Progress Through Business, Inc.

March 11, 2009 - A wave of US companies are suspending payments to their staff 401(k) retirement plans in a bid to cut costs amid the economic downturn.

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/ad0dbbb0-0ddc-11de-8ea3-0000779fd2ac.html

Here’s a plan that could solve the toxic-asset pricing problem voluntarily—without requiring Uncle Sam to nationalize the whole industry—and make (pretty much) everyone a winner.

FEBRUARY 2009 • Lowell Bryan and Toos Daruvala, Consultants in Financial Services

As the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act begins to effect, communities across the country are beginning to evaluate the impact on their local economies, and how best to quickly and efficiently put people to work. The map below provides a state-by-state look at how many jobs are expected to be created or saved by the plan.

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/obamaforamerica/gGxRfX

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama on Thursday named a New York City politician to a new White House post coordinating urban affairs. Bronx Borough President Adolfo Carrion's appointment as White House director of urban affairs "will bring long overdue attention to the

www.recovery.gov

CARMEN M. REINHART and KENNETH S. ROGOFF; FEBRUARY 3, 2009, 8:45 A.M.

Perhaps the Obama administration will be able to bring a surprisingly early end to the ongoing U.S. financial crisis. We hope so, but it is not going to be easy. Until now, the U.S. economy has been driving straight down the tracks of past severe financial crises, at least according to a variety of standard macroeconomic indicators we evaluated in a study for the National Bureau of Economic Research (NBER) last December.

Double renewable energy capacity in three years, creating enough additional capacity to power 6 million homes.

Leverage $100 billion to finance private-sector clean-energy initiatives.

Expand the child tax credit, which would provide a new tax cut to the families of more than 6 million children and increase the existing credit for the families of more than 10 million children.

Expand COBRA, the temporary healthcare program that newly unemployed workers can get when they lose their health insurance.

Published: January 25, 2009

If you have a 401(k) retirement plan at work, you don’t need us to tell you that you’ve taken a hit in the past year. The really bad news is that the damage to your retirement security is likely worse than what the numbers say on your statement.

Many Americans didn’t have enough savings coming into the downturn. And employers are increasingly cutting back or suspending their 401(k) match. FedEx, Eastman Kodak, Motorola, General Motors and Ford, among others, have announced such moves.

USGBC periodically seeks comments on proposed drafts of LEED Rating Systems, credits, and new issues. Learn about the comment process and comment on any open issues below.

Comment Process

Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) Day

Each year the Internal Revenue Service designates January 30, as Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) day. The awareness day is held annually to increase participation in the EITC program, and encourage the use of Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) sites, and similar tax preparation services that are absolutely free to the public.

Earned Income Tax Credits (EITC) was established in 1975 to offset higher Social Security taxes, and increase the incentive to work.

As the recession deepens, President-elect Barack Obama is gearing up to spend hundreds of billions of dollars on public investment projects, counting on them to lift the economy, as they have in the past. But this time that may not happen.

By Louis Uchetelle, NY Times. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/21/weekinreview/21uchitelle.html?_r=1&ref...

Cascade Asset Management, a Madison-based recycler of electronic equipment, with which Progress Through Business works, has joined with the Basel Action Network and the Electronics TakeBack Coalition to prevent the dumping of toxic electronic waste in developing countries and local landfills. establish a certification program for recycling so-called e-waste.

The first of the Bush administration's major financial takeovers, the seizure of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, is poised to get more expensive and some analysts are warning that it may ultimately cost more than the government has suggested.

Mounting troubles in the financial and housing markets have further undermined the health of the companies in the months since the government seized them in September, making it likely the Treasury will be required to pump billions of dollars into the mortgage-finance giants.

After the bank bail-out, it is now Detroit’s carmakers who are pleading for help

If nothing else, the revelation by General Motors (GM) on November 7th that it is in danger of running out of cash before the end of the year has concentrated minds. The reaction within the embattled car industry, and in Washington, DC, has been the same: we knew it was bad, but we did not know it was that bad. Ford is in a similar position, although its cash should hold out for a few months longer.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson signaled a significant shift on Nov. 12 in how the Bush Administration aims to apply the remaining $400 billion available under the federal government's bailout plan, saying the department would focus increasingly on consumer debt, nonbank financial companies, and homeowners facing foreclosure.

Paulson made clear he no longer plans large-scale purchases of questionable mortgage-related securities, the original model for the $700 billion financial-rescue plan.

Dalecia Apple would buy what she wanted when she wanted it. If the Newark teen had $20, it was gone by the end of the day. All that changed after a summer of learning about savings, budgeting and the ins and outs of how to be a bank teller.

In an effort to help educate young people about financial planning and to introduce Newark stu dents, including Apple, to careers in finance, Capital One opened a bank branch at West Side High School yesterday.

"I was not good at saving at all, but now I have control of my money," Apple said, laughing. "It doesn't feel good to be broke."

The level of foreclosure activity in the state continued to intensify last month, showing a dramatic 75 percent increase over last year, even as the number of properties actually going to auction dropped off slightly.

Foreclosure filings on 8,473 properties across the state were filed in October, with Essex, Bergen and Salem counties driving the activity, according to the latest data compiled by RealtyTrac, an online marketplace for foreclosed properties.

There were both alarming numbers and curious wrinkles behind the state's foreclosure activity.

WASHINGTON — The prospects of a government rescue for the foundering American automakers dwindled Thursday as Democratic Congressional leaders conceded that they would face potentially insurmountable Republican opposition during a lame-duck session next week.

Senator Christopher J. Dodd said Thursday that he did not think there would be enough Republican support in the Senate to get the 60 votes needed to move an emergency aid bill forward.

Not so long ago, corporate giants with names like PanAm, ITT and Montgomery Ward roamed the earth. They faded and were replaced by new companies with names like Microsoft, Southwest Airlines and Target. The U.S. became famous for this pattern of decay and new growth. Over time, American government built a bigger safety net so workers could survive the vicissitudes of this creative destruction — with unemployment insurance and soon, one hopes, health care security.

AS RECENTLY as a month ago, there were still hopes that America and Europe might just pull back from the precipice of a recession. Those hopes have been dashed. The economies of the rich world seem to have fallen off a cliff. The question now is the height of the drop.