Economics and Investing:

Food Stamp Beneficiaries Exceed 45M for 56 Straight Months – Sent in by B.B.

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Hold off on buying forever stamps until after April 10th – The value will drop to $.47 Sent in by C. Maxwell (You might want to check his website out at www.foreverstampvalue.com/ .)

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Items from Professor Preponomics:

US News

Senators Accuse State Department of Defying Congress with $500M UN Climate Payment (Fox News) Excerpt: “Lawyers cannot replace the constitutional requirement that only Congress can appropriate money….”

Puerto Rico’s Game is Rigged (Washington Examiner) Excerpt: “But as happened 70 years ago, Wall Street financiers and their paid representatives have a vested interest in making the situation worse on the island before it gets better.”

Blue Cross Parent Lost $1.5B on Individual Health Plans Last Year (Chicago Tribune)

Maine Nonprofit Health Insurer Lost $31M in 2015 (Portland Press Herald)

International News

Oil Rally is Too Little, Too Late for Cash-Strapped Producers (Market Watch) Excerpt: “The fiscal break-even point for members of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries is $98.83 a barrel, said the RBC strategist.”

Grexit Back on the Agenda Again as Greek Economy Unravels (The Guardian)

Chinese Steelmaker Readies 50,000 Job Cuts as Industry Crisis Deepens<\a> (The Telegraph) Excerpt: “…Chinese steel companies have debts of $520bn, mainly held by Beijing-backed banks, noting: ‘Do Chinese banks and policymakers have the stomach to manage an impending default crisis that will naturally come alongside steel plant closures?'”

Personal Economics and Household Finance

If You Press 1 When You Get This Robocall, It Will Open You Up to Identity Theft (Clark Howard) Don’t fall for this one either! Excerpt: “Here’s how it works: you get a robocall claiming to be from a local branch of the Health Insurance Marketplace, which is the organization that oversees HealthCare.gov. The recorded message says, ‘You need to buy health insurance or face a fine. To learn more, press 1.'” Read on.

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