MasterCard and Visa have indicated October, 2015 as the timeline for the big shift from swipe and sign credit cards to EMV or smart cards requiring a PIN. The EMV system comes out of an early 1990’s joint project by international payment processors to set standards for smart-card specifications. Most of the world has already…
Category: Economy
It’s Time for an Answer to our Growing Debt
It is past time for a long term solution that stops America’s debt from growing as a percent of GDP. Both sides are offering options that do this, providing ample possibilities for rational people to reach a compromise. We will see if such people have been elected. The foundation for a deal is there. Now…
Political Parties Playing “Chicken” with American’s Well Being
There are many reasons why we must prevent going off the cliff. Some continue to argue the poor will do better under the cliff scenario than any other. That’s not true and here are some arguments for why the poor will do better under plans such as Simpson-Bowles and Domenici-Rivlin. Simpson-Bowles and Domenici-Rivlin plans…
Corporations making “Cliff” decisions
Corporations are being impacted by the delay in getting a debt deal completed. The WSJ reported today that the uncertainty is driving some corporation to delay investments. “We’ve pulled back on our capital planning for 2013,” Ellen Kullman, chairman and CEO of chemical maker DuPont , said in comments to the conference in New York on Tuesday. “We…
Can Lower Corporate Taxes and Infrastructure Save the Economy
Fareed Zakaria in his Time article How Lower Corporate Taxes and Infrastructure Can Save the Economy suggest they can indeed. Borrowing low corporate tax rates, investment incentives, and a shift to a territorial tax system from Fed-Ex‘s Fred Smith, Zakaria adds government investment in infrastructure improvement to his economic plan. Right now, because of tax and other policies,…
Gartner Predicts 2012 IT Spending Growth Slows
Gartner’s newest IT spending forecast shows the march to digitalization slowing — on pace to reach $3.628 trillion in 2012 and $3.786 trillion in 2013. That is only an estimated 3 percent and 4.4 percent increase compared to the the $3.523 trillion spent last year in 2011, which was 7.9 percent growth compared to 2010….