Congress has a lot of its plate, but financial services would like to see a retirement income security bill get passed before the end of the year.
Read moreWith control of Congress divided between Democrats and Republicans, the efforts to reform health care will shift to the states over the next two years, a panel of consultants said.
The positive and negative aspects of the Trump presidency on insurance and financial planning.
The Trump administration took another punch at the Affordable Care Act by slashing funding for the navigator program that provides…
Republicans released a revised end-of-year tax package this week that includes tax relief for victims of recent natural disasters, delays or repeals several Obamacare-related taxes, and jettisons the extensions of many expired breaks that had been included in an earlier bill.
–Low unemployment rates and continued positive growth in both GDP and real disposable income are among the key drivers that will propel the U.S. consumer credit market in 2019. Partly due to the strong performance of these economic indicators, TransUnion’ s 2019 consumer credit forecast found that originations and consumer balances are expected to increase…
The new head of the U.S. consumer watchdog agency says she doesn’t have immediate targets in mind for rolling back actions taken by her controversial predecessor, and will put protecting consumers in the forefront. Kathy Kraninger, nominated by President Donald Trump and confirmed by the Senate last week on a narrow, party-line vote, has replaced Mick Mulvaney as director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
“I am a Tariff Man,” Trump tweeted last week.“ When people or countries come in to raid the great wealth of our Nation, I want them to pay for the privilege of doing so…. We are right now taking in$ billions in Tariffs. About half the $200 bn worth of goods you’ ve already put tariffs on come almost exclusively from China, which means American consumers are taking a hit this…
–The competition for skilled talent is set to rise in the first quarter of 2019 as employers across the U.S. are reporting the strongest hiring intentions in 12 years, according to the latest ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey. *More than 12,500 U.S. employers report double-digit Outlooks across all four regions indicating continued employer optimism.
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump’ s intensifying legal troubles are unnerving some of his fellow Republicans. For some Republicans, the implication that the president may have directed a campaign finance violation, which would be a felony, could foreshadow a true turning point in the Republican relationship with him when special counsel Robert Mueller…
Major global stock indexes are mostly lower Monday morning, though losses are milder than last week’s rout. The British pound is falling and U.K. stocks are higher following reports that a key vote on Britain’s departure from the European Union could be scrapped.
That likely took a toll elsewhere, even as lawmakers and policymakers in Maryland, along with some other states, worked to protect their insurance markets and make insurance more affordable. For example, the Trump administration cut funding for enrollment assistance to about $10 million, down from $63 million two years ago. Maryland has doubled its paid…
The U.S. economy added 155,000 jobs in November and kept unemployment at 3.7 percent, the lowest in almost 50 years, the Bureau of Labor Statistics said Friday. Average hourly earnings for private workers rose by 6 cents to $27.35 per hour. General Motors cited tariffs as one of the main reasons why it’s laying off thousands of workers and closing several plans.
White House political director Bill Stepien and deputy Justin Clark are leaving the administration to work on President Donald Trump’s re-election campaign. Their plans were confirmed by two people with knowledge of their thinking who weren’t authorized to speak publicly before an official announcement. Stepien oversaw Trump’s midterm campaign push, which included rallies intended to help limit GOP losses. Republicans kept control of the Senate, but lost their House majority.
The Senate has approved President Trump’s nominee to run the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, after a nearly six-month, highly partisan battle over the fate of the federal consumer watchdog agency. The vote was 50-49 in favor of approving Kathy Kraninger, who currently is an official inside the White House’s budget office.
The Senate passed a stop-gap spending bill Thursday, averting a government shutdown for another two weeks as President Donald Trump seeks funding for his U.S.- Mexico border wall. Democrats have been reluctant to approve the full amount– the House included $5 billion for border security in its Department of Homeland Security bill and the Senate’s included…
Does the Fed have “an absolute duty” to push the unemployment rate as low as it can go until we see real evidence of inflationary pressures? This columnist thinks so. Just five years ago, the median estimate at the Fed was 5.4 percent. Now it’s much lower.
Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell says we have no choice but to cut Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. GM says it will be closing five plants and laying off 14,000 workers because of the added expense of importing steel and aluminum plus and the added taxes on U.S. vehicles abroad.
Asian stocks traded higher and U.S. stock futures also rallied after the announcement of a 90- day ceasefire in the trade war between the United States and China. The ceasefire was formalized at a meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping, who met over the weekend at the G-20 summit in Argentina. President Trump announced that…
-34 percent in U.S. say healthcare coverage is excellent or good. -25 percent say cost is top U.S. health problem, 22 percent say access. Satisfaction with U.S. healthcare costs has never exceeded 28 percent, and was as low as 8 percent in May 1993, when President Bill Clinton was launching his ultimately failed attempt to reform the healthcare system.
The contingency planning is all the more striking because the Trump administration has refused to defend Obamacare in the lawsuit, effectively siding with the states that say the law is now invalid after Congress last year eliminated the individual mandate requiring almost all Americans to hold insurance. We want to make sure that people with preexisting…
The House’s top tax writer said Tuesday he is looking to pass a massive new package of tax law changes this year, hoping to strike a deal with Democrats to overhaul the IRS and preserve popular but temporary tax breaks. “We’re hopeful that working with the Senate constructively we can find a path for moving this bill to the president’s desk by the time Congress…
It’s estimated that the number will drop to 18 million for 2018 returns– or about a bit more than 10 percent of individual returns, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation. So do you need to really make a donation by Dec. 31? The standard deduction on 2018 returns is $12,000 for individuals, $18,000 for heads of household and $24,000 for married couples filing…
U.S. House Republicans on Monday unveiled a tax bill they plan to seek passage during the lame-duck session of Congress this week. The Democrats will take over the House when the 116th Congress convenes in January. “The policy proposals in this package have support of Republicans and Democrats in both chambers.
There’s an old saying that Wall Street economists have predicted eight of the last two recessions. Most of Wall Street’s top economic gurus thought Trump would crash the stock market and the world economy, and here we are with near 4 percent growth over the past six months.
The Independent Community Bankers of America issued the following letter to regulators:. To: Joseph Otting, Comptroller of the Currency, Washington, DC 20552. The Independent Community Bankers of America 1 appreciates this opportunity to provide feedback to the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency’s request for comments in response to its Advanced…
United States Senator Elizabeth Warren issued the following statement in response to news that pharmaceutical giant Pfizer is moving forward with plans to hike prices of 41 of its prescription drugs, after freezing prices for only four months:. “Pfizer’ promised’ it wouldn’t raise prices, then turned around and raised them anyway. After President Trump…
Democrats are understandably overjoyed at retaking the House of Representatives. Although Republicans retained the Senate, it was only due to an unusually favorable lineup of races that made a Democratic takeover virtually impossible. Second, Democrats now have control of the House’s investigative machinery.
A federal judge has ordered the U.S. government to release about 100 Iraqi nationals who are under deportation orders but have been in custody for more than six months. It’s the latest ruling from U.S. District Judge Mark Goldsmith in a dispute that began in 2017 when the government began rounding up Iraqis living in the U.S. with criminal records. He says Iraq has repeatedly told the Trump administration that it only will accept people who are willing to leave the U.S.
The tax cut was supposed to accomplish big things. Republicans thought it would give them a big electoral boost, and they predicted dramatic economic gains. But there’s no sign of the vast investment boom the law’s backers promised.
Nov. 16– Democrats took control of the House last week, creating a divided U.S. Congress. Question: Will divided control of Congress affect the economy? The midterm elections were not a slam dunk or “wave” for either party as Democrats barely managed to flip the House and Republicans slightly added to their already slight majority in the Senate.
With control of Congress divided between Democrats and Republicans, the efforts to reform health care will shift to the states over the next two years, a panel of consultants said.
But in the 2018 midterm elections, Democrats prevailed in the House because they managed to keep a singular and unrelenting focus on health care- refusing to take President Trump’s bait to engage in fights about MS-13, caravans, socialism, tax increases and other distractions du jour. Since Democrats have finally found the formula for defeating Trump, now comes…
Democrats won a narrow House majority appealing to minorities, college-educated women and suburbanites who want solutions to problems in their daily lives, not a revolution. Democrats who snatched Republican seats were largely moderates who ran on clean governments and incremental improvements to health care and other nettlesome issues— not promising…
Meanwhile, some of the key concerns of 2018 to date— protectionism, populism in Italy, higher oil prices and tougher conditions for emerging markets— have either escalated or remain firmly to the fore, the firm observed. “Despite President Trump announcing tariffs on a further US $200 billion of Chinese goods, we have raised our 2019 US GDP growth forecast by 0.2 pp…
The Democrats better start looking for someone to run against President Trump pretty soon. The person with the best perspective on what issues Democrats should run on is Tom Perez, Democratic National Committee chairman. Perez called the tax cuts reckless and said Republicans would go after Medicare and Social Security to pay for them.
Brown University issued the following news release:. In an address at Brown University one night after her reelection, the U.S. senator called on her personal story to argue for the role of government in creating broad economic opportunity in America. Elizabeth Warren in an address at Brown University one night after winning her reelection bid to Congress.
Election night yielded a little something for everyone. But what does it mean for insurance and financial services as a whole? We see three key takeaways, and not all of them are bad news.
In a new disclosure, San Francisco- based Wells said an expanded review found that approximately 870 customers were incorrectly denied or not offered loan modifications or repayment plans that would have made their mortgages more affordable. “We are sorry that these errors occurred,” Tom Goyda said. Affected customers were in the foreclosure process between…
Half of registered voters heading into Tuesday’s midterm elections believe their own member of Congress deserves re-election, by one percentage point the lowest Gallup has recorded in its final pre-election poll over the past seven midterm elections. In 1998 and 2002, the two election years when voters were most positive about re-electing members of…
But pigskin fanaticism is not politics, and Election Day isn’t game day. For the past two years, the national life has been marked by a raging national argument over the results of the presidential election that sent Donald Trump, the Republican, to the White House and Hillary Clinton, the Democrat, to the hinterlands. That dark mood kept both George W. Bush and Barack…
According to ” LivingWage.mit.edu”, a single person in Delaware working full time needs to earn $12.44/ hour with a 40- hour week for 52 weeks. If, however, one is earning Delaware’s minimum wage of $8.25 or $17,160/ year, one is well below the “living wage” and is probably working a second job just to break even. According to ” deptofnumbers.com/income/delaware,” the…
Former Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen said on Tuesday that the US’ s taking on too much debt right now and should raise taxes and retirement spending, according to a CNBC report. The US fiscal deficit rose 17% to US $779 billion in fiscal 2018 that ended Sep 30, according to data from the Treasury Department.
Many polls and analyses suggest — though hardly assure — that the Democrats could regain a majority in the House if their voters turn out in sufficient numbers in key races. If so, Trump would have to contend with a divided government instead of one with Republicans in complete control.
WASHINGTON- President Donald Trump has warned that if Democrats regain political power in the midterm elections, the U.S. economy would essentially implode. Democrats, he insists, would push tax hikes and environmental restrictions that stifle growth. If Democrats win control of the House in next week’s congressional elections, their legislative…
Sayoc, who appeared in court Monday, has been linked to several suspicious packages mailed to prominent Democrats last week. Monday, another suspicious package, which looked similar to the others, was intercepted at an Atlanta mail center addressed to CNN’s world headquarters. All the suspicious bombs were sent to prominent Democrats who have criticized and…
Hours earlier, authorities revealed that Cesar Sayoc, the man they accuse of terrorizing Democrats with homemade bombs last week, was a Trump supporter who drove a van with an image of Mrs. Clinton covered by target crosshairs. That did not faze the Trump crowd, which lustily booed the mention of Democrats including Mrs. Clinton, and broke into a round of ” CNN sucks”…
The U.S. economy grew at a 3.5 percent annual growth rate in the third quarter, considered strong but lower than the 4.2 percent rate at which it grew in the second quarter, according to a U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis report.
President Donald Trump has hosted a rally for several hundred young black conservative leaders from across the country to display African American support for his administration heading into the midterm elections. Even before he arrived Friday, they chanted: “We want Trump! We want Trump!” and “U.S.A, U.S.A.”
The Florida man in custody in connection with the package bombs sent to Democratic political figures is a fervent supporter of President Donald Trump with an extensive record of past arrests. Cesar Sayoc’s record includes a stint served on probation for making a bomb threat. He is an amateur body builder and businessman whose online resume describes him as a promotor and booking agent for male stripper and burlesque shows.
Oct. 23– WASHINGTON– Two weeks ahead of the high-stakes midterm elections, President Trump and Republicans are banking on “culture war” issues to galvanize the GOP base and boost voter turnout enough to help the party fend off a potential Democratic wave. For months the conventional wisdom of Republican strategists is that the more attention topics like…
WASHINGTON– Win or lose in the race for the majority, House Republicans are at risk of plunging into a messy leadership battle after the November election, with the party lacking a clear heir apparent to take the place of House Speaker Paul Ryan. President Donald Trump has signaled he’d be happy with next-in-line Kevin McCarthy, the majority leader, a longtime…
On the campaign trail last week, President Trump said he had been working on “a very major tax cut” for middle-income taxpayers. It caught many in Congress by surprise, but on Sunday, Treasury Secretary Mnuchin said he had been working with GOP House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady to develop a new plan that would be presented soon. When Fox News asked registered…
Under this new policy, states will be able to pursue waivers to improve their insurance markets, increase coverage options for their residents, and ensure that people with pre-existing conditions are protected.
Lugo is determined to support Democrats as they fight back, but she’s alarmed that a handful of friends and family have given up on voting. Many Democrats presumed that Latinos, who are largely clustered in a handful of states, would be better-positioned to flex their muscles and punish the president for his actions and rhetoric targeting Latino immigrants…
The Kremlin says it is concerned about U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to withdraw from a landmark nuclear weapons treaty. Trump announced on Saturday that the United States would walk away from the Intermediate-Range Nuclear Forces Treaty that the U.S. and the Soviet Union signed in 1987 in a major step to ease Cold War tensions.
In what is shaping up to be the most expensive U.S. congressional election in history, Democrats have had a distinct advantage in fundraising over Republicans throughout the midterm election cycle as they seek to break the GOP’s stranglehold on Congress. While Republicans are widely expected to preserve their slim 51- to-49-seat majority in the U.S. Senate…
Oct. 19– President Donald Trump has criticized the Federal Reserve for raising its benchmark interest rates for the third time this year. Question: Is the Federal Reserve being too aggressive in raising rates? NO: The Fed was irresponsible to lower interest rates far too low for far too long.
WASHINGTON— President Donald Trump keeps saying that Democrats want to model the United States on Venezuela. “The Fed is going wild. “The Fed is going loco, and there’s no reason for them to do it.
Chief Justice John Roberts defended the independence of the federal judiciary in the wake of a tense confirmation battle for Associate Justice Brett Kavanaugh to the U.S. Supreme Court. But ahead of an interview with University of Minnesota law professor Robert Stein, the chief justice addressed what he called “the contentious events in Washington of recent…
For someone buying the median U.S. home, their monthly mortgage payments are $118 higher, or $1,416 each year. Incoming economic data increasingly point to a booming U.S. economy, and this strength is pushing rates higher. The Federal Reserve has raised the target federal funds rate three times so far this year, with as many as five more expected through the end of…
The federal budget deficit has surged to $779 billion in fiscal 2018. That is its highest level in six years. President Donald Trump’s tax cuts caused the government to borrow more heavily.
PHOENIX- In a windowless conference room, Republican Senate candidate Martha McSally was asking executives at a small crane manufacturing company how the GOP tax cut has helped their business when one woman said: “I want to ask you a question about health care.” It’s the subject of the greatest share of political ads on television now, according to a Wall Street…
