Identity theft scammers have led thousands of Americans to believe in the existence of a federal program that will pay their utility bills. Don’t fall for it.

The crafty criminals have been knocking on doors and ringing phones across the country asking folks to sign up for the program by submitting personal information including their Social Security numbers, MSNBC reports. In exchange for the information, the fraud victims are given phony bank account and routing numbers they’re told to use to pay their bills online.

The scam is spreading like wildfire. Fraudsters are contacting victims via phone calls, personal visits and the Internet. Snopes.com has listed several scripts used in some of the schemes. Read 

Those hoping that the passage of a bipartisan transportation and student loan bill signaled a shift away from partisan bickering in Congress, prepare to be disappointed.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., indicated Tuesday that he does not believe the Senate will move forward on any more spending bills this year.

What’s the hold-up? Reid blames House Republicans and a difference in opinion over the total level of spending the government should engage in. Democrats want to stick with a $1.047 trillion level that was set by last year’s Budget Control Act, while Republicans want a $1.028 trillion budget for the coming year. Read 

Researchers at Engage have crunched the data and found out something interesting about the web sites people “like” on Facebook (NASDAQ:FB): knowing what sites a person likes gives them a clue about their political affiliation.

By using a special piece of software, Engage was able to track thousands of users’ Likes, political affiliation, and behavior — whether or not a person showed a high or low level of political engagement.

What are some of the things they’ve discovered? Read 

With the U.S. presidential election heating up, 24/7 Wall St. has examined public companies’ political contributions in the current election cycle.  The donations include monies given to political parties, candidates and political action committees. The figures are staggering and have prompted many to ask whether money can buy a seat in the House, Senate or even the presidency itself.

The Republican presidential candidate, Mitt Romney, the Romney Victory Fund and the Republican National Committee raised more than $76.8 million in May alone. This one month does not include what Romney and his supporters raised for the primaries or the growing amount he will need as the presidential election shifts into high gear. While President Obama has raised more overall, his campaign and the Democratic Party only raised $60 million for his re-election effort in May.

Political contributions, which used to go directly to candidates, now often flow to Super PACs, independent organizations that can raise money to either help or defeat a political candidate. Historically, traditional political action committees have been prohibited from accepting donations from unions and companies. However, following rulings by the U.S. Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals, Super PACs are now allowed to accept unlimited donations from unions and companies, provided the money does not go directly to the campaign. Read 

In advance of a procedural vote today, Senate Democrats have released a study showing that their small-business tax break legislation would create nearly 1 million jobs.

According to a study commissioned by those Democrats from policy analysis firm Regional Economic Models, Inc., the Small Business Jobs and Tax Relief Act would create 990,592 jobs and increase U.S. GDP by $87 billion.

The bill is comprised of two main parts. One would give a 10% tax break this year to businesses on payroll for new workers or increases in wages for current workers. This credit would be capped at $500,000. The second component would allow companies to write off the whole cost of major purchases made this year, to encourage further investment. Read 

Commercial breaks on ESPN this fall may contain some unfamiliar people from outside the world of sports: politicians.

ESPN has announced plans to work with ad-sales company NCC Media LLC to sell a larger portion of its ad time to political campaigns. The ad time that ESPN is planning to sell to political campaigns would normally be sold to national advertisers. The ads are slated to air during ESPN’s college and pro football broadcasts.

This signals both a willingness by ESPN to explore new revenue sources, and cable television’s increasing cachet in political advertising. Because political advertising has generally been more local — and because broadcast television has been seen as being more locally aimed — campaign ads have aired far more frequently on broadcast networks than cable. Read