Senate Panel Kills Medicare Program That Offers Help On Enrollment, Billing Issues

A program that has helped seniors understand the many intricacies of Medicare as well as save them millions of dollars would be eliminated by a budget bill overwhelmingly approved last week by the powerful Senate Appropriations Committee. The State Health Insurance Assistance Program , or "SHIP," is among more than a dozen programs left out of the bill by the committee.

Justice Department Drops Fraud Case Against Countrywide’s Mozilo

In the aftermath of the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression, a lot of fingers were pointing at Mozilo as someone to blame. That's because he was the CEO of Countrywide: the nation's largest mortgage lender, which collapsed after making massive numbers of bad home loans that resulted in foreclosures and helped send the U.S. banking system into cardiac arrest.

Here’s how Clinton could hit Trump on his real estate record

After a report emerged last week that the Democratic National Committee's security had been breached by Russian government hackers, a document surfaced yesterday that many are saying is the Democratic Party's official opposition research on presidential candidate Donald Trump. Through more than 200 pages, the oppo book mostly consists of news clips and interviews with Trump over the last three decades.

Save benefits promised to coal miners

When President Harry S. Truman was personally negotiating with labor leader John L. Lewis to avert an economically crippling coal strike in 1946, the miners' top priority was not higher wages or more vacation but to improve the deplorable state of health care in the coalfields. They succeeded when Truman signed an agreement promising lifelong health and retirement benefits, paid for by a royalty on coal production.

Loan Application Activity Down Although Rates Hit 18-Month Low

Mortgage applications decreased 2.4% from one week earlier even though interest rates for conforming loans are at their lowest point in 18 months, according to data from the Mortgage Bankers Association. The MBA's Weekly Mortgage Applications Survey for the week ending June 10 found that the seasonally adjusted purchase index decreased 5% from one week earlier.

USDA Program Improving Pricing; Oil and World Budgets; World Rates Continue Lower

Everyone's thoughts and prayers are with the victims of the horrible shooting in Orlando. But yes, Father's Day is coming up, and the first presidential proclamation honoring fathers was issued in 1966 when President Lyndon Johnson designated the third Sunday in June as Father's Day.

USDA Housing Grows in New Mexico

USDA Rural Development State Director Terry Brunner was in Columbus, N.M., Thursday to celebrate National Home Ownership Month with a groundbreaking ceremony to begin the construction of new homes in that community. USDA Rural Development provided a $403,000 grant to Tierra Del Sol Housing Corporation to administer the Self Help housing program that will be used to provide technical assistance in the construction of the homes.

Business Highlights

A growing number of travellers are signing up for the government's expedited airport screening programs, only to face another wait. After angry fliers missed flights this spring because of lengthy security lines, government officials promoted the PreCheck and Global Entry systems.

Survey reveals what pension fund holders think of fossil fuel divestment

When we wind up talking about divestment campaigns these days one of the most frequent topics under discussion is Israel, but that's not the only target of liberal activists using these tactics. There's still a major push from the Left to persuade companies to pull their investment capital from the energy industry so as not to be associated with those dirty old fossil fuels.

Obama’s misguided reversal on Social Security expansion

In a speech this week, President Barack Obama called for an expansion of Social Security, saying "it's time we finally made Social Security more generous, and increased its benefits." Obama was undoubtedly influenced to some degree by the developments in the Democratic primary, where both Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton have expressed support for some form of expansion.

Hensarling’s reform plan would repeal Durbin price cap

House Financial Services Committee Chairman Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, outlined an alternative to the Dodd-Frank Act that would include regulatory relief - including the repeal of "federal price controls" in the Durbin amendment - during a speech at the Economic Club of New York Tuesday. Hensarling said his bill will "provide much-needed relief to community financial institutions that are being crushed by Washington's 'one-size-fits-all' regulatory approach."

Social Security’s Enemies Are Down – But They’re Not Out

Not so long ago, Social Security was endangered by a "bipartisan" consensus that sought to cut its benefits - already lower than those of comparable countries - as part of a "grand bargain." President Obama even put a slow-motion benefit cut into one of his proposed budgets, in the form of a reduction in cost-of-living increases.

The Wages of Neoliberalism: Poverty, Exile and Early Death

Economist Michael Hudson says neoliberal policy will pressure U.S. citizens to emigrate, just as it caused millions to leave Russia, the Baltic States, and now Greece in search of a better life. A research team from Columbia University's Mailman School of Public Health in New York estimates 875,000 deaths in the United States in year 2000 could be attributed to social factors related to poverty and income inequality.