Monday
Tax Day.
The day of Fear. The day the Federal Government through the Department of the Treasury via the IRS wants to instill the fear of man into you. File your tax returns or else.
I guess it's the whole fear thing that they try to convey that turns me off.
So here we go again with rising fuel prices. I mean, some parts of the country are already paying over $4 per gallon, it was $3.67 at a station I saw on the way to work today. They have you by the throat. You wanna drive, you will pay the price and there isn't a thing you can do about it. I have no choice. Well, I suppose there are always choices, but getting up at 3:30 am to ride a bike to work doesn't sound like much fun, neither does taking a bus that would take 2 to 2-1/2 hours to get to work. How high is it going to go, that is my question.
Here's some humor: the House has passed Ryan's bill to cut the deficit. Humorous because everyone knows it's not going to pass through the Senate and even if it did - Obama would most certainly veto it. I don't know about anyone else, but I would like to see a plan that, since it's going to take 10 years to do it - would call ALL of the deficit out, regardless of what that means cutting out of the FAR-too-long reach span of the Federal government.
The interest payments on our debt alone is staggering when put into visible numbers (versus "them" just talking about it in generic fashion). One thing I hope remains true: that the pressure is on from the American people - a lot of us anyway - to get this mindset that they can just spend as much as they want and it doesn't matter what we think - out of Washington. Good luck with Obama, right? lol. Still, there IS pressure. They can't just ignore the entire caucus anymore. Some people may hate the Tea Party, but that grouping of individuals has done more to force the issue of spending than any other grouping in modern history.
Just sit back and take a totally neutral look at the Federal government, the money it gets in on a yearly basis and the money it spends, including the interest to pay for the loans that we continually seem to be acquiring to keep the government's doors open. If you could get past party line and emotion in such a view, then perhaps you might start to see that regardless of who got us here and into this mess - something HAS to be done about it and now, not 10 years from now, now.
This mentality of living in debt and that it's somehow acceptable needs to go out the window. Statistics show that many Americans are paying down their personal debt - if they can - getting out of credit card debt and attempting to even save more.
I upped my 401k deductions to 5% so that I could realize the full benefits given by my company in their match. Dollar for dollar on the first 2 percent and 50 cents on the dollar on the 3 beyond that. It's free money and I ain't gettin' no pension. My only trepidation is the doomsayers forecasting that later this year, the stock market is going to take a dive again and so are your stocks.
Ahhh, well, I am going to probably dump all of my money into the safest venue I can find in the next month or so. I did that last time and I didn't lost near as much, percentage wise, as several people I know who said they lost almost everything. BUT, the same people came back a year later and said they had gotten it all back!
Regardless, work day approaches and there is some driving to do.
G'day.
ben
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