Many who turn 62 are eager to apply for Social Security benefits because it will pay for rest of your life. Many think that total lifetime benefits will be the same whether you start at age 62 or delay until 70. Not so fast. Consider some of the pitfalls of starting Social Security early and […]
Author: elegant
Americans are equally divided on gun control
Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012, a gunman killed several innocent school children, their teachers and principal, gunman’s own mother and himself, used a 30-round large capacity magazine that fed into a military style semiautomatic rifle. This incident followed shootings in a theater, a Congressman’s gathering, a high school and […]
An affordable smartphone from Apple
The news media is buzzing with a possibility of an Apple mini iPhone. News reports indicate that Apple started working on a smaller, affordable iPhone in 2011 to compete with Samsung Electronics especially in developing countries. Samsung uses free Android mobile software from Google in its smartphones. Bloomberg Businessweek expects the price to be $99 […]
Egypt to hold an election for the new constitution
The Egypt appears to be closer to adopting a new constitution drafted by the new Islamist Muslim Brotherhood dominated government. The Egypt’s main ally, Iran supports the new constitution. Since Iran and Egypt broke-off relations in 1979, the new Egypt’s President, Mohamed Mursi (or Morsy) visited Iran as the leader of Egypt after 30 years. […]
South Koreans elect its first female President
On December 19, 2012, South Koreans elected Ms. Park Geun-hye as its first female President. The 60-year old is the daughter of longest-ruling former dictator Park Chung-hee who was assassinated in 1979. Ms. Park received 51.6 percent of the votes casted during the election. Since the adoption of the new constitution in 1987, she is […]
The Federal Reserve adopt a new policy for unemployment and economic growth
For the first time, the Federal Reserve introduced a new policy to spur economic growth in the U.S. At its meeting in December, the Federal Reserve decided to tie the interest rate to unemployment and inflation. The new policy received the support of almost all (11 to 1) of the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). […]
The new Chinese leader Xi Jinping, taking steps to curb corruption in China
Last month China selected its new leaders for the next decade. Its new leader, Xi Jinping, who is also the party secretary, is expected to be ceremonially installed in March 2013. But he is busy making adjustments and issuing new directives. During the just concluded once in a decade power transfer, the outgoing leader highlighted […]
Some actions ahead of the “Fiscal Cliff”
By now we all have heard about the looming “Fiscal Cliff”. If President Obama and the Congress failed to act, a series of serious budget provisions including tax increases and spending cuts will go into effect as of January 1, 2013. The Bush era tax cuts will expire and every one’s tax rates will go […]
Can Chinese premier-elect Li Keqiang fix the slowing economy?
China’s once in a decade leadership transition took place at the recently concluded communist party meeting. As expected the incoming Communist Party General Secretary and President-elect Xi Jinping take control in March 2013. Much has written about Xi Jinping but not much about the China’s premier-elect Li Keqiang, who will be in charge of the […]
Troubles for Hewlett-Packard continues
The Palo Alto, California based hardware giant Hewlett-Packard (HP) just announced that it is taking an $8.8 billion accounting write-off for the acquisition of British software giant Autonomy they bought in the summer of 2011 for $10.3 billion. Due to the size of the acquisition two lawyers and several financial institutions assisted HP to make […]