NATION BRIEFLY

He spoke at a credit-counseling agency in Arkansas that helps people saddled with debt.

Senate leaders hope soon to get back to the bill after their weeklong break; it has been snagged over an unrelated dispute about tax breaks and renewable energy.

GM, Toyota, Ford all post big U.S. June sales drops

DETROIT - General Motors Corp. soundly beat Toyota Motor Corp. in June to retain its traditional U.S. sales lead, but GM sales still dropped 18.2 percent during a dismal month for large automakers.

Toyota's U.S. sales fell 21.4 percent, while Ford Motor Co. said it sales tumbled nearly 28 percent. Chrysler LLC took a huge hit for the month with sales down 35.9 percent.

GM's shares bounced more than 2 percent higher in late trading Tuesday after sinking to their lowest level in more than a half century during Monday's session.




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EDITORIAL: A start

7--The consolidation of earned income tax collection could be the nose of the camel under the tent when it comes to streamlining government in Pennsylvania.

Gov. Ed Rendell last week signed into law a bill that consolidates the number of collectors for earned income tax payments from 560 to 69. Their jurisdictions would generally follow county lines. (Pennsylvania has 67 counties.)

The Associated Press reported the measure is designed to create standard reporting rules and result in a more efficient system.

State officials estimate local taxing bodies will recoup more than $230 million in uncollected revenues as a result.

The measure is the result of a 2004 report by the Department of Community and Economic Development that said the tax collection system was fragmented and inefficient.



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Government Offers Help To Debt-Crisis Families Facing Repossession.

They give free, confidential advice and are available through the Credit and Debt Hotline on 1800 808 488.

``You can also find them through some neighbourhood centres, community legal centres, church groups and charitable organisations.''

Community financial counsellors provide free help for people with debt difficulties. They operate throughout New South Wales and provide confidential advice on financial matters.

Trained counsellors can provide options for changing and improving people's financial situation. They can explain what government assistance is available and negotiate, advocate or mediate, on behalf of people in trouble, with credit providers and government agencies.

Financial counsellors can also assist with information on debt recovery, bankruptcy and other para-legal matters, as well as ensure appropriate referral to other sources of assistance, for example Legal Aid, personal counselling and government services.



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Last of the big spenders?

'Debt', the dreaded word. Debt does not have to be a negative word though, as there are two kinds of debt, one being bad and the other good.

The bad debt applies to unnecessary wants, which usually end up draining your cash flow. Good debt on the other hand allows you to build assets, thus giving you a return on your debt!

Questions you should be asking

Do your expenses ever exceed your income? Are you in overdraft? Is your credit cards maxed to the limit? Do you pay your accounts timeously? Or do you wait for the dreaded phone call? Do you save the proportionate amount of your income, as you should?

Do any or all of the above apply to you? If they do, the first step to solving you debt problem is to be totally honest and calculate how much debt you are actually in.



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Free debt consolidation

US works on bank debt plan, UK targets shorts - ABS-CBN
NEW YORK/WASHINGTON - Governments on both sides of the Atlantic took radical steps to restore confidence in battered financial markets on Thursday, as the United States proposed a taxpayer-funded mopping up of toxic mortgage-related debt and Britain

Bailout cost: higher than you think - CNN Money
FORTUNE (New York) -- Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke have saved us, for now, from a market meltdown - but at the cost of allowing the folks who caused the current crisis to keep ducking reality. In the long run, guess who gets to bear that cost? The

Credit crunch squeezes Florida economy - St. Petersburg Times
To avoid defaulting on her nearly $1,500 monthly house payment, Maria Folk sold a family boat, unhooked her cable, even canceled her household phone line. But when the New Port Richey resident has called her mortgage lender pleading for a reduction

Plunder: Investigating Our Economic Calamity and the Subprime Scandal - MediaChannel.org
Danny Schechter is a media activist, critic, independent filmmaker, TV producer as well as an author of 10 books and lecturer on media issues. Some call him “The News Dissector,” and that’s the name of his popular blog on media issues. He’s

Global Telecom & Technology, Inc. Q2 2008 Earnings Call Transcript - Seekingalpha.com
Good day, everyone. Welcome to the Global Telecom & Technology, Inc. second quarter 2008 earnings conference call. Today's call is being recorded. At this time I’d like to turn the call over to Mike Bower, Vice President of Finance and Investor

Technology sector’s recent run of success is stumbling - Times Online
Phoenix IT makes much of its money from disaster recovery – providing emergency back-up services to companies to ensure that they can keep trading despite disruptions to their business. But when that disruption is as severe as insolvency, there is

Week Ahead: Another Market Roller Coaster? - CNBC
The U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve have pulled out their financial jumper cables, but it's the details that will determine whether their massive bailout plan will recharge the markets and economy. In the week ahead, the markets will focus on how

Only way to pay bills is to starve

They used the Citizens' Advice Bureau's latest annual meeting to warn the situation is going to get even worse. Rachael Walker, a money advice co-ordinator at the bureau, said: "Many of our clients are now coming to us with gas or electricity bills that they are not able to pay back along with their ongoing usage. "And... we have seen some cases where clients are cutting back on their food just so they can have their gas or electricity." She put the numbers involved in going without food as 'a growing minority'. She described their mood as depressed and distressed. "We are expecting the current situation to worsen," warned Miss Walker. This is one sign of how the dramatically-changed financial situation of the past 12 months is taking its toll on the CAB's clients. Cases of debt seen by its volunteers and advisors have soared by 25 per cent in the year to the end of March.



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Debt crisis spreads to credit cards

The thrift's $175 million second-quarter loss from its card unit stemmed from higher delinquencies and an inability to sell some card debt to investors because of illiquid markets. It was Washington Mutual's first card loss since it entered the business in 2005 when it bought Providian Financial Corp. .



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