By Edward C. Baig; USA TODAY ~ Jan 26, 2016
NEW YORK—Direct TV is starting to have an impact on AT&T’s bottom line. AT&T posted adjusted earnings of 63 cents a share in the fourth quarter of 2015, in line with analyst expectations, according to S&P Capital IQ Consensus Estimates. AT&T said the revenue number would actually have been about 3 cents higher but for an accounting change brought on by last year’s $49 billion acquisition of DirecTV.
By Kimberly Leonard; US News & World Report ~ Jan 25, 2016
The federal government spent more on health care in 2015 than on Social Security for the first time ever.
So finds the Congressional Budget Office, the government’s nonpartisan scorekeeping agency, in a 200-page report it released about fiscal 2015, which ended Sept. 30.
SPECIAL REPORT: Health Care Index]
The federal government spent $882 billion on Social Security, compared with $936 billion in spending on health care programs, including Medicare, Medicaid, the Children’s Health Insurance Program and tax subsidies that help people pay for private health plans under Obamacare.
By Nancy Altman; Huffington Post ~ Jan 24, 2016
Hillary Clinton is wrong when she says that Medicare for all is not achievable. In fact, if she and her husband had embraced the concept in 1993, we would be nearly there today.
Medicare was supposed to be a first step toward Medicare for all. After activists tried and failed to include universal health care in the Social Security Act of 1935, and after President Harry Truman tried during his presidency to achieve that goal, supporters decided that an incremental approach was most likely to bring ultimate success.
By Kevin McCormally; Kiplinger ~ Jan 24, 2016
Because federal tax law reaches deep into all aspects of our lives, it’s no surprise that the rules that affect us change as our lives change. This can present opportunities to save or create costly pitfalls to avoid. Being alert to the rolling changes that come at various life stages is the key to holding down your tax bill to the legal minimum. Check out these issues that confront the newly retired.
Annual TelCo Retirees General Meeting
Date: Friday, February 19, 2016
Time: 10 AM to finish, approximately noon
Place: MISSION VALLEY RESORT
875 Hotel Circle South, San Diego
Tel: (619) 819-1002; Fax (619) 819-1050
Refreshments will be provided
PLEASE PLAN TO ATTEND!
We will review the year and have a Q & A session. Members will be asked to vote on items regarding the Board of Directors, the slate of officers and the proposed 2016 budget.
We look forward to seeing you there!
Your TelCo Retirees Board of Directors
By Brian O’Connell; TheStreet ~ Jan 23, 2016
It’s tax season, and for millions of Americans, that means going one-on-one with Uncle Sam, or more specifically, the Internal Revenue Service.
Of course, you don’t need to go it alone. According to Consumer Reports, over 60% of Americans use a tax professional to accommodate the I.R.S. Yet only three U.S. states require licenses for tax preparers.
By Maria Armental; NASDAQ ~ Jan 22, 2016
AT&T Inc. will book a $2.2 billion gain in the December quarter from revised pension accounting, the telecommunications giant said Friday.
The telecommunications company said the gain resulted from revisions to mortality assumptions and other changes, including higher discount rates used to measure its pension and post-employment benefits obligations.
By Jayne O’Donnell; USA TODAY ~ Jan 21, 2016
WASHINGTON — Drug companies provide so much of the funding for major patient groups that many critics say they’ve stifled a key voice in the policy debate over soaring drug prices, especially over those for cancer.
The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society, for example, gets $50 million a year from drugmakers, which comes to about 16% of their funding. The National Patient Advocate Foundation receives 60% of its $2 million budget from the pharmaceutical industry, while the Colon Cancer Alliance gets 15% of its $1.2 million budget.
By Rebecca Greenfield; BloombergBusiness ~ Jan 21, 2016
It’s like rubbernecking after a car accident: The market sinks dramatically, as it has for most of 2016, and suddenly virtually everyone with a 401(k) plan can’t look away from the wreckage.
As key indexes first started going south earlier this month, almost 4 million people contacted Fidelity on Jan. 4, either online or by phone, to check on their retirement savings. “That was an all-time high,” said Jeanne Thompson, vice president of Fidelity Investments, which manages 13 million 401(k) accounts, with more than $1 trillion under management.
By Jon Brodkin ; Ars Technia ~ Jan 21, 2016
US politicians have been urging tech companies to weaken the security of smartphones and other products by inserting encryption backdoors that let the government access personal data.
Numerous tech companies—including Apple—have come out strongly against the idea, saying that encryption backdoors would expose the personal data of ordinary consumers, not just terrorists.