Deferral

The day after Congress passed the new healthcare law, an opponent called it "a fiscal Frankenstein. " In fact, those are fitting words for Roth individual retirement accounts, or IRAs. Roths drive up the federal deficit and cause other pain. They're great for holders but grim for America. It's time to retire them. Retirement accounts were designed by Congress to spur saving by Americans for their golden years. Let's compare a Roth IRA to other accounts, such as traditional IRAs, 401(k)

Last month, the United Kingdom lifted its long-standing ban on accepting blood donations from gay men. Instead, health officials there implemented a new policy that allows men to become blood donors as long as they haven't had sex with another man in the previous year. With this decision, the U.K. joined France, Italy, Japan and eight other developed countries in allowing gay and bisexual men to contribute to the nation's blood supply. Many of those countries require sexually active gay men to wait a year before giving blood, while others have deferral periods of six months or five years.

Last month, the United Kingdom lifted its long-standing ban on accepting blood donations from gay men. Instead, health officials there implemented a new policy that allows men to become blood donors as long as they haven't had sex with another man in the previous year. With this decision, the U.K. joined France, Italy, Japan and eight other developed countries in allowing gay and bisexual men to contribute to the nation's blood supply. Many of those countries require sexually active gay men to wait a year before giving blood, while others have deferral periods of six months or five years.

Reverse mortgages may very well be a good choice for some seniors who need to tap into equity they have in their homes. But there are other options elder owners might also want to consider. For example, some state and local governments offer a less costly version of a reverse mortgage called a deferred payment loan (DPL). Generally, there are no origination fees and insurance premiums, and closing costs, if any, are very low. The interest rate on DPLs is low as well, if interest is charged at all. When it is, it's often on a fixed basis, meaning that the rate never changes.

US Facilities Corp., a Costa Mesa holding company for insurance underwriting and reinsurance firms, could miss out on up to $9 million in earnings this year because unexpected delays in dealings with potential insurance company clients will cause some fees to be deferred until next year. The delays will lower expected net income this year by 30 cents to 50 cents a share, said George Kadonada, the company's chairman. Securities analysts had estimated that the company would have net income of $1.

President Reagan, up against strong congressional resistance to his proposed budget cuts, has turned to a potent but controversial means of transforming his spending priorities into reality: He is simply refusing to spend billions of dollars that Congress has appropriated.

President Obama will make student loans easier to repay for millions of borrowers without adding to the national deficit, his administration said Tuesday. Bypassing an uncooperative Congress, Obama will, by executive order, reduce to 10% the maximum percentage of income that 1.6 million current students will have to pay toward their student loans. They will also be eligible for loan forgiveness in 20 years instead of 25. He will also allow at least 6 million people with different types of federal student loans a chance to consolidate them into one while reducing their interest rate by a half percent starting in January.

Ten of the highest-paid Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to defer large chunks of their salary in the next few years to help out the financially strapped franchise. The agreements will lift the franchise out of its cash-flow difficulties for the next several years, with a savings of $16 million in the coming year alone, managing general partner Jerry Colangelo said. "This is not a money story," Colangelo said.

The Justice Department said Friday that it will appeal a court ruling that found it unconstitutional for the President to defer the spending of appropriated funds in a case involving $5 billion in federal housing money. U.S. District Judge Thomas P. Jackson on May 16 stripped President Reagan of his authority to defer approved spending from one fiscal year to the next, a tool he has used to fight the budget deficit.

Compaq Computer Corp. said it has a new financing plan that will allow businesses to defer payments during the first four months of a lease on any product or service. Compaq's financing plan comes at a time when corporate technology spending is on the decline and computer companies are vying for customers. In a similar move, Compaq competitor IBM Corp. on Oct. 3 said it had a new financing plan with a 90-day payment deferral. Houston-based Compaq said the offer is in effect until Dec. 31.

The day after Congress passed the new healthcare law, an opponent called it "a fiscal Frankenstein. " In fact, those are fitting words for Roth individual retirement accounts, or IRAs. Roths drive up the federal deficit and cause other pain. They're great for holders but grim for America. It's time to retire them. Retirement accounts were designed by Congress to spur saving by Americans for their golden years. Let's compare a Roth IRA to other accounts, such as traditional IRAs, 401(k)

With Congress returning next week for a contentious lame-duck session, doctors are stepping up their campaign to press lawmakers to put off major cuts in Medicare payments to physicians that are scheduled to take effect next month. If Congress does not act, physicians who treat the elderly under the federal program will see a 23% cut in their fees starting Dec. 1. Democrats and Republicans say they want to prevent the cuts, which were imposed by a 1997 budget law designed to restrain runaway Medicare spending.

Microsoft Corp.'s fiscal first-quarter earnings rose 11%, exceeding Wall Street estimates, as the company said it benefited from stronger sales of server software and some cost savings. Microsoft also had higher-than-expected revenue from the unit that includes the Xbox video game console. For the three months ended Sept. 30, Microsoft said it earned $3.48 billion, or 35 cents a share, compared with $3.14 billion, or 29 cents, in the same period last year.

Ventura County Community College trustees have asked the state for a financial break after they were hit with penalties of more than $600,000 over their failure to hire enough full-time faculty members. Trustees voted Tuesday night to ask the state to defer nearly $288,000 of a funding reduction, a request the state is expected to approve. State law requires college districts to meet a certain ratio of full-time faculty to part-time faculty or pay a substantial fine for noncompliance.

Compaq Computer Corp. said it has a new financing plan that will allow businesses to defer payments during the first four months of a lease on any product or service. Compaq's financing plan comes at a time when corporate technology spending is on the decline and computer companies are vying for customers. In a similar move, Compaq competitor IBM Corp. on Oct. 3 said it had a new financing plan with a 90-day payment deferral. Houston-based Compaq said the offer is in effect until Dec. 31.

Ten of the highest-paid Arizona Diamondbacks have agreed to defer large chunks of their salary in the next few years to help out the financially strapped franchise. The agreements will lift the franchise out of its cash-flow difficulties for the next several years, with a savings of $16 million in the coming year alone, managing general partner Jerry Colangelo said. "This is not a money story," Colangelo said.

Letter writer Douglas Keller feels the property tax deferral program is a "rip-off" of the older homeowners (April 28). Most of these "older homeowners" (myself included) have equities in their homes of $100,000 or more. They should not expect their taxes to be paid by the rest of the taxpayers. It is only fair that the unpaid taxes, plus interest, be repaid upon the sale of the home or upon the death of the homeowner. The homeowners' heirs should not receive a windfall at the expense of the taxpayers.

The Third World's largest debtor country asked its international bank creditors for a new 180-day deferral of principal payments on about $70 billion in debt while it negotiates a new accord with the International Monetary Fund. Brazil is maintaining its interest payments and other service charges on the debt, which is slightly more than $100 billion. Among the debtors are private banks, governments and multilateral banks such as the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank.

Give the outgoing president a hand for a domestically risky and internationally astute decision to delay, at least for the rest of his term, a mammoth national missile defense system that neither the United States nor the world needs. In Asia, a sprawling, politically and ethnically diverse region, many will have good reason to assess this as one of Bill Clinton's finest moments as a world leader.

Faced with a growing housing crunch, many cities are struggling to find money to support housing programs, especially for low-income residents. Port Hueneme is not one of those cities. In fact, the city's Redevelopment Agency has deferred more than $2.8 million in legally mandated obligations for housing programs for low- and moderate-income families. The money has been used instead to repay city loans and bonds issued by the agency for various commercial and residential projects.