From Fox News. Now you get to find out about the OTHER marriage penalty!
"Regardless how you file your taxes, if you legally tie-the-knot with another individual your “modified adjusted gross income” (MAGI: undefined, undefined, undefined%) threshold is a lot lower. Two individuals who simply live together could each earn up to $200,000- for a combined household income of $400,000- and still not be subject to this surtax.
See? A loophole created by Congress!
The impact of the surtax- which takes effect in 2013- will be especially significant on those in the top income tax brackets. Starting next year, dividends from stocks will again be taxed at the same rate as “ordinary income” and the highest rate reverts to 39.6%. Adding another 3.8% to that means your investment income could be subject to a tax rate of 43.4%!
CPA Bob Keebler, of the firm Baker Tilly Virchow Krause, points out that while withdrawals from a traditional IRA are not themselves subject to the surtax, they do add to your overall taxable income. As a result, they could increase your MAGI beyond the threshold and make your investment income subject to the surtax.
Although most folks who are still working tend to leave the money in their IRAs unless they absolutely need it, withdrawals become mandatory once you reach age 70½- but only from “traditional” IRAs."
People living together with incomes that meet or exceed the threshold don't get hit with the surcharge--it's only COMBINED incomes from joint filers. Yet another reason why senior citizens spend their retirement community and nursing home days sleeping around with each other--at higher income levels, it's less of a tax hit to stay single (as opposed to when you're young).
This is probably why Gene Simmons of Kiss won't marry the woman he's been living with for 20- or 30-some odd years, and had his 2 kids.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Monday, March 29, 2010
*Book Recommendations*
Radical Housewives. Someone has finally put our lifestyles down on paper and turned them into a book.
Farmer Jane. Tells of how women are taking the lead in sustainable food production, and one woman's story in particular.
I'm getting copies.
Farmer Jane. Tells of how women are taking the lead in sustainable food production, and one woman's story in particular.
I'm getting copies.
Saturday, March 27, 2010
You Cost Your Boss More Than You Think
From CNN Money.
"For Jim Garland, who owns a corporate aircraft cleaning and support services company, a $14 per hour worker has a true cost of $19.63 per hour, or about 40% more than base pay. This so-called "loaded rate" includes fixed expenses -- federal and state taxes, health insurance, workman's compensation, uniforms, and paid time off -- along with soft costs like the time spent training a new hire."
...
"Garland outsources his entire human resource department. Joe Sherrier, director of human resources for Employment Enterprises -- the company that manages Garland's HR -- said that as a general rule, business owners should to expect an employee to cost an additional 25% to 30% on top of base salary each year."
...
"State income taxes vary significantly, but federal taxes are standard: Social Security tax is 12.4% on the first $106,800 of earnings, and Medicare taxes run another 2.9% of all wages. The employer and employee each pay half. (The self-employed pay the full cost of both taxes themselves.)
Employers also have to pay a federal unemployment insurance tax of 6.2% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages. Illinois adds on a state unemployment tax that's currently 3.9% for new companies on the first $12,520 of wages. (Existing companies have their rates adjusted up or down depending on how many former workers file unemployment claims.) Part of the state unemployment tax is deductible from the federal, but that still leaves employers on the hook for a tax bite.
"I can't afford it," Kernc concluded. "When I saw the price to hire somebody, at this point I can't do it."
But Kernc she also knows she can't put it off indefinitely if demand stays high. "I can't work 24 hours per day," she said."
...and then, there's this new HCR monster. Do you STILL wonder why we have rampant unemployment in this country, and wonder if it's going to persist?
This is part of the Europeanization of America--businesses who want to stay in business are going to hire only family members to keep the money (and health insurance coverage) in the family. This will be the only way to get a job outside of government or large corporations.
Expect a further shift to offshoring and outsourcing, mostly from large corporations, so they don't have to meet the arduous requirements and taxes. All that will be left here in America is little Mom-and-Pop stores with all sorts of relatives behind the cash registers. If your family doesn't own a business, you're going to be out of luck for a job (unless you go to government).
Also, look forward to the sell-off of chains (Mickey D's, junk food outlets) to individual ownership, just to avoid HCR costs (over 49 employees, and you get charged up the wazoo). Each "chain store" will become independently owned and operated (mostly by family members) if it isn't forced to dissolve under the new rules of business existence.
What HCR doesn't kill off, the coming VAT tax will (by killing consumption).
"For Jim Garland, who owns a corporate aircraft cleaning and support services company, a $14 per hour worker has a true cost of $19.63 per hour, or about 40% more than base pay. This so-called "loaded rate" includes fixed expenses -- federal and state taxes, health insurance, workman's compensation, uniforms, and paid time off -- along with soft costs like the time spent training a new hire."
...
"Garland outsources his entire human resource department. Joe Sherrier, director of human resources for Employment Enterprises -- the company that manages Garland's HR -- said that as a general rule, business owners should to expect an employee to cost an additional 25% to 30% on top of base salary each year."
...
"State income taxes vary significantly, but federal taxes are standard: Social Security tax is 12.4% on the first $106,800 of earnings, and Medicare taxes run another 2.9% of all wages. The employer and employee each pay half. (The self-employed pay the full cost of both taxes themselves.)
Employers also have to pay a federal unemployment insurance tax of 6.2% on the first $7,000 of each employee's wages. Illinois adds on a state unemployment tax that's currently 3.9% for new companies on the first $12,520 of wages. (Existing companies have their rates adjusted up or down depending on how many former workers file unemployment claims.) Part of the state unemployment tax is deductible from the federal, but that still leaves employers on the hook for a tax bite.
"I can't afford it," Kernc concluded. "When I saw the price to hire somebody, at this point I can't do it."
But Kernc she also knows she can't put it off indefinitely if demand stays high. "I can't work 24 hours per day," she said."
...and then, there's this new HCR monster. Do you STILL wonder why we have rampant unemployment in this country, and wonder if it's going to persist?
This is part of the Europeanization of America--businesses who want to stay in business are going to hire only family members to keep the money (and health insurance coverage) in the family. This will be the only way to get a job outside of government or large corporations.
Expect a further shift to offshoring and outsourcing, mostly from large corporations, so they don't have to meet the arduous requirements and taxes. All that will be left here in America is little Mom-and-Pop stores with all sorts of relatives behind the cash registers. If your family doesn't own a business, you're going to be out of luck for a job (unless you go to government).
Also, look forward to the sell-off of chains (Mickey D's, junk food outlets) to individual ownership, just to avoid HCR costs (over 49 employees, and you get charged up the wazoo). Each "chain store" will become independently owned and operated (mostly by family members) if it isn't forced to dissolve under the new rules of business existence.
What HCR doesn't kill off, the coming VAT tax will (by killing consumption).
When Safety Runs Amok--To Whom It May Concern
From Top Gear.
"We will be trying to arrange some simple public spectacles - launching a helium-filled balloon from a town square, for example - and then showing you, the viewer, just how much paperwork, jobsworthery and all-round catastrophic arse-ache this involves.
How many precautions have to be put in place to prevent people being hurt by balloons; how much cover has to be arranged before a balloon can be launched without threatening the excess on someone's professional indemnity insurance; the size of the ‘method statement' that has to be circulated and signed off before the council will allow a balloon to be released from a town square, and how far away the spectators will have to stand in order to satisfy the requirements of the risk assessment. And so on.
You think I'm joking about the balloon. Sadly not. Other shows we'd have difficulty putting on for your entertainment include riding around on a bicycle without drinking some water and walking along without wearing the right shoes.
And, inevitably, driving around in a car. Now I look at it, I'm amazed Top Gear has survived this long, because the health and safety implications of being in control of a motor vehicle when you might be dehydrated or a bit tired are so hideous that we should have given up years ago."
This is what's on our horizon--Nancy Pelosi (or some other congress-critter) telling us what to do, what we CAN do, and when to do it...all in the name of public health and safety. We will have become one with the bubble wrap!
"We will be trying to arrange some simple public spectacles - launching a helium-filled balloon from a town square, for example - and then showing you, the viewer, just how much paperwork, jobsworthery and all-round catastrophic arse-ache this involves.
How many precautions have to be put in place to prevent people being hurt by balloons; how much cover has to be arranged before a balloon can be launched without threatening the excess on someone's professional indemnity insurance; the size of the ‘method statement' that has to be circulated and signed off before the council will allow a balloon to be released from a town square, and how far away the spectators will have to stand in order to satisfy the requirements of the risk assessment. And so on.
You think I'm joking about the balloon. Sadly not. Other shows we'd have difficulty putting on for your entertainment include riding around on a bicycle without drinking some water and walking along without wearing the right shoes.
And, inevitably, driving around in a car. Now I look at it, I'm amazed Top Gear has survived this long, because the health and safety implications of being in control of a motor vehicle when you might be dehydrated or a bit tired are so hideous that we should have given up years ago."
This is what's on our horizon--Nancy Pelosi (or some other congress-critter) telling us what to do, what we CAN do, and when to do it...all in the name of public health and safety. We will have become one with the bubble wrap!
Friday, March 26, 2010
The VAT Cometh
From National Review Online.
"...our unsustainable fiscal path requires control of entitlement spending, the most ruinous of which is out-of-control health-care costs.
Obamacare was sold on the premise that, as Nancy Pelosi put it, “Health-care reform is entitlement reform. Our budget cannot take this upward spiral of cost.” But the bill enacted on Tuesday accelerates the spiral: It radically expands Medicaid (adding 15 million new recipients/dependents) and shamelessly raids Medicare by spending the $500 billion in cuts and the yield from the Medicare tax hikes on a new entitlement."
...
"Sure, Social Security can be trimmed by raising the retirement age, introducing means testing, and changing the indexing formula from wage growth to price inflation.
But this won’t be nearly enough. As Obama has repeatedly insisted, the real money is in health-care costs — which are now locked in place by the new Obamacare mandates.
That’s where the value-added tax comes in. For the politician, it has the virtue of expediency: People are used to sales taxes, and this one produces a river of revenue. Every 1 percent of VAT would yield up to $1 trillion a decade (depending on what you exclude — if you exempt food, for example, the yield would be more like $900 billion)."
...
"American liberals have long complained that ours is the only advanced industrial country without universal health care. Well, now we shall have it. And as we approach European levels of entitlements, we will need European levels of taxation."
If you hear the words FAIR TAX, run like hell!
"...our unsustainable fiscal path requires control of entitlement spending, the most ruinous of which is out-of-control health-care costs.
Obamacare was sold on the premise that, as Nancy Pelosi put it, “Health-care reform is entitlement reform. Our budget cannot take this upward spiral of cost.” But the bill enacted on Tuesday accelerates the spiral: It radically expands Medicaid (adding 15 million new recipients/dependents) and shamelessly raids Medicare by spending the $500 billion in cuts and the yield from the Medicare tax hikes on a new entitlement."
...
"Sure, Social Security can be trimmed by raising the retirement age, introducing means testing, and changing the indexing formula from wage growth to price inflation.
But this won’t be nearly enough. As Obama has repeatedly insisted, the real money is in health-care costs — which are now locked in place by the new Obamacare mandates.
That’s where the value-added tax comes in. For the politician, it has the virtue of expediency: People are used to sales taxes, and this one produces a river of revenue. Every 1 percent of VAT would yield up to $1 trillion a decade (depending on what you exclude — if you exempt food, for example, the yield would be more like $900 billion)."
...
"American liberals have long complained that ours is the only advanced industrial country without universal health care. Well, now we shall have it. And as we approach European levels of entitlements, we will need European levels of taxation."
If you hear the words FAIR TAX, run like hell!
Thursday, March 25, 2010
About the "Abundance of Scarcity" Statement
Original post.
This was my husband's answer to the question, "When is it appropriate to compete?" from a recent Seven Habits of Highly Effective People class.
When is it appropriate? ALWAYS! That's what our civilization is built on--only the strong survive and thrive, and looking out at our nation's streets, Obama is backing the losers (those who can't compete) at our expense.
What's worse: when Hubby read his statement aloud, the instructor didn't understand it. Hubby had to read it several times, then someone else finally translated it so the instructor understood it.
What's there to NOT understand? If I was there, I'd have asked the instructor when it was appropriate NOT to compete.
We're becoming a nation of Participation Trophy winners (just what this class is teaching people--the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and sense of self and selfishness is BAD). Indoctrination at the highest levels, with emphasis on empathy and feelings. If we didn't learn how to compete, we wouldn't be here today, and wouldn't have been here yesterday, either. We wouldn't have been here after the continents broke apart.
Highly effective? I'd say not. I'd call it a racket that combines psycho-babble with stationery and fancy, under-sized binder sales. It might be effective if someone was in sales. Speaking of effective, this little exercise took 28 civil service workers away from their desks for 24 total work hours (3 work days), costing the taxpayers about $18,000. Did we get our money's worth? Individual therapy sessions would have been cheaper.
Cowbells...we need more cowbells! :) It seems Stephen Covey certainly tapped into the ABUNDANCE of the government.
My two cents on scarcity.
This was my husband's answer to the question, "When is it appropriate to compete?" from a recent Seven Habits of Highly Effective People class.
When is it appropriate? ALWAYS! That's what our civilization is built on--only the strong survive and thrive, and looking out at our nation's streets, Obama is backing the losers (those who can't compete) at our expense.
What's worse: when Hubby read his statement aloud, the instructor didn't understand it. Hubby had to read it several times, then someone else finally translated it so the instructor understood it.
Competition is required whenever there is an abundance of scarcity, and the consequence of not competing is extinction.
What's there to NOT understand? If I was there, I'd have asked the instructor when it was appropriate NOT to compete.
We're becoming a nation of Participation Trophy winners (just what this class is teaching people--the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, and sense of self and selfishness is BAD). Indoctrination at the highest levels, with emphasis on empathy and feelings. If we didn't learn how to compete, we wouldn't be here today, and wouldn't have been here yesterday, either. We wouldn't have been here after the continents broke apart.
Highly effective? I'd say not. I'd call it a racket that combines psycho-babble with stationery and fancy, under-sized binder sales. It might be effective if someone was in sales. Speaking of effective, this little exercise took 28 civil service workers away from their desks for 24 total work hours (3 work days), costing the taxpayers about $18,000. Did we get our money's worth? Individual therapy sessions would have been cheaper.
Cowbells...we need more cowbells! :) It seems Stephen Covey certainly tapped into the ABUNDANCE of the government.
My two cents on scarcity.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
This Just In: Bad Habits Explain Class Differences in Health
From HealthDay news. Our president seems to think there just isn't enough "good health" going around, so he created this monstrosity of a health care bill to spread the health (and wealth). Too bad he didn't account for bad habits!
No health care bill is going to stop people from smoking, drinking, using drugs, or flocking to junk food outlets. It also isn't going to get them off the couch, either.
"Unhealthy behaviors -- including higher rates of smoking, poor diets and lack of exercise -- can explain almost three-fourths of the higher death rate among people of lower socioeconomic standing, a new study suggests."
I sent a copy of this article to Obama.
No health care bill is going to stop people from smoking, drinking, using drugs, or flocking to junk food outlets. It also isn't going to get them off the couch, either.
"Unhealthy behaviors -- including higher rates of smoking, poor diets and lack of exercise -- can explain almost three-fourths of the higher death rate among people of lower socioeconomic standing, a new study suggests."
I sent a copy of this article to Obama.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
If You Know What This Means, Leave a Comment
Competition is required whenever there is an abundance of scarcity, and the consequence of not competing is extinction.
This Just In: Having Insurance "Going to be Like Christmas"
From WRAL News (Raleigh, NC). Didn't we hear this same kind of talk from Peggy the Moocher when Obama first got elected?
"It's just going to be like Christmas," said DeCarlo Flythe, who lost health coverage for his family when he was laid off almost three years ago. "It's going to be great. You know, no worries (about) the bills. We are going to go ahead and pay our co-pay and be alright."
Yeah--no worries about the people PAYING for your Christmas! How are you going to make co-pays without a job? Oops--we're paying for your health care AND your unemployment!
Let's suppose tables were suddenly turned, and rich people became poor, and poor people became rich. Do you think they'd be voting in this kind of stuff for US? Not on your life! It's about power, not rights--it's specifically about who's going to step down so others may lead...but lead us where?
One Nation Underachieving
"It's just going to be like Christmas," said DeCarlo Flythe, who lost health coverage for his family when he was laid off almost three years ago. "It's going to be great. You know, no worries (about) the bills. We are going to go ahead and pay our co-pay and be alright."
Yeah--no worries about the people PAYING for your Christmas! How are you going to make co-pays without a job? Oops--we're paying for your health care AND your unemployment!
Let's suppose tables were suddenly turned, and rich people became poor, and poor people became rich. Do you think they'd be voting in this kind of stuff for US? Not on your life! It's about power, not rights--it's specifically about who's going to step down so others may lead...but lead us where?
One Nation Underachieving
Saturday, March 20, 2010
This Just In: One More Census Question--Anyone Want These Jobs?
From the Boston Globe. Not if it will interrupt their unemployment bennies, they don't!
"Jobs may still be scarce, but one agency is having trouble finding enough applicants for work that pays almost $23 an hour: the US Census Bureau."
Go figure.
"Jobs may still be scarce, but one agency is having trouble finding enough applicants for work that pays almost $23 an hour: the US Census Bureau."
Go figure.
Thursday, March 18, 2010
This Just In: Politicians Smother Cities
From Fox Business News and John Stossel's blog.
"The politicians haven't learned. They still think government is the key to revitalization. While Indianapolis privatized services, Cleveland prefers state capitalism. It owns and operates a big grocery store, the West Side Market. Typical of government, it's open only four days a week, and two of those days it closes at 4 p.m. The city doesn't maintain the market very well. Despite those cost savings, the city manages to lose money running the market. It also loses money running golf courses -- $400,000 last year."
Could this be what happened to Detroit? It certainly sounds like what's going on here with our state-run liquor stores!
"The politicians haven't learned. They still think government is the key to revitalization. While Indianapolis privatized services, Cleveland prefers state capitalism. It owns and operates a big grocery store, the West Side Market. Typical of government, it's open only four days a week, and two of those days it closes at 4 p.m. The city doesn't maintain the market very well. Despite those cost savings, the city manages to lose money running the market. It also loses money running golf courses -- $400,000 last year."
Could this be what happened to Detroit? It certainly sounds like what's going on here with our state-run liquor stores!
Tuesday, March 16, 2010
This Just In: "Wall Street" Movie Sequel--An Omen of U.S. Collapse?
From Fox Business news. We've gone from "Greed is Good" to "Greed Never Left."
"Wake up Wall Street: You're getting the biggest market timing signal of 2010!
Seriously, why now? Why after 23 years, did Stone decide to update the message of his famous 1987 movie. Great question: The interviewer was Michael Lewis, former Salomon trader, author of "Liar's Poker," a guy who understands Wall Street's soul.
Stone's answer is in "Greed Never Left," Lewis' Vanity Fair review of Stone's new movie, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Stone had to think about it: "Why did I go back?" Why? "Because it's important. It's the collapse of capitalism and the collapse of our society. It is. Our way of life is going to change."
The collapse of capitalism? Not just a stock market crash. He's predicting the "collapse of our society." Worse, Stone's predicting: "Our way of life is going to change." Is this really a market-timing signal? Hey, it was in 1987. Will history repeat? The odds say yes.
Remember Stone's predictions when you see the sequel, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Lewis says Stone's goal is not just to entertain you for a couple hours then send you back home to continue denying everything Wall Street's fat-cat bankers, the real Gordon Gekkos, are doing every day to destroy capitalism, destroy democracy, destroy your retirement portfolio.
No, Oliver Stone, the All-American filmmaker of "Born on the Fourth of July," "Platoon," "JFK," "Nixon," "W" and "World Trade Center" has a message ... wake up America, you're sleepwalking."
"Wake up Wall Street: You're getting the biggest market timing signal of 2010!
Seriously, why now? Why after 23 years, did Stone decide to update the message of his famous 1987 movie. Great question: The interviewer was Michael Lewis, former Salomon trader, author of "Liar's Poker," a guy who understands Wall Street's soul.
Stone's answer is in "Greed Never Left," Lewis' Vanity Fair review of Stone's new movie, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Stone had to think about it: "Why did I go back?" Why? "Because it's important. It's the collapse of capitalism and the collapse of our society. It is. Our way of life is going to change."
The collapse of capitalism? Not just a stock market crash. He's predicting the "collapse of our society." Worse, Stone's predicting: "Our way of life is going to change." Is this really a market-timing signal? Hey, it was in 1987. Will history repeat? The odds say yes.
Remember Stone's predictions when you see the sequel, "Wall Street: Money Never Sleeps." Lewis says Stone's goal is not just to entertain you for a couple hours then send you back home to continue denying everything Wall Street's fat-cat bankers, the real Gordon Gekkos, are doing every day to destroy capitalism, destroy democracy, destroy your retirement portfolio.
No, Oliver Stone, the All-American filmmaker of "Born on the Fourth of July," "Platoon," "JFK," "Nixon," "W" and "World Trade Center" has a message ... wake up America, you're sleepwalking."
This Just In: More Retirement Disasters
From Martin Weiss Research. An article showing how truly dismal retirement savings rates are. Well, when you don't have a job, and/or have taken withdrawals from retirement accounts just to stay alive, what else can you expect?
Of note: Uncle Sam Might Want Your Social Security Checks!
As reported in a recent Wall Street Journal, a small part of the 2008 Farm Bill will now allow Uncle Sam to withhold Social Security funds from anyone with outstanding debts, even if those debts are ten years or older.
This new legislation applies to a broad category of outstanding debts, including farm and small business loans, and a similar statute of limitations was lifted on student loans in 1997. In other words, only income taxes continue to remain covered by a decade-long limitation.
Now, don’t get me wrong. If you borrowed money from the government, I think you should be held accountable until it’s repaid. Otherwise, the rest of us are simply footing the bill for your irresponsibility.
And I absolutely don’t think you should receive another dime out of any program until those debts are repaid! If anything, the fact that Treasury can only withhold 15 percent of benefits (down to a minimum monthly payment of $750 in all instances except owed income taxes) makes little sense.
But there are three important things I’d like to note about this new legislative twist …
First, the fact that Washington is coming after this source of revenue so aggressively demonstrates just how desperate they are to get more money into Social Security’s coffers.
Second, regardless of morality, it’s going to mean more retirement pain for many Americans.
Third, this is the government we’re talking about, which means there’s big potential for abuse and mistakes surrounding the new legislation.
In fact, the Wall Street Journal article goes on to talk about a couple examples of the “sometimes-Kafkaesque process debtors can face when challenging the validity of a claim.” It’s truly scary stuff!
There goes Social Security--and they didn't even have to shut the program down! This is more proof that what the government gives you, they can also take away. It's bad enough the IRS can get ahold of any money you have to your name, but now Social Security? I wonder if it gets reported on your credit record (the IRS doesn't unless it's a lien).
Of note: Uncle Sam Might Want Your Social Security Checks!
As reported in a recent Wall Street Journal, a small part of the 2008 Farm Bill will now allow Uncle Sam to withhold Social Security funds from anyone with outstanding debts, even if those debts are ten years or older.
This new legislation applies to a broad category of outstanding debts, including farm and small business loans, and a similar statute of limitations was lifted on student loans in 1997. In other words, only income taxes continue to remain covered by a decade-long limitation.
Now, don’t get me wrong. If you borrowed money from the government, I think you should be held accountable until it’s repaid. Otherwise, the rest of us are simply footing the bill for your irresponsibility.
And I absolutely don’t think you should receive another dime out of any program until those debts are repaid! If anything, the fact that Treasury can only withhold 15 percent of benefits (down to a minimum monthly payment of $750 in all instances except owed income taxes) makes little sense.
But there are three important things I’d like to note about this new legislative twist …
First, the fact that Washington is coming after this source of revenue so aggressively demonstrates just how desperate they are to get more money into Social Security’s coffers.
Second, regardless of morality, it’s going to mean more retirement pain for many Americans.
Third, this is the government we’re talking about, which means there’s big potential for abuse and mistakes surrounding the new legislation.
In fact, the Wall Street Journal article goes on to talk about a couple examples of the “sometimes-Kafkaesque process debtors can face when challenging the validity of a claim.” It’s truly scary stuff!
There goes Social Security--and they didn't even have to shut the program down! This is more proof that what the government gives you, they can also take away. It's bad enough the IRS can get ahold of any money you have to your name, but now Social Security? I wonder if it gets reported on your credit record (the IRS doesn't unless it's a lien).
Saturday, March 13, 2010
Your Tax Bill Would Need to Double to Close the Deficit
From WalletPop. We're already paying upwards of 40% in combined state/federal taxes--I TOLD YOU we're being Europeanized.
"In order to close the 2010 deficit, joint filers would need to pay at tax rates of 24.3% to 84.9% versus the current 10% to 35% we actually pay.
"Assuming deductions, exemptions and credits were kept the same as they are now, Congress would have to raise each personal income tax rate by a factor of almost two and a half to erase the 2010 deficit," William Ahern, Tax Foundation director of policy and communications, wrote in his report titled, "Can Income Tax Hikes Close the Deficit."What would this type of hike actually mean for your pocketbook? Average tax payments would have to rise by almost $10,000 in 2010 to erase the deficit. For example the average tax filer making between $75,000 and $100,000 would pay $11,164 more in taxes."
What I wrote about Europeanification back in 2008: "Welcome to Fair Tax Lite. This same sort of thing will happen if the Fair Tax plan gets enacted, only it will cover everything, not just food and energy.
We are making up for the severe loss of state revenues (property taxes from foreclosed homes) through increased taxes on increased prices paid for food and energy items. This is a small part of what the Fair Tax plan would bring us, and it would play right into the hands of those wishing to join Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.--the Europeanification and metricizing of this continent, the Euro-ing of the dollar to the Amero, and the firm latch to currency values for any kind of discounts—see my previous article on the death of the coupon.
The whole time I lived in Italy, I never saw a coupon or sales flyer from any store. Through friends and neighbors, people got the word about where to shop and what to do for lower prices. Mass mailings and newspaper circulars just don’t exist there, and this is probably the same for all of Europe. Guess what’s NOT coming from a store near you in the future?
What we can do about it: say goodbye to all that wretched excess that some will say made America great, and go lay in a store of flour, rice, beans, and powdered milk while you can still find them. Plant and use a Victory garden to fill out the rest, and the victory will be over food inflation. Find other sources or learn to live without those things that will go or already have gone into hyperinflation mode—plenty of people live just fine not consuming meat, dairy, eggs, wheat flour, etc., due to food allergies or personal preference, and so can you.
Learn to live without a car, or at least cut back car use drastically. Reroute your shopping and living so you’re either closer to work, or closer to shopping if you have good public transportation to work (since you won’t be carrying much to work, riding the bus or train there would work out better—lugging bags of groceries with a couple of small children in tow, and/or a sick cat to the vet just doesn’t fly on a public bus or train).
Take a look at what the Amish are doing: using gas- and battery-powered lamps for light, employing copious use of generators, hydraulics, and solar power (through skylights, solar tubes, and panels to recharge batteries), using ice to cool, feeding leftovers to a family pig or two (for slaughter, of course), subsistence farming and gardening, outsourcing electricity-consuming things like bookkeeping and computer needs, outsourcing any transportation other than horse and buggy, and relying on lots and lots of manual labor to get seemingly ordinary things done—you might say less mechanization and more perspiration.
For a better idea of how this “techno-less” life would be, here’s a book recommendation: Better Off—Flipping the Switch on Technology. It tells of one young man’s adventure as he transitioned from the high-tech, convenience-laden world of today to a simpler, more meaningful way of life. Along the way, he discovered that “labor-saving devices” don’t really save that much labor or time.
These will be the "good ol' days" as far as prices go. If and when you see prices dip, stock up...same goes for stocks and mutual funds as well as food and energy. Your retirement account will need all the help it can get now.
If you ever needed an ego boost or just wanted some positive recognition for being frugal, it’s coming. If you ever wanted an excuse for frugal living, this is it. If you aren’t frugal yet, now is the time—better late than never. This is why we frugalites hoard, and hoard money in particular: to take advantage of the soon-to-be-incredibly-marked-down excess at rock-bottom prices. We're bottom-fishers.
The bottom rung of Third World countries are always going to be hurting for food, redundant retailers are always going to be hurting to stay in business, and thieves are always going to be hurting for money, but if you concentrate on your own personal economy (stay out of debt and pay all bills on time and in cash), teach a man how to fish (as it were), practice your own “fishing”, and get and stay prepared, this too shall blow over in time. Who knows? You may even come out on the other side a better person--a better, wealthier, and wiser person as you enter the next leg of the economic cycle.
Lather, rinse, repeat--this will be happening all over again in about 30 more years. Make sure your children and grandchildren remember and learn from this experience."
More on Europeanification: "If gas and food prices get high enough, we'll cut out the retail middleman altogether and either grow/hunt/fish our own food, or go to the large outdoor farmer's markets that will have sprouted up in place of the defunct grocery stores (or at least in their parking lots). Like in Europe, whatever manufactured foods that can be sold over a counter without electricity will be there too, like bagged pasta, rice, and beans, as well as loose bulk (but you'll likely be buying it in kilos and not pounds). Selection by brand will have largely gone out the window, as the vendor will have likely bought the cheapest type of bulk food for resale—the only real selection left will be price and which vendor to buy from. "Stores" will become luxury places to shop, featuring refrigerated and high-end gourmet items, and no discounts available. Just think—-bread, meat, eggs, milk, and cheese will be considered high-end due to price.
The future of most food sales (and many other things) will actually be a huge step backwards, technologically speaking. Many middlemen and structures will be cut out of the buy-sell process, and the coupon won't be the only thing dying. Our only discount will be the value of the dollar--the higher the value, the more we can buy.
For FUTURE reference (literally), a kilo is 2.2 lbs., and a pound is roughly half a kilo. You want a pound of something? Just ask for a half-kilo. We WILL get here one day, and you might want to prepare your kids and grandkids for this. We would've gotten here a lot sooner, but America is stubborn about adopting the metric system (and getting rid of the penny). As soon as the NAFTA superhighway goes through, and Mexico, America, and Canada become one big country, then we will be forced into going metric for simplification purposes, because we're the ONLY country not on the metric system now. Our new currency will be the Amero, and dollar-to-Amero conversions will also yield "discounts" when the Amero value is up, but only until we completely convert to the new currency. Then, we will be completely reliant on global currency rates for any "discounts" after that. Welcome to the REAL world! Europe's been doing it for years now with the Euro.
There will be no coupons, rebates, electronic discount cards, or websites to save us then—-those will be a pleasant memory, along with tax refunds and newspapers."
I tried to warn you two years ago. It's coming--maybe not all in one piece, or maybe not tomorrow, but it's coming. The plans have been in an Oval Office desk drawer for years, just WAITING for the right opportunity.
"In order to close the 2010 deficit, joint filers would need to pay at tax rates of 24.3% to 84.9% versus the current 10% to 35% we actually pay.
"Assuming deductions, exemptions and credits were kept the same as they are now, Congress would have to raise each personal income tax rate by a factor of almost two and a half to erase the 2010 deficit," William Ahern, Tax Foundation director of policy and communications, wrote in his report titled, "Can Income Tax Hikes Close the Deficit."What would this type of hike actually mean for your pocketbook? Average tax payments would have to rise by almost $10,000 in 2010 to erase the deficit. For example the average tax filer making between $75,000 and $100,000 would pay $11,164 more in taxes."
What I wrote about Europeanification back in 2008: "Welcome to Fair Tax Lite. This same sort of thing will happen if the Fair Tax plan gets enacted, only it will cover everything, not just food and energy.
We are making up for the severe loss of state revenues (property taxes from foreclosed homes) through increased taxes on increased prices paid for food and energy items. This is a small part of what the Fair Tax plan would bring us, and it would play right into the hands of those wishing to join Canada, Mexico, and the U.S.--the Europeanification and metricizing of this continent, the Euro-ing of the dollar to the Amero, and the firm latch to currency values for any kind of discounts—see my previous article on the death of the coupon.
The whole time I lived in Italy, I never saw a coupon or sales flyer from any store. Through friends and neighbors, people got the word about where to shop and what to do for lower prices. Mass mailings and newspaper circulars just don’t exist there, and this is probably the same for all of Europe. Guess what’s NOT coming from a store near you in the future?
What we can do about it: say goodbye to all that wretched excess that some will say made America great, and go lay in a store of flour, rice, beans, and powdered milk while you can still find them. Plant and use a Victory garden to fill out the rest, and the victory will be over food inflation. Find other sources or learn to live without those things that will go or already have gone into hyperinflation mode—plenty of people live just fine not consuming meat, dairy, eggs, wheat flour, etc., due to food allergies or personal preference, and so can you.
Learn to live without a car, or at least cut back car use drastically. Reroute your shopping and living so you’re either closer to work, or closer to shopping if you have good public transportation to work (since you won’t be carrying much to work, riding the bus or train there would work out better—lugging bags of groceries with a couple of small children in tow, and/or a sick cat to the vet just doesn’t fly on a public bus or train).
Take a look at what the Amish are doing: using gas- and battery-powered lamps for light, employing copious use of generators, hydraulics, and solar power (through skylights, solar tubes, and panels to recharge batteries), using ice to cool, feeding leftovers to a family pig or two (for slaughter, of course), subsistence farming and gardening, outsourcing electricity-consuming things like bookkeeping and computer needs, outsourcing any transportation other than horse and buggy, and relying on lots and lots of manual labor to get seemingly ordinary things done—you might say less mechanization and more perspiration.
For a better idea of how this “techno-less” life would be, here’s a book recommendation: Better Off—Flipping the Switch on Technology. It tells of one young man’s adventure as he transitioned from the high-tech, convenience-laden world of today to a simpler, more meaningful way of life. Along the way, he discovered that “labor-saving devices” don’t really save that much labor or time.
These will be the "good ol' days" as far as prices go. If and when you see prices dip, stock up...same goes for stocks and mutual funds as well as food and energy. Your retirement account will need all the help it can get now.
If you ever needed an ego boost or just wanted some positive recognition for being frugal, it’s coming. If you ever wanted an excuse for frugal living, this is it. If you aren’t frugal yet, now is the time—better late than never. This is why we frugalites hoard, and hoard money in particular: to take advantage of the soon-to-be-incredibly-marked-down excess at rock-bottom prices. We're bottom-fishers.
The bottom rung of Third World countries are always going to be hurting for food, redundant retailers are always going to be hurting to stay in business, and thieves are always going to be hurting for money, but if you concentrate on your own personal economy (stay out of debt and pay all bills on time and in cash), teach a man how to fish (as it were), practice your own “fishing”, and get and stay prepared, this too shall blow over in time. Who knows? You may even come out on the other side a better person--a better, wealthier, and wiser person as you enter the next leg of the economic cycle.
Lather, rinse, repeat--this will be happening all over again in about 30 more years. Make sure your children and grandchildren remember and learn from this experience."
More on Europeanification: "If gas and food prices get high enough, we'll cut out the retail middleman altogether and either grow/hunt/fish our own food, or go to the large outdoor farmer's markets that will have sprouted up in place of the defunct grocery stores (or at least in their parking lots). Like in Europe, whatever manufactured foods that can be sold over a counter without electricity will be there too, like bagged pasta, rice, and beans, as well as loose bulk (but you'll likely be buying it in kilos and not pounds). Selection by brand will have largely gone out the window, as the vendor will have likely bought the cheapest type of bulk food for resale—the only real selection left will be price and which vendor to buy from. "Stores" will become luxury places to shop, featuring refrigerated and high-end gourmet items, and no discounts available. Just think—-bread, meat, eggs, milk, and cheese will be considered high-end due to price.
The future of most food sales (and many other things) will actually be a huge step backwards, technologically speaking. Many middlemen and structures will be cut out of the buy-sell process, and the coupon won't be the only thing dying. Our only discount will be the value of the dollar--the higher the value, the more we can buy.
For FUTURE reference (literally), a kilo is 2.2 lbs., and a pound is roughly half a kilo. You want a pound of something? Just ask for a half-kilo. We WILL get here one day, and you might want to prepare your kids and grandkids for this. We would've gotten here a lot sooner, but America is stubborn about adopting the metric system (and getting rid of the penny). As soon as the NAFTA superhighway goes through, and Mexico, America, and Canada become one big country, then we will be forced into going metric for simplification purposes, because we're the ONLY country not on the metric system now. Our new currency will be the Amero, and dollar-to-Amero conversions will also yield "discounts" when the Amero value is up, but only until we completely convert to the new currency. Then, we will be completely reliant on global currency rates for any "discounts" after that. Welcome to the REAL world! Europe's been doing it for years now with the Euro.
There will be no coupons, rebates, electronic discount cards, or websites to save us then—-those will be a pleasant memory, along with tax refunds and newspapers."
I tried to warn you two years ago. It's coming--maybe not all in one piece, or maybe not tomorrow, but it's coming. The plans have been in an Oval Office desk drawer for years, just WAITING for the right opportunity.
Tuesday, March 09, 2010
A Book to...Well...Laugh At
Zero Cost Living.
It recommends to get solar panels to eliminate your energy bills. The one poor customer review (and she admits she's "poor") says to save money on this book, get it in Kindle format, then download it to your computer. Someone commented to her review.
I'm surprised she didn't get a Smart phone involved!
The book itself is frugal living from a man's point of view--in other words, it isn't frugal living as you and I know. It's the techy throw-money-at-a-problem-to-make-it-go-away liberal male version of frugal living. Men like Gary the Dollar Stretcher have it right.
I'm sure there may be some gems among the dirt, but I'm certainly not going to shell out for this one unless I see it in a thrift store or yard sale, and I'm certainly not going to buy a Kindle to "read" it.
It slays me that some people just don't realize that they have too much. A Kindle to read books when you're broke? Sheesh!! What next--an Ipod to listen to music you can get for free from a radio?
Excuse me while I laugh all the way to the bank. :D
It recommends to get solar panels to eliminate your energy bills. The one poor customer review (and she admits she's "poor") says to save money on this book, get it in Kindle format, then download it to your computer. Someone commented to her review.
I'm surprised she didn't get a Smart phone involved!
The book itself is frugal living from a man's point of view--in other words, it isn't frugal living as you and I know. It's the techy throw-money-at-a-problem-to-make-it-go-away liberal male version of frugal living. Men like Gary the Dollar Stretcher have it right.
I'm sure there may be some gems among the dirt, but I'm certainly not going to shell out for this one unless I see it in a thrift store or yard sale, and I'm certainly not going to buy a Kindle to "read" it.
It slays me that some people just don't realize that they have too much. A Kindle to read books when you're broke? Sheesh!! What next--an Ipod to listen to music you can get for free from a radio?
Excuse me while I laugh all the way to the bank. :D
This Just In: Jamming the Accelerator (No Toyotas Involved Here)
From Prudent Bear. Another hot potato for you---just like Bush stacked the Supreme Court to his liking, Obama now gets to stack the Fed with "his guys."
"With the retirement of Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, President Obama now has the right to appoint three Fed governors. Together with the reappointed Bernanke and Daniel Tarullo, whom he appointed last year, that will create a Fed Board of Governors on which five of the seven members are extreme soft-money advocates, and make it almost impossible, even in a crisis situation, for the 12-member Federal Open Market Committee to pull together a majority for anything but the most modest increase in interest rates. Essentially, the throttle will have been jammed open until at least January 2013. It’s worth examining the implications of this for the U.S. and global economies."
IMHO, collapse is imminent--it's just going to take time to get here. Got food? Got seeds? Got no debt? Got an income of some sort? Good.
Got a fan? Put a tarp down--it's soon going to get shit everywhere.
"With the retirement of Fed Vice Chairman Donald Kohn, President Obama now has the right to appoint three Fed governors. Together with the reappointed Bernanke and Daniel Tarullo, whom he appointed last year, that will create a Fed Board of Governors on which five of the seven members are extreme soft-money advocates, and make it almost impossible, even in a crisis situation, for the 12-member Federal Open Market Committee to pull together a majority for anything but the most modest increase in interest rates. Essentially, the throttle will have been jammed open until at least January 2013. It’s worth examining the implications of this for the U.S. and global economies."
IMHO, collapse is imminent--it's just going to take time to get here. Got food? Got seeds? Got no debt? Got an income of some sort? Good.
Got a fan? Put a tarp down--it's soon going to get shit everywhere.
Monday, March 08, 2010
Taking the Joy Right Out of Cooking...and Just At the Right Time!
Green Cooking: Reducing Your Carbon Footprint in the Kitchen.
Julia Child must be spinning in her grave.
"Green" cooking isn't just about local eating, local food sources, or vegetarianism--it also includes "green" methods, "green" cookware, "green" appliances, "green" ingredients...just enough obstacles to turn you off cooking and baking forever.
I guess green to the author means going to restaurants--SHE'S being green, but the restaurant isn't (undoubtedly). The only REAL green method is to never have been born, or at the very least, be hooked up to an IV bag or feeding tube (no carbon-emitting appliances, cookware, ingredients, or methods, unless you count the manufacture).
It's no wonder Gen Y, Z, AA, and BB (the millenials) hang out in the drive-thru---it's probably the Al Gore thing to do!
MY version of "green" cooking (or standard operating procedure around here) is to NOT cook unless it's absolutely necessary. Needless to say, we eat a lot of raw vegetables in salads. Also, what cooking I do get done is in large batches, so I don't have to do it often, and I schedule my cooking/baking to be done during off-peak hours. Soon, I'm going to be starting a garden, and will cut down my refrigerator use by letting the yard store my foods (we have next to no leftovers around here--I've finally learned to cook/bake for four: me, Hubby, and my breakfast/his lunch the next day).
Julia Child must be spinning in her grave.
"Green" cooking isn't just about local eating, local food sources, or vegetarianism--it also includes "green" methods, "green" cookware, "green" appliances, "green" ingredients...just enough obstacles to turn you off cooking and baking forever.
I guess green to the author means going to restaurants--SHE'S being green, but the restaurant isn't (undoubtedly). The only REAL green method is to never have been born, or at the very least, be hooked up to an IV bag or feeding tube (no carbon-emitting appliances, cookware, ingredients, or methods, unless you count the manufacture).
It's no wonder Gen Y, Z, AA, and BB (the millenials) hang out in the drive-thru---it's probably the Al Gore thing to do!
MY version of "green" cooking (or standard operating procedure around here) is to NOT cook unless it's absolutely necessary. Needless to say, we eat a lot of raw vegetables in salads. Also, what cooking I do get done is in large batches, so I don't have to do it often, and I schedule my cooking/baking to be done during off-peak hours. Soon, I'm going to be starting a garden, and will cut down my refrigerator use by letting the yard store my foods (we have next to no leftovers around here--I've finally learned to cook/bake for four: me, Hubby, and my breakfast/his lunch the next day).
Saturday, March 06, 2010
This Just In: Save Like the Rich and Famous
From MSN Money.
"In a down economy, how are the wealthy protecting their money? Let the same advice they are receiving guide you through these hazardous financial times."
They didn't buy gold--instead, they're going to cash and cash equivalents (bank CDs, laddered bonds, etc.). There's really no other place to go with your money--gold is too high, stocks and bonds are either too high or too low, depending on your objective, commodities are going sideways, and bonds will suffer from future inflation (all except for TIPS, which won't pay very much), so it's either cash/cash equivalents, or antiques/art/wines/houses/other stuff that will appreciate with time.
Another option is to invest for dividends--when the price of a stock is low, the dividend is usually high, so you get paid to hold. As the stock price appreciates, the dividend lowers, and you make money on the price appreciation rather than the dividend. In this case, now would be the time to load up on cheap, high-quality, high-dividend stocks (for the long-term investment).
"In a down economy, how are the wealthy protecting their money? Let the same advice they are receiving guide you through these hazardous financial times."
They didn't buy gold--instead, they're going to cash and cash equivalents (bank CDs, laddered bonds, etc.). There's really no other place to go with your money--gold is too high, stocks and bonds are either too high or too low, depending on your objective, commodities are going sideways, and bonds will suffer from future inflation (all except for TIPS, which won't pay very much), so it's either cash/cash equivalents, or antiques/art/wines/houses/other stuff that will appreciate with time.
Another option is to invest for dividends--when the price of a stock is low, the dividend is usually high, so you get paid to hold. As the stock price appreciates, the dividend lowers, and you make money on the price appreciation rather than the dividend. In this case, now would be the time to load up on cheap, high-quality, high-dividend stocks (for the long-term investment).
Friday, March 05, 2010
Doing My Part to Help Keep Wheat Prices Low
I'm also doing my part to keep wheat flour prices low..by not using it, or any flour at all.
You may have heard of "flourless" recipes. They rely on nuts to replace the grains, but I'm allergic to all nuts and seeds. I came across this little ditty that uses no flour and no nuts:
Lentil Rice Crepes
With origins in India, it uses soaked lentils and rice--pick your color for both. I'm planning on playing with this recipe to see if I can expand its scope to include other beans and split yellow peas, along with wild rice and other grains besides rice. I'm also planning to see if I can expand the recipe's scope to include other baked goods beyond crepes.
If this would be a means to start a bread recipe, or cakes, or muffins, then I'm in business--I already have 25 lb. bags of stuff in the pantry, and buying "special" flours (gluten-free) just for baking is getting old and expensive--to make something GF, it takes a combination of flours.
Word has it that these rice crepes are sturdy enough to use as flatbread (re: tortillas to me), but I haven't made them yet, so I don't know personally. It sounds like a good project for this weekend.
Got lentils? Got rice? Join me. You can leave out the ginger, or add powdered ginger instead (I'm going to), and as for the ghee or grapeseed oil, you can just spray your pan--this recipe was originally written for people with all sorts of food allergies, and people who need to avoid all sorts of foods (like autistics, ADHDers, Celiacs, etc.).
This method of cooking/baking actually makes better sense than buying and storing large quantities of flour, because flour goes rancid after a certain amount of time (unless you make bakery-quantities of stuff). Lentils and rice don't go bad as far as I know, unless something gets in them (like mice, bugs, dirt, etc.). The flour I would have to buy is worse--it has to be FROZEN, because of the type of grains it's made from. I'd have to buy a whole separate freezer just for my flour, and a whole separate refrigerator just to store the opened stuff.
If I can just soak some legumes and grain overnight, maybe add a few more ingredients, then whip it up in the morning, dump it in a pan, then toss it in the oven (or on a burner), this would be cool--convenience AND frugality in one...not to mention much-improved nutrition!
You may have heard of "flourless" recipes. They rely on nuts to replace the grains, but I'm allergic to all nuts and seeds. I came across this little ditty that uses no flour and no nuts:
Lentil Rice Crepes
With origins in India, it uses soaked lentils and rice--pick your color for both. I'm planning on playing with this recipe to see if I can expand its scope to include other beans and split yellow peas, along with wild rice and other grains besides rice. I'm also planning to see if I can expand the recipe's scope to include other baked goods beyond crepes.
If this would be a means to start a bread recipe, or cakes, or muffins, then I'm in business--I already have 25 lb. bags of stuff in the pantry, and buying "special" flours (gluten-free) just for baking is getting old and expensive--to make something GF, it takes a combination of flours.
Word has it that these rice crepes are sturdy enough to use as flatbread (re: tortillas to me), but I haven't made them yet, so I don't know personally. It sounds like a good project for this weekend.
Got lentils? Got rice? Join me. You can leave out the ginger, or add powdered ginger instead (I'm going to), and as for the ghee or grapeseed oil, you can just spray your pan--this recipe was originally written for people with all sorts of food allergies, and people who need to avoid all sorts of foods (like autistics, ADHDers, Celiacs, etc.).
This method of cooking/baking actually makes better sense than buying and storing large quantities of flour, because flour goes rancid after a certain amount of time (unless you make bakery-quantities of stuff). Lentils and rice don't go bad as far as I know, unless something gets in them (like mice, bugs, dirt, etc.). The flour I would have to buy is worse--it has to be FROZEN, because of the type of grains it's made from. I'd have to buy a whole separate freezer just for my flour, and a whole separate refrigerator just to store the opened stuff.
If I can just soak some legumes and grain overnight, maybe add a few more ingredients, then whip it up in the morning, dump it in a pan, then toss it in the oven (or on a burner), this would be cool--convenience AND frugality in one...not to mention much-improved nutrition!
Thursday, March 04, 2010
The Upside of Inflation
From Esquire Online.
"Some are obvious — the guy with a bunch of gold bars is already cashing in via those "send us your gold in an envelope" commercials that should be interpreted as a precursor to the apocalypse. But other winners include those who have anything to sell that can be priced in U.S. dollars. Grocery stores, for example, will have pricing power they haven't experienced in years. And our $15-an-hour worker will likely command meaningful wage increases for the first time since the early '80s (shame that his groceries will cost more, but still...), and commodities from land to sugar to copper will command higher prices. Producers of American goods and the American hospitality industry should see demand grow."
As for holding items that appreciate in value, might I recommend artwork, antiques, stamps, wine, or just about anything else besides gold? The time to buy gold was back in 2001, and the only hedge against inflation it provides is to your PORTFOLIO.
"Some are obvious — the guy with a bunch of gold bars is already cashing in via those "send us your gold in an envelope" commercials that should be interpreted as a precursor to the apocalypse. But other winners include those who have anything to sell that can be priced in U.S. dollars. Grocery stores, for example, will have pricing power they haven't experienced in years. And our $15-an-hour worker will likely command meaningful wage increases for the first time since the early '80s (shame that his groceries will cost more, but still...), and commodities from land to sugar to copper will command higher prices. Producers of American goods and the American hospitality industry should see demand grow."
As for holding items that appreciate in value, might I recommend artwork, antiques, stamps, wine, or just about anything else besides gold? The time to buy gold was back in 2001, and the only hedge against inflation it provides is to your PORTFOLIO.
UPDATE to an Update: The Return of ONQI Food Scores--They've Gone Commercial
Original article links here.
This is how I formulated the Wenchypoo Magic 8 grocery cheat sheet a few years ago. Now, the ONQI scores, now called NuVal, have a website, and are actually in some grocery stores.
If you go to the the top of the page, click "scores", then go to the left side of the page, you can click on a list of food categories to get their ONQI/NuVal score. The higher the score, the more nutritious the food or food product--a score of 100 is best.
This is how I formulated the Wenchypoo Magic 8 grocery cheat sheet a few years ago. Now, the ONQI scores, now called NuVal, have a website, and are actually in some grocery stores.
If you go to the the top of the page, click "scores", then go to the left side of the page, you can click on a list of food categories to get their ONQI/NuVal score. The higher the score, the more nutritious the food or food product--a score of 100 is best.
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
This Just In: The Diminished Incentive to Save
From Prudent Bear.
"If savers are not rewarded for saving, are even penalized for it, then it is not surprising that they don't save. The U.S. savings rate declined from its already mediocre rate of 8% from the middle 1990s, falling perilously close to zero in 2005-07. It rebounded in the 2008-09 recession, as consumption habits finally changed, but there are now strong signs that the dolce vita of Caribbean holidays and long weekends at casinos is recapturing those Americans who still have jobs – only the McMansion and Hummer fetishes seem to have diminished. The savings rate has fallen below 5% and appears likely to decline further."
...
"The principal requirement for successful economic development is the development of a middle class with adequate savings. You can see this in 18th century Britain, which developed the Industrial Revolution primarily because it had relatively high living standards and consequently high savings. You can see it in the recent development of the countries of former Yugoslavia, the most successful of which has been Slovenia, where savings could grow in Austrian bank accounts, essentially tax-free. Conversely Serbia, far from Austria and subject to hyperinflation, and Bosnia, where savings were expropriated by Serbia in 1991 and never replaced, have been much less successful. Croatia and Macedonia, whose middle class savings were expropriated in 1991, but were replaced by the local governments through bond schemes in 1995 and 2000, have enjoyed at least modestly increasing affluence, far more so than the luckless Bosnia, relatively affluent in 1985 and impoverished today."
...
"Von Havenstein was known as the "Money General" – a title that could well have been applied by his admirers to Bernanke as the 2009 market and banking recovery took hold. Our own von Havenstein has presided over a policy that has hugely damaged the savings base of his society, and the middle class virtues of prudence and thrift that in a high-savings culture produce rapid economic growth. Whether his policies will in the long run produce only anemic growth, persistent high unemployment and a gradual decline in living standards, or like von Havenstein's something immeasurably worse, only time will tell."
"If savers are not rewarded for saving, are even penalized for it, then it is not surprising that they don't save. The U.S. savings rate declined from its already mediocre rate of 8% from the middle 1990s, falling perilously close to zero in 2005-07. It rebounded in the 2008-09 recession, as consumption habits finally changed, but there are now strong signs that the dolce vita of Caribbean holidays and long weekends at casinos is recapturing those Americans who still have jobs – only the McMansion and Hummer fetishes seem to have diminished. The savings rate has fallen below 5% and appears likely to decline further."
...
"The principal requirement for successful economic development is the development of a middle class with adequate savings. You can see this in 18th century Britain, which developed the Industrial Revolution primarily because it had relatively high living standards and consequently high savings. You can see it in the recent development of the countries of former Yugoslavia, the most successful of which has been Slovenia, where savings could grow in Austrian bank accounts, essentially tax-free. Conversely Serbia, far from Austria and subject to hyperinflation, and Bosnia, where savings were expropriated by Serbia in 1991 and never replaced, have been much less successful. Croatia and Macedonia, whose middle class savings were expropriated in 1991, but were replaced by the local governments through bond schemes in 1995 and 2000, have enjoyed at least modestly increasing affluence, far more so than the luckless Bosnia, relatively affluent in 1985 and impoverished today."
...
"Von Havenstein was known as the "Money General" – a title that could well have been applied by his admirers to Bernanke as the 2009 market and banking recovery took hold. Our own von Havenstein has presided over a policy that has hugely damaged the savings base of his society, and the middle class virtues of prudence and thrift that in a high-savings culture produce rapid economic growth. Whether his policies will in the long run produce only anemic growth, persistent high unemployment and a gradual decline in living standards, or like von Havenstein's something immeasurably worse, only time will tell."
This Just In: Uninsured? Where to Get Care
From MSN Money.
"Depending on your medical needs, you have several levels of health care available, from relatively inexpensive retail clinics to lifesaving, but expensive, emergency rooms."
...
"CVS/pharmacy stores, for example, have 500 MinuteClinics in 25 states. They're all open seven days a week and have weekday evening hours. The average cost of treatment is $62, said Andrew Sussman, the president of MinuteClinic, based in Minneapolis."
"Depending on your medical needs, you have several levels of health care available, from relatively inexpensive retail clinics to lifesaving, but expensive, emergency rooms."
...
"CVS/pharmacy stores, for example, have 500 MinuteClinics in 25 states. They're all open seven days a week and have weekday evening hours. The average cost of treatment is $62, said Andrew Sussman, the president of MinuteClinic, based in Minneapolis."
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