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PIA Western Alliance
By the time you read this the Senate and House may have already passed what President Trump is calling a Christmas present for the nation's middle class. It's the much-ballyhooed tax reform bill. Trump said he will sign it into law once it hits his desk and that's expected to happen by the end of the week.
The House votes on the bill on Tuesday and the Senate on Wednesday.
Before we get into the details of the plan — and not much has changed from previous stories we have done — it must be noted that the PIA supports a clear and simple tax code and one that reduces individual and corporate income tax rates for small businesses.
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PIA Western Alliance
Over the last two months much of the economic focus has been on the tax reforms planned by President Trump and Republicans in Congress. That plan is very close to becoming reality. In fact, by the time you read this, it may have already been passed by the two houses of Congress and be on the president's desk awaiting his signature.
Reality — however — says the Census Bureau is that median income is on the rise. And it's happened without a tax cut. And in 2016 — the last data available — saw the largest jump in a two-year period in decades.
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PIA Western Alliance
The holidays. We love them. Homes everywhere are festively decorated and packed with gifts and goodies. Unfortunately, these homes — and your home — are a gold mine for the creative burglar.
A 2017 Ooma.com home security report says 63% of our homes are at risk for burglary. And the loss suffered from a burglary goes deeper than just losing things. The telecommunications company said with a burglary our sense of security goes away as well.
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PIA Western Alliance
Around the holidays we exhaust ourselves. Work — which is often exhausting — gets mixed in with hours of shopping, your own parties and company parties, the concerts and plays of children and grandchildren, charity events, etc.
It is all very sleep-depriving.
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PIA Western Alliance
Commercial insurance prices are still close to flat. Third quarter 2017 prices jumped an average of less than a percent. Again. The "again" is the 9th consecutive time prices have risen less than a percent.
That conclusion comes from Willis Towers Watson's Commercial Lines Insurance Pricing Survey (CLIPS) who says the trend started in the first quarter of 2013. In other words, prices charged on policies in the 3rd quarter of 2017 look pretty much the same as the 3rd quarter of 2016.
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PIA Western Alliance
One of the wildfires that have ravaged Southern California now has a cause. The blaze that swept through the hills of Bel-Air and destroyed six homes and damaged a dozen others was started by a fire in a homeless camp in a ravine.
Fire officials say it was not set on purpose. However, they also haven’t been able to locate those who may have started the fire since much of the camp was also destroyed. The fire is now under control.
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PIA Western Alliance
When it comes to health care, ObamaCare or all things in between Republicans and Democrats in Congress cannot agree on anything. That is until now. It appears that the leadership in both the Senate and the House and from both parties are committed to gaining some control over the price of pharmaceuticals.
The concept agreed upon is one to bring down some of the walls that keep out competition. One of today's practices is to pay competitors from entering the market with a generic drug. Another is to tweak a drug in a small way to extend the life of the patent.
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PIA Western Alliance
President Trump has waded in on Wells Fargo's multiple scandals. You remember the forced insurance, the mortgage fee overcharges and the fake bank accounts. If you don't Trump does. In a tweet he said, "Fines and penalties against Wells Fargo bank for their bad acts against their customers and others will not be dropped."
Currently the acting director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney. He's frozen all regulatory actions — including Wells Fargo's — and agency hiring while he does a review of what the agency does.
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PIA Western Alliance
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