Well, we finally made it to that day when all the 2009 taxes become due, even though we are still about two months away from earning enough to pay all our income tax for this year. Isn’t that ironic?
I sent my taxes due, $132, on Monday, but only because I don’t care to wait until the last hour of the last day to get it over with. I knew what I owed over two months ago, but I was in no hurry to pay it.
Now some of you out there probably filed for extensions, but I certainly hope you made the effort to estimate what your liability would be and then sent in a check for that amount if you owe. The extension isn’t a permission slip to delay payment, only a means of waiting until all the necessary documents are received that need to be filed with the Form 1040. There are stiff penalties for late payment.
I don’t mind telling you that my wife and I got that $8,000 refundable credit for purchase of a new home, but I didn’t get any check from the IRS or the Treasury Department. No, I still owed a couple thousand dollars, and that is despite the fact that I had no earned income in 2009. Everything I got and spent was either from my pension, Social Security, IRA withdrawals, interest or dividends.
By the way, I used a term in the last paragraph that requires some explanation: refundable credit. There are two types of credits allowable on tax forms. One is the refundable credit, while the other is a non-refundable credit.
A refundable credit, like my $8,000 credit for purchase of a home, is paid regardless of how much tax you are liable for. If I had owed $1,000 after I determined my taxable income, I would have received a check for $7,000 plus whatever I had had withheld or had paid in estimated tax payments.
A non-refundable credit is only excluded from whatever your liability is. If I was liable for $1,000 and had a non-refundable credit of $1,200, I would not receive a check for $200, but I would owe $0 and could get a check for whatever taxes were withheld or paid in estimated payments throughout the year. My refund could not exceed my tax liability. That is why the credit is called non-refundable
I know this is confusing for most of us, but that is, after all, why I’m all for the Fair Tax. I even have an avatar in Washington today in a “virtual tax rally.” I didn’t have to go physically, but my stand-in is there with thousands of others. It is about time that our 66,000+ pages of tax code were scrapped in favor of a national sales tax.
April 15th should have been a happy day for me, since I qualified for that $8,000 tax refund, but it never feels good when you have to write a check in addition to everything you already paid in during the year.
Saturday, April 17, 2010
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Springtime In Augusta
Ah, it’s springtime in Augusta, GA. Masters Week is here, and the major thoroughfares are clogged with traffic. This week was Spring Break for all the schools in the area, and many Augusta natives left town last weekend for the entire week of the golf tournament. Many of them rent their homes out to visitors and it usually is enough to pay for the week of vacation.
Springtime in Augusta brings another phenomenon that people in other areas of the country do not get in the quantity that we do. It is pollen season. There has been a yellow cloud of pollen over the entire city for about a week now. It looks like yellow haze, and thank God my wife and I aren’t allergic to it.
The main tree in Augusta is the Georgia Pine. These majestic fir trees are great eye candy, but they shed pollen at an enormous rate. They do so over about a two-week period, and woe be to anyone who has to park their vehicle outside.
Here is a picture of my Ford Taurus after a night out on the pad in front of my town home. This is a silver gray car, so the yellow pollen doesn’t show up in the picture as much as it does to the eye. You can see it on the back window though. And you can just imagine what a darker colored car looks like.
Well, maybe you can’t, so above is a neighbor’s black Mercedes.
Another illustration of the amount of pollen that gets dispersed is this picture of a concrete slab for some new town homes that are being built on my street. It was poured the prior afternoon. This isn’t really yellow concrete; that is pollen from one night of exposure.
The car wash businesses in Augusta always have a special on for these times where they will give you a “pollen wash” at a discount. I guess they just give the car a power rinse to wash off the worst of the pollen.
Otherwise, it would be necessary to wash your car every day to keep the yellow pollen coating removed. It is especially nasty on windshield and rear windows. And you can’t remove it very well with the washer and wipers on your car. It just smears.
We finally did get a good hard rain Thursday night that rinsed off the cars that were out in the open, like mine. Those in garages, like my wife’s car, are still coated until the next car washing.
I hope you plan to watch some of the Masters Golf Tournament this weekend, even if you aren’t a golf fanatic. The flowers on the course are in full bloom, and they really enhance the view. The “Amen Corner” is, as always, the best of the best, too. And Tiger is back, which makes me happy regardless of his sins.
Yes, spring is a wonderful time of the year, but I sure will be glad when pollen season is over.
Springtime in Augusta brings another phenomenon that people in other areas of the country do not get in the quantity that we do. It is pollen season. There has been a yellow cloud of pollen over the entire city for about a week now. It looks like yellow haze, and thank God my wife and I aren’t allergic to it.
The main tree in Augusta is the Georgia Pine. These majestic fir trees are great eye candy, but they shed pollen at an enormous rate. They do so over about a two-week period, and woe be to anyone who has to park their vehicle outside.
Here is a picture of my Ford Taurus after a night out on the pad in front of my town home. This is a silver gray car, so the yellow pollen doesn’t show up in the picture as much as it does to the eye. You can see it on the back window though. And you can just imagine what a darker colored car looks like.
Well, maybe you can’t, so above is a neighbor’s black Mercedes.
Another illustration of the amount of pollen that gets dispersed is this picture of a concrete slab for some new town homes that are being built on my street. It was poured the prior afternoon. This isn’t really yellow concrete; that is pollen from one night of exposure.
The car wash businesses in Augusta always have a special on for these times where they will give you a “pollen wash” at a discount. I guess they just give the car a power rinse to wash off the worst of the pollen.
Otherwise, it would be necessary to wash your car every day to keep the yellow pollen coating removed. It is especially nasty on windshield and rear windows. And you can’t remove it very well with the washer and wipers on your car. It just smears.
We finally did get a good hard rain Thursday night that rinsed off the cars that were out in the open, like mine. Those in garages, like my wife’s car, are still coated until the next car washing.
I hope you plan to watch some of the Masters Golf Tournament this weekend, even if you aren’t a golf fanatic. The flowers on the course are in full bloom, and they really enhance the view. The “Amen Corner” is, as always, the best of the best, too. And Tiger is back, which makes me happy regardless of his sins.
Yes, spring is a wonderful time of the year, but I sure will be glad when pollen season is over.
Saturday, April 3, 2010
Tax Season Advice
I cannot pass up this opportunity, which only comes at this time of year. It is, of course, “tax season.” For some it falls between January 31–about the earliest you can get copies of all the documents needed to file–and April 1. For others, it starts on April 1 and can run up to midnight on April 15, the last deadline to file taxes without penalties for dollars you owe to the IRS.
Kiplinger Magazine states that approximately 110 million taxpayers received an average refund of $2,735 for the 2008 tax year. This year it is anticipated that the $3,000 level will be reached. Those people fall into the early category above, because they want to get that huge lump-sum payment from Uncle Sam ASAP. (I’ll get back to that lump sum later)
The latter group, those who file at the last minute, do so because they either owe some additional taxes, or they have a very modest refund coming. I am in that group, and I am going to tell you why we should all be in that 15-day filing window.
If you divide $2,735 by 12 it gives you a quotient of $228. That is the average amount of money taxpayers “lend” to the federal government each month with no possibility of growth in interest or dividends. To my way of thinking, that is very poor investing.
A better way to pay taxes is to estimate how much you will owe on April 15 and then have the correct amount withheld periodically as it is earned. The goal is to try to be within $100 of you total tax liability when you file.
If your income is mainly derived from a paycheck that you receive from an employer, you can easily change your withholding by filing a new W-4. Just ask your employer for the form, or you can download one from the IRS Website: http://www.irs.gov and then turn it over to your payroll department when you complete it.
There is an easy way to calculate the optimum number of allowances on the W-4. Go to the Kiplinger Website: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/withholding/index.php
and follow the easy steps. You might want to read the entire set of pages there as well, since Kiplinger gives excellent advice on the subject.
Even if you were to miscalculate (under-estimate) your optimum withholding amount, you can always file quarterly estimated taxes to catch up without penalty. The 1040ES form and instructions are also available at the IRS Website to help you.
The 1040ES is the same form you should use to file quarterly estimates if your income is from other sources, such as self-employment, pension, Social Security, interest or stock and bond dividends.
Now, back to that huge lump sum that so many people seem to desire… If you are one of those, you can still get that “refund” but with more bang for your buck.
Instead of making an interest-free loan to the government every payday, take the amount you have saved by decreasing your withholding and put it in interest-bearing bank or credit union accounts. Most employers have a thrift plan that allows automatic deposits to be made from your periodic pay. You still want an instant refund? Make a big withdrawal from that bank account on the same day you send in your tax forms.
I have an even better idea for you. Use that $228 per month to fund a 401(k) or Roth IRA. You won’t be able to withdraw it until you are at least 59½ years old, but it will grow at an astonishing rate to fund your retirement. The beauty of it is that you won’t even miss it while you’re funding your possible early retirement.
You might possibly be my age, and you can no longer fund a retirement program, but you probably have kids and grandkids who would really benefit from this advice. I urge you to forward it on to all your relatives and friends.
Kiplinger Magazine states that approximately 110 million taxpayers received an average refund of $2,735 for the 2008 tax year. This year it is anticipated that the $3,000 level will be reached. Those people fall into the early category above, because they want to get that huge lump-sum payment from Uncle Sam ASAP. (I’ll get back to that lump sum later)
The latter group, those who file at the last minute, do so because they either owe some additional taxes, or they have a very modest refund coming. I am in that group, and I am going to tell you why we should all be in that 15-day filing window.
If you divide $2,735 by 12 it gives you a quotient of $228. That is the average amount of money taxpayers “lend” to the federal government each month with no possibility of growth in interest or dividends. To my way of thinking, that is very poor investing.
A better way to pay taxes is to estimate how much you will owe on April 15 and then have the correct amount withheld periodically as it is earned. The goal is to try to be within $100 of you total tax liability when you file.
If your income is mainly derived from a paycheck that you receive from an employer, you can easily change your withholding by filing a new W-4. Just ask your employer for the form, or you can download one from the IRS Website: http://www.irs.gov and then turn it over to your payroll department when you complete it.
There is an easy way to calculate the optimum number of allowances on the W-4. Go to the Kiplinger Website: http://www.kiplinger.com/tools/withholding/index.php
and follow the easy steps. You might want to read the entire set of pages there as well, since Kiplinger gives excellent advice on the subject.
Even if you were to miscalculate (under-estimate) your optimum withholding amount, you can always file quarterly estimated taxes to catch up without penalty. The 1040ES form and instructions are also available at the IRS Website to help you.
The 1040ES is the same form you should use to file quarterly estimates if your income is from other sources, such as self-employment, pension, Social Security, interest or stock and bond dividends.
Now, back to that huge lump sum that so many people seem to desire… If you are one of those, you can still get that “refund” but with more bang for your buck.
Instead of making an interest-free loan to the government every payday, take the amount you have saved by decreasing your withholding and put it in interest-bearing bank or credit union accounts. Most employers have a thrift plan that allows automatic deposits to be made from your periodic pay. You still want an instant refund? Make a big withdrawal from that bank account on the same day you send in your tax forms.
I have an even better idea for you. Use that $228 per month to fund a 401(k) or Roth IRA. You won’t be able to withdraw it until you are at least 59½ years old, but it will grow at an astonishing rate to fund your retirement. The beauty of it is that you won’t even miss it while you’re funding your possible early retirement.
You might possibly be my age, and you can no longer fund a retirement program, but you probably have kids and grandkids who would really benefit from this advice. I urge you to forward it on to all your relatives and friends.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
Be Careful What You Wish For
I have a thing about reading my email messages and gleaning material for columns from them. That is the case this week.
I received a message with pictures from one of my buddies. I’m almost certain that you’ve seen it too. It concerned a huge container ship named the Emma Maersk. Maersk Line, a Danish company, owns the Emma Maersk, but it is apparently used exclusively for shipment of goods from Mainland China to the United States.
After listing all of the statistics on the size, speed and capacity of the Emma Maersk, the very last paragraph relates that the ship only carries cargo one way, and always returns to Asia empty. And of course there is the usual lament that we are purchasing all our goods from China while manufacturing here at home is languishing and disappearing.
As usual, the message ends with a proposal that we boycott all goods coming over from China–there is another message out in the Ethernet that shows how to identify foreign goods by the beginning numbers on the bar code–and buy only American products.
I am going to take issue with that inflammatory paragraph. Yes, we are buying a lot of goods from China (and Bangladesh, and India, and Japan, and Korea, etc.) and the quality and safety of those products is becoming a real concern. That being the case, the selective bad products have a way of seeking their own boycott. We don’t buy what we don’t trust. The plan that is being fostered is to boycott all products.
However, I don’t have the same view of our deficit spending on foreign goods, especially those we buy from China. What do you suppose most of that money we send to china is used for? If you think it is used to build the infrastructure of China, you’re wrong.
Most of the money we spend on Chinese goods is used to buy United States Treasury notes. That’s right, China is financing our reckless spending. In fact, China practically owns the United States government. If they ever decide to quit buying our T-bills (and there is a lot of pressure building to do just that) we could go bankrupt in short order.
I don’t like the fact that China is our largest investor in federal bonds, but I like the alternatives a heck of a lot less. As long as we continue to purchase from them, we at least have some support for our dollar. If we were ever successful in boycotting Chinese products, all they would have to do is threaten to cash in some of those bonds, and we would have to relent. Otherwise, our current economic troubles would look infinitesimal in comparison with the turmoil we would have as a result of our boycott.
So, the fact that the Emma Maersk is going back to China empty isn’t all that bad. After all, it doesn’t take a huge container ship to float all those bonds to China. All the goods that come this way are being sold to finance our way of life for us.
I believe the saying is, “Be careful what you wish for.” And I know, the grammar is wrong, but that's the way the saying goes.
I received a message with pictures from one of my buddies. I’m almost certain that you’ve seen it too. It concerned a huge container ship named the Emma Maersk. Maersk Line, a Danish company, owns the Emma Maersk, but it is apparently used exclusively for shipment of goods from Mainland China to the United States.
After listing all of the statistics on the size, speed and capacity of the Emma Maersk, the very last paragraph relates that the ship only carries cargo one way, and always returns to Asia empty. And of course there is the usual lament that we are purchasing all our goods from China while manufacturing here at home is languishing and disappearing.
As usual, the message ends with a proposal that we boycott all goods coming over from China–there is another message out in the Ethernet that shows how to identify foreign goods by the beginning numbers on the bar code–and buy only American products.
I am going to take issue with that inflammatory paragraph. Yes, we are buying a lot of goods from China (and Bangladesh, and India, and Japan, and Korea, etc.) and the quality and safety of those products is becoming a real concern. That being the case, the selective bad products have a way of seeking their own boycott. We don’t buy what we don’t trust. The plan that is being fostered is to boycott all products.
However, I don’t have the same view of our deficit spending on foreign goods, especially those we buy from China. What do you suppose most of that money we send to china is used for? If you think it is used to build the infrastructure of China, you’re wrong.
Most of the money we spend on Chinese goods is used to buy United States Treasury notes. That’s right, China is financing our reckless spending. In fact, China practically owns the United States government. If they ever decide to quit buying our T-bills (and there is a lot of pressure building to do just that) we could go bankrupt in short order.
I don’t like the fact that China is our largest investor in federal bonds, but I like the alternatives a heck of a lot less. As long as we continue to purchase from them, we at least have some support for our dollar. If we were ever successful in boycotting Chinese products, all they would have to do is threaten to cash in some of those bonds, and we would have to relent. Otherwise, our current economic troubles would look infinitesimal in comparison with the turmoil we would have as a result of our boycott.
So, the fact that the Emma Maersk is going back to China empty isn’t all that bad. After all, it doesn’t take a huge container ship to float all those bonds to China. All the goods that come this way are being sold to finance our way of life for us.
I believe the saying is, “Be careful what you wish for.” And I know, the grammar is wrong, but that's the way the saying goes.
Friday, March 19, 2010
Coincidence
Co-in-ci-dence (kō in΄sә dans) n. 1 a coinciding 2 an accidental, but seemingly planned, occurrence of events, ideas, etc. at the same time
I know you’ve heard the expression, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Well, I have a story to relate about just how appropriate that expression was to me last week.
Call it a miracle, or a coincidence, or lack of coincidence–the meaning of that word will become clearer shortly–but I escaped what could have been a life-ending event on March 12.
I had just that day heard about the falling rock that killed a woman in a 2004 Buick near Steamboat Springs, Colorado two days earlier. It was one of those freak accidents that has probably a one-in-a-million chance of happening, but in this case it did. A small boulder fell from the face of a cliff and went through the roof of the car traveling over the road below, killing the woman passenger.
At about noon on Friday, I was traveling eastbound on I-20 near Aiken, SC. I had my cruise control on and was barreling along at 70mph. There is a stand of pine trees in the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes, so you don’t even see the traffic going the other way.
About 200 yards ahead of me a wheel, most likely from a truck on the westbound side, came out of those pines up ahead. No, it wasn’t a tire; it was the whole wheel with a tire mounted on it. Needless to say, it looked HUGE.
The wheel rolled down the embankment onto the pavement, and when it reached the concrete it started bouncing. It bounced straight up about 10 feet and back down in the lane right ahead of where I was driving.
When a tire, or any disk-like object starts bouncing, it is possible for it to come down sideways at an angle. From that first bounce, it is unpredictable what the tire will do and which direction it will roll. This one landed straight up and then continued its roll and disappeared into the forest on the right-hand side of the road.
The whole thing took place in the space of about 10 seconds. I figured out later that I had missed being in the path of that bouncing wheel, by about 3 seconds. I didn’t even have time to react. I just watched incredulously as it crossed in front of me.
There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that I would have suffered the same fate as that poor woman in Colorado, and you would have been reading or hearing about me in the news media.
Yes, the word coincidence really did play a part in my story. Had my car and that wheel arrived at the same spot at the same time, I would have been history, but the incidence was a few seconds apart and I’m here to tell the story.
Do I believe in miracles? Well, not really, but that was the closest thing to a miracle I’ve seen in my lifetime. It took about five minutes for the shock to set in, and then my mind started replaying the whole sequence of events.
Whew!!! Somebody or something was sure looking out for me that day.
I know you’ve heard the expression, “There, but for the grace of God, go I.” Well, I have a story to relate about just how appropriate that expression was to me last week.
Call it a miracle, or a coincidence, or lack of coincidence–the meaning of that word will become clearer shortly–but I escaped what could have been a life-ending event on March 12.
I had just that day heard about the falling rock that killed a woman in a 2004 Buick near Steamboat Springs, Colorado two days earlier. It was one of those freak accidents that has probably a one-in-a-million chance of happening, but in this case it did. A small boulder fell from the face of a cliff and went through the roof of the car traveling over the road below, killing the woman passenger.
At about noon on Friday, I was traveling eastbound on I-20 near Aiken, SC. I had my cruise control on and was barreling along at 70mph. There is a stand of pine trees in the median between the eastbound and westbound lanes, so you don’t even see the traffic going the other way.
About 200 yards ahead of me a wheel, most likely from a truck on the westbound side, came out of those pines up ahead. No, it wasn’t a tire; it was the whole wheel with a tire mounted on it. Needless to say, it looked HUGE.
The wheel rolled down the embankment onto the pavement, and when it reached the concrete it started bouncing. It bounced straight up about 10 feet and back down in the lane right ahead of where I was driving.
When a tire, or any disk-like object starts bouncing, it is possible for it to come down sideways at an angle. From that first bounce, it is unpredictable what the tire will do and which direction it will roll. This one landed straight up and then continued its roll and disappeared into the forest on the right-hand side of the road.
The whole thing took place in the space of about 10 seconds. I figured out later that I had missed being in the path of that bouncing wheel, by about 3 seconds. I didn’t even have time to react. I just watched incredulously as it crossed in front of me.
There is no doubt whatsoever in my mind that I would have suffered the same fate as that poor woman in Colorado, and you would have been reading or hearing about me in the news media.
Yes, the word coincidence really did play a part in my story. Had my car and that wheel arrived at the same spot at the same time, I would have been history, but the incidence was a few seconds apart and I’m here to tell the story.
Do I believe in miracles? Well, not really, but that was the closest thing to a miracle I’ve seen in my lifetime. It took about five minutes for the shock to set in, and then my mind started replaying the whole sequence of events.
Whew!!! Somebody or something was sure looking out for me that day.
Friday, March 12, 2010
Unintended Consequences
Current legislation in Congress has once again caused some unintended consequences, and you and I, the citizens whom the politicos in Washington represent, are going to pay for it.
The first underestimated bill hasn’t even been passed yet, but there is pressure on from President Obama and those who back him to get the Healthcare Bill through Congress so that he can sign it into law. It has been “underestimated” in several ways, but one that wasn’t even considered concerns healthcare premiums.
There is a huge hue and cry about the increases that went into effect at the beginning of the year, especially in California. Some premiums for self-insured users, along with the increase of deductibles and co-pays, are as much as 40 percent above last year.
What did we expect? The insurers know that if the current healthcare plan passes, they will have to accept many people who were previously excluded or charged higher premiums due to pre-existing conditions or added risk. They also know that the government will not allow any markups for those conditions, so the insurance company will be paying out a lot more benefits. The only avenue open to the insurance provider is to charge higher rates now, before the legislation becomes law.
You don’t believe me? I heard Carl Rove admit just this week that the Bush-43 Administration severely underestimated the number of people who would take advantage of the Medicare Part D prescription drug provision that went into effect back in 2006. Millions more signed up for it than had been anticipated.
Why? Because employers who were then providing drug coverage for employees and retirees at tremendous cost saw it as a way out. They forced their retirees to sign up for Part D by withdrawing those benefits.
A benefit that was supposed to aid those who truly couldn’t afford their drugs was inadvertently forced upon and became the norm for everyone over age 65.
The other unintended consequence that is out there is the latest scheme to give tax breaks to companies that hire unemployed people. The recently passed Jobs Bill allows those companies that hire the unemployed to forego the 6.2 percent Social Security payments through December for any qualified hires and also gives them an additional $1,000 credit if the worker stays on the job for a full year.
In order to qualify for the credit, the new hire would have to have been unemployed for at least 60 days. That isn’t much of a qualification, but it has some drastic unanticipated side effects.
Those people who have been unemployed for so long that they took either lower paying jobs or took jobs that are Part-time or conditional/seasonal, are in the crosshairs, because they will not qualify for the employer credit under the Jobs Bill. That puts them at a big disadvantage when seeking full-time, higher paid employment.
The government is putting those who have not gone to work at all, possibly because they find no incentive to put in work hours, ahead of the people who have struggled to make ends meet on lesser pay. Those in the qualified category now have a full two years of benefits in the form of unemployment payments and food stamps, plus other assistance in some cases.
Let me get this straight… The guy or gal who sucks it up and goes to work for less pay in order to keep their dignity is now in line behind the slackers who are, in some instances, drawing as much as $40,000 per year plus food stamps for staying at home. (I won’t tell you exactly how they do that, because I don’t want to encourage even more of that kind of behavior)
I know that there are lots of people among the unemployed who are genuinely trying to get work, and if you are one of those, I don’t intend to blame or shame you. I’m only pointing out the odds of upgrading from a low paying temporary job to one that is equal to the pay and benefits you lost. You have to admit that the credit available to employers places a handicap on some who don’t deserve it.
I thought it was bad enough when congress extended the unemployment benefits to make the United States the only country in the world that pays for a full two years. The Jobs Bill is even a worse piece of legislation in my opinion.
Now maybe we’ll be fortunate enough that those bloodsuckers that haven’t even tried to find work will continue to sit at home and collect their unemployment. After all, they aren’t the ones who benefit from the tax credits provided by the Jobs Bill.
The first underestimated bill hasn’t even been passed yet, but there is pressure on from President Obama and those who back him to get the Healthcare Bill through Congress so that he can sign it into law. It has been “underestimated” in several ways, but one that wasn’t even considered concerns healthcare premiums.
There is a huge hue and cry about the increases that went into effect at the beginning of the year, especially in California. Some premiums for self-insured users, along with the increase of deductibles and co-pays, are as much as 40 percent above last year.
What did we expect? The insurers know that if the current healthcare plan passes, they will have to accept many people who were previously excluded or charged higher premiums due to pre-existing conditions or added risk. They also know that the government will not allow any markups for those conditions, so the insurance company will be paying out a lot more benefits. The only avenue open to the insurance provider is to charge higher rates now, before the legislation becomes law.
You don’t believe me? I heard Carl Rove admit just this week that the Bush-43 Administration severely underestimated the number of people who would take advantage of the Medicare Part D prescription drug provision that went into effect back in 2006. Millions more signed up for it than had been anticipated.
Why? Because employers who were then providing drug coverage for employees and retirees at tremendous cost saw it as a way out. They forced their retirees to sign up for Part D by withdrawing those benefits.
A benefit that was supposed to aid those who truly couldn’t afford their drugs was inadvertently forced upon and became the norm for everyone over age 65.
The other unintended consequence that is out there is the latest scheme to give tax breaks to companies that hire unemployed people. The recently passed Jobs Bill allows those companies that hire the unemployed to forego the 6.2 percent Social Security payments through December for any qualified hires and also gives them an additional $1,000 credit if the worker stays on the job for a full year.
In order to qualify for the credit, the new hire would have to have been unemployed for at least 60 days. That isn’t much of a qualification, but it has some drastic unanticipated side effects.
Those people who have been unemployed for so long that they took either lower paying jobs or took jobs that are Part-time or conditional/seasonal, are in the crosshairs, because they will not qualify for the employer credit under the Jobs Bill. That puts them at a big disadvantage when seeking full-time, higher paid employment.
The government is putting those who have not gone to work at all, possibly because they find no incentive to put in work hours, ahead of the people who have struggled to make ends meet on lesser pay. Those in the qualified category now have a full two years of benefits in the form of unemployment payments and food stamps, plus other assistance in some cases.
Let me get this straight… The guy or gal who sucks it up and goes to work for less pay in order to keep their dignity is now in line behind the slackers who are, in some instances, drawing as much as $40,000 per year plus food stamps for staying at home. (I won’t tell you exactly how they do that, because I don’t want to encourage even more of that kind of behavior)
I know that there are lots of people among the unemployed who are genuinely trying to get work, and if you are one of those, I don’t intend to blame or shame you. I’m only pointing out the odds of upgrading from a low paying temporary job to one that is equal to the pay and benefits you lost. You have to admit that the credit available to employers places a handicap on some who don’t deserve it.
I thought it was bad enough when congress extended the unemployment benefits to make the United States the only country in the world that pays for a full two years. The Jobs Bill is even a worse piece of legislation in my opinion.
Now maybe we’ll be fortunate enough that those bloodsuckers that haven’t even tried to find work will continue to sit at home and collect their unemployment. After all, they aren’t the ones who benefit from the tax credits provided by the Jobs Bill.
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Parallels
There is an interesting phenomenon taking place in the world. It is unique in that it involves four catastrophic events that have all occurred within the short span of five years, and how the people to whom they happened dealt with the aftermath.
Of course I’m referring to Hurricane Katrina, the El Nino brush fires in Southern California, the huge earthquake in Haiti, and the even stronger earthquake in Chile.
I have seen the messages that circulated after the fist two events that highlighted the difference in how the affected citizens responded to the disaster. But I haven’t yet seen any comparison of the two earthquakes that occurred within a few months of each other.
The numbers might be off, due to passage of time, but here is what I know about the earthquake-ravaged island nation of Haiti:
· The 7.0 earthquake hit on January 12, 2010.
· The death toll has risen to somewhere above 500,000, a highly suspect number.
· The nation is still in a state of turmoil and need nearly two months later.
· Hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated or provided for disaster relief.
· Dictators Castro and Chavez have called the troops sent in by the U. S an “occupation force”, implying that they are not welcome there.
· There is no end in sight to the misery and loss of the Haitian people, regardless of the continued aid, food and money being pumped into the relief effort.
Here is what I know about the earthquake-ravaged nation of Chile:
· The 8.8 earthquake occurred offshore in the Pacific Ocean on February 27, 2010. This caused, in addition to the quake damage, a tsunami that came ashore shortly after the quake and devastated low-lying villages.
· The latest death toll as of this writing (3/2/2010) is 746, but thousands are homeless, and the infrastructure of the country is in a shambles.
· Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said that though the earthquake devastated central Chile, she was not requesting international assistance. However, there has been some aid and assistance from (who else?) the United States. It has, however, been minimal, and has not included any people for rescue, only equipment.
Do you see the same parallels that I see in these two events and the earlier disasters in our country?
Does the Haitian earthquake resemble in scope and numbers the Hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans in 2005?
Is the response and reaction of the Chilean President similar to the word that came from the officials in the devastated areas around San Diego after the extent of the damage was learned.
Have we seen video and pictures of the looting taking place in Chilean cities like we saw in Haiti?
In a way, I feel sorry for the people of Chile, because the United States citizenry is pretty well tapped out on aid through donations. We have economic problems here that might prevent many of us who would otherwise donate generously to pull out our empty pockets and remark that we already gave what we could to the Haitian relief effort. We have nothing left to give.
It is a courageous thing that the Chilean President is doing, trying to cope with the devastation and not requesting aid. However, if it does become necessary, I wonder if some of the other South American countries will chip in and help the Chileans. Or maybe the African nations could lend aid and manpower to the effort to save Chile. Surely the Europeans can come to the rescue.
I know the Asians cannot help, because they are still trying to recover from the tsunami that hit in 2004 after the earthquake in the Indian Ocean.
Isn’t it sad that we seem to be the only country in the world capable and willing to lend a hand when disaster strikes? Yet, according to our president, the rest of the world despises us for our arrogance and waste and pollution?
I’m sorry for bringing politics into this, but isn’t every disaster that strikes, regardless of origin, used for political gain of one form or another?
Of course I’m referring to Hurricane Katrina, the El Nino brush fires in Southern California, the huge earthquake in Haiti, and the even stronger earthquake in Chile.
I have seen the messages that circulated after the fist two events that highlighted the difference in how the affected citizens responded to the disaster. But I haven’t yet seen any comparison of the two earthquakes that occurred within a few months of each other.
The numbers might be off, due to passage of time, but here is what I know about the earthquake-ravaged island nation of Haiti:
· The 7.0 earthquake hit on January 12, 2010.
· The death toll has risen to somewhere above 500,000, a highly suspect number.
· The nation is still in a state of turmoil and need nearly two months later.
· Hundreds of millions of dollars have been donated or provided for disaster relief.
· Dictators Castro and Chavez have called the troops sent in by the U. S an “occupation force”, implying that they are not welcome there.
· There is no end in sight to the misery and loss of the Haitian people, regardless of the continued aid, food and money being pumped into the relief effort.
Here is what I know about the earthquake-ravaged nation of Chile:
· The 8.8 earthquake occurred offshore in the Pacific Ocean on February 27, 2010. This caused, in addition to the quake damage, a tsunami that came ashore shortly after the quake and devastated low-lying villages.
· The latest death toll as of this writing (3/2/2010) is 746, but thousands are homeless, and the infrastructure of the country is in a shambles.
· Chilean President Michelle Bachelet said that though the earthquake devastated central Chile, she was not requesting international assistance. However, there has been some aid and assistance from (who else?) the United States. It has, however, been minimal, and has not included any people for rescue, only equipment.
Do you see the same parallels that I see in these two events and the earlier disasters in our country?
Does the Haitian earthquake resemble in scope and numbers the Hurricane-ravaged city of New Orleans in 2005?
Is the response and reaction of the Chilean President similar to the word that came from the officials in the devastated areas around San Diego after the extent of the damage was learned.
Have we seen video and pictures of the looting taking place in Chilean cities like we saw in Haiti?
In a way, I feel sorry for the people of Chile, because the United States citizenry is pretty well tapped out on aid through donations. We have economic problems here that might prevent many of us who would otherwise donate generously to pull out our empty pockets and remark that we already gave what we could to the Haitian relief effort. We have nothing left to give.
It is a courageous thing that the Chilean President is doing, trying to cope with the devastation and not requesting aid. However, if it does become necessary, I wonder if some of the other South American countries will chip in and help the Chileans. Or maybe the African nations could lend aid and manpower to the effort to save Chile. Surely the Europeans can come to the rescue.
I know the Asians cannot help, because they are still trying to recover from the tsunami that hit in 2004 after the earthquake in the Indian Ocean.
Isn’t it sad that we seem to be the only country in the world capable and willing to lend a hand when disaster strikes? Yet, according to our president, the rest of the world despises us for our arrogance and waste and pollution?
I’m sorry for bringing politics into this, but isn’t every disaster that strikes, regardless of origin, used for political gain of one form or another?
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