pension Professionals and Actuaries (ASPPA) has filed a similar request with the DOL and IRS. With less than two weeks until the filing [...]

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