Larry Elkin in Entrepreneur
June 30, 2011Entrepreneur, June 30, 2011 Larry Elkin revisits key advice when facing an IRS audit.
The Postal Service’s Gloomy Twilight
June 30, 2011Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night will stop the postman from delivering your mail. Unfortunately, the bill for such high-end customer service is officially out of control. Bloomberg Businessweek’s cover story for the week of May 30, focusing on the United States Postal Service, created a lot of discussion on the topic, but the crisis in our post office has been a long time coming. The …
A Mild Pain Reliever With A Risk Of Side Effects
June 29, 2011Connecticut’s much-ballyhooed new law requiring some businesses to provide paid sick leave to some workers is pretty mild medicine, economically, but it still could have some unpleasant side effects. The legislation that takes effect in January is the first in the nation to mandate paid sick leave on a state level. Under the new law, employees classified as “service workers” must accrue at least five days of paid sick leave …
Mixed Reviews At Home But Boffo In Beijing
June 28, 2011President Obama’s decision to tap America’s Strategic Petroleum Reserve is getting mixed reviews at home, but some foreign audiences should be on their feet to applaud. Beijing’s central planners must love the American president’s determination to bring down the price of their imported oil without asking them to touch one drop of their own strategic reserves. Italy’s business and political elite, cut off from their usual supply of light, sweet …
The Politics Of Courage
June 27, 2011New Yorkers do not often have a chance to be proud of their politicians, but Friday’s vote to permit same-sex marriage provides a good reason for pride, gay or otherwise. Combined with yet another disappointing, me-first performance on the issue by President Obama, Friday’s vote also offers an object lesson in the politics of courage. New York’s rookie Gov. Andrew Cuomo deserves a lot of the credit for making his …
Paul Jacobs in Daily Finance
June 25, 2011Daily Finance, June 25, 2011 Paul Jacobs encourages couples to coordinate their investments for successful retirement planning.
New Ethics Rules, Same Old Albany
June 24, 2011The new ethics law passed by the New York State Legislature last week promises to clean up Albany once and for all. Then again, so did the ethics reform laws of 2010, 2007, 2005 and 1987. Despite all those reforms, Albany remains about as well “cleaned up” as the typical 12-year-old’s bedroom. A study by Citizens Union found that as Albany produced its series of ethics reforms, it was also …
Benjamin Sullivan in CNN Money
June 23, 2011CNN Money, June 23, 2011Benjamin Sullivan offers advice to a family looking to move to a larger home.
Why A Nobel Prize Is Not Enough
June 23, 2011In a recent opinion piece in The New York Times, Peter Diamond, a Massachusetts Institute of Technology economist, wondered how it could be that the Senate Banking Committee hadn’t approved his nomination to the Federal Reserve. After all, as Diamond points out in his first sentence and in many subsequent ones, he won a Nobel Prize. “Last October,” he wrote, “I won the Nobel Prize in economics for my work …
States Get Aggressive With Self-Employed Nonresidents
June 22, 2011Seven years ago Hilary LaMonte, then a resident of Virginia, made a mistake: She failed to file an Iowa state tax return. She repeated the mistake in each of the following two years. Now she owes Iowa around $35,000, according to a Letter of Findings from the state’s Department of Revenue. From 2003 to 2005, LaMonte worked as an independent contractor for the Iowa Association of School Boards, receiving between …
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