Graduates could reduce loan payment to $0

Your student loan payment could be $0 zero per month
Income-Based Repayment program provides repayment relief for up to 1.6 million current students, including a lower monthly payment cap and loan forgiveness after 20 rather than 25 years of responsible payments. IBR has already helped nearly half a million borrowers lower their payments and avoid default, but many more borrowers are struggling to keep up with their payments in these tough economic times and could benefit from IBR and the proposed Pay-as-You-Earn option. Generally, lower income borrowers pay 10% of their income: www.IBRinfo.org.

Most expensive college: Bates, ME Tuition: $51,300 a year!
Public university: Penn State Tuition: $14,416
This does not count living and book expenses.
Perhaps learning auto repair is not a bad alternative.

Pension funds’ values falling—workers getting out now
How bad is the cash crunch for companies? The aggregate deficit of pension plans among S&P 1500 companies climbed by $134 billion in September to $512 billion, according to Mercer. The funded status of the 100 largest corporate pensions dropped by $124 billion during September, according to Milliman, an actuarial and accounting firm. Looking at it another way, the funded ratio of companies in the index slipped to less than 73 percent from almost 80 percent at the end of August. The situation is deteriorating rapidly: The decline in the last quarter was the most significant three-month drop since the start of the financial crisis at the end of 2008, Milliman says. In a recent survey of Americans not yet retired, 40 percent said they currently save no money each month toward retirement. Members run their own: amazon.com/New-American-Retirement-System-Tax-FREE

Labor Department investigates brokers, reps, advisers in payola probe
The Consultant/Adviser Project has netted a number of wins for the Labor Department.
Last year, Metropolitan Life Insurance Co. agreed to pay $13.5 million in conjunction with a joint investigation by the DOL, the FBI and the Internal Revenue Service. That probe revealed that the insurer made improper payments to an insurance brokerage firm in order to steer clients toward buying MetLife group insurance products, according to authorities' announcement of the settlement. The payments weren't disclosed to plan administrators and were described as “communication fees” or “request-for-proposal fees,” lumped into the rates MetLife had charged the insured, according to federal authorities.

Credit union supported by anti-Wall Street broker after investment bank pulls out
Frank Congemi, a Queens-based freewheeling critic of Wall Street bankers and Washington regulators, has agreed to pay $5,000 to sponsor a Nov. 3 dinner hosted by the Lower East Side People's Federal Credit Union. Goldman Sachs had agreed to be one of four top sponsors for the dinner but withdrew its pledge this month after invitations to the dinner stated that the honorees included Occupy Wall Street, according to a story in The Wall Street Journal last weekend. Capital One pulled out also.

State local governments (GOP) raising taxes despite pledge
There have been a total of 548 U.S. sales tax changes so far this year. Indiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island and Tennessee tied for the highest state sales tax rate, at 7%, compared to the average state sales tax rate of 5.48%. However, this only represents the state-designated portion of the sales tax, not the total combined state, county and city rate. California used to have the highest state sales taxes, but it lowered its sales tax rate as of July 1. The highest combined city, state and county rate was in Arizona: Tuba City, Ariz., (part of the Navajo Nation), at 13.725%, followed by Kayenta, Ariz., at 12.1%; Fredonia, Ariz., at 11.725%; and Coconino County, Ariz., at 11.725%.

Consumer Reports Names Most Reliable Cars of 2011
At the bottom are the most expensive: Jaguar, Porsche, and Audi are at the bottom among brands for which we have sufficient data. You DO NOT get what you pay for.
Japanese brands dominate our survey's upper echelons and took the top nine spots. They were led by Scion, Lexus, Acura, Mazda, Honda, and Toyota. Many hybrids are proving extremely reliable. The top two models in our survey are the Lexus CT 200h and Honda CR-Z. The Toyota Prius was among the top models, rebounding from brake problems that plagued the current design. Family sedans hold up well overall and are led by the Ford Fusion Hybrid. All of the models for which we have data have at least average reliability. In contrast, only one minivan makes that cut: The front-wheel-drive Toyota Sienna is average. Heavy-duty, three-quarter-ton pickups are among the most problematic vehicles. With the exception of the turbodiesel Ford F-250, they all scored below average.
The Ford brand fell 10 spots, to 20th out of 28. The Explorer, Fiesta, and Focus — had below-average reliability in their first year. CR found that new or revamped models have more problems in their first year than in subsequent model years. Ford's problems underscore our advice to hold off buying a new car in its first year.

Auto insurers’ ratings—how did your company do?
Auto-Owners Insurance, State Farm, Amica Mutual, American Family and The Hartford score above industry average in the 2011 survey of claims performance by JD Power

GOP to keep needy off Medicaid
The House voted to restrict eligibility for Medicaid, insurance exchanges and other aspects of President Obama's healthcare reform legislation. The Congressional Budget Office has said as many as 1 million people could be affected by the restrictions, which, among other things, would include Social Security benefits as income in determining eligibility.
SCAMS
Citibank caught screwing its customers! No jail time for bankers . . .
Citigroup Inc. has agreed to pay $285 million to settle federal allegations that its broker-dealer subsidiary misled investors about a complex $1 billion mortgage investment that the company was secretly betting would fail. The investment, which was tied to the U.S. housing market, defaulted in November 2007 and left investors with a worthless investment, while Citigroup made $160 million in fees and trading profits earned through a $500 million short position in the specific group of assets that it had selected for the underlying investment. No Citi employees have been charged with a crime however.

Flat tax always helps the wealthy
Under Herman Cain's 9-9-9 tax reform plan, 84% of U.S. households would pay more than they do under current tax policies, according to a report released Tuesday by a nonpartisan research group. National sales tax of 9% is added to state sales tax. Wealthy live on capital gains of stocks and muni bonds so taxed at about 17%--no income, SS or Medicare taxes. The 999 plan has 0% tax on investment income. Wells Fargo broker hatched the 999 plan “riding in a taxicab in Nashville.”

Cain tweaks 9-9-9 tax plan to allow exemptions for biz
Cain proposed no income taxes for Americans living below the poverty line. He also proposed exemptions for businesses investing in "opportunity zones" as a way to give an economic jolt to rundown neighborhoods. Cain would eliminate minimum wage laws, building codes and zoning and regulations that hurt the economy. He initially said he would negotiate for the release of U.S. prisoners from terrorists, then reversed himself. He was for a woman’s choice but against abortion.
He insisted he had not changed positions, though.


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