Next year, the Federal Government will spend over $1.8 trillion. Needless to say, that's a lot of money. And the Government spends it on lots of things--on programs as large as Social Security, and on activities as small and unknown as repairs to the Washington D.C. National Zoo. How much do you know about the budget? If your answer is "not much," you're not alone.

The General Accounting Office announced Tuesday that today's projected budget surpluses will be overwhelmed by the baby boom generation when it hits retirement. "Without a change in entitlement programs, demographics will overwhelm the surplus and drive us back into escalating deficits and debt," said David Walker, comptroller general.Mr.

PricewaterhouseCoopers has released the initial results of research prepared by a team of economists under the auspices of the PwC Endowment for the Study of Transparency and Sustainability.

Very soon, you may be able to put money aside to help finance your children's education when you use a credit card.A new service offered by UPromise hopes to capture market attention by placing rebates on consumer products into a 529 plan, a state-sponsored savings plan in which any monies are tax-deferred until withdrawal.

Tiger Woods vs John Q. Public!When Tiger decides to buy a house, he does just that, no questions asked. But when you compare his relative cost of living to an average $30,000 a year worker, perspective gets a little skewed. For instance, a $300 stereo system to you is the equivalent of Tiger Woods plunking down 33 cents.

Worldwide revenues for KPMG grew by 11% to $13.5 billion for the year ended September 30, 2000, the Big Five firm has reported.KPMG chairman Stephen Butler highlighted the "record results and profitability" for the year, and noted how the firm "has stronger geographic balance than the rest of the industry, which has a greater concentration of revenue in the United States." "Consulting services grew 11% this year to $3.9 billion; Tax and legal services climbed 16% to $2.9 billion; Assurance services grew by 8%, to

If the Nasdaq's 40 percent drop didn't hurt enough, wait until you see your tax bill. Experts say that investors could be hit twice as hard this year due to a bad stock market and a larger tax bite. They are predicting that mutual funds will pay out a record amount of capital gains this year. Investors are learning this week what their distributions are, and indications are that the distributions could top last year's record of more than $200 billion. With federal capital gains taxes running 20 percent or more, bigger gains mean a windfall for the federal treasury.

The following article is provided courtesy of CCH, Inc.A sizably higher, long-term federal budget surplus projection would not change President-elect Bush's position on the need for his $1.3 trillion tax relief plan, transition spokesman Ari Fleischer emphasized. At a Dec. 22 press briefing, Fleischer was asked about a Dec.

As the US economy enters year five of the mega-merger era, the outlook for global merger activity remains strong. Yet concerns about the impact of high interest rates, problems with financing, and the Three Es (equity markets, the Euro and energy costs) are mounting, according to the year-end M&A forecast by PricewaterhouseCoopers' Transaction Services group.