Congress failed to agree on a spending bill for the fiscal year starting October 1, 2013, resulting in the first government shutdown since 1995. According to the Congressional Research Service, this is the 18th time the federal government has shut down as a result of a failure to agree on an annual appropriations bill. Most shutdowns [...]
The White House announced on July 2, 2013, that it would delay implementation of the Affordable Care Act's reporting requirements applicable to large and mid-sized employers and health insurers for one year. As a result, the health insurance mandate applicable to these same employers will not be enforced until 2015. The announcement appeared in separate blog [...]
In the recently released Notice 2013-14, the IRS provided a bit of relief for employers who wish to take advantage of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC), which was retroactively extended by the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA). Employers now have until April 29, 2013, to file the qualified employee certification form with their [...]
If you like political drama, you're in luck. It seems like just yesterday the news was filled with references to the fiscal cliff. Now, coming to theaters everywhere, is "sequestration." Look for more political confrontation to unfold as sequestration gets under way. What exactly is sequestration? "Sequestration" refers to a series of automatic, across-the-board spending cuts [...]
The stock market caught everybody off-guard on Friday August 3rd; the S&P 500 index climbed 1.90% on news that the U.S. economy created 163,000 new jobs in July--about 60% more than economists were expecting. Or maybe it was attributed to excitement over the Grand Opening of our new offices in Bellevue, Kentucky. Somehow I doubt this [...]
I have been investing for 38 years. While many cycles have been less fun than others, the markets of recent memory rank as my least favorite. Information travels at the speed of light and public markets respond to news just that quickly. What the market sees as positive one day can send the market into a [...]
These days, as Congress debates the debt ceiling issue, Social Security is suddenly front page news again. If you want to see the lighter side of the debate, click here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OAnI6y-xC84&feature=related. The first thing to understand is that there IS a solvency problem with Social Security. Alice Munnell, Director for the Center for Retirement Research at [...]
In their February 7th issue, Bloomberg Businessweek ran an extensive article on youth unemployment, detailing its impact and problems and how it is driving political change throughout the world. http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_07/b4215058743638.htm As I read the article, what occurred to me is that the paradigm created by our modern world is one that takes from the young and [...]
The Tax Relief, Unemployment Insurance Reauthorization, and Job Creation Act of 2010, signed into law on December 17, 2010, is the end result of President Obama's compromise with the GOP to extend the "Bush tax cuts" set to expire at year-end. In addition to providing a 13-month extension of benefits for the long-term unemployed and extending [...]
In March of 2010, President Obama signed two pieces of legislation into law, implementing the most pervasive health-care reform since Medicare. Many of the reforms that relate to business and employers don't take effect until 2014. Here are some of the important highlights of health-care reform from the perspective of employers and businesses. Health insurance not [...]