The Easiest Budgeting Program Ever Created: T.S.L.

By Wes Moss | Capital Investment Advisors | July 20, 2015

I recently read a study from the Federal Reserve Board that was released in May that said in 2014, “Forty-seven percent of respondents say they either could not cover an emergency expense costing $400, or would cover it by selling something or borrowing money.”

That’s almost half the people surveyed that clearly didn’t have at least $400 tucked into an emergency savings account! I consider having an emergency savings with cash you can easily access a cornerstone to good financial planning. If you fall into this group that needs to grow an emergency savings quickly, then you might want to consider what I call Economic Shutdown. This is when you essentially cut out spending money on anything that is not an absolute necessity.

A few weeks ago we looked at the Geopp family’s Economic Shutdown, and at the end of one month they were able to save 35% of their take-home pay over and above their normal savings. That was money they were previously spending every month!

If you aren’t ready to commit to your own Economic Shutdown or maybe you have some money saved up but you realize it’s time to kick it up a notch, I would suggest using my TSL budgeting approach.

TSL stands for Taxes, Savings, Life, and it’s an actionable and easy-to-understand way for you to budget and build up your savings.

Essentially with this plan you will divide your gross income, meaning before anything is deducted, into 30% taxes, 20% savings and 50% life.

Let’s break it down.

Taxes: 30 percent
We all know that there are very few guarantees in life, and two of them are death and taxes. Before you start spending money, make sure you’re putting away enough money for Uncle Sam so you don’t get an unpleasant surprise come tax season. I suggest 30%, but if your family falls into a higher tax bracket it’ll likely cost you more, so budget accordingly. Remember all the taxes that you have to pay: Federal Tax, Social Security Tax and Medicare (FICA), state tax, property tax, etc.

DEA agents kept jobs despite serious misconduct

By Brad Heath and Meghan Hoyer | USA Today | September 27, 2015

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration has allowed its employees to stay on the job despite internal investigations that found they had distributed drugs, lied to the authorities or committed other serious misconduct, newly disclosed records show.

Lawmakers expressed dismay this year that the drug agency had not fired agents who investigators found attended “sex parties” with prostitutes paid with drug cartel money while they were on assignment in Colombia. The Justice Department also opened an inquiry into whether the DEA is able to adequately detect and punish wrongdoing by its agents.

Records from the DEA’s disciplinary files show that was hardly the only instance in which the DEA opted not to fire employees despite apparently serious misconduct.

Of the 50 employees the DEA's Board of Professional Conduct recommended be fired following misconduct investigations opened since 2010, only 13 were actually terminated, the records show. And the drug agency was forced to take some of them back after a federal appeals board intervened.

In one case listed on an internal log, the review board recommended that an employee be fired for “distribution of drugs,” but a human resources official in charge of meting out discipline imposed a 14-day suspension instead. The log shows officials also opted not to fire employees who falsified official records, had an “improper association with a criminal element” or misused government vehicles, sometimes after drinking.

“If we conducted an investigation, and an employee actually got terminated, I was surprised,” said Carl Pike, a former DEA internal affairs investigator. “I was truly, truly surprised. Like, wow, the system actually got this guy.”

Oregon bar owner must pay $400G in damages to transgender patrons, court rules

By FoxNews.com | September 24, 2015

An Oregon bar owner must pay $400,000 in damages to a group of transgender patrons after they were asked to stay away, the Oregon Court of Appeals affirmed Wednesday.

The state Bureau of Labor and Industries ordered the penalty in 2013, saying the Portland bar violated a law that prohibits discrimination based on gender, sexual orientation or gender identity.

Chris Penner, owner of a bar formerly known as the Twilight Room Annex, or more widely the P Club, left two voicemail messages for a member of the Rose City T-Girls, a group of transgender customers that frequented the bar every Fright night starting in 2012.

The messages ordered the group to stop visiting because business had declined in the 18 months since the bar became their gathering spot. Penner said people were incorrectly assuming the club was a gay or “tranny” bar.

The Oregonian reports the complaint against Penner was the first brought under the Oregon Equality Act of 2007 and the first to result in a damages award.

"People are not coming in because they just don't want to be there on a Friday night now," he said in one message. "In the beginning sales were doing fine, but they've been on a steady decrease so I have to look at what the problem is, what the reason is and take care of it."

Why Don’t The Candidates Ever Talk About Money?

By Larry Kudlow, Senior Contributor, CNBC | The Daily Caller | September 20, 2015

While there were some great moments in the latest GOP debate, and some terrific individual performances — Carly Fiorina seemed to grab all the buzz in the aftermath — one thing that barely came up was the economy. It was very much like the first debate.

The day after the candidates faced off, Fed chair Janet Yellen announced a stand-pat, no-interest-rate-liftoff policy. Now, I don’t expect presidential candidates to be Fed watchers. But Yellen did raise the issue of a still-soft economy, despite all the QE and zero-interest-rate policies. And I think Yellen was right. There will be a time to normalize Fed target rates. But not yet.

That said, it would have been a good thing if any of the candidates talked about our money. A strong and steady dollar — the world’s unit of account (in theory) — is pro-growth, as we saw in the ’60s, ’80s, and ’90s. A collapsing greenback smothers growth, as we saw in the 2000s.

I would have loved to have seen one or more of the candidates talk about a strong dollar, a rules-based Fed policy, and international monetary coordination. Alas, it was not to be. Maybe we’ll hear about the dollar at the CNBC debate on October 28. But an opportunity was missed on September 16.

Interestingly, on the day of the debate, the Census Bureau revealed another round of stagnating incomes for the middle class. But the words “middle class” and “economic growth” were mentioned by the GOP debaters only four or five times, according to AEI economist Jim Pethokoukis. He laments that Republicans have been missing great opportunities to show a modern vision about growth.

Diana Furchtgott-Roth, the director of Economics21 at the Manhattan Institute, lists a slew of important economic issues that weren’t addressed at the debate, including the minimum wage, regulatory policy, education, and alternatives to Obamacare. There were brief mentions of tax policy, with Governor Huckabee slipping in his fair-tax proposal and Senator Paul touting his 14.5 percent flat tax. But there was no room for Senator Rubio to pit his child tax credit against Jeb Bush’s 20 percent corporate tax rate. Meanwhile, Governor Christie spent his economic time on a plea for reducing Social Security benefits. Ugh.

University Of California May Give Students Right To Not Be Offended

By Blake Neff  |  The Daily Caller  |  September 11, 2015

The University of California may explicitly recognize a right for students to not be offended, if a resolution under consideration is approved by the board of regents next week.

The resolution, publicized by UCLA law professor Eugene Volokh at The Washington Post, reads as follows:

Intolerance has no place at the University of California. We define intolerance as unwelcome conduct motivated by discrimination against, or hatred toward, other individuals or groups. It may take the form of acts of violence or intimidation, threats, harassment, hate speech, derogatory language reflecting stereotypes or prejudice, or inflammatory or derogatory use of culturally recognized symbols of hate, prejudice, or discrimination.

Everyone in the University community has the right to study, teach, conduct research, and work free from acts and expressions of intolerance. The University will respond promptly and effectively to reports of intolerant behavior and treat them as opportunities to reinforce the University’s Principles Against Intolerance.

This statement of principles applies to attacks on individuals or groups and does not apply to the free exchange of ideas in keeping with the principles of academic freedom and free speech. This statement shall not be interpreted to prohibit conduct that is related to the course content, teaching methods, scholarship, or public commentary of an individual faculty member or the educational, political, artistic, or literary expression of students in classrooms and public forums that is protected by academic freedom or free speech principles. The statement is intended to reflect the principles of the Regents of the University of California and shall not be used as the basis to discipline students, faculty, or staff. Discipline is covered under existing policies including the following: Policies Applying to Campus Activities, Organizations and Students, 100.00: Policy on Student Conduct and Discipline, Personnel Policies for Staff Members pertaining to discipline and separation, or University Policy on Faculty Conduct and the Administration of Discipline (Academic Personnel Manual [APM]-016).

University leaders will take all appropriate steps to implement the principles.

To clarify what sort of behavior the resolution is meant to prohibit, an addendum is included with several sample behaviors:

* Vandalism and graffiti reflecting culturally recognized symbols of hate or prejudice. These include depictions of swastikas, nooses, and other symbols intended to intimidate, threaten, mock and/or harass individuals or groups.

* Questioning a student’s fitness for a leadership role or whether the student should be a member of the campus community on the basis of race, religion, ethnicity, national origin, citizenship, sex, or sexual orientation.

* Depicting or articulating a view of ethnic or racial groups as less ambitious, less hardworking or talented, or more threatening than other groups.

* Depicting or articulating a view of people with disabilities (both visible and invisible) as incapable.

Volokh points out that the resolution and its addendum could have a substantial stifling effect on speech at UC campuses.

DEA blasted for no-warrant searches of patient records, court battle heats up

By Kelly Beaucar Vlahos  |  FoxNews.com  |  September 11, 2015

Drug Enforcement Administration agents have been accessing personal medical files without a warrant, generating a backlash from doctors and privacy advocates who say the practice is intrusive and unconstitutional -- and have taken the agency to court. 

“It’s just not right,” Texas attorney Terri Moore said. 

The controversial record searches are part of the government's effort to crack down on illegal “pill mills” and prescription drug abuse. But they've set up a clash over privacy rights, and a legal battle is now playing out in the 5th and 9th Circuit appeals courts. Lower courts have issued conflicting rulings to date, with one backing the DEA and another demanding the agency get warrants if it wants to look at patient records. 

The DEA has been able to access medical files as well as private state prescription drug records that track patient medical histories by using what are known as administrative subpoenas, which unlike warrants signed by a judge do not require probable cause. Further, critics say the agency has “tricked” doctors into handing over documents by showing up with state medical board officials for searches and not identifying themselves, in turn giving the impression they're with the board.

Mari Robinson, executive director of the Texas Medical Board, did not deny in a 2014 congressional hearing that the DEA did this on numerous occasions. She said the board often conducts joint investigations with the DEA, and “what they [DEA] do is up to them.” 

Poor nations want U.S. to pay reparations for extreme weather

By Thomas M. Kostigen  |  USA Today  |  September 11, 2015

Poorer nations suffering from extreme weather disasters, so much so that their citizens are seeking refuge in safer terrains outside their borders, want rich nations like the United States to pay for reparations and to relocate populations.

Preparatory talks ahead of the United Nations Conference on Climate Change to be held in Paris in December has representatives from developing nations asking for more than an already agreed upon $100 billion per year for climate change mitigation measures. They want additional compensation for weather-related disasters as well as a "displacement coordination facility" for refugees. And they want all this to be legally binding as part of the larger anticipated Paris accord.

The U.S. and wealthier nations in the European Union are balking.

The rationale for the additional funds and refugee facility is based on donor country failures to follow through cohesively on aid pledges following weather-related disasters. For example, last March, Cyclone Pam devastated islands in the South Pacific but attention quickly turned to the massive earthquake in Nepal soon thereafter. That left small nations such as Vanuatu, which was devastated, to manage its own cleanup without much in the way of international assistance.

Poorer nations blame extreme weather-related disasters on climate change stemming from emission-polluting countries that have more developed and wealthier economies.

The Age of the No-Information Voter

By Gene Schwimmer  |  American Thinker  |  September 11, 2015

Those who, like this writer, have been decrying the advent of the so-called low-information voter need to prepare – or should that be, steel – themselves for the new kid on the block: the no-information voter.

“Sundance,” writing for the Conservative Treehouse blog, adduces a recent Gallup Poll showing Donald Trump enjoying a significant lead in favorability over all of the other GOP candidates:

One should not confuse favorability with preference or electability, either in the primaries or in the election, where the polls are much closer, with, for example, Trump leading Ben Carson by just 4 points, 29%-25%, in Florida.  Trump’s lead over Carson is greater in Georgia, 34%-25%.  But a nine-point gap is hardly insurmountable, especially considering that Trump enjoyed a 22-point lead over Carson only one month ago.  And note the linked-to Georgia article’s headline (emphasis added): “Trump, Clinton still in lead in Georgia, but leads are shrinking, poll shows.”

'There is no God but Allah'? School accused of Islamic indoctrination

By Todd Starnes  |  Fox News  |  September 10, 2015

Maury County, Tennessee is in the heart of the Bible Belt. So it’s understandable why the local church ladies got all shook up when they discovered that school children had been forced to declare, “There is no God but Allah.”

Seventh graders at Spring Hill Middle School spent three weeks covering Islam in a Social Studies class – enraging some parents who say the lessons crossed the line into indoctrination and proselytization.

“I am not pleased that my 12-year-old was taught the Islamic conversion prayer,” parent Brandee Porterfield told me.

Joy Ellis was a bit fired up, too. She discovered the Islamic lessons after examining her daughter’s class work.

“I was very angry that my child, my Christian child, was made to profess that Allah was the only God,” she told me.

According to the lessons, students were instructed to write the “Shahada” – “There is no God but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.” Students also learned the five pillars of Islam.

“That was crossing the line between teaching the culture and teaching them the Islamic faith,” Porterfield told me. “This is not teaching. This is indoctrination.”

Could you imagine the outcry from liberal activists if the students had been forced to write “Jesus is Lord’?

307,000 veterans may have died awaiting Veterans Affairs health care, report says

By Curt Devine  |  CNN  |  September 3, 2015

Hundreds of thousands of veterans listed in the Department of Veterans Affairs enrollment system died before their applications for care were processed, according to a report issued Wednesday.

The VA's inspector general found that out of about 800,000 records stalled in the agency's system for managing health care enrollment, there were more than 307,000 records that belonged to veterans who had died months or years in the past. The inspector general said due to limitations in the system's data, the number of records did not necessarily represent veterans actively seeking enrollment in VA health care.

In a response to a request by the House Committee on Veterans Affairs' to investigate a whistleblower's allegations of mismanagement at the VA's Health Eligibility Center, the inspector general also found VA staffers incorrectly marked unprocessed applications and may have deleted 10,000 or more records in the last five years.

The National Debt

By Paul Dixon  |  30minuteVIEW  |  September 15, 2015

Former Wyoming Senator Alan Simpson, who was the Co-Chair of the National Debt Commission was on television this morning and emphasized that the national debt is growing at $97.6 million per hour and none of the presidential candidates are even discussing the issue.

As an example, Democratic presidential candidate Bernie Sanders recently proposed $18 trillion in new spending. Sanders is a self-proclaimed socialist and includes income and wealth inequality as a central theme of his campaign.

How to Avoid 8 Seriously Foolish Financial Moves

By Brandon Ballenger  |  MonryTalksNews  |  September 10, 2015

Everybody makes mistakes. But while nobody’s perfect, there’s no reason to waste hundreds or even thousands of dollars on financial moves that are proven folly.

Here are eight common financial fouls you can avoid.

1. Borrowing to buy depreciating assets

Problem: Your IOU becomes an OMG when your purchase loses value. That’s why the housing crisis was so devastating to many families. Everybody with an underwater mortgage – meaning they suddenly owed more than their homes were worth – learned this the hard way.

How to avoid it: While homes typically increase in value, we generally know beforehand what’s going to lose value – almost everything. And borrowing money to buy things that decrease in value — like cars, see below — is simply compounding the loss. That’s why — ideally — credit should be used only to buy those few things that generally increase in value: a house, an education, or maybe a business. If you’ve already dug yourself into a hole, check out “How to Pay off $10,000 in Debt Without Breaking a Sweat.” And if you want to buy those nice things without credit, try “Ways to Make Your Savings Grow Faster Automatically.”

2. Buying a new car

Problem: Here’s how Stacy described new-car shoppers in “Why I Don’t Buy New Cars“:

If consumers want to feel smart, they comparison shop, kick a few tires, and talk to a few salespeople in an attempt to get a decent deal. But even if they drive the hardest possible bargain, that new car is still guaranteed to lose thousands of dollars in value before they can get it home.

How to avoid it: For starters, buy used, preferably from private sellers. And there is something of an art to finding a great used car. Check out “8 Tips for Buying Your Next Car for Less” and “6 Things You Should Check Before Buying a Used Car.”