BUSINESS
December 16, 2012 | Michael Hiltzik
Even the most inattentive 401(k) owner surely understands today that the markets can bite you where it hurts, that promises of long-term investment gains can evaporate in the blink of a short-term crash and that the less understandable an investment scheme is, the more dangerous it is. Why, then, is California Public Utilities Commissioner Timothy A. Simon pressing so hard to subject billions of dollars of public trust fund money earmarked for...
CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
July 18, 2012 | By Harriet Ryan, Los Angeles Times
The Los Angeles County probate judge who oversees an elderly heiress' trust fund approved $50,000 in compensation Tuesday for a Kabbalah Centre official who is under criminal investigation for his handling of the woman's financial affairs. Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Michael I. Levanas signed off on John E. Larkin's payment request without comment. The money covers work that Larkin, a veteran Hollywood financial advisor, performed last year as a trustee for an $11-million family trust fund benefiting 88-year-old Susan Strong Davis.
NEWS
May 9, 2012 | By Jon Healey
Democrats have seized on a looming increase in the interest rate on certain federal student loans as their latest wedge issue, hoping to portray Republicans as caring more about the wealthy than they do about working-class and middle-income college students. Those students might want to spend a few moments studying how Senate Democrats planned to come up with the money to pay for one more year of cheaper loans. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) tried to start debate on his student loan interest rate proposal Tuesday, knowing full well that he didn't have the 60 votes needed to stop a GOP filibuster.
BUSINESS
April 24, 2012 | By David Lazarus
The headlines are scary: Social Security is going bust. Social Security is nearly bankrupt. True? Not really. Here are the facts: The combined Social Security trust funds will be exhausted in 2033 , three years earlier than projected in last year's annual report. The Social Security disability insurance program "faces the most immediate financing shortfall of any of the separate trust funds," according to trustees. It will exhaust its trust fund in 2016, two years earlier than projected last year.
NATIONAL
May 14, 2011 | By Noam N. Levey, Los Angeles Times
Highlighting the financial peril confronting Medicare, the federal government predicted Friday that the program's largest trust fund would run out of money in 2024, five years earlier than projected last year. Medicare's deteriorating condition contrasts with Social Security, whose funds will not be exhausted until 2036, according to an annual report by trustees who oversee the two mammoth entitlement programs. The faltering Medicare finances — caused in part by the sluggish economy — are expected to intensify pressure on both parties in Washington to move forcefully to shore up the health plan that covers care for more than 47 million elderly and disabled Americans.
NEWS
May 13, 2011 | By Noam N. Levey, Washington Bureau
Caught in the sluggish recovery from the last recession, Social Security and Medicare face an increasingly dismal fiscal future, the federal government reported Friday in its annual review of the two mammoth entitlement programs. Medicare, which now provides health insurance to some 47 million elderly and disabled Americans, could begin running a deficit in 2024, five years earlier than projected last year. And Social Security, which last year began paying out more in benefits than it collected in taxes, now faces insolvency in 2036, compared to 2037 in last year's projections.