Indiana Chamber Communications VP Tom Schuman explains why streamlining the tax code and reforming entitlement spending will create a simpler and fairer system for American workers and businesses. The U.S. Congress’ Super Committee should work to make this happen.

First Financial Bank and Butler University are hosting a special business panel discussion on many issues critical to your business. Local industry experts will discuss important business tools and resources to help you plan and prepare for next year. Topics will include: understanding legal issues, managing your financial relationship, access to capital, tax incentives, forecasting and more. This will be a great opportunity to learn from experts and identify strategies to help take your business to the next level.
 
EXPERT PANELISTS:

• Alice Morical, Hoover Hull, LLP
• Anita Sherman, Greenwalt CPA, Managing Partner
• Gail Gesell, Small Business Administration, Indiana District Director
• Mary Jo Kennelly, First Financial Bank
• Chris Stump, Business Accelerator, CFO Services
• Larry O’Connor (moderator), Business Accelerator, Executive Director

 
TO REGISTER:
Space is limited. Please RSVP to rsvp@bankatfirst.com or 317.237.1581.
 
WHEN:
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. (lunch provided)
 
WHERE:
Indianapolis Museum of Art, Deer Zink Events Pavilion
4000 Michigan Road, Indianapolis, IN 46208-3326

When the first line of the story reads: "The federal government pays out millions to dead people each year," you know you are on to something. In this case, something is continued annuity payments to federal workers who have moved on to the ultimate retirement in the sky.

And when the dollar amount is more than $600 million in five years, we’re talking about more than a few mistakes. The Washington Post has the story; here’s a recap.

Inspector General Patrick E. McFarland, who previously reported on the improper payments in 2005 and 2008, urged the Office of Personnel Management to more closely track such mistakes.

“It is time to stop, once and for all, this waste of taxpayer money,” he wrote in the report.

Improper payments to dead retirees increased 70 percent in the past five years, far higher than the 19 percent climb in overall annuity payments, the report said.

The payments are on the rise because OPM is doing a poor job of tracking potential cheats, McFarland said. In one case, a deceased annuitant’s son continued receiving federal benefits until 2008 — 37 years after his father’s death. OPM learned about the improper payments — which exceeded $515,000 — only after the son died. The agency never recovered the money.

Last October, an investigation by the office of Sen. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) concluded that the government had paid nearly $1 billion to at least 250,000 dead people since 2000. That same month, a watchdog group reported that the Obama administration’s economic stimulus program had made 89,000 payments of $250 each to dead or incarcerated people. 

A simple yes/no question generated a large response in the latest informal Indiana Chamber poll.

We asked: Should online retailers (on a national basis) be required to collect sales taxes? Your responses: 61% yes, 39% no.

It’s a complicated topic. As we’ve shared earlier, the Chamber’s Bill Waltz has written an excellent analysis that identifies some of the key issues as a national solution (not a state-by-state approach) is required.

Coming off the Chamber’s annual D.C. Fly-in, our new question asks: What is your top priority for Washington policy leaders to accomplish? The choices include reform tax code, debt reduction, less intrusive federal regulations, long-term transportation bill and other (you tell us).

Check out the top right column of this page to register your vote.

I’m a big fan of "The Daily Show." I watch every episode, in fact. So I was pretty enthused to see the governor of our great state on the program last night. Mitch Daniels appeared to promote his new book, "Keeping the Republic" – and was asked some pointed questions about his economic philosophies. So how do you think he did?

Interview: Part I

Extended: Part II

Extended: Part III

It’s a four-letter word, and one I find almost as offensive as that other kind of four-letter word: debt. And while it should strike fear into the heart of every person, we just keep racking it up.

I heard one example on my way to work that was disguised as an easy way to pay for a LASIK vision procedure. Here’s my recollection of a portion of the commercial script that I found troubling:

Wife: “Go get LASIK.”
Husband: “But we can’t afford it.”
Wife: “Of course we can afford it, they have financing available.”

Uh-oh. Being able to afford something and being able to finance something is not the same thing. As a matter of fact, if you have to finance a product (that great pair of red pumps from the shoe store, a medical procedure such as LASIK eye surgery, etc.) that actually means you can’t afford it. Financing equals debt.

Here’s another alarming trend I read about recently in TIME magazine: according to a new study from CardHub.com, America is working to increase its collective credit card debt by $54 billion in 2011. The article goes on: in 2009, Americans actually reduced their credit card debt and added $9 billion in new credit card debt in 2010.

That means people were being smarter about their spending during the economic recession – or less able to be approved for credit cards. But, either way it means more people were actually living within their means.

I’m not sure where this turn-around from two years ago has come from. Possibly it’s similar to a teenager tasting his or her first bit of freedom after being grounded for a month – Americans are trying to make up for that time locked away without the ability to do whatever they wanted, whenever they wanted.

The TIME article made conclusions that the increase in credit card debt is similar to the subprime mortgage crisis of a few years ago – what many say propelled us into the recession. I’m confident that no one wants a repeat just two or three years later with credit card debt to blame this time.

Getting out of debt is not easy and it’s not quick – but the first step is to stop accruing debt: No more credit cards, no more financing.

So, someday when I get LASIK, I’ll have worked to save the money and will be able to truly afford it – no financing for me, thank you very much. What about you? Are you relying on credit cards and financing or are you working to get out of that vicious debt cycle?

While Washington — the President and/or Congress — receives most of the criticism (and high disapproval ratings) for whatever ails our country, respondents to our recent poll question took a different path.

The question was posed this way: What person/group can do the most to provide a boost to the economy? Your overhwhelming answer: 79% said individual consumers. Ten percent each offered federal regulatory agencies and state government officials.

Yes, there’s something to the way the question was worded. If we had asked who was to blame for the slow economy, then the White House and Congress likely would have led the way. With our "who can do the most?" terminology, consumers are a logical response. In other words, start spending and economic activity in various forms will return.

But consumers, both individuals and business, are not acting because of the uncertainty. And the uncertainy is typically blamed on guess who — those in Washington who are failing to provide anyone with the ability to know or even guess what is coming next.

Or maybe I’m just reading a little too deep into it.

Just wanted to share those results and let you know a new question is on the site (upper right corner). It asks: Should online retailers (on a national basis) be required to collect sales taxes? And if you need background on that complicated topic, take a look at this recent analysis from the Chamber’s Bill Waltz.