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he AARP, formerly the The American Association of Retired Persons, sent U.S. senators a letter last week asking them to oppose any increases in Medicare copayments. But the self-described pro-senior group hasn’t acknowledged that it has a financial stake in the debate’s outcome. (Snip) The AARP collects 4.95 percent of every dollar United HealthCare takes in from AARP members’ Medigap plan premiums. Not allowing Medigap plans to cover seniors’ Medicare copayment costs is a disincentive for AARP members to continue purchasing the supplemental coverage. In its letter to Congress, the AARP made no mention of any financial stake it may

Do you live in a "gayborhood"? Are you part of an Armenian sub-community or do you reside among black farmers and agriculturists? These and myriad other questions that most of us have never thought to ask will be answered Aug. 15, the day the Citizen's Redistricting Commission is scheduled to release its final maps. .. Among the criteria that the commission must consider when drawing its boundaries is "community of interest," a concept so vague as to remind one of Justice Potter Stewart's famous definition of pornography - "I know it when I see it." Knowing a community when one...

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) — The Federal Reserve on Wednesday said it was surprised by the recent weakness in the economy but that the recovery would pick up later this year as it kept interest rates at historic lows and said a controversial bond buying program would end as planned. The Federal Open Market Committee of the Fed said the moderate pace of growth and the weaker labor market were weaker than expected. The FEd said it expects inflation to subside as past energy prices and other commodity prices moderate. The statement came as the FOMC said it was shifting policy to...

Forrest Yeager, a 91-year-old resident of this seaside community, had been counting on his retirement savings to last until he died. The odds are moving against him. With short-term bank CDs paying less than 1%, the World War II veteran expects his remaining $45,000 stash to yield just a few hundred dollars this year. So, he's digging deeper into his principal to supplement his $1,500 monthly income from Social Security and a small pension. "It hurts," says Mr. Yeager, who estimates his bank savings will be depleted in about six years at his current rate of withdrawal. "I don't even...

NEW YORK—While Federal Reserve officials openly feud over the right time to begin tightening monetary policy, Treasury investors are starting to lean with the hawks. U.S. Treasurys last week endured their longest losing streak in more than two decades—nine consecutive days—and ended the worst quarter since late 2009 as U.S. government bondholders brace for the end of "quantitative easing" and a sooner-than-expected interest-rate increase. The yield on the two-year note, which is traditionally the most sensitive to shifting monetary-policy outlooks, touched 0.901% on Friday, the highest level since May 10, before trading at 0.805% late in the day.

By Greg Robb WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) - The Federal Reserve should hike interest rates from current range near zero to 2.5% within a year under a plan unveiled Friday by Charles Plosser, the president of the Philadelphia Federal Reserve Bank. Plosser did not give a specific time when this exit would begin but said it would have to start in the "not-too-distant future." In a speech to economists from the monetarist school on Friday, Plosser laid out an aggressive plan where the Fed would sell $125 billion of assets for each 25 basis point increase in the funds rate. A slower...

Congress‘ chief scorekeeper says President Obama’s budget never achieves primary balance, the key measure the White House said would show the country is living within its means. In a preliminary analysis the budget Mr. Obama sent to Capitol Hill last month, the Congressional Budget Office says deficits will total $9.5 trillion over the next decade and never once will it be in balance — even when subtracting interest costs. The closest the government will come to balance is in 2018, when the deficit will be $902 billion and net interest costs are projected to be $725 billion — still leaving...

In effect since 1913 and long considered an untouchable provision of the tax code, the mortgage interest deduction as we know it may not be around to celebrate its 100th birthday. The National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform is recommending that the mortgage interest deduction no longer be an itemized deduction; instead, it would be transformed into a non-refundable tax credit equivalent to 12 percent of interest paid on mortgages up to $500,000. What this would mean for taxpaying homeowners is up for debate. According to the National Association of Realtors, progress has been made recently in bringing stability...

Bond market investors are showing the greatest confidence in global economic growth since credit markets crashed three years ago. Yields on debt securities are rising for a fourth month as prices fall, the longest stretch since June 2008, according to Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Global Broad Market Index, which tracks the performance of more than 19,000 securities valued at about $39 trillion. While the highest-rated debt, from U.S. Treasuries toMicrosoft Corp. debentures, are falling, the riskiest company notes are returning the most in eight years. “We've just experienced the first several months of a bear market in bonds,” said...

U.S. Federal Reserve Board chairman Ben Bernanke recently congratulated himself on CNBC for helping boost the Russell 2000 stock index by 30 per cent. The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank just published a report that claims the second round of quantitative easing – so-called QE2 – is a success because the U.S. inflation rate is a percentage point higher than it would have been absent the Fed intervention. Investors should realize how irrational this all is. The United States is in a radical money-easing environment, in which the Fed is keeping interest rates artificially low while pumping money into the...

Credit card (CC)rates could reach as high as 59.9%, according to a new CNN Money article that explored the one down side of the Credit CARD Act: Interest rates. The article revealed that CC are now hovering at near-record highs, averaging as much as 14.72%. However, for new customers with poor credit, rates could soar significantly higher because this is one area that the act did not touch on.No Limits on Rates for New Customers The Credit CARD Act, which took effect in Feb. 2010, made...changes in regard to interest rates. Here are a few: Rates can’t be increased within...

It is not independent, it is an arm of Treasury. Everything you were told was a scam and a lie - yet another time for But the new rules have slowly begun to catch the attention of market analysts. Many are at once surprised that the Fed can set its own guidelines, and also relieved that the remote but dangerous possibility that the world's most powerful central bank might need to ask the U.S. Treasury or its member banks for money is now more likely to be averted. The change essentially allows the Fed to denote losses by the various...

The giant US banks have been bailed out again from huge potential writeoffs by loosey-goosey accounting accepted by the accounting profession and the regulators. They are allowed to accrue interest on non-performing mortgages ” until the actual foreclosure takes place, which on average takes about 16 months. All the phantom interest that is not actually collected is booked as income until the actual act of foreclosure. As a resullt, many bank financial statements actually look much better than they actually are. At foreclosure all the phantom income comes off gthe books of the banks. This means that Bank of America,...

We just hit another milestone in insanity. I’ve written before that thanks to its QE lite and QE 2 programs, the Fed is now officially the single, largest owner of US debt. However, even that nonsense pales in comparison to the Fed’s latest accomplishment, that of owning over $1 TRILLION in US debt. That’s right, as of yesterday afternoon the Fed now owns over $1 trillion in US debt. This amounts of over 7% of the US’s total debt, own by our central bank. Now, many commentators have pointed out the various ways in which this policy has endangered the...

SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — Gold futures sold off Friday on concerns China will soon take steps to rein in its inflation and move to increase interest rates. Gold for December delivery /quotes/comstock/21e!f:gc\z10 (GCZ10 1,368, -35.00, -2.49%) dropped $37.80, or 2.7%, to $1,365.50 an ounce on the Comex division of the New York Mercantile Exchange. That was gold’s largest one-day drop since early July. The contract earlier traded as low as $1,359.30 an ounce, according to FactSet Research. Gold had lost more than $30 overnight, but seemed to have recovered somewhat at the start of floor trading. Nervous investors, however, pulled...

Islamabad/New Delhi: In a shocking revelation, sources have told Zee News that a Radioactive Gamma Projectile has gone missing from Ghotki in Sindh province of Pakistan. Sources have also revealed that the equipment has been missing since last three months. ISI is investigating into the matter but no headway has been made in the case so far. Initially, the matter was being investigated by the local police but looking at the sensitivity of the matter, the Crisis Management Cell of Pakistan handed over this case to intelligence agency. Radioactive Gamma Projectile is a device which is used to store ‘Dirty...

Last week it was announced that Israel's Bank Hapoalim surprised all the analysts and posted a quarterly net profit of 513 million shekels. In other words, half a billion shekels plus 13 million shekels net profit for three months. I have nothing against Bank Hapoalim. On the contrary, their commissions are cheaper than the other banks and I am pleased that they are making a lot of money. Everything written in this article pertains to all the large banks. Something bothered me when I listened to the report of Bank Hapoalim's profits. The bank's economists explained that the surprising increase...

Even before there was an Obama administration, there was the hue and cry for the government to "do something" to stimulate the economy reeling from the Chris Dodd Bear Market and Recession. But there also were voices warning that stimulating the economy the way Barack Obama and congressional Democrats intended — massive government borrowing to fund massive spending on government employees and infrastructure; government interference in commerce; microscopic interest rates — was failure waiting to happen. Those voices recalled how Japan stimulated its economy 10 times after the credit bubble burst in 1990. Each time, Japan ramped up government spending...

The Future Of The Global Public Debt Explosion John Mauldin | May. 2, 2010, 8:48 AM | 462 | comment 5 Everyone and their brother intuitively knows that the current government fiscal deficits in the developed world are unsustainable. They have to be brought under control, but that requires some short-term pain. Today we look at a rather remarkable piece of research from the Bank of International Settlements (BIS) on what the fiscal crisis may morph into in the future, how much pain will be needed, and what will happen if various countries stay on their present courses. Some countries...

A new interest-free credit card, the first of its kind in North America, aims to reconcile Islamic canonical law and Western consumer culture. Until now, observant Muslims have been precluded from owning credit cards on which they pay interest, a violation of shariah law. The iFreedom Plus Master-Card, set to be available in the coming days, promises no bills, no interest and no credit card debt. .... With the iFreedom Plus MasterCard, holders load up their card with cash in advance, up to $6,000. Each purchase draws down on the account without accruing interest. .... Because the new product doesn't...