While the rest of America was struggling to make a buck, executives at Merrill Lynch made over $3 billion while it was hemorrhaging money. However, Bank of America has refused to turn over the bonus information to the NY AG after receiving a subpoena.

New York officials told ABC News that the session to get information from CEO Ken Lewis was ugly and combative. They accused him and the bank of stonewalling, saying they refused to provide a list of which executives got what of the billions in bonuses.

Meanwhile, the CEO arrived in style, traveling from the bank’s headquarters on a $50 million G-5 corporate jet, and then a premium SUV to the Manhattan office. This further angered regulators who gave the bank $45 billion in federal bailout money for the “troubled” bank.

As for Lewis, he says the immediate issue is whether or not he has told the “whole story” about the huge bonuses paid shortly before Merrill Lynch merged with Bank of America. He also told Congress that he had “no authority” over the bonuses paid during that time.

Those with children know that it can be expensive to leave the house without the children. Baby sitters these days no longer accept $1 an hour – many are looking for more than minimum wage! So, one way to save money may be to share a sitter with friends and neighbors that also have kids. Assuming you go out at least once a week for a few hours and cut your bill in half, you could save $300 a week or more!

A related way to save on baby sitter costs is to take turns babysitting each other’s children. This is a free alternative to hiring a baby sitter and can help save a substantial amount of money every month. After all, a recession can be a lot easier if everyone works together…

Many stores like Best Buy offer extended warranties to help consumers alleviate fears that their new electronics are going to break. These warranties are a huge source of profit for the retailers and often times a big waste of money for consumers. According to Consumer Reports:

When you take out an extended warranty, you're essentially making a sucker's bet. You're gambling on a series of events happening at precisely the right time under precisely the right circumstances. These include:

• That a product will break exactly after the manufacturer's warranty has expired and precisely when the extended warranty is in effect. Sure, it's possible, but unlikely.
• That the cost of the repair will exceed the cost of the warranty. Surveys of Consumer Reports subscribers reveal that the costs are fairly close most of the time.
• That the product is likely to break in the first place. According to our data, most products are quite reliable and have not broken during the first three or four years of ownership.
• That you're going to want to have the product fixed. Perhaps surprisingly, many readers surveyed said they didn't bother seeking repairs because they desired a replacement product that had either new features, more power, greater flexibility, more advanced technology, or improved energy efficiency.

There are many ways to get a free extended warranty:

• Most products come with their own warranties, so it doesn’t make sense to purchase more protection. With the exception of big ticket items like laptops, plasma TV’s or video game protections, which may break beyond the common warranty time period. However, it still rarely makes sense to pay another 20% of the purchase price for a warranty!
• Credit cards can give you the extra warranty protection for free for those products that may need the support. Some major credit cards automatically tack on an additional year to the product’s existing warranty period, which effective doubles the extended warranty at no additional cost. These companies including Amex, Visa Signature and MasterCard Platinum.

Overall, consumers may be best off avoiding extended warranties provided by retailers and instead opt for those free ones offered by credit card companies!

The economic decline has forced many consumers to cut their budgets, but the cuts are not even across the board by any means. Consumers were quick to cut certain expenses, like cellphone upgrades, high-end cosmetics and GPS subscriptions. However, other expenses like cable subscriptions, dining out and haircuts continue to see dollars coming in at a healthy rate.

One way to save money on luxuries without cutting them may be to negotiate with your service providers. Most cable and internet providers are willing to match competitor pricing to keep you from going elsewhere, especially if you threaten to move over the whole package. Cell phone services are the same way and may be willing to tack on additional benefits to save you.

Consumers may also want to check out online services like Hulu.com to replace their cable subscriptions. These web sites allow visitors to view many of their favorite television programs online for free anytime. Another way to lower cable costs is to bundle services – consumers that add on cable and phone to their internet can save as much as $10 per month by bundling the services.

Those maintaining their clothing spending may want to check out online coupon sites to find deals, like RetailMeNot.com.

The credit crisis can be very difficult for the average person to understand given the enormous number of parties involved and convoluted transactions that took place. However, Jonathan Jarvis produced a very clever video that clearly outlines the basics of the credit crisis and how it is affecting America today. Understanding this crisis is the first step to finding a solution and dealing with the problem, so this is a great video for any homeowner or person concerned with the economy.

The Crisis of Credit Visualized from Jonathan Jarvis on Vimeo.

Government officials went head-to-head with banking executives in recent weeks demanding to know why huge loans to banks have failed to increase lending to consumers. However, banks countered by saying that they loaned as much or more than they did during the same time last year. So, who is lying and when will consumers be able to get loans?

The truth is that a lot of lending doesn’t come from banks, but rather so-called “shadow lenders” such as hedge funds and insurance companies. Often times, real estate developers, small business owners and others that need larger loans turn to these shadow lenders to cover their needs. Now, they are turning to banks to fill the void and taking up the credit traditionally used for consumers.

Unfortunately, the shadow banking system hasn’t recovered enough to pick up the slack and isn’t big enough to fill in the lack of supply in the lending markets. Meanwhile, banks are continuing to pull back on all types of lending in order to hold capital to help safeguard against future loan losses. They have also worked to increase fees to many of its clients, which has drawn consumer criticism.

The year 2008 will go down in infamy for many retirement portfolios as substantial losses have many wondering if they can afford to retire on time. However, many are wondering just how bad their situation is compared to those of their peers. Well, we found the data and here it is:

• $200,000+ portfolios lost more than a quarter of their value.
• $100,000 - $200,000 portfolios lost about 21% of their value.
• $50,000 - $100,000 portfolios lost about 15% of their value.
• $10,000 - $50,000 portfolios broke even for the year.
  

The trend is clearly that larger portfolios lost a larger portion of their value while smaller portfolios tended to outperform. In fact, investors who had less than $10,000 in their accounts in January 2008 saw their balances increase by an average of 43% between then and January 2009!

Why does this trend exist? Well, the average diversified stock fund fell about 38% in 2008. Even bond funds – which are considered safer than stocks – dropped nearly 8% during the year. Large 401(k)’s tend to invest in these types of stock funds and bonds. Meanwhile, smaller investors tend to invest in individual stocks, which can be riskier but can also pay off handsomely in a market like that of 2008.

So, how does this affect retirement? Well, a recent study showed that baby boomers with 20 to 29 years on the job may have to work an extra year and nine months to boost their portfolio balance to where it was a year ago. Moreover, if these people move into more conservative investments, it may take even longer to recoup the losses…

The landscape for business has greatly changed since the global financial crisis hit. Many of the big employers that hired from these schools, including Merrill Lynch and Lehman Brothers, are no longer in existence – and that’s causing concern among business school students. However, a good education may be key in what promises to be a fiercely competitive job market over the next couple of years.

Career services personnel are also eagerly awaiting response from Lehman, Merrill and AIG as to whether or not they plan on honoring the job offers that they extended to second-year students before the economic downturn. In fact, nobody really knows the impact yet on recruiting for these students, and that could affect the opinions of future students enrolling in the university.

In the meantime, career services personnel are encouraging students to touch as many potential employers as they can this fall, especially if they intend to go into troubled fields like investment banking. Some students may also want to consider jobs in other areas of financial services, such as corporate finance or internal auditing, and consider jobs and smaller boutique investment firms.

Unemployment is at the heart of economic problems in much of the United States, but there are still many states where unemployment remains low.

Here are some of the best states for employment:

Wyoming – Wyoming has the lowest unemployment rate in the country at just 3.4% thanks to its exposure to oil and gas exploration as well as coal mining. Additionally, Obama’s new plans for the use of clean-coal technology could help the state generate more jobs in the future.

Texas – Texas has low taxes, low regulation and low wages, which has attracted a lot of businesses. These job opportunities and low-cost living make this state home to many of the largest cities in the United States for employment. The stimulus package should also increase jobs in energy and infrastructure.

Oklahoma – Oklahoma City has an unemployment rate of just 4.6%, which is the lowest of all the larger metropolitan areas. The state has obtained some nice profits from its agricultural roots as well as the oil and natural gas industries, which have been big earners in recent months.

Many credit card issuers have experienced problems with their loan portfolios as defaults increase. Instead of encouraging prudent usage, they are starting to cut off those that don’t spend on their cards! The target: Inactive credit card users with high limits. Often times, these are people with a strong credit score that have left open their cards to maintain it – and they could be in trouble.

Credit card companies are increasingly worried that inactive cards with large open credit lines present a real risk of fraud and large potential liabilities. As a result, many major issuers including Chase, Bank of America, American Express and Citibank have been slashing credit lines and closing accounts of those who do not spend on a regular basis – oftentimes without much notice!

The only way for consumers to stop this trend is to start spending on their cards again. Otherwise, credit card companies will keep shutting them down. In fact, Discover alone closed 3 million accounts in 2008 due to inactivity and plans to cut up to 2 million more. After all, there’s no sense in trimming the loan portfolios yet if they can reduce risk for free by cutting inactive users…

Coupon clippers may be surprised to find that coupons can be found online, too! In fact, a recent study found that the number of searches on coupon web sites doubled from last January until September. It’s clear that many Americans are discovering new ways to save online, but what are some of the best web sites to find coupons and avoid paying full price for anything?

The most popular type of coupons available online deal with technology bargains both online and in stores. These types of deals can be found on web sites like TechBargains.com and SlickDeals.net. Consumers looking for more standard products from a variety of retailers may want to check out web sites like RetailMeNot.com and CouponCabin.com.

There are also a number of new technologies being developed to help you save. RetailMeNot.com has developed a downloadable browser application that alerts you to promotions and coupons when you’re on a retailer’s web site. It is a great way to ensure that you’re getting the best deal possible before you click the buy button and checkout and saves you a lot of time.

In the end, these coupons may be a great way to save money and are definitely worth watching!

Grocery stores are low margin business, which means they rely on selling a lot of items and focus on up-selling customers on expensive items when possible. Savvy consumers are able to see these expensive items and avoid them, but sometimes it can be difficult to tell when you’re getting ripped off by the grocery store. So, here’s a list of the most common grocery store rip offs that you can avoid purchasing during your next visit…

1. Bottled Water – Water is a lot cheaper coming from the tap or filtered through a re-usable filter. Recent studies have also shown that tap water is better for the environment as the process of making and filling bottled water leaves a large carbon footprint.
2. Energy Bars – Energy bars are often placed by the checkout as an “impulse buy” for consumers looking for a quick, healthy snack. However, these bars are often just as healthy as a candy bar, but cost two or three times more.
3. Pre-made Meat Patties – Having meat patties already formed for the grill may be convenient, but the luxury can cost several times that of ground meat in bulk. Taking the time to make your own patties can save you a fortune.
4. Salad Packs – Bags of salad can be a major convenience to making a fresh salad, but they often cost three times as much as buying the vegetables fresh. Salad kits that include small bags of dressing and croutons are also a rip off.
   

Combined, avoiding these and other expensive items at the grocery store can help you lower your monthly bills and become a smart shopper.

Most newspapers and television shows love to quote the Dow Jones when explaining the markets movements. The average was started by Charles Dow in the 1800’s as a way to measure stock market movements, but many academics are now questioning its relevance.

The Dow Jones only includes 30 stocks that are selected by a committee to best represent more than 6,000 readily-priced publicly traded companies in the United States. Several major sectors are not even represented in the index, such as transportation and utilities. Some consider this outdated now that computers are capable of calculating much larger indexes, such as the Russell 3,000.

The Dow Jones also has a few flaws in the way the index is calculated. The index is price-weighed, which means that it is not weighted according to the value of the companies like the S&P 500. So, for example, if a $20 stock moves up $1, the move can be negated by a $1 move in a $100 stock. This skews the average towards the activity of higher priced stocks. Another key flaw is that the Dow Jones doesn’t include dividends in its calculation.

Regardless, the Dow Jones remains a very important average for the American public. The media often quotes the average as a broad measure for the market. However, before you get concerned when the Dow Jones falls sharply, keep in mind that the rest of the market may be healthy. This is especially important to remember during these troubled times – there are plenty of healthy stocks out there.

Most people will consider 2008 as one of the worst periods on record for homeowners. The collapse in the subprime market led to a surge in foreclosures. The increase in foreclosures spooked investors who then pulled the floor out from under the market and caused foreclosures in the broader markets. Finally, this led to lower valuations across the board for the majority of homes in the United States. So, where are home prices headed in 2009?

Many economists believe that home prices will continue to fall in 2009. Ken Rosen, a prominent economist, told attendees at the World Economic Forum in Davos that he expects home prices to drop an additional 6% to 7% in 2009. He believes that the housing market downturn is only ¾ complete and the cumulative slump could reach 24% this year. However, he suggested that the government could take actions to prevent a slump by instituting a foreclosure moratorium to stabilize the economy.

Despite the gloomy reports, there is some positive news in the housing sector that came out today. There was a sharp rise in purchasing of foreclosure properties from banks that were holding them far below value. The good news is that 1 in 6 houses are in foreclosure, so this type of buying could help improve the sector for the rest of homeowners. Higher valuations in their neighborhoods and a stabilization in prices should help improve the long-term value for everyone.

So, expect a decline in the first half of 2009 but the signs of a recovery in the second half of 2009.

There are many tools available for those individuals looking to prepare their own tax returns no matter how high their income. The newest addition to the free filing industry is the IRS’s Free File Fillable Forms (FFFF) service. The service is perfect for individuals that are looking to prepare their own taxes on paper, but those who don’t know what they are doing should stay away!

The website is http://www.freefilefillableforms.com/

The advantages of this new system is that there is no income limit and you can take your time with a saving feature. Meanwhile, there are many forms that are available as part of the package, including rental income, business income, capital gains, farming income, and much more. The disadvantages are that you cannot file the state form electronically and there are no error messages telling you to add forms when needed.

Those looking for more help might be better off with other free solutions, like TurboTax’s free service. This service features a Q&A path, live community support, free audit support, and a cheap state return fee of just $25 per state. Other services include H&R Block’s TaxCut service and TaxAct Online, which both other free federal filings and cheap state filings. Overall, there is a solution for everyone!