DIRS.INFO The most relevant business & tech news

☆ Student-loan ruling may be windfall for US deficit reduction
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

The debt relief program had been blocked by the legal challenges that led to the Supreme Court's decision. The move had the effect of limiting a dramatic reduction in the fiscal 2022 deficit to $1.375 trillion from $2.775 trillion the prior year. Without the advance recognition, the deficit would have fallen below $1 trillion as COVID relief programs ended and revenues surged. A reversal of more than $300 billion would make it appear that this year's fiscal deficit fell slightly from 2022. "It's deficit reduction relative to a deficit increase that never really went into effect," Goldwein said.

Persons: Joe Biden's, Marc Goldwein, Goldwein, Biden, Shai Akabas, David Lawder, Andrea Ricci Organizations: U.S, of Education, Department, Treasury, Committee, Federal, Congressional, Center, Department of Education, Thomson Locations: U.S

☆ What Supreme Court ruling against Biden's student loan forgiveness plan could mean for the U.S. economy
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-30 | by ( Greg Iacurci | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Seksan Mongkhonkhamsao | Moment | Getty ImagesThe Supreme Court struck down the Biden administration's student loan forgiveness plan Friday. "The Supreme Court decision to strike down loan forgiveness should have no meaningful impact on the economy," said Mark Zandi, chief economist of Moody's Analytics. The fight against inflation gets a boostIt's challenging to judge the economic effect of a sweeping policy such as student loan forgiveness. However, the resumption of monthly student loan payments in October, after a three-year pause, will likely have a bigger effect. That said, there are student loan policies that have already been enacted by the Biden administration that will likely help borrowers affected by Friday's Supreme Court ruling, economists said.

Persons: Seksan, —, Mark Zandi, Shai Akabas, Zandi, Tim Quinlan, Quinlan, Biden Organizations: Biden, Moody's, Finance, Supreme, Reserve, Center, Wells, Wells Fargo Economics, Friday's Locations: U.S, Wells Fargo

☆ From your 401(k) to bonds, here’s how to protect your financial well-being as debt default worries grow
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-27 | by ( Ramishah Maruf | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —The White House and House GOP negotiators are rushing to finalize a deal to raise the country’s debt limit. With that X-date only about one week away, there’s still no deal to raise the debt ceiling – putting Americans’ finances in danger. If you invest in bonds, pay attention to when your Treasury bills are maturing. Stick with high-quality investmentsSteer clear of corporate junk bonds or emerging market bonds, CNN has previously reported. Federal government contractors could also see a lag in payments, which could affect their ability to compensate their workers, CNN previously reported.

☆ Explainer: How could a US debt ceiling default hit regular Americans?
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-23 | by ( Jason Lange | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

Americans could quickly notice painful blows to their retirement accounts as stock markets swooned, and within days the lack of federal payments could weigh heavily on doctors' offices, retirees and workplaces throughout the country. At that point, Washington would be under severe pressure to keep making payments on U.S. bonds, which underpin the global financial system. Within days, the financial mayhem would be a principal force putting the economy on the path to recession, Zandi said. More Medicare bills would come due in subsequent days, and because Medicare funds about a fifth of U.S. healthcare, some doctors might not have money to pay staff and other bills. Payments could also stop going out to government contractors, including $1 billion due to defense contractors on June 5.

☆ US debt limit default could hit in early June to early August -think tank
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 9 (Reuters) - The U.S. government will begin defaulting on its payment obligations between early June and early August without an increase in the federal debt limit, the Bipartisan Policy Center said on Tuesday, flagging pressure from a drop in tax revenue. The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC), which closely monitors debt limit disputes in Congress, had estimated in February the X-date could come between summer and early fall, but now sees a default hitting much earlier if Congress fails to raise the $31.4 trillion U.S. borrowing cap. "The coming weeks are critical for assessing the strength of government cash flows," Shai Akabas, BPC director of economic policy. The think tank's latest estimate roughly agrees with the Congressional Budget Office's revised assessment that there is now a "significantly greater risk" of an early June default. Later on Tuesday, President Joe Biden is scheduled to meet with U.S. House of Representatives speaker Kevin McCarthy and other congressional leaders to discuss options to resolve the debt limit standoff between Democrats and Republicans.

☆ ‘There Are No Good Options’: The U.S. Is Running Out of Money
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Alan Rappeport | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

“The coming weeks are critical for assessing the strength of government cash flows,” said Shai Akabas, the director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center. The sluggish pace is due in part to a decision by the Internal Revenue Service to give taxpayers in states that were affected by severe weather more time to file their 2022 taxes. Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen said on Monday that if the debt limit was not raised, then Mr. Biden would have to decide how to proceed. “I would say that if Congress doesn’t raise the debt ceiling, the president will have to make some decisions about what to do with the resources that we do have,” Ms. Yellen said on CNBC. “And there are a variety of different options, but there are no good options.”

☆ Debt Ceiling Solution: McCarthy Vows to Reject a Short-Term Agreement
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-09 | by ( Ayelet Sheffey | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Kevin McCarthy is meeting with Biden on Tuesday to discuss a debt ceiling solution. Ahead of the meeting, McCarthy told NBC he will not accept a short-term debt ceiling increase. The US could default on its debt as early as June 1, and Congress has yet to agree on a solution. Biden vowed to veto that legislation and has remained adamant that raising the debt ceiling should be a bipartisan and clean increase, without any spending cuts attached, and he has left the door open for budget negotiations — separate from a debt ceiling deal. But McCarthy told NBC News on Tuesday that he is unwilling to accept even a short-term debt ceiling increase ahead of budget negotiations.

Biden called Republican House Speaker Kevin McCarthy in Jerusalem, where he is on a diplomatic trip, to invite him to a May 9 White House meeting. Biden also extended invitations to House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer and Republican leader Mitch McConnell. Biden has steadfastly said he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling increase, but will discuss budget cuts after a new limit is passed. A White House official said Biden, who had previously said he wouldn't meet McCarthy at all to discuss the debt limit, would "stress that Congress must take action to avoid default without conditions" on May 9. The bill has no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate and the White House has said Biden would veto the legislation if it did.

House Republicans passed a bill to raise the debt limit last week that includes steep spending cuts which the Democratic-controlled Senate and Biden say they will not approve. Biden has steadfastly said he will not negotiate over the debt ceiling increase, but will discuss budget cuts after a new limit is passed. In 2011, a similar debt ceiling fight took the country to the brink of default and prompted a downgrade of the country's top-notch credit rating. The Republican bill would implement $4.5 trillion in spending cuts - or about 22% - in exchange for a $1.5 trillion increase in the U.S. debt limit. It has no chance of passing the Democrat-controlled Senate and the White House has said Biden would veto the legislation.

☆ Reactions: US Treasury's new June 1 debt ceiling X-date
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-01 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +5 min

We must change course, cleanly raise the debt ceiling, and avert widespread economic pain and instability while we still can." The clock is ticking - and much faster than many suspected - so House Republicans need to drop their dangerous opposition to paying our nation’s bills." The President must negotiate on raising the debt ceiling." Let's get the debt ceiling taken care of, but let's talk about how we can reduce the deficit and common-sense ways. If we don't get the debt ceiling, then we go into it a depression."

☆ U.S. Treasury's tax deadline day take totals $129.8 bln -statement
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-19 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON, April 19 (Reuters) - The U.S. Treasury brought in $129.82 billion in total tax receipts on Tuesday, the annual tax filing deadline, compared with $75.53 billion a day earlier, the department's daily financial statement showed on Wednesday. He also noted that some states suffering natural disasters, have granted tax filing extensions in many counties, such as for flooding in California, and tornadoes in southern states. The Daily Treasury Statement showed that total non-withheld individual tax receipts collected electronically and by other means on Tuesday totaled $80.07 billion versus $34.68 billion on Monday. Withheld tax individual tax receipts totaled $24.92 billion on Tuesday compared with $21.37 billion on Monday. Corporate tax receipts on Tuesday totaled $24.53 billion after $19.313 billion on Monday.

☆ Republican U.S. House Speaker McCarthy to pitch spending cuts on Wall St
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-17 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

WASHINGTON, April 17 (Reuters) - Republican U.S. House Speaker Kevin McCarthy plans to make his case for cuts in federal spending to accompany a lifting of the government's $31.4 trillion debt ceiling in a speech at the New York Stock Exchange on Monday. McCarthy leads a fractious caucus that holds a narrow 222-213 majority, including a sizeable contingent of hardline members who want sharp spending cuts and dismiss the risks of failure to act on the debt ceiling. LIST OF OPTIONSRepublicans have been discussing spending cuts for programs ranging from homeland security and law enforcement to health, education and environmental initiatives. House Republicans are also mulling reforms to the debt ceiling, which has utterly failed at its intended purpose of restraining U.S. budget deficits. House Republicans now say they are looking at indexing the limit to gross domestic product.

☆ 'That's a lie' accusation obscures bipartisan Social Security reform talks -sources
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

When Yellen responded that Biden "stands ready to work" with lawmakers, Cassidy shot back, "That's a lie because when a bipartisan group of senators has repeatedly requested to meet with him about Social (Security) ... we have not heard anything on our requests." For several months now, Cassidy and independent Senator Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, have tried to address Social Security underfunding as approximately 10,000 baby boomers retire every day. The last week of bank failures and worries of a wider-ranging crisis, however, could give lawmakers second thoughts about investing Social Security funds in stocks. The senators' effort is not the only Social Security rescue plan being devised. "That's really just a way to have (benefit) cuts without leaving your fingerprints on it," said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works and head of a coalition of labor unions and other liberal-leaning groups.

☆ 'That's a lie' accusation obscures bipartisan Social Security reform talks, sources say
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Richard Cowan | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +4 min

For several months now, Cassidy and independent Senator Angus King, who caucuses with Democrats, have tried to address Social Security underfunding as approximately 10,000 baby boomers retire every day. The last week of bank failures and worries of a wider-ranging crisis, however, could give lawmakers second thoughts about investing Social Security funds in stocks. The senators' effort is not the only Social Security rescue plan being devised. I tend to be conservative and say this worked once, let's try that again," Republican Representative Tom Cole told Reuters. "That's really just a way to have (benefit) cuts without leaving your fingerprints on it," said Nancy Altman, president of Social Security Works and head of a coalition of labor unions and other liberal-leaning groups.

☆ U.S. Could Default on Debt as Early as Summer, New Estimate Says
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-22 | by ( Deborah B. Solomon | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

WASHINGTON — The United States faces a default sometime this summer or early fall if Congress does not raise or suspend the debt ceiling, a Washington think tank warned on Wednesday. The projection from the Bipartisan Policy Center is the latest estimate of when the government could run out of cash to pay its bills. The nation, which borrows huge sums to help pay for everything from military salaries to Social Security benefits, hit its $31.4 trillion borrowing cap on Jan. 19. Last week, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projected that the department’s ability to prevent the United States from defaulting on its debt could be exhausted between July and September. That estimate was slightly more favorable than what Treasury Secretary Janet L. Yellen suggested when she told Congress last month that her department’s ability to keep financing the country’s obligations could be exhausted in June.

☆ Congressional budget forecast to provide insight on U.S. debt ceiling deadline
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-15 | by ( David Lawder | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, Feb 15 (Reuters) - The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) on Wednesday will provide some clarity on when the United States may default on its payment obligations if lawmakers fail to raise the federal borrowing limit amid a tense partisan spending stand-off. A second CBO report will describe the "current debt situation and CBO's expectation about when the Treasury will no longer be able to pay its obligations fully if the debt limit is not raised." "There has been a Republican drumbeat to cut Social Security and Medicare," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a Democrat, reminded reporters on Tuesday. There is no agenda on the part of Senate Republicans to revisit Medicare or Social Security. Reporting by David Lawder; Additional reporting by Richard Cowan; Editing by Leslie AdlerOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

☆ State of the Union brings brief unanimity on Social Security, Medicare. Why experts say there's still reason to worry
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-08 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

That would include Social Security and Medicare. The Republican Study Budget Committee, which included a host of House GOP leaders, has also suggested other changes — raising the retirement ages for both Social Security and Medicare, as well as changing the measurement for annual Social Security cost-of-living adjustments. More recently, former Vice President Mike Pence called for reforming Social Security with the creation of private savings accounts. Rep. John Larson, D-Conn., has led a House bill that would apply reapply payroll taxes on $400,000 in earnings while also making benefits more generous. Biden similarly proposed expanding benefits and increasing payroll taxes on high earners during his presidential campaign.

☆ Congress’ lame duck session leaves 'unfinished business' on issues that address Americans' everyday financial needs
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-23 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +5 min

Sarah Silbiger | Bloomberg | Getty ImagesChild tax credit enhancementA year ago last December, millions of families received their last monthly child tax credit checks. Legislation to help parents cope with the effects of the Covid-19 pandemic made the child tax credit more generous for the 2021 calendar year. The maximum child tax credit sums went up from $2,000 per child to $3,600 per child under age 6 and $3,000 per child ages 6 through 17. On the bright side, the same compromise to re-up the child tax credit alongside corporate tax breaks may come up again in 2023, he said. Some lawmakers have insisted the child tax credit gets included in any new tax legislation.

☆ Emergency savings provisions in Secure 2.0 may help shore up short- and long-term financial security, experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

When faced with such bills, workers may be tempted to tap their retirement savings accounts. Now, new provisions in retirement legislation called Secure 2.0 moving forward on Capitol Hill would make it easier for workers to set aside emergency funds. The first change would make it so retirement plan sponsors could automatically enroll employees to set aside up to $2,500 of post-tax money in a separate emergency savings alongside their retirement accounts. Workers could defer money to the emergency savings accounts automatically through their payroll deduction. Notably, a plan for separate standalone emergency savings accounts outside of retirement plans did not make it into the legislation.

☆ 'Secure 2.0' would provide a limited federal 'match' on contributions for retirement savers with lower income
▼ + stars: | 2022-12-22 | by ( Sarah O'Brien | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +2 min

Under a provision included in a legislative proposal known as "Secure 2.0" — which is included in an omnibus appropriations bill that cleared the Senate on Thursday and awaited a House vote — a retirement "saver's match" would be implemented, essentially changing how an existing tax credit works. That amount would be a maximum 50% of up to $2,000 in contributions to a qualifying account (so a maximum $1,000 match per individual). The current credit isn't always useful for taxpayersThe move to allow a federal matching contribution is being sought because the current tax credit is nonrefundable, meaning that if you owe no federal income tax, you don't get the credit. The match would be "a direct, substantial way to increase the retirement savings of lower and middle-income workers, and incentivize good retirement planning habits," Carlisle said. More than 108 million people would be eligible for the saver's match, according to the American Retirement Association.

☆ How Congress may make it easier to set money aside for emergency expenses
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-25 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

That lack of emergency savings may force them to borrow money at high interest rates to pay for the surprise expense, putting their financial security at risk. Now Congress has a window to address that issue by paving the way for new emergency savings plans in the lame duck session. Three emergency savings proposals may be included in a legislative package known as Secure 2.0, which is set to amplify changes to the retirement system brought by the Secure Act in 2019. The letter called for the inclusion of three bills that would amplify emergency savings in the pending retirement package. "We firmly believe emergency savings policy aligns with the goals of the U.S. retirement system and will help boost financial resiliency for American households," they wrote.

☆ Social Security record 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment for 2023 could pressure the program's funds, some experts say
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-14 | by ( Lorie Konish | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +1 min

Social Security's average retiree benefit will go up by $146 per month in 2023, thanks to a record 8.7% cost-of-living adjustment prompted by high inflation. More than 70 million Social Security and Supplemental Security Income beneficiaries will benefit from those higher payments. The increased costs may prompt Social Security's funds to reach insolvency at least one calendar year earlier than the trustees have projected, according to estimates by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Other experts also have expressed concerns about how the increased benefit costs would affect the program. "There is certainly a good chance that this could accelerate the depletion of Social Security's primary trust fund," said Shai Akabas, director of economic policy at the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The debt ceiling is going to be an important tool," Carter told Reuters. "I try not to think about it," he said referring to a possible debt limit battle. 'EXTENDED DEBATE'Debate about the debt ceiling could flare again early next year, after the new Congress is sworn in. "There is likely to be an extended debate" on the debt limit next year no matter who wins the midterms, said Akabas, who has seen several such battles waged. McConnell avoided answering a question about the 2023 debt limit debate, saying: "We haven't even finished 2022 yet."

Search resuls for: "Shai Akabas"

23 mentions found