National debt relief debt reset program

Note: Register for this month’s CLE, “Current Developments in Tax Law,” from 1-2 p.m. ET on Wednesday, Nov. 19.Concerns about the state of the U.S. economy can be illustrated in many ways: financial charts depicting the wild swings of the stock market, gloomy data coming out of the housing market, and even the personal testimony of homeowners who lost their properties to foreclosure and workers who lost their jobs.But perhaps the most telling measure of the economic crisis has been the escalating involvement of the federal government in efforts to prop up various segments of the nation’s financial structure.The government took its most dramatic steps as summer turned to fall. In early Sep­tember, it took over Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which between them hold or guarantee roughly half the nation’s private housing debt. Barely a week later, the government agreed to bail out insurance giant American International Group, even while it refused to help … [Read more...] about Tax Law to the Rescue

For 12 years, Paul Vachon lived with his wife and son in a four-bedroom bungalow in one of the nicer suburbs of Detroit. And he had a good job, selling higher-end furniture.Then, in mid-2007, the U.S. economy collapsed. Detroit was hit particularly hard, as was Vachon’s business. “People in the area, if they are worried about the future of the auto industry,” he says, “are much less likely to spend $700 to $800 for a bedroom set.”Soon Vachon, 50, had trouble paying his bills. “I was falling behind each month,” he says. “My wife and I were cutting back on our expenses, but I had to keep going into my savings to pay my mortgage. Then my savings ran out.” He says the bank started sending threatening letters after he missed his mortgage payment in February 2008.Vachon says he couldn’t get the bank to seriously consider a modification of his mortgage loan, and he couldn’t ask any other lenders to refinance his mortgage … [Read more...] about Battle on the Home Front

Spring began last week in the northern hemisphere, inciting optimism that warmer and sunnier days soon lie ahead. Optimism also reigned in the futures industry as a result of the publication of proposed rules by the Shanghai International Energy Exchange that heighten the expectation that non-China-based brokers and traders will soon be permitted to directly trade the exchange’s crude oil futures contract. Meanwhile, ICE Futures U.S. was fined US $3 million by the CFTC for allegedly reporting inaccurate trade, price and other information to the Commission for 325 days, and FINRA proposed a new registration category for algorithmic traders’ top developers and supervisors. As a result, the following matters are covered in this week’s  Bridging the Week :ICE Futures Fined US $3 Million by CFTC for Reporting Errors and Untimely Response to Inquiries;CFTC Grants Hong Kong Part 30.10 Status (includes Compliance Weeds);BIS/IOSCO Delays Rollout of Margin … [Read more...] about Exchange Fined; Algorithmic Traders; Red Flags; China Access- Bridging the Week: March 16 to 20 and 23, 2015

Last year’s looming fiscal cliff crisis and the 13th hour passage of the American Taxpayer Relief Act of 2012 (ATRA 2012), have resulted in a period of relative calm in the estate planning world. For the first time in over 11 years, we may not have to plan with imminent change on the horizon. Under ATRA 2012, the estate and gift applicable exclusion amounts and the generation skipping transfer (GST) exemption amount (the “applicable exclusion amounts”) were initially set at $5 million, and are indexed for inflation in 2013 and future years, resulting in the current $5.25 million applicable exclusion amounts. Although the applicable exclusion amounts and the tax rates are said to be permanent, the Obama Administration’s latest budget proposal already seeks to make changes to them. ATRA 2012 made permanent the so-called “portability” provisions of the federal gift and estate tax laws, whereby a surviving spouse is entitled to use any portion of the … [Read more...] about 2013 Year-End Estate Planning Advisory