Wow, FedUp2003, you've been hit pretty hard. For a person in your situation, probably the best approach to follow is: www.daveramsey.com Go to the library and get a copy of "Financial Peace". It WILL help you, trust me. Things seem bleak right now, but you can do it (how trite that sounds). Start by cutting up *ALL* your credit cards (this is easy for you because the credit card companies have already closed your cards). Also, do you have a monthly budget? Write down every (EVERY) expense in priority: house, food, utilities, clothing, etc. and then credit card debt (if there is money left). Dave Ramsey recommends paying of your smallest debt first, not the highest interested rate. This certainly does not make sense mathematically, but it does make sense psychologically -- you'll get a boost when you see that first balance disappear. Take the money you were paying on that debt and apply it to the others. Also, try to build up an emergency fund of $1000. This is extremely important. It should go near the top of your budget. I highly recommend that you take a look at the Financial Peace book -- it will help you far more than any of the others listed... --Kevin
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. pathetic eheheh that wi=ould be the economy under the last three republican administrations chimp..
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Well, I received my check in the mail Sat. I used it on my children to do their school shopping.
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Wow...isn't he great folks? Lots of misspelled words and no facts... In the first place, putting the economy off on any president is pretty simplistic, whether its good or bad. The Federal Reserve has far more to do with the economy than the White House, and even the Fed can't really control business cycles, other than to mitigate them a bit. A business cycle is a basic economic concept (maybe willgator can have someone read it to him from an economics text--other than Das Kapital). But since you wanna associate presidents with economies, let's do that. The peanut farmer from Georgia screwed this country into the worst economy since Herbert Hoover. If people think unemployment is bad now (at 6.4%), put it in the context of Jimmy Carter's 7.6% (ftp://ftp.bls.gov/pub/suppl/empsit.cpseea1.txt), especially when added to his 20% inflation rate.(http://www.2facts.com/Ancillaries/Index/b00054.asp) Again, willgator will probably have to get someone who knows how to read to explain these concepts to you, as the basics of a market economy seem to elude you (and most other Democraps)... But continuing on...when Ronald Reagan occupied the White House, most people thought the economy was pretty decent. Seems to me that that was one of the reasons he won 49 states in '84. He cut taxes, yet the Federal Treasury grew by more than 25%. It wasn't until Billary came along that Democraps started trying to rewrite the history on that one. That brings us to the first Bush. Reagan got him elected, and then, let's face it, he screwed the goat (finally something that ol' willgator might understand) where the economy was concerned. No 'scuses for the guy, but he hiked taxes after promising not to, and he deserved the outcome of the 1992 election. But he did hand off to ol' Billary an economy that was in recovery (which Billary promptly tried to kill)... And then Billary...screwed around (the economy as well as the female members of his staff) and tried to nationalize 1/7th of the economy, until he got a hostile GOP Congress. Then he sees the light and is all about a balanced budget (which he nevertheless vetoed on at least 5 occassions) and for welfare reform (again, which he vetoed on several occassions). In the end he escaped just in the nick of time to avoid blame for a recession that had started in his last year. Slick right to the end... And now we get to W...he's had a rough ride. He gets saddled with a tanking economy just when Usama decides to blast the twin towers. His response has been slow, with the exception of the tax cuts, but nevertheless, the country is out of recession, except in what passes for the minds of intellectually bankrupt people like ol' willgator. My guess is that the economy will be fine just in time to see Bush get re-elected, which oughta really outrage neo-socialists like ol' will. In short, I'll take a Republican economy any day. Harry Truman once said if you want to live like a Republican, you better vote Democrat. Maybe that was true in his day. But today, if you wanna live like a Republican, you better vote Republican. Because if you ever get the means to live like a Republican, the Democraps and their socialist friends are going to blame you for society's problems and assume that its their God-given right to take it away from you...
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. I just REALIZED...I probably WON'T get a check...my youngest is 17 next month... I "THINK" I can't get anything for him on that deal...I STILL CAN CLAIM HIM BECAUSE HE STILL IS IN HIGH SCHOOL for deductions...
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. FedUp, We've all had some kind of life-changing experience for better or worse. I want to share a quick story with you. I don't know if it will help. But, maybe it will give you something to think about. I lived in the southeast. I watched our auto dealer market take roller-coaster rides. The cost of loosing my job was far to high and I became anxious and started loosing weight - not good when you're already thin So, my wife and I took a drastic step. We went on vacation. We flew to another state after doing a lot of Internet homework and talking with friends. It wasn't a vacation at all because it was used as an employment search. Are you with me? In a nutshell, we secured employment, flew back to the southeast, put our home on the market and hoped that the right decisions were being made (not as smooth as it may appear). It was the biggest and best decision we'd ever made. A vacation was the perfect solution to my anxiety and sanity. This is a massive and profoundly beautiful country. Go on an excursion to a city that gives you the comfort level you need. Believe me. You'll know when it hits you. You breathe the sigh, look to the clouds and moan "Oh yeah! I could live here." So, if you could manage to slip away for a week or two, go to cheaptickets.com and choose your destination. If you book in advance, you could fly round trip across the nation for just a few hundred bucks or less. I think you're worth more in another market CardKid
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Fedup, Also, check out the online newspapers of the cities that interest you. And don't forget www.hotjobs.com and www.monster.com. CardKid
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Definitely, When I was laid off from my job in Houston, TX (I was living in Austin because of a previous job where the company went under), I found a job in Seattle, WA -- sold my house, and moved up here. I'm really enjoying it (although I did like Austin). I'm a bug on the windshield of the dot com crash -- I've been laid off and move from company to company more times than I would like to count. However, I've actually done pretty well along the way -- I try not to get depressed or resentful about these things. I just realize that this is a great and wonderful country and I can go just about anywhere and do just about anything that I want. One more thing -- look at the states that don't have an income tax -- TX, NV, WA, FL, TN, etc... When I left CA (which now has a 10.4% marginal rate), it truly was amazing to have all this extra money that the government wasn't taking. --Galabar
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. I know I am late on this roller coaster, but I for one am grateful! This year I was hit with the "Alternative Minimum Tax" because I made more than the "average" person in my bracket!! Whatever! In the meantime, I had to tell my kids that any shot at a refund was dead in the water! I have 5 kids (ya, think!?) and the oldest just turned 18 so she didn't count anymore. Yes, I am getting $1600. SSN = 95 so I won't see mine for a while yet. BUT.... I can now get contacts for my 15 yr old, braces for my 16 yr old. Before anyone goes on judging that I have 5 kids and should have used BC (LOL since 4 were BC failures!!), I also have 2 ex husbands. The first owes $22K in back support. (He was ordered $150/mo on one kid) and the other owes $24K in back support on a WHOPPING $394 for 4 kids! No agency has been successful in getting me my support, but at least Mr. Bush is helping me help my kids! Thanks Mr. President! (From this USAF veteran!)
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Thanks for what? This isn't a budget that cut spending so that we could have some extra money to keep. It's a budget that whipped out the old line-of-credit checks and wrote one for a whopping $455 Billion. That isn't "our" money coming back to "us". That's our kids money being stolen from them. Almost 20 cents of every income tax dollar goes to pay interest on debt. Wouldn't it have been better if previous generations hadn't greedily overspent, dumping the cost of their lack of responsibility on us? What gives us the right to do that to the next generation? And note that this money comes in large part from Social Security. Social Security collects an amount each year equal to 15% of my total gross salary, or about $13 grand. This budget means that Social Security WILL go bankrupt before I collect a dime from it. So I'm paying about $13,500 this year for a program that won't have a dime to give me, so that I can get $1,000 back and the rich guy on the other side of town can get $83,000? So I can give $83,000 to a guy who couldn't care less if Social Security goes bankrupt, because he's so stinking rich it wouldn't make the slightest bit of difference to him one way or the other? If a private company did this to a pension plan, all of its officers would be in jail for pension fraud. If anyone in this country in the bottom 90% of wage earners had a clue, they'd be screaming bloody murder. Also, just to tick off even more people, WTH is with this child tax credit? Isn't this the same party that cut welfare, on the theory that if you can't afford a child you shouldn't have one? Why do middle class people get a free ride here? Why do I, a struggling single man, have to pay a greater percentage of taxes so that my neighbors can get a $1000 check and use it to buy Michael Jordan branded Nikes for their kids? If you can't afford kids, here's a tip: birth control.
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. ooooooo! Talk about a rant and rave! Hmmm birth control.... there are only 2 forms of birth control that are 100% effective: Sterility and abstinence. So since you are "poor", I bet my tax bill was bigger than yours and a bigger percentage of my income than yours - - - so quit 'cher 'b*tchin!
Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. OH, one more thing you obtuse gentleman.... When you have kids, it is called WAL MART!!!! No nike's for my children. You are making an uneducated blanket statement about folks with kids. I suggest that maybe you leave your apt once in a while!
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. reddevil~~Why do I, a struggling single man, have to pay a greater percentage of taxes so that my neighbors can get a $1000 check and use it to buy Michael Jordan branded Nikes for their kids? If you can't afford kids, here's a tip: birth control. I WOULDN'T BUY Michael Jordan branded Nikes for MY kids IF THEY WERE $29.97 @ WAL*MART!!!!
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. Some observations, RED devil: 1. Your children haven't paid anything, so its not their money being spent, although I do give credit to those who try to dress everything up as though it's going to "hurt the children." Nothing like making it look like someone's going after your child with a club. At any rate, part of the problem is so-called entitlement programs (i.e., social security and medicare) which account for the vast majority of federal spending. No one, especially the liberals that instituted these behemoths, wants to address the problems that these programs face and/or are causing, and woe be unto any conservative that even dares to mention that one of them might need an overhaul. The fact is that the proponents of these neanderthals (folks like you, I suspect) have been robbing future generation for the past several generations. Its amazing how if I want my tax money back, I'm robbing future generations. But when people like YOU give it away like its growing on trees, its called enlightened. Incidentally, the growth in these entitlements is part of the reason that you pay what you do for social security...you can bet your a$$ that granny gums collecting right now didn't pay nearly what we are... 2. They'll pay expenses out of social security, as they always have and always will. But my guess is that social security isn't going anywhere, because the politicians are spineless about that too. I do confess to some bewilderment though, since I recall Al Gore talking about how HIS spending proposals wouldn't affect social security since it was in a lockbox...lockbox this and lockbox that. Apparently now that Bush is in the White House, though, liberals are hysterical because the lockbox (that never existed) has gone the way of the do-do bird.At some point, people on the left will figure out that you can only claim that "the evil Republicans are going to kill social security" so many times before the oldsters and everyone else figures out that the lies are a bunch of b*llsh*t... 3. As far as people having kids...if they paid taxes, then they deserve to get some of their money back. I do however, think that it is ludicrous for liberals to propose giving a tax cut to folks who don't pay taxes and have kids. Since folks like you seem sooooo concerned about the cost of tax cuts, how the hell do people who pay no taxes merit a tax cut? Oh yeah, folks...hope no one takes any of this personally, just offering up an opinion. Regards.
Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. "LOCK BOX" does not exist!!!! "IF" you were able to put that SS money from your check in an account (EVEN IF IT PAID ONLY 1% INTEREST)...when you retired...what would you have to live off of???? $100,000??? $1,000,000????
Re: Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. George- I think we might be talking past each other. I said the lock box never existed (so it does not now). As far as how much one would have upon retuirement if they were allowed to invest, we'll never know, thanks to the demagogues on the left. In fairness, they may have one valid point--many people would not invest the money, but would use it for other things. Of course, they are largely to blame since they try to tax people into the poorhouse and then use their "poorness" as an excuse to create social programs which make people dependent upon the largesse of the state. Best regards.
Re: Re: Re: Re: Thanks, Mr. President. dalaggie,or whatever for a newbie your quite an azz here's some facts for you. Thank you Republicans for less taxes and less government. Thanks to you, in 3 short years/ you have taken the federal budget, that had a surplus, and sunk america into a budget deficit of over 455 billion. unemployment has risen to 6.4% and a loss of 2.5 million jobs since Bush took office. Just a few days before Bush signed his ,03 tax cut bill, he very quitely signed a bill increasing the federal debt limit by nearly a trillion dollars. Bush wants to believe that his tax cuts will mean jobs. It didn't happen last time. The proof being that unemployment increased over the past 2 years by over 2.4 million since his last tax cut ... But the rich got richer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
