As of March 5, the IRS erroneously gave out $24.2 million in Making Work Pay tax credits, according to the report by J. Russell George, the Treasury inspector general for tax administration. The IRS issued a total of $25 billion worth of the credits during the period, for an error rate of less than one-tenth of 1 percent.
The IRS also erroneously issued about $4.7 million in tax credits meant for people who bought plug-in electric cars. The new tax breaks were enacted as part of the massive economic recovery package passed last year.
“Our report concludes that the IRS is having - - - - >

Homeowners who have fallen on financial hard times have made other sacrifices and lifestyle changes: About a third have downsized to a smaller home or delayed expanding their family as planned.
And, a quarter of homeowners who want to sell their current home and buy another say they need to make the move in order to lower their monthly expenses due to financial problems.
The survey, conducted for Move Inc., found wide-ranging concerns about the financial condition of homeowners in a challenging economy, but also unearthed evidence of increased demand among investors in residential real estate.
“Concerns around employment and their overall economic - - - - >

Eight states, ranging from Idaho to Iowa, have been courting dairies from California, the nations largest milk producer. The reason is clear: Cows mean cash for local economies.
Mike Meissen, vice president for value added agriculture for the Iowa Area Development Group, estimated each dairy cow has an economic impact of $15,000 a year.
“So if a thousand cows go into a county, thats $15 million,” said Meissen, whose group is made up of rural electric cooperatives that work to bring new business to Iowa.
While officials in other states offer California farmers a number of reasons to consider moving, one of the - - - - >

Planes were more likely to land on time and bags less likely to get lost in 2009, according to an annual analysis of airline quality by private researchers.
As a result, passengers reported fewer complaints even while cash-strapped airlines reduced flight schedules and charged for everything from bags and pillows to prime spots in boarding lines.
Airline performance has improved over the past two years. U.S. air travel surged to 770 million passengers in 2007, when airline performance suffered a near meltdown. Last year, with nearly 70 million fewer passengers boarding planes, airlines did a much better job as measured by such - - - - >

A report released Thursday by SEC inspector general David Kotz examines the bounty program in the wake of the SECs colossal breakdown that allowed Bernard Madoffs multibillion-dollar fraud to go undetected for 16 years - despite abundant red flags raised by whistleblowers.
The review by Kotzs office found there have been very few payments made under the program, which is limited to insider trading cases. Only a total $159,537 has been paid to five people since the program began in 1989.
Few applications for bounties have come in over the same 20-year period for a little-known program, the report said.
The report also - - - - >

The report by the American Chamber of Commerce in China comes as companies say Beijing is violating the spirit of market-opening commitments by trying to reserve segments of its economy for domestic companies in an effort to build up Chinese global competitors.
The chamber highlighted complaints about efforts to nurture Chinas computer and other technology companies - a policy dubbed “indigenous innovation” - by favoring them in government procurement and other areas.
American companies are “troubled by a mounting number of policy challenges ranging from the inconsistent enforcement of laws, to Chinas discriminatory domestic innovation policies and regulations - - - - >

On Wednesday, nearly 50 international donors pledged $9.9 billion to help Haiti recover from the Jan. 12 earthquake that destroyed the government and commercial center of Haitis capital, Port-au-Prince.
But U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes said the best sign that recovery was under way in Haiti would be an uptick in private investment.
“There need to be real investments that are really sustainable,” Holmes told The Associated Press. “Given half a chance this country can recover.”
Government-estimated death tolls from the quake - which rose without explanation ahead of the conference - range from 217,000 to 300,000 people. Most of the estimated 1.3 - - - - >

Australia needs to open its share market to competition in order to develop into an Asia-Pacific financial services hub, said the minister, Chris Bowen. He said more competition also should cut costs for 6 million Australians who own shares directly or through pension funds.
“If Australia seriously wants to be considered as a financial center, if we seriously want to be regarded as a global financial services hub, then the days of having a monopoly in our capital and financial markets need to come to an end,” Bowen told reporters.
Plans call for the second exchange to be set up by an - - - - >

The legislation, an Obama domestic priority overshadowed by his health care victory, represents the most sweeping rewrite of college assistance programs in four decades. It strips banks of their role as middlemen in federal student loans and puts the government in charge.
The House passed the measure 220-207 as part of an expedited bill that also fixed provisions in the new health care law. Earlier Thursday, the Senate passed the bill 56-43.
The switch to direct government loans will result in savings to boost Pell Grants and make it easier for some workers to repay their student loans. In addition, some borrowers - - - - >

That leaves Americans with a burning question: Hows this all going to work?
“A key element to these reforms is that options that werent available to people will become available now,” said DeAnn Friedholm of Consumers Union. The publishers of Consumer Reports supported Obamas effort.
Some questions and answers on the health care bill:
Q: When are the uninsured going to get coverage?
A: Most will have to wait until 2014.
Thats when the government begins providing tax credits to help people who cant otherwise afford to pay health insurance premiums. The aid will be available on a sliding scale to households making up to - - - - >