Economic Education

Two weeks AFTER the election the following has been set up to happen:

(first this wasn't a Red or Blue thing - both sides are responsible for this mess; Obama however should have headed this off)

• America will "run out" of borrowing power - kind of like maxing out ALL your credit cards and using up all their cash advances too

• Debt ceiling will HAVE to be raised

• 1 JAN 2013: Tax cuts expire and EVERYONE will get massive tax increases (known as the "payroll tax holiday")

• 1 JAM 2013: Tax on dividends and interest goes UP (if you have a life insurance policy that sends you a dividend check you get to keep less - if you have a bank account that pays interest the tax you pay on that interest will go up too, including that on any accounts you have in your MINOR children's names)

• 1 JAN 2013: Tax rates go up across the board - everyone gets thrown into a new tax bracket

• 1 JAN 2013: $1.2 TRILLION will be sequestered - spending taken out of healthcare & military

So making a new deal between congress and the White House will help right?

Well since the last "deal" was reached spending DEBT went up $1.09 TRILLION

That's an average of $3.7 BILLION a day

Under Obama's reign term in office the Nation Debt has grown more then $5 TRILLION

So the new budget {must suppress giggle here since we haven't had a national budget in the 3 years he's been president} will control it right?

The GROSS National Debt in FY2013 is expected to go over $25 TRILLION

That's better, right?

Right now he total US debt is greater than Her output - the first time since World War 2! (and we are supposed to be in Peacetime now)

if all the spending cuts take effect that need to happen it will take out nearly 1/5 of the money from the economy

This will ruin the economy - depression like you wouldn't believe

So how does this compare to Bush?

• Bush added $4.89 Trillion in 8 years

• Obama added $5.05 Trillion in 3 Years + 3 months

Numerology Class

This weeks New Jobless rates are out .... They ain't pretty!
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UP
417,000
NEW Jobless claims
(yes this includes those who went back to work for the 3 or 6 months that it took to requalify)
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12,000 higher than hoped for
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Above 400,000
154 out of 162 weeks
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7.3 million Americans are collecting unemployment now
(the stat is very "American" specific, so I'm thinking there may be non-citizens collecting unemployment as well .... That would interesting to see)
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The CBO expects unemployment to stay at over 8% for another 3 years ... Or about midway thru the next term ...
Under-Bush the unemployment rate was around 5%
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13.9 million
Unemployed in July 2011
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6.2 million
Unemployed for 6 months or more
UP
130%
from Jan 2009
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They expect this number to rise considerably if hurricane Irene makes landfall
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Labor Department says that the newest rise was because of claims made by striking Verizon workers
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Continuing benefits
DOWN 80,000
3.64 million
For week ending aug 13
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Economists saying economy stopped in mid-July (no growth/no fall)
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I'm wondering how these new rates/numbers are split across the nation ... I mean is NY and CA skewing these numbers? Does there seem to be one or two particular events that caused it to rise so drastically (as hurricane Katrina did)?

Or is it the horrid economy of CA that seems to be effecting it ... Well ok, not all of CAbut certainly L.A. County which seems to skew the CA numbers - I know they take most of the benefit/entitlement money for the state even though they are one of the lowest earning regions of the state (and not just because so many people are getting federal monies)

The head of the Labor dept. says the worst is still ahead ... So at what point are they going to stop blaming Bush for this? A what point are they going to look at this situation and wonder how anything can get fixed if the president refuses to stay in DC to fix it?

I know that Obama is saying he would like to see some sort of national jobs program ... does this man have any original ideas? I can see this going one of two ways:
1. A CCC or WMP program where the government pays an inordinate number of people to do "make work" ... Hopefully necessary work ... Work that won't give priority to union workers - as so many government jobs do these days.
2. Assigned workers ... Where like the soviet union of old, they will tell people where the jobs are, how many are needed, and where they belong. That lack of freedom of choice,

I can also see a trend where if you are a stay-at-home mom ... A single income family .... You will be SCREWED over when it comes to benefits and old-age ... As the Tea-Party candidates go to the other extreme and pull everything away.

Oops ... I have strayed off point again haven't I?

I think that's the clue to stop now

Economic Education

Alright - here is that site I mentioned in the previous post ... it is for the Fox News Business Taxpayer Calculator ....

you put in your income .... example $50,000/yr

the calculator breaks it down for you - at least for TARP ...

based on where it falls within the following groupings (since our tax system is grouped):

Income _____ %age paid
Under $13K _____0.2%
13K - 29.9K _____1.8%
30K - 49.9K _-___5.5%
50K - 99.9K _++_18.1%
100K - 199.9K __22.7%
200K - 249.9K__ 5.5%
over 250K _____ 46%

It further goes on to break things down to the actual dollar amount that you will end up paying -- in this cast $478.39 -- for your "share" of TARP or whatever program you are looking at.

Doesn't sound like too much huh? well if that is only 18% of what you are paying ....

There are other programs which get chunked together .... such as

Social Welfare (cost = $647 Billion) = 70 different Programs, here's just a few:

• 276.38 Billion = Medicaid grants to states
• 72. 48 Billion = Food Stamp program & Admin
• 59.93 Billion = SSI (Supplemental Security Income)
• 49.64 Billion = EITC payments (Earned Income Tax Credits)
• 35.78 Billion = Housing Vouchers & Public Housing
• 30.96 Billion = Homeowner Aid in Stimulus/TARP (but separate from TARP itself)
• 23.35 Billion = Child Credit Payments
• 20.47 Billion = "Making Work Pay" credit/Recovery Act
• 17.75 Billion = TANF (Temporary Assistance for Needy Families)
• 17.30 Billion = Child Nutrition Programs
• 9.10 Billion = S-CHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Fund)
• 7.70 Billion = WIC (Women, Infants, Children)
• 6.31 Billion = Child Care Programs
• 4.99 Billion = LIHEAP (Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program)
• 4.71 Billion = Child Support Enforcement & Family Support Programs
• 2.24 Billion = Home Investment Partnerships Program
• 1.87 Billion = Homeless Assistance Grants
• Housing for Elderly & Disabled

etc, etc, etc.

Okay - so just for this chunk of change (Social Welfare programs listed) if you earn:

less than 15,000 = $27/yr

15k - 29.9K = $302.94/yr

30 - 49.9K = $1056.06/yr

50 - 99.9K = 2841.86/yr

100 - 199.9K = 7,997.24/yr

200 - 249.9K = 17,886.12/yr

250K or more = 79,263.94/yr

WOW - what the jump huh? And this is just for ONE aspect of the tax we pay.
middle income earner = $2, 800/yr

So where do you fall?

So someone tell me -- what is the incentive to better your income? And being that the higher income pays for the majority of the programs, wouldn't it behoove the government to keep them in situations where they can actually pay for things?

This is where a flat tax would work best -- everyone just pay 10% of their income .... or pay a national sales tax of 20% on everything BUT food/clothing/school supplies.

BTW, if we went with a sales tax ... therre would be no need for the IRS because there would be no need for tax refunds ... its just a better way.

Don't Mind What the Naughty Hand is Doing

So what we have going on is a Coup of the Government -- not taking power from the President, but from the people -- They are using Congressional rules to do an end run around the committee process, and to get around all the promises to put any bills about to be passed up for at least 48 hours for people to look at and get back to their representatives.

How?

Well according to a top Congressional Aide (a democratic aid) in an interview with CNS News that a second bill by Harry Reid who is going to attach it to another bill which had already gone thru a committee and passed (the bill he's attaching it to, not his - no one has seen his bill).

The bill that has passed is the one that talks about massive taxes on CEOs, COOs, who got bonuses from the stimulus package (oops, "Safety net"s)... They will strip out this portion of the bill and throw Reid's Health Care Bill in the empty space, and then send it back to the House where they will NUKE it to get it thru ...

So they say the House will automatically vote on that, even though its effectively a NEW bill -- no debate, no committee -- straight to President's desk.

And NO ONE has seen what is actually IN this new bill .... they speculate that there will be the Public Option ...

Speculation is that Pelosi, Hoyer, and Reid have had this planned all along!!!

Politics should never enter government!!

More fall out of the Obama Administration

For those of you who thought he was going to make a Change right away -- you were right, AND wrong ... look, the dow is down again today ... right now, by -175.06 points, only trading at 7190 .... yuck.

So what's doing this? Obama's plan on nationalizing at least some of the banks, well partially nationalize them. I think I heard they want 40% of Citibank or Wells-Fargo.

Also it is concern over where the taxes are going to come from. He wants to cut the deficit from $1.3T to $533B by 2013 (gee look just around re-election time, hmm).

How will he do this? Why by making the following changes:

Income Earners__Percentage of tax burden paid
*************** __*****************
Top 1%________39%
Top 5%________59%
Top 10%________70%
Top 50%________95%
Bottom 50%______3.07%

Also, as if these changes aren't enought to hurt the pocket book -- in the stimulus plan that will force part-time employers to hold 'unemployment insurance' for their part-time workers -- in MN they have to do this already, and yes it does cost the most %-wise on the income:outgo ratio to the smaller businesses in the state - in fact several businesses had to close because they could not compete with the larger stores like Target, Walmart, Kmart, Rainbow (Roundys), Cub Foods, or any of the other massive part-time employers ... not that they are bad businesses, not by any means, but just that it is easier for them to swallow up the cost than say Robert & Mary Fretag who own a small corner store in Gheen - or Bill & Sue operating the car wash near the interstate with 50 PT workers. You know what I mean??

He will "Change" the nation by destroying it and building it in the Union's image.

Election 2008

Biden calls paying higher taxes a patriotic act - Yahoo! News:

"Under the economic plan proposed by Democratic presidential candidate Barack Obama, people earning more than $250,000 a year would pay more in taxes"

Two things off the bat:

1) it doesn't say if this is a single-income or if that's for married couples .... meaning each would earn $125,000 ... so basically anyone with a college education - which is what everyone deserves, right?
2)that number has come down quite a bit hasn't it? Did it used to be $500,000? Makes you wonder what it will actually be down to if they actually got into office?

The 'Patriotic Duty' argument is straight out of the 1940's & 50's... in fact if you ever listen to old radio shows (in particular the old comedy shows) you will see plugs about how people shouldn't complain about paying taxes because it was their 'patriotic duty' to help pay down the cost of the War (WW2).

I wouldn't consider that "change" I call that regression. Hmmm, one has to wonder when exactly taxes got so out of hand? Was it little things here and there, or was it one big act? It certainly wasn't the Bush administration that started it, nor was it the Clintons ... so who did it?

And as far as those people who are yacking about people not paying enough taxes - who are making more than enough money (like Oprah, Babs, the Star Wars guy, etc) - nothing stops them from giving the government too much in taxes if they really felt there was a need. Trust me they already have things worked out so they won't be the ones paying more.

They may pull a Madonna and move overseas to stop from having to pay so much in taxes.

Will Franken be the Next Snipes??

Comedian-turned-candidate Franken to pay $70K in back taxes: Financial News - Yahoo! Finance:

"ST. PAUL, Minn. (AP) -- Senate candidate Al Franken says he will pay about $70,000 in back income taxes in 17 states going back to 2003.
The Minnesota Democrat has been under attack by Republicans for failing to file tax returns in California for several years when the comedian-turned-candidate earned money there.
Franken tells The Associated Press he never intended to avoid paying taxes. He says during the years in question, he paid his entire income tax bill to the city and state where he lived.
Franken says he did this on the advice of his accountant, but that he takes responsibility. Franken says that after he pays off the back taxes, he plans to file for credit on taxes overpaid in the city and state where he lived when he filed."

Well I knew about the fine in NY for not paying workers comp. .. but this news is new to me.

I have to admit that I would have thought you would only have to pay taxes based on your state of residence, not where the money was earned if you did not live there. Its not like he didn't pay any income tax, he did .... he just got really bad advice.

So the question becomes then if Bill, Gore, Carter, etc. and all those actors have to pay taxes in those other states where they go to make paid speeches or movies? And if they don't will they be held to the same standards as the average American would? And what about foreign nationals that come in and earn moneys doing speeches -- do they have to pay taxes too?

DC is getting Gassy -- and boy are they FULL of it

Okay ... so its politicians gone wild.

They have this crazy idea that if they raise the gas-tax (federal tax) then it will make people conserve more. Only thing they will effect is the tourist trade.

If gas stays above $3/gal over the summer how many families to you think will be driving to places like the Grand Canyon or to Mount Rushmore??? They will do to the tourist business across the nation what the lack of snow did for Northern MN .... it will kill it.

Even if these families decide to RV it (which traditionally costs less than flying) they will be paying +$3/gal to feed a vehicle which gets about 10-15 miles/gal.

We want to take the kids to see Mount Rushmore ... actually we wanted to go 2 yrs ago before oldest got too old & had to work ..... okay so we are looking at 700 miles .... the family RV (owned by his folks for any one of the kids to borrow) gets 8 mi/gal. So that would be 87.5 gallons of gas (not counting idling, traffic, etc. just for straight driving) .... so that would equal $262.50 JUST for gas (if it stays the same) ....

now if they kick it up so that gas is $4/gal our trip = $350!

Okay still cheaper than flying, but still that's just for gas Add in food (because we will be needing something other than mom's cooking--there's no way I'm cooking the whole time -- I deserve a vacation too) , add in camping costs (we will want a place to hook up for electric & sewer) , and souvenirs (you know there has to be some of those).

But basically we are looking at spending at least $1000!

Hmmm, I guess that still is better than flying. Of course this would mean leaving our college aged son home alone so he can work while we go .... that doesn't seem very bright.

Oh well. Doubt it will happen this year though .... we have boy scout camp this summer and I'm not sure hubby would be up to going camping twice in the same year.

Seperation of Church and State???

Okay....a few years ago I would have been on the extreme side of this issue, but now I can see the grey in it.

So there is an athiest group who says that not only are memorial crosses set up by states a violation, but by allowing family members/friends put up the crosses on public property...such as along highways where their family member died...it is also a violation.

Okay I can see this point for when a group takes a presumption move to do a cross for all/everyone who died on that stretch--after all, they would take offense if some one put up, say, a cresant&star or star's of David or pentacles for a friend/family member of theirs.

I still remember the contriversy, and rightly so, about Mormon groups who were performing "baptisms" over graves without permission or regards for the families.

Now like I said--if the groups were to ask the families if they minded a cross to go up I think it would be different--although I also think they need to be willing to put up a different religious symbol if the family so desires it.

Oh an in case anyone is wondering--yes there is an accepted symbol for Athiests. According to the Pentagon...at least the symbols they use on headstones...the symbol looks like a representation of an atom (see below, oh and that's a letter A in the center).

Now some of you might be going "cool peice of trivia" but really its more than that....it means that the military--who just went thru 0ver 20yrs of court fighting the wiccans over their symbol under the basis that there was no national representation--recognizes Athiests as an orginized group of people with a like belief system...to me that sounds like, um, a religion!!!!

But this issue while interesting will have a bigger impact for the taxpayer---

IF the courts find that putting crosses, and therefore any symbol is a kin to the government promoting a religion, and therefore can not happen....then the taxpayer will have to pay to replace every military headstone across the US and any that are located in other countries.

So we will be talking every headstone that was produced since at least the Civil War if not before that. We are talking millions, if not a billion, headstones....each-if we chose to be conservative-costing round $300.

Now I know that in the grand scheme of the national budget....it doesn't seem like much...but in Fort Snelling alone there were 172,000 graves in 2006--@ $200 each, that would be $34,400,000!

In Arlington Cemetery--possibly the best known military cemetery--the only number I can find for there is "over 300,000" with average of 28 new graves added everyday--so we are talking at the very least $60,000,000!

Now you have to remember that there are National Cemetaries in the 48 continental states + Hawaii & Alaska...but there are also cemeteries in Guam, Puerto Rico, and the Phillippine Islands---139 in all....and that does not include the State military cemeteries, because they are ran by the states the VA doesn't keep records for them.

So you see....it is a very conveluted but relavent discussion we should all pay attention too.

So where do you stand on the issue? Would love to have some comments...I just ask that we kee the evangelical responses to a minimum--we are discussing not "witnessing" here.