Bonds and Taxes

Another interference into the life of the individual in these United States of America. I was told only yesterday that the government, meaning the liberal Democrats, have devised another new tax system. The average American thinks that streets and sewers and schools built in this country are paid for by their tax dollars. This is not true. Those new city and county and state projects are paid for with bonds. The city or county or state or schools or whatever is needed issue bonds in the amounts that they need to get their construction under way. These bonds are put out for the public to buy at an interest rate that will attract buyers. In effect, they are borrowing money from the investors to pay for these projects. The life of these bonds can vary from a few years to up to about 30 years. The interest rates are not generally very high, but they are usually issued as ‘tax free bonds’. This is what draws the taxpayer to purchase these bonds. Because he can draw interest every six months for the life of the bond or until the bond is called. And he does not have to pay tax on this interest. If the municipality or school or college is able to pay off the bonds earlier than their life, then the bond will be called and the taxpayer gets his investment (loan) back. The taxpayer can buy bonds that are rated very highly, meaning you are almost assured of getting your money returned to you, or they can take more risk, usually for higher interest rates, gambling on whether or not they will get their full return back.

This method of taxpayer funding for municipalities and schools has been around a long time. It has worked for many years. People want to invest their money where they can make enough to pay for their investment. Remember, when a bond is purchased, that money is not in your pocket and you do not have it to spend for a few years or up to 30 years. So you cannot risk buying bonds if you are not sure you can do without the money for a long time. But the municipalities are willing to pay enough tax free interest to attract a myriad of buyers. This tax free interest is very, very important to the progress of municipalities in these United States.

So now, the liberal Democrats have devised a new method for paying for these bonds. They have put out the word to municipalities that if they will put their bonds out for sale and not make them tax free, the government will pay up to 35% of the interest due on the bonds. How’s that for getting into your back pocket without anyone knowing about this. The usual hidden agenda. And this will eventually kill the tax free bond market. The funds will dry up and people will not invest in the building of new streets or schools or sewers of the city or the county or the state. So who will win in this situation. Certainly not the investor. And not the general public because they will be without those much needed services. And the bond seller won’t win either as he will lose most of his business. But the most important part is that the person who will eventually lose in this endeavor is the average, every day taxpayer. Because he will no longer have the services he is entitled to. He will not have the new schools for his children nor the new streets in his town nor the new sewer and water lines that his town and county are depending upon for their expansion. But he will get to pay more in hometown taxes than he ever has before. Because someone will have to pay to have the old streets fixed and to have the old schools renovated and to have the old water and sewer systems upgraded so that everyone won’t get sick. So who has won in this? Of course, as usual, the liberal Democrats, the so-called Government of today. They will have destroyed another entity of this country of ours. They will have once again brought about the change they talk about which is only hurtful to everyone except them.

I remember when Stalin was powerful and how they said only a handful of people benefitted from progress in Russia – of which there was very little. Only a handful of people lived a really good life with homes on the sea and servants and automobiles and schools for their children. That is where this liberal Democrat Congress is leading our country. To where only THEY will benefit. The rest of the country does not count. Just ask Obama and Nancy Pelosi and they will probably tell you just this – it is their country. They have been waiting a long time to change it the way they want it to be.

Vote Republican as soon as you can.

ACORN

It has been said many times that the main problem with this country is that the rich people run everything. Of course this is definitely not so. ACORN is a good example of that. They have been running things pretty much their own way for quite some time. It is a well known fact that they have siphoned money many times from one charity into another one. Just using any and all money however and whenever they pleased. And definitely not using it however the individual donors intended for it to be used. How much they actually helped poor people remains to be seen. After we see how much they managed to put into their own pockets.

It was reported recently that one of their main projects was to provide housing for the so-called poor. They went into run-down, overgrown older housing areas where no one had lived for quite some time. ACORN then fixed up the older homes and cleaned up the yards, etc. Then they helped these poor people to acquire a home of their own. You know, the grand old American dream for all. Owning a home of your own where you can fix up and paint up and clean up for yourself. Only they didn’t do much of that. And besides that, the poor people had been talked into buying homes that they could never make the payments on. Then when ACORN could not help out with the re-financing or paying off the mortgages, these bad home loans were turned over to Freddy Mac and Fannie Mae. They say (those who were doing the reporting) that this could have contributed greatly to the final fall of the government housing mortgage programs. I think those programs have been blamed for most of the recent recession. Or at least that is what I have heard. Only the name ACORN had never been mentioned before. Surprise!!!

Meanwhile, ACORN was  busy supporting Obama with their ACORN money and their poor people. They brought  those poor people in on busses to the various rallies and to campaign in various areas for Mr. Obama. Wonder where they got the money to run those busses or pay the people for their time. Sure makes you wonder about all those people who supposedly run everything. I don’t think any of them were rich people. Even the man who started the ACORN and ran it for years denied that he was rich. And it was reported that his relatives weren’t rich either. They just had sticky fingers, but they are working that out right now, before any charges are filed.

And those who were caught on television advising others about how to get around the rules of running a business. They weren’t rich. And the prostitute and her brothel of underaged foreign girls that were getting the free advice  - I know they were not rich. Wonder who those rich people are who run everything. Certainly not anyone that I see anywhere, any time. The only rich ones I know that are running the country are the members of Congress who seem to be far richer than they should be. And their personal friends or relatives who also seem to be of the richer types.

That’s it! That must be the rich people who are running everything. That is what is wrong with this country. Most definitely.

Some Strings To Think About

I saw a blip across the tv screen recently telling people to write their congressmen to raise the minimum wage. Do people not understand? If you raise the minimum wage, all prices eventually go up. They have to because manufacturers cannot produce nor sell goods unless they make money to do so. They cannot make enough money to run their businesses unless the wage level is reasonable. So if the wage level goes up, then the cost of goods also goes up from the manufacturers through the retail industry and right out of  your pocketbooks.

If the wage level is raised, people also get to pay more taxes because they are automatically raised to a new level of income. Each level of income pays so much percentage in taxes. So now, not only do they make more money if their minimum wage is raised, but then they also pay more for everything they buy and then they also get to pay more taxes.

In the long run, they actually lose money when the minimum wage is raised. Who wants that? Only those that do not understand anything about the economy and think that someone is going to give them something for free. There are no free lunches in this world. Nothing is ever free. There are always strings attached. Pay attention to those strings!

All the Numbers, Huge Numbers

Did you know that the taxpayers of this country have lost a big portion of the $81 billion in government aid provided to the auto industry? Just take a minute to digest the figure $81 BILLION. I cannot even imagine a figure that large. Most of the $23 billion initially provided to General Motors and Chrysler last year is UNLIKELY to be repaid. Now, just take a minute to digest that too. What would happen in your life if you could not repay what was loaned to you.

According to the report put out by the Congressional Oversight Panel, the prospect of recovering the government’s money is dependent on shares of the two companies rising to levels unheard of before. Think about that one, too. Obviously, our Congressional Oversight Panel already knew this when the Congress voted to give the administration all that ’supposed to be repaid’ aid  money.

Remember, when this was being crammed down the taxpayer’s throats that we were told this money would be repaid – just any day now. Sort of like ‘your check is in the mail already’.

Instead, now we hear that in order for this money to be repaid to the taxpayers, the shares of stock in GM and Chrysler will have to increase in value. Like that is going to happen any time soon.

I know I would not put my money in shares like that.  Not while the government still owns a big portion of those companies. Right now, the government – which is you, you know – owns 10 percent of Chrysler and 61 percent of GM. Think about those figures for awhile, too. Enough to just ruin your day!

And now, to quote ’shares will have to appreciate sharply’. Oh my, can you believe that one?

In order for us to be repaid, GM’s market value will have to reach $67.6 BILLION, which is more than the $57.2 BILLION GM was worth at its height. Fat chance of that!

And with Chrysler, about $5.4 billion of the $14.3 billion provided is highly unlikely to EVER be repaid.

I assume someone knew all this from the beginning. Could it have been our Congressmen again? Makes you wonder who’s running the store.

Must be someone who never learned to count!

Economics and Prices

When I was young which has been some time ago, prices were much, much lower on all goods, services AND salaries. Most people do not seem to realize that all economics is relevant.  In other words, as has been said, expenses always rise to meet income. This is always, always, true.

As example, when I first went to work, I earned $150. a month. But it cost $.10 to ride the bus, $.60 for my lunch, $5 for a pair of shoes, $15 for a nice dress, and $40 per month for an apartment. So money was relevant.

When I married, my husband made $45 per week. Those young people who were really setting the world on fire made $60 a week. We envied them that big salary. Then when my first child was born, the doctor’s bill was $120. Gasoline was $.30 a gallon and we rented a 3 room, all utilities paid apartment for $50 a month. And we lived on a very strict budget. Life was pretty good.

In my working days before I became a Mom, I worked for a firm of accountants who were considered to be above average in salary. Each one made $5000 per year! I was making $175 a month at that time. Several years later, my husband was making $10,000 a year and was considered to be in the upper echelon of salesmen. Can you imagine? Actually making $10,000 a year! It was mind boggling. But the guy across the street was working for the new computer type business and he was making a lot more than my husband. We had 2 cars by that time. Only those doing really well had 2 cars. My husband traveled all the time to make that $10,000 so I had to have a car in order to run my household. We were really living well!  House payment was $65 a month, water bill about $1.50.

Later on, when my husband was even more successful, he made the remark one day that he was actually worth $20 an hour. Now that is really mind boggling. Imagine being worth that much. What is this world coming to.

So what is it really coming to after all. The more salaries rise, the more expenses rise. Even though a person is making $100,000 a year now, his house is costing him twice that much, his car is half that, plus all the expenses that are truly mind boggling. $2.50 for a gallon of gas? Utility  costs $1000 a month?

We have all just learned to count a little higher, but we have changed nothing. Just  able to talk in bigger figures, but still the same old relationship between salary and expenses. So all economics is relevant. As my husband used to say, a pound’s a pound the world around. And it is whether it comes to economics or other issues. All is relevant. Nothing has changed. Only the sound of bigger figures has changed.

Expenses still rise to meet income. And always will. That’s just plain old everyday economics.

Who attacked our economy?

In February of this year, there was an article in my local newspaper entitled ‘Who attacked our economy? Why does no one care?’  The article was written by Diana West of the Washington Times. The article states that there was an interview aired on January 27 on CSPAN with Rep. Paul Kanjorski, D-Pa. It has received no coverage in the mainstream media.

Kanjorski states that in the middle of last September, he was there when the Secretary of the Treasury Hank Paulson and the Chairman of the Federal Reserve Ben Bernanke came and talked to members of Congress and told them that on the previous Thursday around 11 A.M., the Federal Reserve noticed a tremendous drawdown of money market accounts in the U.S. Within an hour or so, $550 billion was drawn out. The Treasury  pumped $105 billion into the system and realized they could not stop the drawdown. There was evidently an electronic run on the banks. Instead, they closed down the operation, closed the money accounts and announced a guarantee of $250,000 per account so there would be no panic.

Kanjorski said if they had not done that, by 2 P.M., $5.5 trillion would have been drawn out of the money market system of the U.S. and would have collapsed the entire economy and within 24 hours, the world economy would have collapsed.

Rush Limbaugh talked of this on the air, but no one except a couple of blogs has covered this story. It is reportedly available on youtube.

Paul Kanjorski is chairman of the Capital Markets Subcommittee of the House Financial Services Committee so I would think this story certainly has credibility. On the CSPAN report, no one asks who or what was responsible for that electronic run on the banks to the tune of $550 billion plus the $105 billion that was put into the system.

Since we now have a stimulus package that is going to cost everyone in this country much, much in the way of taxes over the next couple of generations, I would like to know where the money went, who got it, and where is it now. I would like to see it put back in the Treasury to help pay for some of this reckless spending we are seeing every day.

I am going to write all my congressmen and ask them to look into this story and to give me an answer in return. Maybe we can all make enough noise to at least get a congressional hearing on the matter.

Diana West has a blog at dianawest.net. Her email is dianawest@verizon.net if you want to check this out.

Write your congressmen!

Why get into the healthcare business?

Regarding the health insurance bill that OUR congress is supposedly studying during their recess, since when is the government supposed to pay for everything for people. I think if I remember right that they call this Socialism or in some cases, Communism. You give all your health, money and time to them and they spend it as they please. Government runs everything in your life. Or at least that is the way I think it works. That is the way it worked in Hitler’s Germany and in Stalin’s Russia. Hope it doesn’t work that way in Obama’s United States of America. Heaven forbid!

You purchase insurance for your car, your home, and your valuables. You even purchase your own life insurance. The government does not pay for them.  Nor do they regulate every aspect of that insurance. And yet, when it comes to your health insurance, the government seems to think they need to take care of you from womb to tomb. Why? I cannot imagine why myself. And you pay for that home insurance, that car insurance, and the insurance for your valuables and even for your life insurance with your own money. Except for special circumsances, your employer does not pay for any of these insurance premiums. And he does not tell you how to buy them nor where to buy them.

Why should health insurance be any different? Didn’t use to be. I used to buy my own health insurance from whatever insurance company gave me the best deal. I shopped this just like I shopped all my other insurance policies and went with the company that did the most for me. Isn’t this the way it is supposed to be done?

So why doesn’t the government back out of the health insurance business and let us get on with our own business. Sounds like a good idea to me. What do you think?

The Truth about Social Security and How We Can Fix This Mess

I wrote all my Senators and Representatives this past week regarding the health care package Mr. Obama is dictating for all of us. Only one Representative wrote me back. He tells of the skyrocketing cost of health care and how it is bankrupting American families and businesses. Says it is leading this country down a path to fiscal disaster and that 40 percent of all federal tax dollars go to fund Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, Children’s Health Care, Veterans and Military Retirees Health Care. I sure didn’t know any of that. Wow! 40% of my tax dollars. If I had known that, I would have had suggestions long before now.

Social Security was originally put into place during President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s time. In case you are not familiar with Mr. Roosevelt, he is the one who came on the scene after blaming Mr. Herbert Hoover for all the problems regarding the Great Depression. Mr. Roosevelt was President for all of my growing up years.

The Social Security plan worked for a long, long time. But it was always destined to run out of money, even when it began. Of course, they did not know that at the time it was set up. Social Security was originally based upon the fact that everyone would contribute during their working years and then when they were 65 years of age, they could begin to collect on what they had contributed. Worked out fine at that time because most people were dead before they could reach the age of 65 years of age. This is a very simple but true fact. It was therefore a case of more money coming in than going out.

However, over the years, with better medical care, longevity has increased to much more than 65 years. Also, and this is very, very important, Social Security was never intended to provide a total income for people. It was only intended to be a supplement. Or provide a part of their living expenses. Never intended to provide enough to live on. The recipients of today do not know this. They expect and receive enough money to live a simple but satisfactory lifestyle.

Also, those seniors who would rather work now have to stop working because they make too much money and therefore cannot draw their full Social Security. Many would be happy to be allowed to continue working, either part time or full time. This should not be mandatory, but if they prefer to work, by all means let them. Do not penalize them because they prefer to be productive.

But there are a few very simple answers to this problem. And they do not require another government program to implement them. If the younger people are expected to live longer lives, then they should contribute more from the beginning. Perhaps starting when they first begin working, they could simply contribute more percentage of their salary. This would cause a great increase in the amount of Social Security funds available. Perhaps, over the years, their percentage could be changed. For instance, a certain amount for ages 20 to 30, then lower from 30 to 40, then ever lower from 40 to 50 and then perhaps those 50 and under could begin to draw their Social Security at 70 instead of 65, since people are much healthier now at 65 than they were in Mr. Roosevelt’s time. All of these answers would greatly increase the pot of the Social Security. And definitely would not overburden anyone.

Next, there might be some consideration of raising the age of collection from 65 to 70. As longevity has increased, the health of those at 65 is much better than it used to be. This should be optional, but I would imagine a number of those eligible at 65 would be agreeable to making the mandatory age 70 instead. Especially if there were some incentive thrown in. Perhaps allow them to still earn their normal full salary, while letting them collect a small amount of their Social Security early between the ages of 65 and 70. Remember, since they would still be working, they would still be contributors to Social Security.

If the disability age was raised from 62 to say, 65 or even 68, this would be a tremendous savings for Social Security. There again, the recipients could be compensated in some smaller way if necessary.

These are just random thoughts, but they can be studied and implemented with very little problem. Most Americans would understand the problem if it were ever  explained to them. Then they would be willing to make whatever adjustments need to be made to save our Social Security program.

As I said, this should not require a huge influx of tax dollars nor another bureaucratic government program. Just a few adjustments and all would be o.k.

Vote Republican and see your country return to you, the citizens of the United States of America!!!!

Change We Can Believe In??

Promises! Promises! Where are the promises Obama made to all of us. He was elected on promises. He promised to fix the economy although it really was not that broken. He promised to fix everything that was wrong in the whole wide world. He was going to make peace everywhere so guess that’s why we are not leaving Afghanistan although he has never told us why we are there. But I suppose that is in the peace promise – somewhere.

And the economy is in terrible shape, much worse than it was when he was elected. His extreme deficit which HE – not George Bush – has created. And the jobs – where are they! More jobs lost now than at any time since the Great Depression. More homes lost than ever before. More businesses closed than ever before. When is he going to ever stop.

Maybe we didn’t really need his sort of promises after all. Maybe we would have been better off staying with what we had, and knowing where we were headed. Maybe we should have all voted Republican last time around.

Hope you will vote Republican the next time around. We sure do need that CHANGE that Obama promised. Wonder what it was supposed to be.

They decide, We Foot the Bill

When I was younger, early 20’s, I could have been called a liberal for sure. I had heard about the people who needed clothing, especially shoes, food, and shelter. After World War II, the whole world needed something. And my young mind accepted all this and thought of ways I could help – some day when I got older. Then the true liberals started talking about other things, like the population explosion where each person was only going to have one square foot to stand in. Why, we were not even going to be able to lie down or sit down. And then they started making lots of noises about everything THEY wanted to do in this world. WE were all going to save the world. WE were going to provide for all those poor souls who could not provide for themselves. Of course, I thought of children when they said these things and I knew that children could not provide for themselves. But then I came to realize they were talking about people like themselves. People who were not interested in working to have a better life. They were just simply going to hold their hand out and someone would provide for them. Later, we went on a picnic to a national park. While there, we watched as a young family taught their children to wash in the pond and brush their teeth in the public water fountain. They were all unkempt with hair that not seen a comb in many a day.

By this time, I had been married for several years and had children of my own. I taught them to brush their teeth in the bathroom at home and to wash in the tub each day. I combed their hair and provided clean clothes for them to wear. I fed them three solid meals every day. And I considered this to be my job. I was their mother. I did my part to care for my family. My husband went to work each and every day and did his part to provide a comfortable home, a nice car, food, and clothes for all of us.

By that time, we were literally surrounded in this world by those liberals among us who wanted to care for the world and yet not bother to care for themselves. Someone else was going to do that.

As I have grown older, I still see these same liberals who, in the name of compassion, are going to fix the world – on someone else’s dollar bills. THEY will decide what to do and WE will pay for it.  Health care, car industry, banking industry, welfare, educational opportunities. You name it, YOU can pay for it. THEY will make sure of that.