#socialsecurity

undefined | Can a debt collector garnish your bank account and paycheck at the same time? Borrowers are now carrying record amounts of debt—over $18.5 trillion in household obligations—and delinquency rates on credit cards and personal loans are climbing. When a creditor wins a court judgment, collection tools expand beyond phone calls and letters to include wage garnishment and bank levies. A wage garnish allows a creditor to take a portion of your earnings directly from your employer, limited under federal law to either 25 % of disposable earnings or the amount that exceeds 30 times the federal minimum wage, whichever is lower; some states impose even stricter caps. A bank levy, on the other hand, freezes and seizes funds already in your checking or savings accounts after the creditor obtains a separate court order, obligating the bank to turn over available money up to the judgment amount. Because these are distinct legal processes that require separate court orders, a judgment creditor can pursue both simultaneously in most states, effectively squeezing income before it arrives and draining what you have already saved. State protections vary, but generally two months’ worth of certain federally protected benefits—such as Social Security, SSI, veterans’ benefits, and federal student aid—are exempt from levy if they are directly deposited and clearly identified. Understanding which funds are shielded and how the two garnishment mechanisms interact can be the difference between staying afloat and facing a cash‑flow collapse. If you are already under a wage garnishment or fear a bank levy, early action is crucial. Debt‑relief options such as settlement negotiations or structured repayment plans can lead creditors to release garnishment orders, while filing for bankruptcy triggers an automatic stay that halts most collection activity. Consulting a debt‑relief specialist or bankruptcy attorney before a second garnishment is issued can preserve alternatives that vanish once a levy is executed. In short, a creditor may legally garnish both wages and bank accounts at the same time, so knowing your protected assets and pursuing timely debt‑relief strategies are your best defenses. Read more: undefined #debtcollector #borrowers #federallaw #socialsecurity #bankruptcyattorney

yahoo news | Sam Altman's (Not So) New Deal for Superintelligent AI OpenAI’s newly released “Industrial Policy for the Intelligence Age: Ideas to Keep People First” attempts to shape a future with super‑intelligent AI by proposing portable benefit platforms that separate health insurance and retirement plans from any single employer, and by suggesting that AI could handle the administrative overhead of starting a business. The paper champions “startup‑in‑a‑box” solutions—standardized contracts and shared back‑office services—to help innovators move quickly from idea to scale, echoing arguments from Kevin Frazier of the Abundance Institute that such tools could accelerate the creation of multibillion‑dollar enterprises. However, the policy also recommends a series of tax and fiscal measures that critics argue would dampen innovation. OpenAI calls for higher capital‑gains and corporate‑income taxes at the top end, as well as the creation of a public wealth fund to let every citizen invest in AI‑related growth assets—though the fund’s financing is left unspecified. Research from the Cato Institute links higher corporate tax rates to reduced research‑and‑development spending and fewer patents, while higher capital‑gains taxes tend to discourage startup investment, potentially slowing economic progress at a time when AI could drive massive productivity gains. The paper further calls for an expansion of existing safety‑net programs—food stamps, unemployment insurance, Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare—asserting they must be fully functional and responsive during the AI transition. While updating safety nets may be necessary, the authors argue that merely attaching AI to flawed legacy systems will not solve underlying problems; instead, a fundamental reevaluation of these systems is required. The proposal’s optimism about the government’s ability to allocate billions effectively is seen as naive, especially when contrasted with more measured alternatives, such as focusing on expanding energy infrastructure rather than imposing moratoria on data‑center construction. Read more: https://finance.yahoo.com/economy/policy/articles/sam-altmans-not-deal-superintelligent-151518930.html?fr=sycsrp_catchall #samaltman #openai #socialsecurity #industrialpolicy #intelligenceage

yahoo news | BlackRock's Larry Fink says expanding market participation is needed to address... BlackRock CEO Larry Fink warned in his annual chairman’s letter that wealth inequality could deepen unless a larger share of Americans participates in financial markets. He noted that since 1989 a dollar invested in the U.S. stock market has appreciated more than fifteen‑fold compared with a dollar tied to median wages, and that the rise of artificial intelligence threatens to repeat—and amplify—that pattern by concentrating gains among the firms and investors that own the data, infrastructure and capital needed to deploy AI at scale. While market leadership naturally shifts with technological change, Fink argued that when market capitalization expands but ownership remains narrow, prosperity feels increasingly out of reach for those on the outside. Fink acknowledged that automation historically boosted productivity and eventually broadened the range of available work, even as some roles disappeared, but cautioned that “new roles take time to emerge and workers don’t always move seamlessly from old ones to new ones.” He emphasized that AI is poised to generate significant economic value, and the real challenge is ensuring that the benefits are shared broadly. To that end, he called for policies that widen market participation, suggesting that market‑based tools could help stabilize programs like Social Security, which faces funding shortfalls within the next decade. One concrete idea Fink highlighted is the creation of “Trump Accounts,” a government‑seeded savings vehicle for newborns (and other minors) that would be invested in a diversified U.S. stock index. These accounts, funded by public, philanthropic, and parental contributions, would remain in custodial care until the child turns 18, providing a foothold in the market for a new generation. By lowering entry barriers and encouraging early, long‑term investing, Fink believes such accounts could be a “very significant step” toward expanding financial inclusion and narrowing the wealth gap in an AI‑driven economy. Read more: https://www.foxbusiness.com/economy/blackrocks-larry-fink-says-expanding-market-participation-needed-address-wealth-gap-amid-ai-boom #blackrock #larryfink #socialsecurity #u.s.stockmarket #artificialintelligence