In the United Kingdom, drugs and prostitution adds nearly $17 billion to the overall economy, but these transactions only account for less than one percent of the economy. Although these are deemed as illicit activities, the British government has decided to include them into its … [Read more...]
GAO report finds most Americans are claiming Social Security too early
Most Americans are claiming their Social Security benefits too soon and fewer than one in 10 retirees postpone claiming these benefits long enough in order to maximize their retirement funds, according to a new report by the Government Accountability Office (GAO). The common age … [Read more...]
Study finds medical debt ruining American credit reports
Millions of healthcare patients across the United States are suffering from large sums of medical debt due to the growing costs of medical care, a paucity of insurance and questionable practices of healthcare institutions. It is quite easy for a patient to rack up anywhere from … [Read more...]
Study discovers one-quarter of Americans saving nothing for retirement
The Great Recession, a crisis in the labor market and the rising cost of living are often some of the reasons why a significant number of Americans fail to save enough for a rainy day or for their retirement. According to Country Financial’s new Financial Security Index, … [Read more...]
Report: Financial planning degree programs popular at universities
With Baby Boomers on the verge of retiring en masse and the financial situations of millions of Americans in question because of the financial crisis a few years ago, there is one field of study that is becoming increasingly popular: financial planning. It was reported by CNBC last … [Read more...]
Canadian inflation rate jumps 2% amid higher energy prices
Canadians will experience a higher cost of living this year as the inflation rate increased to a two-year high of two percent, according to a report released last Friday by Statistics Canada. The federal agency reported the Consumer Price Index (CPI) increased 1.5 percent from the … [Read more...]
300 American Fortune 500 corporations holding $2 trillion offshore
Citizens for Tax Justice (CTJ) published a report earlier this week entitled "Dozens of Companies Admit Using Tax Havens: Hundreds More Likely Do the Same, Avoiding $550 Billion in Taxes" that highlighted how 301 American Fortune 500 corporations are holding more than $2 trillion … [Read more...]
IRS discovers 318,000 fed workers, retirees owe $3.3 billion in back taxes
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced last Thursday that more than 318,000 federal workers and retirees owe more than $3.3 billion in back taxes to the federal government, a 2.6 percent jump from the previous year. This accounts to about 3.3 percent of the overall 9.8 million … [Read more...]
Bank of England’s Mark Carney warns insurers ‘not too big to fail’
Great Britain’s insurers are under the same level of scrutiny by government and central bank officials and top executives would still be held accountable in the same way as the nation’s major financial institutions in event of a catastrophe, said Bank of England Governor Mark Carney … [Read more...]
Edmonton confident in concrete pipes made in China
Officials in the city of Edmonton are defending a decision they made to award a contract for concrete sewer pipes that will be produced in China. The Shanghai Construction Group’s (SCG) Canadian branch was given the $11 million contract, but many are not too pleased with the latest … [Read more...]
One-third of Americans have overdraft, nearly half carry credit card debt
Despite the number of households and consumers trying to lower their various debt burdens, credit card debt remains to be a prevalent issue across the United States today. The latest findings could prove to be more troublesome for a growing number of Americans, who have on average … [Read more...]
Report: Financial planning degree programs popular at universities
With Baby Boomers on the verge of retiring en masse and the financial situations of millions of Americans in question because of the financial crisis a few years ago, there is one field of study that is becoming increasingly popular: financial planning. It was reported by CNBC on … [Read more...]
Former head of FDIC says Timothy Geithner has it wrong
Last week, we reported that former United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner published an op-ed piece in the Wall Street Journal and appeared on MSNBC defending the Bush and Obama administrations’ bailouts of the financial industry. He presented the case that it was a … [Read more...]
Cable prices outpacing inflation; basic cable rose 6.5% last year
Is it time to put down the remote and cut the cord? If cable prices continue to rise exponentially then that could be the trend among households in financial disarray in the future that can’t afford a luxury like cable television. The Federal Communications Commission (FCC) … [Read more...]
U.S. Senate Report: Online advertising hurts security, privacy
The United States Senate published a report Friday entitled "Online Advertising and Hidden Hazards to Consumer Security and Data Privacy." It urged the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to prompt the online advertising industry to enforce strict protections through regulation because … [Read more...]
Software to devour more industries, jobs: Freelancer’s Matt Barrie
The software industry is a global sector that is valued at approximately $350 billion. Within the past two decades, the software business has grown exponentially and is involved in various fields, such as networks, database management, network application and office data. Since … [Read more...]
Fed Chair: ‘We have further to go to achieve a healthy economy’
How much longer will it take for the United States economy to fully recover from the financial crisis that occurred a few years ago? Well, there is no timeframe, but the U.S. central bank head said there is still a long way to go. The text of Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen’s … [Read more...]
Jim Rogers: Time to buy gold will happen within two years
Since the beginning of the year, gold has made some gains and is presently trading at around the $1,300 mark. The big financial institutions project the yellow metal to fall this year to near $1,000, while some contrarian investors say gold will rise substantially in the next few … [Read more...]
Timothy Geithner says U.S. should have responded quicker to financial crisis
Former United States Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner made an appearance on MSNBC’s "Morning Joe" on Wednesday to discuss the economic crisis and the Great Recession that transpired during his time in the Obama administration. Geithner, who is now the president of private equity … [Read more...]
Growing number of Americans think their standard of living will diminish in retirement
Since the Great Recession, older American workers’ savings, investment and retirement accounts were seriously depleted as they became worthless and households had to dip into these funds to cover their bills. What about younger Americans and their retirement in the next few decades? … [Read more...]
