By Steven Tanner

Ask anyone what they think about President Obama’s efforts to stimulate the economy and you’re likely to get one of two responses: (1) It doesn’t go far enough to actually create jobs, or (2) We’re leveraging our children’s future with debt when we should be cutting taxes instead.

If you ask me, both responses are based on false assumptions about the trajectory of Western capitalism.

Everyone would like to see a full recovery back to what we mistakenly perceive as the “normal” state of things. But we’re trying to save an economy built on infinite growth and cheap energy at a time when such frontiers no longer exist – instead of laying the necessary foundations for an austere economic future that will depend on locally driven solutions.

Is being a lawyer worth it? What’s next for the profession of law, given the state of the economy?

There are just a few questions that are floating around the Internet in the aftermath of the July bar exam.

It’s hard to answer either of these questions. The legal profession has taken a serious hit these past few years and as a result, the landscape of the legal profession is changing dramatically. Many young lawyers and recent law school grads are finding that there are no jobs out there. Many mid-level attorneys are finding themselves laid off and jobless. Many older attorneys and partners are finding themselves overworked as their firms cut back and are not able to hire junior attorneys. It’s no secret that lawyers suffer such a high rate of depression.

One of the big estate planning questions is “revocable trust or a simple will?”

It’s not a straightforward question. The trust is that as with anything legal, it’s largely a facts-and-circumstances type of question.

I get asked this question all the time and the truth is that it’s hard to say, with certainty, that a revocable living trust is a “must-have” for every family.

It’s a great estate planning tool, don’t get me wrong here. It’s a way to avoid probate in many cases. Using a revocable living trust, you can easily retain more control over your assets and similarly, your heirs can retain control over much of your estate.

Financial planners like to pitch life insurance policies. While I really can’t tell you whether or not you should buy life insurance, I can talk about some estate planning strategies involving life insurance. Namely, the irrevocable life insurance trust, or ILIT, is a tool used by estate planning lawyers when planning around life insurance proceeds.

Indeed, financial planners will tell you that you absolutely must have a life insurance policy as part of a comprehensive estate plan. But the whole notion of what constitutes a “comprehensive estate plan” varies from person to person.

It’s been a while since I blogged at The Savvy Press. This is largely because I’ve been put in charge of writing for a handful of blogs for Reuters-FindLaw these days.

Luckily, I thought I would do my readers some justice by linking back to some of my posts from my Reuters-FindLaw blogs. They happen to be on estate planning and real estate (yay!) so they fit nicely within the theme of The Savvy Press.

Here are some of my favorite ones from the past month:

There’s been a lot of talk about TiVo, recently, and more importantly for potential investors, there has been talk about TiVo’s shares.

And TiVo is back in the game, as the struggling company won a huge patent infringement lawsuit in March 4. 

The word “TiVo” used to be synonymous with the idea of digitally recording your television shows.  Like “Kleenex” and “Q-Tip”, it was a word that you associated with the particular product, regardless of the maker or brand. 

Kumar has spoken; but Harold could not be found for comment.

Kalpen Modi, a.k.a. Kal Penn of Harold and Kumar fame, blogged in his capacity as a White House Associate Director for the Office of Public Engagement.

And he has a lot to say about the new student loan reform.

Let’s back up a bit here. What “student loan reform”?

We all knew that health care legislation had passed, using the reconciliation process. But did anyone realize that student loan legislation had passed, at the same time?

Where can you buy fake Tiffany’s jewelry?

Not on eBay.  The online seller has been reprimanded by a Federal Court Judge on it’s practices of allowing sellers to post counterfeit designer items. And as we’ll soon see, you might not be able to find fake Louis Vuittons, Gucci knockoffs, or Prada replicas, either.  

Small business owners, listen up!  The NOL Carryback rules were extended in November of 2009 and you can now deduct your net operating losses from previous, more profitable years. 

Although this blog post was initially contemplated for my TaxSavvy blog, I decided to make this more of an analytical and journalistic piece.   For more information on net-operating losses, however, I will have a segment on my TaxSavvy blog shortly. 

A mentor of mine, fellow University of Ottawa Law School alumnus and Los Angeles private-equity tax superstar, Shahzad Malik, partner at Troy Gould law firm,  has laid out the NOL carryback rules extension very neatly in his blog. 

By Maryam Khan Ansari, esq.

The Obama Administration’s credit card reform is finally taking shape! Known conveniently by its acronym as CARD, phase two of the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act came into effect this morning, imposing and regulating business practices on the major credit card companies.

Said President Barack Obama: “[T]oday, we are shifting the balance of power back to the consumer and we are holding the credit card companies accountable.”

However, “government regulation” and “accountability” are two very ugly words for the major credit card companies.