Washington, DC- The Supreme Court has upheld a bulk of the Healthcare Reform Act. The exclusion is the requirement for states to expand its medicaid program to accommodate additional uninsured candidates under the reform act. The Supreme Court did strike down this requirement of the states. The individual mandate was upheld as the Supreme Court rules that Congress did not act above constitutional authority in the implementation of the mandate. President Obama has achieved a political victory in the Supreme Court uphold his signature piece of legislation in his first term. CBS is reporting that the President will make a speech to the nation by 12:30 EST. Stay tuned to TheWiseMe.com and we will have video of the speech at the conclusion of the live speech.... … [Read more...]

http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-stockton-bankruptcy-20120627,0,2285815.story Stockton to file for bankruptcy, will be largest U.S. city to fail - latimes.com STOCKTON — This Gold Rush-era port city, an epicenter of California's agricultural exports, will become the nation's largest city to seek protection under the U.S. bankruptcy code after its City Council on Tuesday stopped bond payments, slashed employee health and retirement benefits and adopted a day-to-day survival budget. City Manager Bob Deis likened the process to cutting off an arm to save the body. He is expected to file bankruptcy papers immediately. A Delta wind had scrubbed the Central Valley sky blue as residents gathered hours early for the 5:30 p.m. meeting. Mostknew what the night held; bankruptcy has been a long time coming. Stockton has been in negotiations with its creditors since late March under AB 506, a new California law requiring mediation before a municipality can file for reorganization of … [Read more...]

The recent news about JP Morgan Chase and the $2 Billion dollar market loss may have scared The White House, as one of the nation’s stronger banks was the originators of this loss. The White House may want to consider another analysis of the $2 Billion dollars lost in market trading. In the new normal, one of three Americans are considered underbanked which is defined by individuals being excluded from the mainstream banking and may use check cashing services as banking alternative. JP Morgan Chase and other commercial banks are profit driven, and focus on profits leave no room for the underbanked in the commercial banking world. The banking industry does not look at a long-term strategy when the topic is the underbanked. The financial health of the consumer is a direct impact to the real economy. The benefit of bringing the underbanked into the mainstream banking umbrella to promote a vibrant, healthy financial consumer base goes to the economic growth of the real economy.  The $2 … [Read more...]

The buzz words in the credit union industry are Member Business Lending. The reason for the buzz is legislation before Congress to allow credit unions to increase business lending to be raised to account for no more than 27.5% of total assets up from 12.25% on the books. The passage of the legislation would be a boost to the credit union and small business as this will open additional avenues of financing that has been restricted by the commercial banking industry. The credit union faces a tough fight as commercial banks attempt to focus on the inexperience and risk in allowing the credit union into the business lending market. The one fact is certain that commercial banks have not met the fiduciary responsibility to meet the lending needs of the small business community in recent years. The passage of the pending Member Business Lending legislation would allow more financing options to the small business community. The argument of inexperience in business lending can be negated … [Read more...]