New and Noteworthy
Income tax links Updated 12/4/99
Statistical Abstract of the United States 1998 (Tables available in Acrobat format) (note: as of 12/4/99, the 1999 edition is not on the Census web site)
New study on the capacity of debtors filing for bankruptcy to pay off their debts in 5 years
Bankruptcy rates "The total number of bankruptcies filed during the year ending Sept. 30 totaled 1,436,964, up 5.1 percent from the same 12-month period in 1997."
Links for tax tables, etc. for 1998>
Bureau of Economic Analysis preliminary report showing negative saving in September. Saving as % of personal income:
1996= 2.9%; 1997= 2.1%; prelim. Sept. 1998=-0.2%
Women and Retirement Security Report prepared for an Oct. 27 White House conference
Money 2000
Managing money in retirement. Put together by Sherman Hanna for presentation to Ohio State University retirees association. Also relevant to planning for retirement, because of question of how much income can be generated from funds at retirement.
Investor Protection
New survey: Workers Looking at Retirement Needs
U.S. Department of Labor Pension & Welfare Benefits Administration Includes link to National Summit on Savings, and new resources to help small businesses set up retirement savings plans for employees -- very important, considering Labor Secretary Alexis Herman's statement. "The majority of people without pension coverage work for employers with fewer than 100 workers."
New gateway to government consumer information
Statistical Abstract of the United States 1997(Tables available in Acrobat format)
The Savings Are Vital to Everyone's Retirement Act of 1997" (SAVER)was signed by President Clinton on November 20. This page has links to press release and the full text of the Act. The American Savings Education Council pages have a lot of other useful information, including results of the 1997 Retirement Confidence Survey
Articles on major 401(k) plans in USA Today -- e.g., what is the matching % of major corporations
"Consumer Reports Online is the Web's source of unbiased information about products and services based on testing conducted in our extensive state-of-the-art laboratories. The site offers two levels of access. Visitors can get solid consumer advice for free. Paid site subscribers have access to our exclusive product and service Ratings and recommendations. You can subscribe for $2.95 per month or $24.00 for a full year."
Consumer Reports finally gets on the web. It has been available for a number of years at America Online. The web site is attractive, but most of what is free is safety-related (e.g., product recalls) or links. Still, if you do not already have AOL, may be a good buy. Even when I have not thrown out my old issues, I find it easier to track down an article online than to search through old issues. -- SH
Consumer help on the Web from Consumer Reports. Nicely organized set of links, including state-by-state resources.
FTC release: Get rich quick schemes, illegal pyramid schemes Caught in an international law enforcement web; Nearly 200 on-line businesses put on notice
The Backward Art of Spending Money, Wesley C. Mitchell, The American Economic Review, Vol. 2, No. 2. (Jun., 1912), pp. 269-281.
This is a classic. Mitchell concludes that "Perhaps we may solve the problem by developing a professional class of Doctors of Domestic Science, who will be employed in organizing households, giving expert counsel to the newly wed, holding free dispensaries of advice for the indigent, assisting in divers municipal ventures in welfare work, and the like." The article is available in full on the web.

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Sherman Hanna 12/4/99