The labor market may be losing momentum, according to a recent report on job turnover rates from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Job openings in the U.S. dropped in July by 1.5 percent to 3.67 million compared to last month. New hires have also dropped by 1.2 percent to 4.23 million. The job turnover data follows Friday’s employment report, which showed unemployment falling to 8.1 percent with only … Continue reading»

SALT LAKE CITY — Economists are battling over whether Mitt Romney’s tax plan is actually possible after a recent Wall Street Journal column written by Martin Feldstein, a professor of economics at Harvard and the presidential candidate’s economic adviser. Feldstein refuted the Tax Policy Center’s study, which claimed that Romney’s plan is “mathematically impossible.” The study also claimed the plan would cause a $181 billion revenue loss if … Continue reading»

More than $850 million in taxpayer dollars went to 117,000 individuals earning cash benefit payments from both disability and unemployment in fiscal year 2010, according to a study from the U.S. Government Accountability Office released this week. Some individuals have received more than $62,000 from both benefits in a year, according to the GAO study. There isn’t a federal law in place that authorizes an elimination of disability … Continue reading»

Critics of presidential candidate Mitt Romney say his plan to lower or eliminate taxes and deductions is “mathematically impossible.” But Martin Feldstein, a professor of economics at Harvard University, doesn’t agree. Critics base their claims on a study from the Tax Policy Center, a part of the Brookings Institution, according to Feldstein’s article in the Wall Street Journal. The study analyzed personal tax revenues and liabilities incurred by … Continue reading»

WASHINGTON — Three consecutive months of rising home prices show signs that the housing market is recovering, according to the Standard & Poor’s/Case-Shiller home price index released Tuesday. The index is a survey of home prices in the nation’s 20 largest metropolitan areas, including Detroit, Las Vegas and Seattle. Composite home prices for all 20 metro areas rose 0.5 percent since June 2011. Every city posted gains in … Continue reading»

HIGHLAND—Some residents in Highland want the city to block businesses from operating on Sunday after officials overturned the restrictions. The petition began after the Highland City Council voted 3-2 in April to allow business to open on Sunday. Now petitioners want the decision to come to voters on the November ballot. Petitioners have gathered 2,200 signatures. The city requires 889. Mann says he and other petitioners would rather … Continue reading»

Four Utah cities, including South Jordan and Orem, made Money Magazine’s 2012 Top 100 Best Place to Live in the U.S., released this week. Continue reading»

Pennsylvania’s efforts to assist its local governments with their retirement plans may be doing more harm than good, according to Bloomberg. The state is home to a quarter of all U.S. public pensions and has paid at least $2 billion to help manage local retirement systems. As a result, thousands of retirement plans covering no more than 10 workers have begun appearing, with some covering fewer than five. … Continue reading»

The Security and Exchange Commission charged a Puerto Rico resident and his company today who targeted evangelical Christians and factory workers in a $7 million Ponzi scheme. Ricardo Bonilla Rojas and his firm Shadai Yire allegedly gathered funds from as many as 200 investors in Puerto Rico, Florida, New York and North Carolina, according to a statement from the SEC. “Rojas targeted novice investors who were often evangelical … Continue reading»