Your Post Tax Season Financial Outlook

As we’re all aware, this decade’s Great Recession has dealt, and continues to deal, a significant blow to the budgets of many American families, leaving millions in debt, underwater in their mortgages, and looking for any means necessary to get back on a financially-healthy course.  Now, in the weeks following this tax season’s deadline, important financial news abounds for many cash-strapped citizens and the struggling states they live in.

Looking for good news amid the bad? Take a gander at the latest economic outlook and what it might mean for you.

Our Great Recession Continues (Or Not)
Last week, the Business Cycle Dating Committee of the National Bureau of Economic Research, a group responsible for determining official start and end dates for recessions based on analysis of financial indicators, announced that it cannot yet officially declare an end to the recession. The report indicates that, though many economic indicators have improved in recent months (including mortgage defaults, hiring and retail sales), it is still too soon to say whether or not the recession has come to a close. But the news isn’t all bad….In contrast, one member of the committee disagreed with the  final decision, issuing a memo citing the following two indicators as primary reasons why he believes the recession has already ended, including the fact that Real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the measure of our country’s overall economic output in a given year, has reportedly improved since June of 2009; and that Real Gross Domestic Income (GDI) has also apparently improved.

To corroborate this evidence, The Huffington Post reported this week, that 70% of those recently surveyed by The National Association for Business Economics believe real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) will “grow by more than two percent this year, up from 61 percent who said the same in January. Twenty-four percent are predicting real GDP will grow by more than 3 percent in 2010, up from 14 percent earlier this year. ‘Industry demand moved higher compared to results in the January 2010 report, pointing to stronger growth in 2010,’ said William Strauss, a senior economist at the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. ‘After more than two years of job losses, job creation increased in the first quarter of 2010, suggesting a better outlook for hiring over the next six months.’ The NABE forecast…shows fewer jobs are being shed, more are being created and more companies are making money.”

Hiring Up, and Congress Extends Unemployment Benefits
Similarly, HuffPost revealed that recent hiring growth is said to be at its fastest pace in 10 months.  “American employers in March added 162,000 jobs, the most in three years. Wages and salaries also are improving. Respondents reporting higher pay more than doubled to 26 percent, while those reporting a decline in wages slipped to 6 percent from 7 percent in January. The net reading for wages and salaries – planned increases minus planned cuts – was 20, the highest reading since January 2008. Higher salaries would bode well for the recovery, since consumer spending accounts for as much as 70 percent of U.S. economic activity.”
Despite the increase in hiring, unemployment remains close to 10 percent, meaning that millions of American families may not feel the recession’s end for a while. But everything’s not lost for families suffering from extended joblessness. According to the New York Times the Senate has voted 60 – 40 in favor of extending unemployment benefits. Were it to pass both houses of Congress, the measure would apparently cost approximately $18 billion—a hefty stumbling block for fiscally-conservative Senate Republicans.

Tax Time 2010 Was One of the Best It’s Been

According to Newsweek, we’ll “look back on April 15, 2010, as the day we got of cheaply.”  Due to a staggering national budget deficit and an aging American populace living off (and depleting) Social Security, all signs point to tax increases on the horizon—another good news/bad news scenario that should have us enjoying the “good times,” while we can.

If the financial news from your household is less than good, it may be time to turn to bankruptcy. If you, and your family, have been effected by the economy and are wondering how to get back on track, knowing a qualified bankruptcy attorney can also help you to conquer your creditors and face your financial fears, yielding the right kinds of support, information and insights—at a low cost— for a viable and secure future beyond our own “Great Recession.”  The bankruptcy experts at the Law Offices of John T. Orcutt offer a totally FREE debt consultation and now, more than ever, it’s time to take them up on their offer. Just call toll free to +1-833-627-0115, or during the off hours, you can make your own appointment right online at www.billsbills.com. Simply click on the yellow “FREE Consultation Now” button.