This Loophole Ends the Privacy of Social Security Numbers

Federal law is supposed to protect the privacy of your Social Security number from government inquiries — but apparently that doesn’t extend to a check on whether you’ve paid back taxes and child support. In a decision with worrying implications for those who oppose a single national identification number, a divided federal appeals court has rejected a lawyer’s refusal to …

Pam Martens and Russ Martens – Wall Street Today: Fake Accounts, Fake Money, Fake Courts, Fake Regulators

Last Thursday, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) announced that Wells Fargo was paying $185 million in fines and penalties for allowing its employees to open “more than two million deposit and credit card accounts” that were not authorized by its customers. The employees were attempting to “hit sales targets and receive bonuses.” In one of the most audacious forms of bank fraud, …

Americans’ out-of-pocket healthcare costs are skyrocketing

For the majority of Americans who receive health insurance through their employers, there is some good news and some bad news. The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan think tank addressing health policy issues, released its annual Employer Health Benefits Survey on Wednesday and looked at the cost of insurance for Americans. Based on the data Kaiser gathered, it appears that the hit …