Things have again become spicy in the world of Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT). Reports are circulating that Microsoft miscalculated the severance payouts to some of the approximately 1,400 employees that the company recently laid off.

According to CNET News, Microsoft Corp. has sent out letters requesting a return of funds from those former employees who received apparent overpayment of severance benefits.The report also indicates that some of the laid off workers may have received severance underpayments.

When you hear about the outrageous accusations against Wall Street icon, now shamed, Bernard Maddoff, regarding his $50 billion Ponzi scheme and the corrupt thinking Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich and his peddling of Obama's Senate seat, it almost makes you want to bring back the firing squad because their offenses are almost treasonous.

Are we not in the midst of a financial battle of historic proportion? If the charges against them hold true, have they not destroyed the lives of thousands of people, not to mention the integrity of both the political and financial systems at a time when our nation is in crises?

Unfortunately, as they used to quip in another time; "hanging is too good for them!"

I have another solution for them and all white collar criminals doing soft time, even if it is a long time, PUT THEM TO WORK!

It use to be the classic response to the question, "Where's your homework? -- The dog ate it." Soon it will be, "Well teacher, it's sort of like this, the economy has just been getting me down and I had to get a second part-time job to help the family."

Now this cynical view may or may not be real, it may just be a better sob story, however it could be. And the fact that it could be is going to expand the use of the economy as an excuse for everything.

Unprofitable businesses are laying off workers. So are less profitable businesses and even profitable businesses. Any and all business negotiations you enter into in the coming year will try and get some leverage out of the economic woes -- whether it has any validity in your specific case or not.

This is certain to breed some level of mistrust and add to the grim outlook we are seeing in most quarters. This will be just one more bit of stress we do not need. And who do you think is going to get the most mileage out of this excuse? Politicians -- that you can bet on.

Sheldon Liber is the CEO of a small private investment company and the principal for design and research at an architecture & planning firm. He writes the columns Chasing Value and Serious Money.

In a conversation with an attorney friend of mine, who happens to be a woman, she asked for some general financial guidance. During the course of the conversation it occurred to me that women need to save more than men. There are many reasons for this, here are a few:

The first and most obvious reason women need to save more than men is that they live longer -- often without the support of a significant other. Living longer and living alone cost more money.

Second of all, women still do not have complete earnings parity with men. Some of this has to do with job type and some with history. But nevertheless, we are not there yet. If there is a 15% disparity, then a woman is starting at a disadvantage whether saving for her retirement in the future or for buying a gallon of gas today. This can only be made up by saving more and investing more. This is a worthy goal except that with less resources the difficulty is exacerbated.

Over the past year, automakers have struggled to deal with the tough economic conditions in North America, especially the United States. One of the companies that has been able to handle the slowdown better than its peers has been Toyota (NYSE: TM). But the effects are being felt even by the Japanese automaker, as made clear today in the news that the company is laying off 800 workers in one of its Japanese plants.

The 800 workers that are being laid off represent about 10% of the workforce at the company's plant in southwestern Japan. So far, the company has been able to sidestep the steep losses that its American rivals have been forced to deal with, but this year is proving to be a bit tougher, as the company is now predicting a first annual drop in profit, which would be the first time in the past seven years that the company has seen profit fall.

Toyota has been more fortunate than many automakers, mostly due the fact that the company has a long history of building smaller, more fuel efficient cars. This fact alone has helped it weather the slowdown that record high gasoline prices in the U.S. have helped create. Last Friday, however, the company stated that sales dropped 18.7% in July from the same period last year.

The recently reported three day e-mail blackout experienced by the consumer internet customers of Hughes Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: HUGH) has ended. Although the system has not swung over to its new enhanced version, it appears that Hughes technical staff has opted to reawaken the previous e-mail application to restore that service to its customers. Personal comment from the company regarding this situation was unavailable as of this writing.

What little preview I received of the attempted e-mail upgrade by HughesNet was enticing. It looked streamlined, intuitive and was definitely appealing to the eye. When the company completes its adjustments and makes the hoped for upgrade available, I'll provide my full assessment of the new service for our readers.

For the purposes of this examination, let's set aside the fact that you can find reliable clinical research that shows that tobacco smokers cost the insurance industry less over their lifetimes than svelte nonsmokers do. This is simply due to the fact that we tend to die sooner. But that's a matter of insurance industry/government/pharmaceutical hijinx, to possibly discuss another time.

That aside, the item I'm bringing forward today is how the issue of lying smokers should be pursued by Whirlpool Corp.(NYSE: WHR). I'll not take issue against Whirlpool's insurance plan demanding a different level of premium payment from smokers. I'll not take issue against Whirlpool asking smokers to document their participation in the addiction. I'll not take issue against Whirlpool taking action against smokers who lied when claiming that they don't smoke. What I do argue against is the ludicrous notion that Whirlpool employees have turned on one another. It appears that's what the company expects us to believe.

Whirlpool management wants you to believe that they had 39 instances of one employee reporting another for serving their nicotine addiction in violation of what should be a confidential declaration of status. Whirlpool expects you to believe that these company "rats" know which smokers lied on their paper work and which didn't. Whirlpool expects you to believe that all policy violators are of hourly status and that violations by management staff either don't exist or aren't yet worth pursuing. Whirlpool expects us to believe that the company itself wasn't at the root of this all.

In the April 23, Wall Street Journal, Senator Sherrod Brown, (D) Ohio, made a realistic assessment of current government trade policy and how it is diluting the strength of our country. I think that Senator Brown was just a bit gentle with his words, and understandably so when given his position. Suffice it to say that I agree with him for the most part, but he should have just cut to the chase. The American working class has been sold out. He also failed to make one critical point about NAFTA. It was his party and the guidance of Bill Clinton that navigated that document into law.

Partisan politics aside, I believe that current American trade standards are something we need to be ashamed of. As a free market capitalist, I have nothing against the survival of the fittest in the worlds of manufacturing and business. However, we're beholden to good sense to provide a level playing field and to maintain benchmark standards. In that regard, American workers have been shorted. Our trade deficit is a testament to the decline of the American Dream. It's a dream, while not referred to by that name, that resides in the hearts of workers the world over. Every parent wants their children to have a greater degree of opportunity and safety than they had.

The following story came to me this week from a reader who's sentiments may be shared by a lot folks. If I am the last one on the planet to have seen it and it has been circulating around the web for a long time, please excuse my redundancy.

The story pokes fun at business bureaucracy, mismanagement, corporate fairness, employee relations and more. Finding this type of story more often in your in-box displays a kind of recession fatigue and growing cynicism.

A foreign company and an American company decided to have a canoe race on the Missouri River. Both teams practiced long and hard to reach their peak performance before the race. On the big day, the foreign company won by a mile. The Americans, very discouraged and depressed, decided to investigate the reason for the crushing defeat. A management team made up of senior management was formed to investigate and recommend appropriate action.

Their conclusion was the foreign team had 8 people rowing and 1 person steering, while the American team had 8 people steering and 1 person rowing. Feeling a deeper study was in order, American management hired a consulting company and paid them a large amount of money for a second opinion. They advised that too many people were steering the boat while not enough people were rowing.

So you've been on the job for three years but the boss won't cut you a raise. Is that your problem, friend? Perhaps the solution to your problem rests in your own hands. If you can prove you're deserving of a raise in salary and you take the appropriate steps to get one, an increase in taxable income just might be in your future. Take a look at the following informative video to gain some insight on effective paycheck building strategy. If you employ the tactics discussed in this video, and you still can't get a raise, it might be time to seek a new employer. I believe that you have every right to expect appropriate compensation for exemplary job performance, even if that means getting it from a new company.

There is never a shortage of jobs. Some people have two or three jobs. The classified adds have thousands of jobs all the time -- always. If someone is unemployed there is a reason and it is definitely not a lack of jobs.

Sometimes it is a regional lack of jobs, General Motors (NYSE: GM) and Ford Motor (NYSE: F) in the rust belt states of Michigan and Ohio have downsized, but foreign manufacturers Toyota (NYSE: TM) and Nissan Motors (NASDAQ:NSANY) in the Southeast have up sized. This does not help the states where jobs are leaving, and indeed causes other massive problems like weakening the tax base and pushing housing and other elements of the local economy down. However, from a national unemployment standpoint that does not count.

In our discussions of unemployment and the economic picture we attempt to understand the government figures and attribute some meaning. We know the government is prone to put things in their best light (lie) sometimes and there is discussion about what a true measure would be, but does that really matter? It is more important that whatever criteria is used remain constant so that we can use the data for comparisons, not that it be altered often as people become concerned about the exactness of the figures.

It might be time we need to account for a new set of metrics. What are the costs of retraining? How could these costs be distributed without expanding government -- not something I would support. We know that some people are not employable or are only marginally employable because they simply do not have the capability to do many jobs. I have numerous jobs, although generally speaking, I have created them myself over time. Clearly education and training are a factor, along with over all aptitude.

An extensive report in the Atlantic that concludes many suburban developments may turn into slums discusses the role reversal occurring between the city centers and their outlying communities. They attribute a wide range of factors leading to this conclusion. These include a shift in demographics and life styles, the economy and sub-prime loan debacle, driving times and fuel prices, and the over supply of product and tighter lending practices.

The post war baby-boomers are an ever decreasing factor in the home market as their kids move out. Those kids are getting married later in life and having smaller families so demand is shifting.

Traffic congestion and commuting long distances is right up there with taxes and mosquito's in terms of being unpleasant, so those that can afford to move closer to work are doing so. This is also being stimulated further by the rapid increases in gas prices affecting all of us. For many years developers have been building homes in the suburbs because of cheaper land costs, but rarely has there been parallel growth in local jobs so most people had to hit the roads.

Finally! Needing a place to park with your laptop but too far from a Panera Bread (NASDAQ: PNRA)? Finally, you can enjoy the soothing environment of Starbucks (NASDAQ: SBUX) for free ... well, for the price of a latte or two. The coffee king of Seattle is ending its Wi-Fi partnership with T-Mobile and linking up with AT&T (NYSE: T). The new deal is expected to roll out gradually beginning this spring.

The new plan, while not perfect, is certainly better for those of us who want to pop in for a quick email check or blog update. It provides each customer with 2 free hours of WiFi service per day, with additional 2-hour blocks available for $3.99. Monthly subscriptions will cost $19.99 and provide access to AT&T hotspots in other locations in addition to Starbucks branches.

If you are already an AT&T broadband customer, you are eligible for free Internet access at more than 7,000 Starbucks locations in the U.S.

Still in need of WiFi that's free all day, every day, regardless of your at-home broadband provider? Look for your closest Panera, or use an online Wi-Fi hot spot finder that can direct you to local coffee shops, book stores, and even gas stations that have the service.

Beth Gaston Moon is an analyst at Schaeffer's Investment Research.

According to a report by Basex Inc. the pressure put on us by technology to respond immediately to emails, text messages, and IMs cost the US economy around $650 billion in 2006. They say that the human brain is not hardwired for paying attention to several things at once or for handling constant interruptions, and due to this there is lost productivity. Sounds nutty to me. Email, text-messaging, and IM'ing save tremendous amounts of time and travel. For a businessman these tools save tremendous amounts of money. Having questions answered in a split second brings much more efficiency to a business, and to the world.

Is it better if I go grocery shopping and I get an SMS message to pick up another gallon of milk, or would these researchers say I should go home and then have my wife tell me to go out again and pick up the milk? That doesn't sound too efficient, does it? I was literally on a conference call, that just ended, which took much longer than expected. Lucky for me, I was on mute the whole time, and via email, I was able to take care of about 45 minutes worth of work, all while on the call. That doesn't sound to me like a cost to society.

The whole point of technology is to free us up to be more efficient, to have more time to do other things. How can this possibly cost society $650 billion.

Aaron Katsman is the lead Portfolio Manager and Managing Director of America Israel Investment Associates, LLC. and Senior Editor of IsraelNewsletter.com. Disclosure: Writer has no position in any stock mentioned as of 12/27/07

From today's (subscription required) Wall Street Journal:

Employers who provide health insurance often use financial incentives, such as contributions toward premiums, to encourage workers to participate in wellness programs like smoking-cessation courses.

Now some employers are wielding a stick as well as a carrot. Employees at some companies who are overweight, smoke, or have high cholesterol, for instance, and who don't participate in supplementary wellness programs, will pay more for health insurance. In extreme cases, employees' insurance deductibles could rise by $2,000.

Of course, this is generating some scandal and talk of possible lawsuits.

It reminds me a little bit of my favorite scene from favorite scene from Spinal Tap, where Nigel Tufnel explains to an observer that the band's amps go to 11, rather than 10. The incredulous man asks how that really makes them go louder -- they only go to a certain volume, regardless of what number it's labeled.

Similarly: Charging a premium for engaging in an unhealthy behavior is not different from offering a reward for not engaging in the same behavior in any sort of meaningful way.

This seems like one big labeling issue, but it should give trial lawyers something to keep them busy.