Just Say No to Black Thursday

Here it is Black Friday, the malls have been mobbed since midnight, and retailers are saying they want to be allowed to open on Thanksgiving Day too. They argue that consumers should have the choice to shop on Thanksgiving, which state law now prohibits. Rep. Colleen Garry has in fact filed legislation (House Bill 00989; …

MA Law unfair to Independent Contractors – needs to be changed

Hi Will – as an intellectual Property worker (software engineer/designer) married to a consulting artist (Powerpoint/photoshop specialist) I’d like to call to your attention the following article and urge you to support reform of this well-meaning-but-misguided piece of legislation. I’m guessing that a fair amount of your constituents fall into the “independent consultant” definition — this potentially …

Changes to Bank Overdraft Regulations

New regulations have been introduced for financial institutions across the country that will forever change the way they can provide overdraft protection to their customers. Overdraft protection has for years been automatically included in checking accounts at most all major banks across the country. When an account holder withdrew more from their account than they …

Income Trends

There are many ideas out there about how earnings, real and expected, affect spending.  Milton Friedman’s 1957 Permanent Income Hypothesis is probably the most famous.  In its strictest form, it implies that changes in current income, such as a raise or inheritance, shouldn’t change consumption at all. That’s an awfully strong statement.  In 1989, John …