I find it hard to wrap my head around some of the ginormous numbers coming out of Washington these days. The billions for Iraq and the $700+ billion corporate rescue package of last year were bad enough, but this new "stimulus" package seems to be shaping up to put them to shame. Mr. ToughMoneyLove has a new post about some of the things in the package (he actually looked at it, brave man) and I think I am going to be sick.
When I supported Obama's "Change" campaign I was envisioning something a little different from turning America into a pseudo communist welfare nation.
We the people, individually and collectively as a nation, have the ability to help pull ourselves out of the mess we are in. I was imagining a leader who would inspire us to want to invent new things (intellectual stimulus) especially in the alt energy area; get involved in our communities by putting together citizens' groups to clean up our cities, perform community service, and more (inspirational stimulus), all of which would make us better off and save the gov't money that it would have to spend on these services.
Instead, all I am hearing about is how Washington is going to solve everyone's problems by giving them money instead of letting them learn by their mistakes or working for help. Between the budget shortfalls in the federal government and the California state government, both of which are going to be made up for with higher taxes on ME, I feel like I am caught in a pincer. And by the way, all those nice handouts and mortgage help? So far it looks like I will be ineligible for any because my property value has fallen too far and my loan is too big. Nor will the "Making Work Pay" tax credit help me because my income is too high (only because I live in California where a high income is necessary to live as well as a person almost anywhere else would live with less than half of what I make). Maybe I shouldn't adjust my withholding if my tax rate is going to go up.
Ending on a positive note, because I do like to think positively, I don't have to wait for Obama to lead me to do the things I think people should be doing. I can do it on my own. It just would be nicer to have some leadership and some company in my efforts.
Carl Sagan's foreboding (28 years ago)
7 hours ago
The news makes me so mad/sick that I don't even want to watch it any more. I have to focus on myself. I don't think it's fair that people who buy a house this year get $8,000 they don't have to pay back. Why don't we get anything, when we've been paying our mortgages on time. It makes no sense to me!
ReplyDeleteSigh. I too am baffled by the new budget. I was hoping to see reduction in spending in conjunction with increased taxes. My own personal experience and my common sense tell me that when we're up our eyeballs in debt, the only way to reduce it is to reduce expenses and/or increase our income. The gov't needs to reduce spending and increase revenue. Although I don't have children (and probably never will), I don't want to leave a legacy of debt to our future generation and thus willing to pay higher taxes now. But this will be all for naught unless spending is reigned in. That being said, I am hoping for the best for this new administration because what other alternative do I have?
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