Democrats are abandoning their demand for a surtax on millionaires to help finance payroll tax cuts in a sign that lawmakers are trying to broker a compromise on Congress’ highest-profile year-end dispute.
Even so, there is no clear path to quick bipartisan agreement on the legislation, which would prevent an automatic Social Security tax increase on 160 million workers and the expiration of jobless benefits for people out of work the longest. Both would occur Jan. 1 without congressional action.
Lawmakers are also embroiled in a squabble over a huge, separate spending bill, a dispute that would force a shutdown of most of the government on Saturday unless it is resolved. Neither party wants to risk the wrath of voters by shuttering government doors.
Republicans say they plan to try winning House approval for a $1 trillion measure financing dozens of agencies through next September.
But that means a conflict with the White House, whose communications director, Dan Pfeiffer, said President Barack Obama had problems with some social, environmental and other provisions in the legislation. P
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Reflections on My Attempt To Save Money By Driving Less. Of the resolutions I made a year ago, several were concerned with cutting my costs and improving my finances. Most of these resolutions existed in the world of budgets and long-term plans, investments and credit card use. But one of them was different from the rest: my resolution to drive less in 2011 and see if I could save enough money to justify the occasional loss of convenience. My Journey to Millions
Do I Have An Obsession With Early Retirement? After my post counting down my years until early retirement earlier this week, I received a very thoughtful e-mail from reader Tim. My Money Blog
Should You File Your Own Taxes? Tax time just began in the United States. If you’re like me you are compiling receipts, financial documents, and impatiently waiting for W2s or 1099s to arrive in the mail. Y
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As you may have noticed, things are slow around here on the blog. The main reason is that Ive been busy on a book project that Im working on with a few other bloggers. Im hoping that it is mostly out of the way now and I can go back to my regular posting schedule in the New Year.
Thank you to all the readers who entered in the Quicken Home and Business 2012 Giveaway. The winner, chosen at random is Philip S. Ive contacted Philip with instructions on where to download Quicken. If you really, really must have a copy of Quicken, Intuit is selling it for $49.99 ($60 off the list price of $109.99) at participating retailers such as Staples, Best Buy and Future Shop between Dec. 26, 2011 and Jan. 6, 2012. (Thanks to gene for sharing this deal with readers.)
Before I sign off for the year, I want to take a moment to wish you and your loved ones a very Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Holidays and a very Happy New Year.
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One of the many difficulties of starting a small business is gaining access to capital during the startup phase. With the large growth in small specialty businesses across the country, credit card companies are beginning to design special programs to help this new breed of business achieve success. For even those small businesses that have access to capital, the perks and benefits associated with small business credit card programs, can still be useful to help you compete more effectively in the marketplace. Below are just six of the many ways in which a small business credit card can help your business to operate more smoothly and improve your bottom line.
Ease Your Cash Crunch
A small business credit card can ease your business’s cash woes. T
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Government proposes scheme to help elderly people to downsize from larger homes and suggests we should be planning to pay for any care we receive in later life.
The Government has proposed that elderly people in larger homes should be helped to downsize into smaller, rented properties to ease Britain’s housing crisis. It’s also suggested that care provision should be saved for in advance to avoid the prospect of people having to sell their homes to pay for the cost.
The rental scheme will allow people to rent their homes to local authorities, who in turn rent them out to young families.
The authorities would maintain the property and pass the income back to the homeowners or their estate.
Research says that 25 million bedrooms are empty in family homes in England. Hou
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