“Uh Oh: Personal Finance Writers Are Already Telling People to Save The Money From The Payroll Tax Holiday - CNBC” plus 1 more |
| Posted: 08 Dec 2010 07:31 AM PST US News Page 1 of 3 | Next PageShow Entire Article Uh Oh: Personal Finance Writers Are Already Telling People to Save The Money From The Payroll Tax Holiday CNBC.com | December 08, 2010 | 10:33 AM EST The Obama administration hopes that a one-year, 2 percent cut in payroll taxes will stimulate spending by consumers and give the economy a boost. But if the reaction from personal finance sites is any indication, consumers are likely to save more of the money than the administration hopes. Take SmartMoney. This morning it came out with a rather straight-forward article entitled "What To Do With A Payroll Tax Cut." It begins by pointing out that the Obama administration has a theory that this kind of tax cut—which delivers a small boost in workers' paychecks—will encourage more spending and provide more economic stimulus than the Bush era rebate checks did. (This theory is, to say the least, unproven. We pointed out some serious flaws in it yesterday.) But when it comes down to giving the actual advice about how to use the tax cut, Smart Money goes in the other direction. The very first thing it advises is that people put their money in an 401(k) or an IRA to "juice retirement savings." Page 1 of 3 | Next PageShow Entire Article © 2010 CNBC.com All Rights Reserved This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
| Personal Finance: Finding debtors on Facebook - Washington Post Posted: 02 Dec 2010 11:16 PM PST When it come to debt collectors trying to track down debtors, one might say all is fair in the world of Facebook. At least that's how things went for one Florida woman who is suing a debt collection company for sending her messages on Facebook about a $362 car loan debt. She's also upset the company contacted family members in an effort to get them to have her call the agency. As the Associated Press reported, the collection agency, Mark One, used Melanie Beacham's Facebook profile to reach out to her. Beacham was not too pleased about this. Her lawsuit claims that Mark One contacted her six to 10 times a day by phone, sent her a text message, contacted her neighbor and sent a courier to deliver a letter to her workplace. "It's an invasion of privacy on steroids," said Billy Howard, Beacham's attorney. Senators Al Franken (D-Minn.) and George LeMieux (R-Fla.) have proposed legislation to stop online harassment by debt collectors. Some of its provisions include prohibiting debt collectors from seeking arrest warrants to collect on debts and increasing penalties on debt collectors who break the law to discourage them from employing bad practices. "Unscrupulous debt collectors are using every tool at their disposal to make a buck, sometimes targeting the wrong person, going after debts that have already been collected, or harassing family members," Franken said in a release about the legislation. The legislation doesn't specifically prevent creditors from finding people on Facebook. So what's my take? If the debt collection agency used Facebook to harass the Florida woman, the company should be punished. However, if the company simply used its smarts to track down a debtor that truly owed the money, I can't fault them for that. There is no question that there are some unsavory, sleazy, nasty collection agencies out there. I would not help them collect a penny. But there are also people running from their debts or ignoring them. That's not right either. And if you put your business on Facebook, chronicling every trifling detail of your life, then hey, you open yourself up to being tracked down. That's what I think. What about you? This week's Color of Money Question: Should debt collection companies be able to use social media sites such as Facebook to track down debtors? Send your responses to colorofmoney@washpost.com and put "Finding Debtors on Facebook" in the subject line. The Little Faces of Foreclosure It shouldn't surprise anyone that children are being adversely affected by foreclosures. This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service — if this is your content and you're reading it on someone else's site, please read our FAQ page at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php |
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