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Presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and John McCain have both floated the idea of a gas tax holiday to "help consumers." Would turning off the federal gas tax for a period of time really help consumers? Or might it actually make our situation at the fuel pumps even worse?

The Roni Deutch Tax Center has a few comments about the issue. Currently the feds take 18.4 cents per gallon on gasoline and 24.4 cents per gallon on diesel fuel. A gas tax "holiday" would save the average consumer about $30 over three months (but there are varying calculations out there on this). This means consumers could save about $2 to $5 each time they fill up.

But economists say this isn't a good idea. They say that this savings would do next to nothing for consumers. Why? A drop in the price consumers pay would lead to higher demand, which would probably end up pushing up the price of gas. So consumers would be put back in the same position as without the tax holiday.

You have to give this guy credit for being very good at what he did. My mom always told me, "If you're going to bother to do something, make sure you do it well." I bet James Hartman's mom is super proud of him. He stole his brother's identity and spent over $3 million in 3 months with it. On his list of goodies purchased via his brother's identity: A $48,000 pickup truck, a $49,000 pickup truck, two Dodge Durangos for $77,000, a Dodge Viper for $94,000, two ATVs, two houses, and some land. The grand total: $3.2 million.

James Hartman stole Ed Hartman's identity with his social security number and a photocopy of his driver's license. James says his brother approved of all the purchases. Ed says he knew nothing of it until someone called him because they were suspicious of the copy of the driver's license, being used to purchase another toy.

What a wonderful way to honor and love one's family. I've often theorized that family members steal more from their kin than they would from complete strangers. I don't know why, but it's sick. (Yes, this post is dedicated to my "Uncle Louie".)

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

The latest newsworthy item in the U.S. presidential race is the statement by Cindy McCain, wife of Republican candidate John McCain, that she will not release her personal tax returns. On Thursday's Today show (video below), she says that it's a privacy issue and she would not release her tax returns, even if her husband was elected president.

Of course, the Democrats are making a big deal about this, saying that when John Kerry was campaigning for president, his wife released her separate tax returns. So what? She made her choice, and Cindy McCain is making hers. It's suggested that John McCain is not making "full disclosure" by not releasing his wife's separate tax returns.

I say too bad. Even though he may have benefited from her family's fortune, the law doesn't say she has to release her tax returns. That is her private information and she is not the candidate. Would it make for some interesting reading? Probably. But I don't have any problem with Cindy McCain refusing to produce her tax returns. What is there really to be gained from seeing them, other than to fulfill our curiosity?


Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Have you ever been surfing the internet, when suddenly a box pops up, suggesting your computer might be infected with a virus and you should "click here to protect your computer"?

The absolute worst thing you can do is click there. At best, these are shady advertising tactics that mislead consumers and scare them into buying software or services they may not even need. At worst, they're the product of malicious criminals who want to infect your computer with a Trojan horse and corrupt your data and/or spy on you.

These Trojan horses are often set up to log your keystrokes (keep track of everything you're typing) so that the criminals can steal your logins and passwords. With so much online banking and online bill paying, you can imagine what might happen if someone had access to all your passwords. Consider your bank account emptied, and credit cards maxed out.

So what do you do if one of these mysterious boxes pops up? Whatever you do, don't click on the box. Try to close it, and make sure that nothing is being installed on your computer. When in doubt, shut off your internet connection until you can close out the box and restart your computer if necessary. Install popup blocking software and a firewall (legitimate stuff) that will help protect your computer in the future.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

I'm a firm believer in using the power of the internet to keep retailers and service providers honest. And I think consumers owe it to each other to report those companies that provide poor or dishonest service to their customers. But it's equally important to let the world know what you've have a great experience. Let's reward the good companies with our business!

How do I love Home Depot? Let me count the ways... I cannot remember ever going into a Home Depot and getting anything less than superb customer service. Even when they've been very busy and clearly shorthanded, I was still treated with kindness and the sales people made sure I had everything I needed (without feeling rushed).

Chalk up one more gold star for Home Depot this week. Over the weekend I found a cool refrigerator for my office. I don't need a full size refrigerator, but I wanted something a little more substantial than the typical "dorm room" model compact refrigerator. The only problem with this medium-sized refrigerator that I found at Home Depot? It doesn't fit in my car.

First class postage is going from 41 cents to 42 cents for a regular sized envelope on Monday. And the U.S. Postal Service is selling tons of "Forever stamps" to people who want to save a penny. I'm all for being frugal, but rushing out to buy special stamps that will save me a penny per envelope isn't high on my priority list. (Especially since I use so few stamps these days thanks to online bill pay.)

Since the Forever stamp was created, the USPS has sold about 6 billion of them. The stamps are sold at the current postage rate, but can be used at any time in the future. So you can buy them today for 41 cents each and still use them when the rate goes up to 42 cents or higher. And there are lots of people doing just that this week.

I guess it makes sense. That penny you save is 2.4% of the current postage rate. Depending on when you use a Forever stamp, that could be considered quite an investment. But I'm not impressed enough to go buy any. I probably mail about 5 envelopes a month. I'm not wasting my time going to the post office to buy special stamps just so I can save 5 cents a month. I'll leave the Forever stamps for the other postal customers who are excited about them.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

With budgets stretched thin, several states are considering letting inmates out of prison early to save money. Even though they may be more likely to commit new crimes, politicians are saying the cost of those crimes is far less than the cost to keep the prisoners locked up.

One argument in favor of letting prisoners out early suggests that those in prison for things like "minor drug offenses" aren't a danger to society and should not have been locked up in the first place. That's a nice thing to say, but where's the proof that there are people in prison "only" for "minor" drug offenses?

Where I come from, you have to commit an awful lot of crimes to actually end up in prison. And that minor drug offense? The only way it's going to get you into prison here is if you've already got a double digit rap sheet. As a former probation officer, I can't tell you how many times I've seen judges try everything they could to avoid sentencing a criminal to prison.

Today a fellow blogger pointed me to this blog post, which basically shows a 50% price cut for homes in a California neighborhood. One home was sold for $855,000 in April 2006, and now two houses down, a similar one was listed for sale at $400,000 in April 2008.

The writer of the blog says, "Mr. Bernanke, that'll be $455,000 to keep the poor folks at 4565 Casa Nova from foreclosing, thank you very much kind sir."

But whose fault is it really, that there is such a disparity in home prices over two years? What if the real value of each home always was in the $400,000 range? Doesn't that just mean that the buyer from 2006 was stupid and overpaid for his home? Why do we automatically assume that it is the fault of the government that someone's house isn't valued high enough?

Consumers have rights when it comes to fraudulent credit card charges or charges for products and services that aren't what they paid for. The key to successfully challenging a charge is in knowing what to say and who to tell. That sounds elementary, right? Except Consumer Reports is saying that many consumers don't know their rights or how to enforce them.

Small dollar amounts are easy to dispute and resolve, as it's estimated that it costs a credit card company $25 for each charge it must investigate. This means they're likely to give refunds for small amounts without much work. It would cost more to investigate than to just give you your money. The credit card company also has to weigh the risk that you will close your account if your matter isn't resolved. They lose money when you do that.

Here are a few key points about your credit card: Report suspicions of credit card immediately to stop the harm. Most billing problems need to be disputed in writing, and many credit card companies don't recognize e-mail as "in writing." The credit card company must receive your letter within 60 days from the statement date, so don't wait. Include with your letter all copies of supporting documentation to help prove your claim.

Can a day go by without a news story regarding record high gas prices in the United States? Doubtful. We're a society of complainers, so the news is much more fun when there is something good to complain about. Gas fits the bill. Especially since it also means we get to complain about big naughty oil companies.

Unfortunately, most Americans don't realize that we are blessed with incredibly low gas prices compared to many places around the world. Even as we flirt with $4 a gallon gas, that's still a bargain when you consider what consumers in other countries pay. Gas prices in the U.S. were 45th cheapest on a list of 155 countries, a survey reported by CNNMoney.com shows.

In oil-producing countries, gas is cheap. It's about 12 cents a gallon in Venezuela, 40 cents a gallon in Iran, and 45 cents a gallon in Saudi Arabia. But in and around Europe, the prices are two to two-and-a-half times higher than the U.S. Gas is $8.73 a gallon in Norway, $8.38 a gallon in the United Kingdom, $8.22 in Belgium, and $7.86 in Germany.

So the next time you get ready to complain about the high cost of gas here, maybe thinking about this study will make you feel a little better. We've still got relatively cheap gas, even though the U.S. is one of the world's biggest consumers of gas.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Mary Kay ladies are notorious for citing all sorts of phantom statistics to recruit anyone and everyone into their cosmetics "business opportunity." To hear them tell it, Mary Kay has made more female millionaires, has more women making $50,000 or more, has given away more free cars,.... and on and on and on. (Yes, all these statements are pure fiction with no hard facts to support them.)

Amazingly, one often cited "fact" might just be true. It's been said that during difficult economic times, women buy more cosmetics. When money is tight they might not be able to justify buying a new outfit or handbag, but a relatively small purchase of an "extra" like makeup will boost her spirits.

When I first heard about LifeLock last year, I was very intrigued by its service. I was especially interested in how it advertised the services: With the company's CEO telling everyone his social security number.

The company "guarantees" that your identity will never be stolen, and it offers a "$1,000,000 Service Guarantee." If you sign up for LifeLock, it will set up fraud alerts for you with each of the three credit bureaus. It will also have your name removed from pre-approved credit card offers and junk mail lists, and it has the credit bureaus each send you a credit report once a year.

LifeLock has a WalletLock service to help you if you lose your wallet. It will help cancel accounts and help you if your credit cards are used fraudulently. And if your identity is ever stolen while you're using LifeLock, it says it will hire lawyers and investigators to help "recover your good name."

Sounds good, right?

When Wal-Mart first lowered the price of certain generic prescription drugs to $4 for a 30-day supply, consumers wondered how they could do it. Wouldn't they lose money? Of course they would lose money on the prescription, but the master of merchandising knew they'd more than make up for those losses on what you'd purchase while you were waiting for your prescription.

Now Wal-Mart has announced that it's going to make even more drugs available for $4 (30 day supply) or $10 (90 day supply). These aren't your newest, fanciest drugs. But they are common generics that many people take daily. They will now have over 1,000 prescription drugs available at bargain basement prices.

And there's another bright side for consumers: Even if you don't shop at Wal-Mart, you might benefit. Consumers filling their prescriptions at Target also receive the same bargain pricing, in an effort to compete with Wal-Mart. And I'm sure there are other chains that have also followed suit, giving consumers several options for extremely affordable prescription drugs.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

I don't think there's anyone around who isn't grumbling about high gas prices. (Unless you're committed to walking and biking, I suppose.) Gas station owners are already hurting because of the high gas prices. They make very little money on gas to begin with, and the higher the prices rise, the more their margins are hurt.

Now we can add another gripe to the list for some gas station owners. Older pumps may not be set up to charge more than $3.99 per gallon. That's the problem one gas station owner in the Seattle area is grappling with. Lou Engels bought new gas pumps in 1995, never thinking that he'd have to replace them because they only go up to $3.99 per gallon.

Those twelve-year-old pumps aren't exactly ancient, and there's apparently nothing wrong with how they operate. So replacing them isn't much of an option, especially when it would cost him tens of thousands of dollars. Even just upgrading the pumps would cost him a minimum of $8,500, a cost that Engel can't justify right now.

So what's a gas station owner to do? Engel has posted large signs indicating the correct price, and each sale has to be tallied by hand before the customer can pay. He says he's got local customers who understand, and this hasn't hurt his business. But it looks like Engel may be forced to do the expensive upgrades, because Washington state laws require the pumps to calculate the correct total price. Just another fuel-related woe to add to the list!

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.

Last week, Home Depot announced that it would be closing 15 stores that it considers "underperforming." The closures will affect 1,300 employees. On the flip side, Home Depot said it will continue with plans to open 36 stores that are already under development. Another 50 stores were "in the pipeline," but those plans are being scrapped for now. Consider this a move to weed out the bad stores, and open ones that are expected to do better.

The closings are mostly in Wisconsin, Indiana, New Jersey, and Ohio. I took a look at the list of stores in my area, and never realized that there are eight Home Depots within about a 20 mile radius of me. It's no wonder they're closing one of them. Even with metro-Milwaukee's population of something around 1.3 million people (city and suburbs together), eight stores still sound like a lot to me.

Home Depot has had a strategy of adding more stores to an area in order to increase total market share in that area, even though additional stores may cut into the sales of Home Depot stores already standing. This latest announcement suggests that the chain is going to be a bit more strategic about its store openings.

Obviously, new store openings are very expensive, so management wants to put its expansion dollars into those stores that will bring the best returns. Sounds good to me. I love Home Depot and have had nothing but good experiences with it. I like the idea of changing things up in order to be more profitable and protect the brand.

Tracy L. Coenen, CPA, MBA, CFE performs fraud examinations and financial investigations for her company Sequence Inc. Forensic Accounting, and is the author of Essentials of Corporate Fraud.