Credit Crunch

Microsoft has just officially announced that they have given a time frame of three weeks for Yahoo to complete the transaction that was proposed to them. The buyout offer is a remarkable 41 Billion US$ but Yahoo has yet to decide on the deal which left Microsoft very frustrated. The giant Microsoft also said that they will take their case directly to the shareholders if they have to which would result in a lower offer leaving Yahoo in a big situation here.

It will be interesting to see how Yahoo responds to the deadline as the clock is ticking and they currently have until April 26th to come to a decision.

With tax season in full effect and everyone running to get their taxes done for the year I have to decided to list the top six ways you can save on your taxes this year. The goal of these tips are to help you be able to trim your taxable income which is a huge way to save money.

1. Look for losses to turn into tax gains.

2. Fuel your retirement funds and receive tax breaks.

3. Itemize, it’s been proven people who don’t itemize pay up to $400 more in taxes.

4. Save receipts that can be classified as expenses.

5. Look up your tax bracket.

6. Plan for the AMT ahead of time so it doesn’t shock you.

Follow through with these six tips and I guarantee you will be able to save money on this years tax form.

Bombardier released there annual profit reports recently and announced that they had pulled in a profit of US$317M dollars in 2007 which is an increase of 18% from 2006. These results are from both their aircraft and rail divisions which are having huge results. Revenue for the year was also up 18% which makes it look like the aircraft industry is continuing to rise despite terrorist threats. Earnings per share came to 16 cents which again is up from last year. Bombardier had great numbers in 2007 and it should be interesting to see how they do in 2008. They have massive plans to increase the size of their production so it should only increase in my opinion.

The stock market got a boost from recent economic news in regards to jobs and unemployment. The upswing of the market came as news of a lower unemployment rate and new jobs hit the media. This gives a better idea of the state of the economy in recent times. The news is good. The unemployment rate sunk to a new low, and the news of new job creation in certain sectors influenced the rate of the decrease. This is good for the economy. With such good news, we can only hope that it continues.The gloom and doom has finally ceased, if only for a moment. A ray of hope shines through and the mood of the public is lifted a little. Certainly more good news should stop the downward slide. That and other more favorable economic conditions would definitely improve the stock market by a good margin. With the housing market such a disaster, and other economic indications fluctuating wildly, a stop needs to be put on this roller coaster. It will also take time and patience to ride this storm out. No matter what, we can rebuild. We rebuilt once and can do so again.

We are a nation of explorers and pioneers. This attitude is always present no matter what the stock market does. This “Can do” attitude is starting to reach out to the public. With the improvement of the economic situation more can be done.

The U.S. housing market is in the worst slump in decades; bring fears of a recession to the front of the public’s mind. With so many houses going into foreclosure, this is setting a record for foreclosed houses. A nefarious record to be sure, but it is there all the same.The economic news seems to be getting worse. Construction on new houses fell by a good bit and this prompted cries of a recession. So many jobs have either moved out of the U.S. or closed for good, it is causing a downward spiral for homes and home buyers. The recent bailout of Bear Stearns further fueled worries of an economic recession. With the current level of default home loans in its system, Bear Stearns did not have enough to cover all the debt and as a result, nearly collapsed.

This is all a domino effect. Housing slumps of this magnitude do cause banks to go out of business. The effect is far reaching. It affects all we do. The housing market is looking very grim as more and more people are unable to make payments as a result of losing a job. This is the grim reality here in the U.S. With so many persons out of work and more losing jobs daily, it seems like a headlong rush into disaster. Can we pull ourselves out of this economic mess? We are not the only ones affected by this financial disaster.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average has fallen quite a lot lately due to the bad economic news. A recessive economy is also not helping the fears of a long term recession. With jobs being lost every day and the nosedive of the housing market, this has sent shockwaves through not only the Dow Jones, but it has also affected markets overseas. This has not been good for the investors that have invested so much into the stock market. This goes for any type of stock market for that matter, no matter where it is located. This has affected the global economy and sent foreign stock markets tumbling.News of bailouts of banks has really stirred up the pot. This adds to fears that the US is in a full blown recession. The economic sector has really been up and down so much that it affects the global economy. Since this reach is worldwide, we need to take steps to stabilize the economy. Recent moves that have been made by the President and the Feds are helpful, but more is needed if the economy is to recover.

Stabilization of the housing market and jobs are the two areas in need of most repairs. With the loss of many jobs, and more and more people on the unemployment line, is it any wonder that people are losing both their livelihood and their homes? With the financial crush that is going on, more needs to be done.

The recent stock market crisis has caused a panic with U.S. investors. With fears of a recession, the stocks have violently seesawed with gains and losses vying for control. The recent news of J.P. Morgan’s bailout of Bears seemed at first to destabilize the market. Then it stabilized with the news that the unemployment rate was down. The recent stimulus package that is in the process of being released to the public will hopefully stabilize the market more. Even with the Federal Reserve Board cutting interest rates by a quarter point of interest, the full blown fears of a recession still linger.It hasn’t been easy to calm the American public’s fears of a full blown recession. In fact, they still linger and recent press on the situation seems to be inflaming the fears more fully. Of course the news isn’t good, so you can see why the pessimism of the American public is justified. When will the true stabilization of the stock market from all this violent up and down motion come? That is hard to say at this point. Only time will tell the tale of this stock market fluctuation. Time is what will be needed to get the stock market back on its feet. Time and patience will stabilize everything back to normal.

Due to the economic situation, urgent stabilization is needed to prevent a downward slide into a recession. Once this happens, things will calm down.

The recent bail out of Bears Stearns bank by J.P. Morgan and the Feds reminds us of the 1907 panic. At that time, banks were looming on the brink of failure. Flash forward to present time. It is as if history is repeating itself all over again. With the current financial failure of Bears Stearns bank and the possible failure of others, it seems like time is recurring again. The recent financial crisis that is looming over the United States reeks of the problems associated with the first stock market crash. Too much done too late at that time, and we didn’t have the programs that are available today.In this day and time, we have programs that can help us out of this recession. This is going to need much more than a bailout in order to improve. We need more jobs staying in the United States and more fair pay scales. When the stock market crashed the first time, they didn’t have the worry that we do now. We need to also pull ourselves up and get on with turning the economic factor around. We are responsible for this mess. It is time to take action.

Is this going to become more common, big banks bailing out other banks? This is unclear at this time. If we are going to survive this financial crisis, we need to get busy on what we really know is needed and leave politics out of it.

There are a great number of lenders out there today that will offer a car loan to those that may not have such favourable credit. The reason behind this is because they can charge an increased interest rate because they are well aware that you will have a hard time finding financing for your vehicle anywhere else. Those consumers that do get approved for a bad credit car loan while they are already in debt often end up finding that they are in a worse credit situation then they were in before. There are several things that you need to consider before applying for a bad credit car loan.

If you are going to be in a position where you need to purchase a car then the smartest financial approach would be to save up as much money as you can while taking the time to get your credit report into much better standing. Too many times people with bad credit are fooled into thinking that just because they have bad credit their choices are limited when it comes to purchasing a car.

If you live in an area that has public transportation you should consider utilizing some form of that transportation until your credit rating is out of disrepair and you have saved up a nice down payment for a new car. Having a good credit rating is a great step in being able to get the car that you want not simply the only car you think you can afford.

Order a copy of your credit report and go over it with a fine toothcomb. You would be amazed with how many times someone can have a poor credit rating simply due to an error on their credit report. Make sure that all of your bills are paid on time and paid early if you can. Work on paying off all of you old debts while putting away a little bit of money at a time to get that new car.

Another awful factor with unsecured bad credit car loans is that people are often stuck with much older cars then they wanted. This can lead to a whole mess of complications in the future should the car ever be in need of any repairs. It could be quite a mess trying to clean up your credit, pay off a car loan and pay for car repairs all at the same time.

So before you are ready to take the plunge and apply for a bad credit car loan you should really take the time to clean up your credit rating first. It will end up saving you a lot of money and stress in the long run.

Hey everyone..

I’m starting my blog today based on the sole fact that I want to help people better themselves financially and have a place to come to interact with someone who is on their level. I’m a very young adult and I currently work online full-time. Establishing credit has been a big concern for me and I have been reading lots and gaining valuable knowledge in the area and feel I can know share it with people. For those of you wondering why I choose the name Credit-Crunch it’s simply because it’s what I like to call my usual state of mind and that’s Credit-Crunch. I trying crunching all the data and numbers together to see what will work best for me. I look to fill the blog with all the information you need on finance and credit. I look forward to meeting new people and interacting with everyone as well who’d like to interact with me. I’m real busy right now running multiple websites and blogs but I plan on posting daily to this blog as I hope to turn it into a blog people come to and enjoy.

-Scott