The less you make, the more they take.
I loved Esquire's "The More You Weigh, the More You Pay"--proposing that Americans get weighed at a federal weigh station so they can be assessed a flab tax--by Joshua Foer. It was a spoof, of course, but executed with enough wit to make a good point. It reminded me...

Economic indicators.
Market Rates and Bond Yields--% Mar. Sept. Mar. 2006 2005 2005 Reserve Bank Discount 5.53 4.59 3.58 Prime Rate (monthly average) 7.53 6.59 5.58 Federal Funds Rate 4.59 3.62 2.63 3-Month Treasury Bills 4.51 3.42 2.74 6-Month Treasury Bills 4.62 3.67 3.00 3-Month Certificates of Deposit 4.88 3.87 2.97...

Annuity vs. lump sum--investors choose wisely.
NTCA's Retirement & Security (R&S) Program offers participants the option to take a lump-sum payment in lieu of a monthly annuity at retirement. In making this decision, retiring employees also should consider whether they want to become investment managers after retirement. In taking a lump-sum form of...

Automating compliance: software solutions may save you money as you cope with new regulations.
As this article took shape, storage firm Iron Mountain lost backup tapes containing the personal records of 600,000 past and present Time Warner employees, and DSW announced that hackers had infiltrated its database, accessing personal information from 1.4 million credit and debit cards. In the past six months, George...

Economic indicators.
Market Rates and Bond Yields--% June Dec. June 2005 2004 2004 Reserve Bank Discount 4.01 3.15 2.01 Prime Rate (monthly average) 6.01 5.14 4.00 Federal Funds Rate 3.04 2.16 1.03 3-Month Treasury Bills 2.97 2.19 1.27 6-Month Treasury Bills 3.13 2.43 1.60 3-Month Certificates of Deposit 3.38 2.45 1.46...

FTC steps up consumer privacy action.
While the Federal Trade Commission's (FTC) highest consumer-protection priority is still deceptive and fraudulent advertising and marketing practices, its recent settlement with BJ's Wholesale Club Inc. indicates just how serious the agency is about protecting consumers' privacy. The FTC has issued orders against several marketers, including Guess?...

Withdrawal declined.
After his shift at Hershey Foods, Jacob Evans of Memphis, Tennessee, drove home--right into a kidnapping. Arriving at home, Evans and a friend riding with him were immediately accosted by two men in their 20s who were carrying guns. The two armed men told Evans' friend to...

Financially distressed consumers' information search for retirement plans.
Using data from the Mature Market Survey (MMS) from an educational foundation, this study examined financially distressed consumers' information search behavior for retirement plans. Findings showed that financially distressed consumers sought financial information from media and professional services when making a retirement plan. Age, income, and gender were found...

Fundraising new idea: online payment "smart codes" that can reproduce.
Introduction While looking for better ways to publish a newsletter online, this writer, who designed and wrote software in a previous career, invented what looks like a new tool for online commerce. This article outlines fundraising possibilities of this "smart codes" design for computer-controlled money, with financial...

GMA releases P17.5-B IRA; LGUs launch livelihood program Kilos Asenso LGUs to attain self-reliance, says ULAP.
President Arroyo ordered yesterday the release of R17.5 billion for local government units (LGUs), the amount representing their withheld Internal Revenue Allotment (IRA) shares, before a large gathering of local officials on the 14th anniversary celebration of the Local Government Code at the Manila Hotel. The President...