Tracy Davidson

Middle-income and poor families struck by layoffs and pay cuts, have been hit the hardest by the worst recession in decades, widening the economic gap between the richest and poorest Americans.
The wealthiest 10% of Americans, making more than $138,000 annually, earned 11.4 times the estimated $12,000 made by those living near or below the poverty [...]

Record job losses and an increase in early retirement claims from laid-off seniors will cause Social Security to hand out more benefits than it collects in taxes over the next two years- for the first time since the 1980s. The rise in fillings will not affect payments to retirees because Social Security has accumulated surpluses [...]

If you plan to travel over the weekend after the Thanksgiving and New Year’s holidays, be ready to hand over an extra $10.
The three largest U.S. carriers- Delta, American, and United, plus US Airways, all plan to add a $10 surcharge on peak travel days this winter. The extra fee will apply to a large [...]

Next week, 869 city workers who have yet to pay their taxes or enroll in a payment plan, will receive letters from City Controller Alan Butkovitz urging them to either pay up or enter a payment plan within 30 days to avoid losing up to 20% of their paychecks.
Under the program, the amount withheld from [...]

Struggling state and local housing agencies could receive much needed aid to help them continue offering mortgages to low- and moderate- income borrowers, under a program that would provide as much as $35 billion.
The measure would involve the administration purchasing the debt that these housing agencies rely on for financing. The Treasury Department, along with Fannie [...]

AAA announced a campaign aimed at passing a nationwide texting while driving ban by 2013. The motorists’ advocate is backed by strong public support, and points to the dangers of distracted driving and new research by the Automobile Club of Southern California that shows the impact of California’s texting ban, as the basis for the [...]

Existing-home sales in Philadelphia’s eight-county area fell just 0.6% this August, compared to the same month last year, casting some hope for those with homes sitting on the market.
The drop was the smallest year-to-year decline in several months and according to Prudential Fox & Roach HomExpert Market Report, 4,703 homes were sold in the region [...]

I always try to be grateful and I always try to look for the “glass half full”, and when I do come upon “ugliness” in my world, I often find myself asking why. In the last few weeks I have had two very different experiences involving women. I always preach to younger women that while [...]

The hundreds of workers that were laid off from GM’s Boxwood Road plant near Newport, Delaware are now eligible to apply for a federal assistance program that offers training for other jobs. About 1,200 former workers will get the benefit, according to Dr. Ed Montgomery, the executive director of the White House Council on Automotive Communities [...]

Johnson & Johnson’s McNeil unit announced a voluntary recall of infants’ and children’s liquid Tylenol products due to potential bacterial contamination.
The products were manufactured between April and June, and involve nearly two dozen varieties including Children’s Tylenol Suspension 4 oz. Grape, Infants’ Tylenol Grape Suspension Drops ¼ oz. and Children’s Tylenol Plus Cold/Allergy 4 oz. [...]