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Showing posts from May, 2007

Recession?

.6% growth in the first quarter signals a possible recession. The housing market in New Jersey and many states is in decline. Housing and construction businesses are hurting. Mortgage brokers are closing and real estate brokers are contracting. Moving companies are in decline. Mortgage foreclosures are up. I am concerned about a possible recession.

Increase in Minimum Wage

America's lowest-paid workers will get a $2.10 raise, if the keep their jobs, by Congress mandating an increase in the federal minimum wage. Despite the well-known harmful loss in employment by teens and the lowest skilled workers,President Bush was expected to sign the bill quickly, and workers who now make $5.15 an hour will see their paychecks go up by 70 cents per hour before the end of the summer. Another 70 cents will be added next year, and by summer 2009, all minimum-wage jobs will pay no less than $7.25 an hour.

Supreme Court Rules Tax Court Must Decide

The US Supreme Court has ruled the US Tax Court is the proper court for appeals of IRS denials of interest abatements. The Court held the Court of Federal Claims did not have concurrent jurisdiction. The complete decision is Hink v. US.