Complete Finance Blog

The Treasury recently released their Greenbook on President Obamas 2013 budget proposal. The Greenbook explains the Administration’s revenue proposals included in the budget that seek to boost near-term growth; provide permanent middle-class tax relief; encourage onshore investments in manufacturing and insourced jobs; cut taxes for small businesses; add balance to deficit reduction by asking the most fortunate Americans to contribute; and limit incentives for shifting income and assets overseas. Here are the highlights:

Individual Policies

Boost Near-Term Growth and Job Creation by:

• Extending the two percentage point payroll tax cut through the end of 2012.
• Extending the 100-percent bonus depreciation provision through 2012.
• Providing a 10-percent tax credit for new jobs and payroll increases focused on small business through 2012.
• Providing tax credits to support domestic clean energy manufacturing.

Provide Permanent Tax Relief for Middle-Class Families by:

• Making the American Opportunity Tax Credit permanent, providing up to $10,000 per student over four years and $137 billion in additional higher education tax relief over the next 10 years.
• Permanently expanding the Earned Income Tax Credit  to support working families.
• Permanently increasing the tax credit for child and dependent care by up to 75 percent.

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Unless you’re a frequent Reddit user, you’ve probably never heard of AMA, one of Reddit’s most popular subforums. An AMA (which stands for “Ask Me Anything”) is an open forum where users can ask questions to individuals who host an AMA thread. In general, the host has a unique story or occupation that generates interest and thoughtful questions by users. AMAs have been used by average working Joes to celebrities, all in order to give users insight into the host’s life.

Recently, Woody Harrelson decided to take advantage of the potential for marketing and host an AMA of his own. He invited users to ask him questions about Rampart, his upcoming movie. However, what he failed to note is that AMA is a forum where users are able to ask a multitude of questions, without being relegated to a single topic. After a certain amount of time, users began to get irritated by his brief, sparse answers. In addition, Harrelson would focus completely on his upcoming film, resulting in disgruntled users.

As a result, immense backlash was fired against Harrelson, his publicists, and his upcoming movie. His reputation suffered as numerous users lambasted the movie star in the form of disparaging pictures and memes. In hindsigh

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Dear WhatsMyScore blog readers,

I’m not going to lie to you—Valentine’s Day is not my favorite holiday. I am just not into fighting to get dinner reservations, and flowers and chocolates are overrated. But I’m also a romantic, and love an excuse to spoil my bf . If you’re a romantic and want to give your boyfriend, girlfriend, wife, husband or best friend something sweet this year, I have one tip for you: be thoughtful. Pricey jewelry is nice, but cool dates and small gifts are where it’s at. Here are a few totally affordable options:

• Get cooking. What’s more thoughtful and sweet than cooking your sweetie’s favorite dish, or something new and fancy? Think candles, tablecloth, dessert—the works.
• Bake it up. Lemon cake is on my list this year. Since my guy is far away, I’m going to bake it, wrap it up in red tissue paper and mail it over. Come on, a care package? So sweet.
• More music. You guys have seen High Fidelity, right? Because Rob was onto something. Introducing your lo

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When consumers in the UK are unable to secure loans bank provided, they turn to payday loans and other alternative sources of financing. But, what about businesses? Commercial lending restrictions are just as tight and many companies need financed capital to help them through these difficult economic times.

Payday loans are often not enough to keep a business afloat. Fortunately, small and medium sized businesses have other options designed especially for them.

Asset-based lending, invoice finance, business loans, and trade finance are several types of alternative funding for businesses. Some websites are popping up to help business owners find this financing. The service is free to both businesses and lenders, making the arrangement financially attractive for both parties.

Having access to free independent advice regarding commercial financing makes it easier for business owners to find the best loan.

RSM Tenon is one company that began offering this service in response to a need it identified. Company representative Carl Jackson noted that a traditional overdraft is usually not sufficient for a growing small company.

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