Congress and the White House have made a final decision concerning the debt crisis.  The resolve revolves around a two-stage process, the first stage being a $917 billion savings, including approximately a $420 billion reduction in the national security budget. The cuts would be accompanied by a $900 billion increase in the debt ceiling.  The second stage entails a $500 billion increase in the debt limit which would be subject to a congressional vote of disapproval that can be vetoed by Obama.

Although this was a temporary fix for the government, nothing in this bill addresses the economic problems that our country is in.  There was nothing stated in the package about the fundamental problems that got us into the financial situation we are in or how to get us out of it.  This causes some problems such as unemployment which will remain to be high! Established businesses won’t be hiring at a pace that would improve our unemployment rate, business will slow down, profits will diminish or disappear, and income will be depressed.

With an even tougher economy than the last two years, bad debts will surely increase and they will become harder to collect as money becomes more scarce! This is the same pattern in any recession.

Businesses can help themselves by outsourcing their receivables and collections. By down-sizing these departments, organizations can focus on sales and growth and spend less in areas such as Accounts Receivable and Debt Collection. Another positive for this way of thinking is that by outsourcing professionals who only do this for a living all day long will most likely have far better results than a person who wears many hats as companies downsize. The key to American economy is to keep the business in America and not outsource outside of the United States.

These days it is hard to make the right choice when it comes to the US economy.  As Senator Lamar Alexander, a Republican from Tennessee said, “This problem wasn’t created overnight, and it won’t be solved overnight.”  There are still many steps this country needs to take until the economy will get better.

In summary let’s keep American’s working and let’s support American companies. Teamwork is needed more than ever!

The Federal Trade Commissions compiled a list of consumer complaints for last year, 2010.. Among complaints over internet services, imposter scams, internet auctions, foreign money and counterfeit scams, identity theft topped the list captivating 19% of complaints. Debt collection ranked number 2 for top consumer complaints.

Identity Theft is estimated to affect about 9 million Americans a year. Most victims do not find out until they are denied from mortgage or car loan because of credit issues, receive letters from collection agencies for debt that the person never incurred, or receive something in the mail about a house the consumer never bought, apartment they never rented, or a job they didn’t have. It is important for a consumer to protect by monitoring their personal information, such as their credit scores, to prevent identity theft or catch it early before too much damage is done.

The FTC reported 144,150 collection complaints in 2010. Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan claimed that her office received more than 7,000 debt related consumer complaints last year taking the number one spot on her costumer complain list. With more people struggling to pay off mortgage loans and credit card debts, consumers worry about their financial future. For the Illinois Attorney General’s complaint list, identity theft came in at number 2 with more than 3,600 complaints about fraudulent credit card charges, utilities opened in the victim’s name, and bank fraud.

For the first time, Imposter Scams made the list of complaints for 2010. This growing crime includes people posing as friends, family, or trusted businesses or government agencies to get consumers to send them money. Consumers should be wary of any entity that wants them to wire money, pay to collect winnings, or claim to be with a government agency or someone you care about, or want you to act immediately.

A favorite impostor scam during tax season is the fake Internal Revenue Service e-mail. The target of the fraud gets an e-mail with an official-looking IRS logo demanding a credit card number to settle a tax debt. If the potential victim doesn’t come through, the e-mail warns, the agency will take action by garnishing the person’s wages or placing a lien on his or her home.

The IRS doesn’t contact taxpayers by e-mail or even by phone, but by email. A person who doesn’t know that might be shaken enough to click on the link in the e-mail and plug in a credit card number.

Another impostor fraud, the grandchild scam, used to target seniors by phone. An elderly person would get a call from someone claiming to be his or her grandchild in distress, wrongly arrested in a foreign country and desperately in need of money to get out of jail. But because the grandchild scam required a gullible senior, who was perhaps forgetful or hard of hearing, con artists have moved on to pastures where the potential victims are more plentiful: social networks.

Impostor Scams should contact the FTC immediately http://www.ftc.gov/