States Resort to Suspending Licenses in Effort to Collect Student Debt

By Allen Kors

The student loan bubble has ripened to such an extent that over 7 million debtors were in default as of mid-2014 and they're holding on to over $100 billion in outstanding debt. Consequently, both private and federal lenders are exploring a variety of tactics to collect outstanding payments. Those payments, after all, represent forecasted revenues that never arrived. One such tactic employed by the Education Department is engaging private debt collectors to bring in borrowed money. While they often rely on unethical (and illegal) pressure tactics to coerce borrowers to start paying, these glorified bounty hunters have earned over $1.6 billion in commissions and bonuses from 2010 – 2013. Still, when engaging debt collectors just doesn’t cut it, many states resort to other, more punitive means. 22 States have passed litigation that permits them to suspend professional and/or driver's licenses of student loan defaulters. [more...]

Tax Day - It's Not What You Make, It's What You Keep

By Michelle Seiler-Tucker

Your U.S. Federal taxes are due. The average work week is over 40 hours now, and the IRS has decided to veer from its job description and play the role of U.S. job creator as well, after requesting funds for 9,000 new positions that would work to enforce Obamacare regulations. These additional jobs will count as added Gross Domestic Product (GDP), which means more people working on taking rather than making something useful like a service or product, which means someone - you, a U.S. citizen - will be taking on the burden of financially covering the expenses via heightened taxes. Each year the IRS makes changes to the tax code, and this year is no exception. One out of every four businesses will be affected by the Affordable Care Act. For those businesses or individuals that do not offer private insurance, market insurance, or any type of qualifying insurance at all, they will be required to pay the dreaded fine. However, despite proposals for ongoing increased costs, there are ways to bypass and cash in on the ultimate tax refund. [more...]

Government's Next Tax Target - Your Bank Account

By Lowell Ponte

Tax Day, April 15, reminds us of just how overtaxed we have become and how a circular cage of taxes on earning, spending, investing and saving is being created to snare us. If you earn money to live on, you face income taxes nationally as well as from 41 of the 50 states. If you buy anything, you face sales taxes in all but five states – and some local sales taxes in those five. In D.C., politicians now talk enthusiastically about imposing a national European-style sales tax, an easily-increased Value-Added Tax (VAT) to soak both companies and consumers. If you invest what little money you have left after paying all your other taxes, get ready to pay capital gains taxes, which the current administration aims to increase. [more...]

Build Your Business to Sell

By Michelle Seiler-Tucker

Entrepreneurs dream of the day they can call themselves business owners. They want to grow their ideas into tangible results, be their own boss and obtain financial freedom. However, the reality is that many of these individuals end up creating another job for themselves in which to work, rather than a business that works for them. The biggest mistake business owners make is that they do not plan their exit strategy. Most business owners decide to sell upon the occurrence of a catastrophic event, in which case their business is typically trending downward. The BEST time to sell is when your company is thriving, not dying. [more...]

Congress’s Budget Proposal to Slash Student Aid

By Allen Kors

The recent Republican budget proposal to slash student aid by $150 billion represents an egregious elimination of vital support for our higher education system.  The United States faces $1.3 trillion in outstanding student debt, a three-fold increase in tuition cost over the past 30 years, and an increasingly competitive labor market for college graduates.  These variables have created an environment in which a college education is increasingly necessary in order to achieve the "American Dream," now that a college education is becoming less accessible than ever before.

The higher education system is evolving, yes, but cutting off access to the lifeblood of our economy and workforce at this pivotal inflection point may cause irreparable harm to our rising generation of producers and creators.  The recent proposal in Congress includes cutting Pell Grants by $90 billion, slashing in-school interest subsidies by $34 billion, and eliminating benefits and safety net programs for borrowers by $27 billion.  To establish the severity of these proposed cuts, the Pell Grant used to cover 80% of college costs in 1975, and is projected to cover only 20% by 2025.  It helps put 9 million students through school each year.  That means that while the purchasing power of the Pell Grant is already organically deteriorating based on inflation and rising tuition costs, the government is accelerating its extinction by actually reducing the size of the Pell Grant fund itself.  That alone is like a double whammy hit to college accessibility.

We cannot sit back and allow this to happen.  These programs are integral to the success of our nation.  Education is a portal to achievement and fundamental to our people’s evolution.  We must put an end to these proposals and unite in support, not abandonment, of our nation’s students.  If you agree, please show your support by signing the Student PIRGs petition: bitly.com/helpsavestudentaid. [more...]

The Fed Just Made a Big Move That's Great for Big Business, But Awful for You

By Lowell Ponte

How did political appointees take control of our economy? Can we ever find our way back to free markets and honest money? Would the Federal Reserve keep a key interest rate at or near zero, continuing to give free money to the biggest corporations and banks, the casino known as Wall Street, and the growing federal government? Business networks counted down to the economy-shaking Fed announcement: the easy cash will keep coming until at least June – and perhaps until 2017. [more...]

In the End, the Government Wins Again... if You Let Them

By Bill Tatro

When it comes to wills, most people procrastinate.  They say, "I’ll get to that later," "I don’t have enough money to worry about," or "It’s way too expensive."  Most recently a colleague of mine quoted an appalling statistic - appalling because for over 30 years I have been calling out to America through radio, television, newspapers, seminars and the Internet, to get their legal/financial affairs in order. The statistic he quoted was that in 2014, 72% of all the deceased in America passed away without so much as a simple will.  Was he accurate?  I have no reason to believe he wasn’t but if even only half of his statistic was true, the number is stunning. The reality is that procrastination is a decision - to allow the government, the courts and attorneys to determine the what, who and how of the distribution of your assets and even the guardianship of your children. [more...]