Posted: June 14th, 2011 | Author: Joe | Filed under: spending | Tags: money, news, Robert Adams, windfall | 3 Comments »
Pop Quiz: You walk up to the ATM to get some fast cash for a burrito, and almost step on a bag of cash – $17k in cash. What do you do?
I’d like to say that I’d find a way to return the money, like Robert Adams did, but I honestly don’t know if I would. $1 million is definitely a game changer, but it’s also easy to decide what to do with (as evidenced by this post). But my wife and I were just discussing the other day about how something as simple as an extra $1,000 a month would change our life significantly. 17 grand would go a long way to easy many of my money worries…
- I could pay off my car loan and still have $10,000 left over…
- I could put that extra $10k in savings for my next car and never need another car loan again…
- I could finish the unfinished room on the 2nd floor of my house, increasing the number of bedrooms…
- I could fully fund my IRA for the year, and have enough left over for the next two years and pocket the interest…
- I could pay off my student loans, and still have enough left over to almost pay off the family car…
- I could take my wife and kids to Disney land…
- I could make a nice donation to my favorite charity…
- I could buy a new home entertainment system….
- I could hire a maid and make my wife’s life a lot easier…
Well, I could go on… but this little dream is moot because I probably would hand the money over. The way I see it, I’d have to sleep sometime and when I did, my conscience would gnaw away at me.
For the record, if I suddenly came into $17,000 I didn’t have previously, I’d probably pay off the family car and bank the rest for my next car since it’s getting a little shaky these days.. then I’d hire a maid. 
But what about you?
Would you return the money?
Forgetting about the source of the money for a minute, would an extra $17,000 change your life in any way?
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Posted: January 5th, 2011 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Debt, Retirement | Tags: government, news, Retirement, Saving, social security, welfare state | 1 Comment »
What happens when the welfare state begins to collapse, and the government can no longer print its way out of fiscal irresponsibility? Well, in the case of five European nations, you start confiscating the citizens’ savings!
Apparently, the politicians in Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Ireland and France view private savings accounts as their own personal piggy banks. I can’t begin to express how disgusting (and frightening) I think this is.
In Hungry, the government is resulting to extortion to gain access to over $14 billion in individual retirement savings:
“The most striking example is Hungary, where last month the government made the citizens an offer they could not refuse. They could either remit their individual retirement savings to the state, or lose the right to the basic state pension (but still have an obligation to pay contributions for it). “
In Bulgaria, the government seized $60 million in private accounts. The Polish government wants to transfer a “1/3 of future contributions from individual retirement accounts to thestate-run social security system.” Ireland and France are a bit less dramatic in that they have thusfar only raided the public pension funds to bail out the rest of the government, and not yet confiscated any current savings plans.
Beside the outrage of outright theft of private property (i.e. retirement savings) of the Bulgarian, Hungarian and Polish people, even the Irish and French governments raid on public pension plans must lead its citizenry to wonder if there is even any point in saving or planning for the future.
Once the people lose hope and the ability to plan their own destiny, the system collapses.
Could this happen in the United States?
It probably won’t reach the level of depravity of the Hungarian and Bulgarian governments, but the current administration and the 111th Congress racked up record deficits and created the largest new entitlement (heathcare) in generations.. And some have already hinted at back door methods of the kind of confiscation seen in Bulgarian (see how George Miller, Teresa Ghilarducci and the End of Your 401k. ) . And the Social Security “trust fund” has long since been raided, resulting in the system we have today – people paying into the program are essentially supporting those collecting from it today.
I would argue that this is no different than forcing people to pay into the system even though they are not going to benefit from it when they retire. This is likely true for younger generations of worker, though no public official would dare to state this.
Source
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Posted: November 29th, 2010 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Credit | Tags: Credit Cards, debit cards, news, Opinion | No Comments »
The Kardashians had a debit card? Who knew?
I sure didn’t, but then I don’t much care about Kim or any other Kardashian…
It looks as though they had loaned their likenesses to a prepaid debit card issued by The Revenue Resource Group, but that card had some questionable fees and so they have pulled out of the deal after taking some heat for it. The Connecticut attorney general is on The Revenue Resource Group’s case about possible violations of state laws and potential violation of the new financial regulations in the Dodd-Frank bill.
Apparently the card has almost $100 in fees per year, and $1.50 ATM fee on top of that.
I dunno if that violates any laws, or even if it should violate any laws. What I do know is that $100 a year for ANY card – debit or credit, rewards or not – is way too much. In fact, I would go so far as to say any fee for using a card makes that card not worth using.
But the best part may be the lawyer’s quote:
“The Kardashians have worked extremely long and hard to create a positive public persona that appeals to everyone, particularly young adults,” he wrote. “They have been successful in doing so because they are recognized as honest, ethical, and fun-loving individuals who are kind and caring to others.
I suppose it is hard to argue that Kim’s home made adult film that cemented her search-worthy status on the internet doesn’t appeal to young (male) adults.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2010/11/29/2010-11-29_kardashians_cut_ties_with_prepaid_debit_card_after_outroar_from_consumer_advocat.html#ixzz16jLFbp9T
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Posted: May 20th, 2010 | Author: Joe | Filed under: Economy, Real Estate | Tags: bailout, home buyer credit, Mortgage Rates, Mortgages, news, Stimulus | 1 Comment »
Remember when the government subsidies for buying new cars ended and car sales tanked? Looks like we’re seeing the same thing in the housing market. It shouldn’t be surprising that Mortgage Purchase Applications Plummet As Tax Cuts Expire because when you subsidize an activity, you get more of it. When you take that subsidy away, you get less of that activity.
This is a pretty good indicator because the number of refinances rose 14.5%, while applications for new home purchase dropped 20% over the previous month. Rates are still very low, so it’s a logical conclusion that people are no longer as motivated to buy a house since the new home buyer tax credit expired in April.
In fact that is the conclusion of the Mortgage Bankers Association:
” The data continue to suggest that the tax credit pulled sales into April at the expense of the remainder of the spring buying season. In fact, this drop occurred even as rates on 30-year fixed-rate mortgages continued to fall, and at 4.83 percent are at their lowest level since November 2009,”
This is exactly why government subsidies and stimulus don’t work. They only provide artificial economic activity over the short term, but they cannot correct for imbalances in the market. They cannot prevent a recession or a pullback in economic activity, they can only postpone it.
Things have been looking good lately – on the surface. But how much of that economic “recovery” has been an illusion created by stimulus spending that only masks the underlying problems?
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