E-Filing Free For All

Color of Money columnist Michelle Singletary breaks the news that the Internal Revenue Service is allowing all taxpayers to file electronic returns without having to purchase special software or going through a pricey tax preparer: Since 2003, people with low to moderate incomes could file their tax returns electronically at no charge by going through the Free File program. The program is run through a partnership between the IRS and the Free File Alliance, a group of private-sector tax-preparation companies.

So Now What?

There is no denying the incredible spark the campaign and election of President Obama created in the lives of every day people. Whether it’s sitting in the beauty shop or waiting for the bus, the conversation is always about Barack Obama.  And for the vast majority of young African Americans it is our first time playing [...]

Columnists Reflect on King and Obama

Bob Herbert:  And so it has happened, this very strange convergence. The holiday celebrating the birth of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. became, in the midnight hour, the day that America inaugurates its first black president. It’s a day on which smiles will give way to tears and then return quickly to smiles [...]

President Obama’s Inaugural Address

My fellow citizens, I stand here today humbled by the task before us, grateful for the trust you have bestowed, mindful of the sacrifices borne by our ancestors. I thank President Bush for his service to our nation, as well as the generosity and cooperation he has shown throughout this transition.

This Week in Washington: January 19, 2009

The House of Representatives will be in session and voting this week. In addition to voting for non-binding resolutions honoring Catholic schools, National School Counseling Week, the Florida Gators for their BCS championship, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the House will also consider legislation to amend the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP) provisions of the Emergency Economic [...]

Powell: Let’s Renew America Together

Republican and Obama supporter Colin Powell, Secretary of State to President George W. Bush, encourages  us to renew America together: Whatever one’s political leanings, each presidential inauguration is an opportunity for Americans to renew the energy required to deal with the challenges we face — never more so than when the challenges we face are without [...]

Civil Rights Fought For Should Not Be In Vein

Reading the following article in the New York Times about young Afghan women and girls being sprayed with acid in order to prevent them from getting a basic education made me reflect on education here in the United States.  Yes, we know “a mind is a terrible thing to waste” and that “education is the [...]

Understanding Economic Terms in the News

I considered myself lucky to have escaped college and graduate school with only one economics course. I had other academic pursuits to indulge and couldn’t be bothered with perfunctory economics courses. After all, I knew the basic economic principles of supply and demand, even comparative advantage. I even knew the economic theories of Adam Smith [...]

Ten Ways We Fail Our Kids Financially

The headline alone was enough to take me aback. And I don’t even have kids yet!   But it got me to thinking about how I learned my own financial lessons from my mother. I remember all of the lessons being hard ones, and spending most of my time as a kid promising that I would [...]

Shame on MSNBC: Some blacks choose inauguration over work

Even if we assume positive intent, then this is a clear demonstration of how it goes wrong and becomes a train wreck of a story. In attempting to show the inspiration President-elect Obama is creating around his election and inaugural, MSNBC runs an Associated Press story which awkwardly suggests that African Americans are skipping work [...]

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