Stop Pulling the Wagon

 I once had a friend of mine tell me that people do their taxes all wrong.

When I asked him what he meant he said “they start at the top of the tax form and work their way to the bottom to see how much they owe.”  “What they should be doing is starting at the bottom with the amount of refund they would like and work there way to the top filling in the lines to accomplish their refund goal.”

He was joking but there is a truth here.  Too many of us live our lives in the way he described.  We fill our lives with a lot of “stuff” we have to pay for and then enslave ourselves into making the money to do so.  In the process we arrive at an income level (the “bottom of the form”) and become the victims of whatever taxes the government wants to impose on us.

There is another way.  Find out how much non-taxable income you can have before the government wants to start taking its “cut”.  Keep in mind that the government has decided not all income is taxable.  Now plan your life in such a way you decide how much tax you are willing to pay.  Live your life accordingly.

You can live very well on a low tax, or no tax, income level with a little planning and thought.  And, you can be in charge and making these decisions about your life.

Its legal because you are playing by their rules.  And, as a bonus, you do not become the slave of the government and a lot of “stuff” you don’t really need and, truth be told, may not really even want.  In other words, do you own your “stuff” or does your “stuff” own you.

Keep in mind that while tax evasion is illegal, tax avoidance by legal means is not.

I think of it as a game.  And if I play the game right, I can lighten the load in that wagon the government wants me to pull.  Worth thinking about.  

Bob Bandy

SUNRISE – A NEW HOPE

************************************************

Thinking outside the box.  Consider the possibilities.  We send House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (San Francisco Congresswoman) and Barbara  (call me Senator) Boxer on a mission of peace to the Taliban.

A win-win situation.  If the two of them will do for the Taliban what they have done for San Francisco, the State of California and the United States, the Taliban will be financially ruined as well as milItarily weakened  and we win.  If the Taliban decide to keep them and turn them into obedient  little Taliban women – we win.

If this works, as I believe it will,  we can send additional members of Congress (I have a list) on missions to other potential enemy nations to implement the same kind of  “stimulus” plans they have imposed here.  Maybe Harry Reid, Barney Frank and Charlie Rangel can do in Iran what they have done here in America.  Turn a recession into a financial disaster.  “Stimulate” unemployment and massive debt that Irans children and grandchildren would have to pay.  And, while it can be argued what we win in such a scenario, at least we would be rid of these members of Congress who seem determined to destroy our own country. 

Just a little fun daydreaming.

Bob Bandy

Cartoon by Syl Mateo

I have a question.  Are those who “serve” in Congress really as dumb as they seem to be?  Or, Do they just not care? 

Deficits in the Trillions of Dollars can only be paid for in one of two ways.  (1) Inflation, which is another way of saying devalue the dollar.   At the current rate of growth in the debt, hyper-inflation is a possibility.  In other words your current and future savings go “Poof”.   (2) Bankruptcy.  An ugly word and not a truly workable solution on  a Federal Government level.  Governments have a way of avoiding the word Bankruptcy by printing money.  In other words, inflating their way out of debt by making the Dollars they owe worth-less and less and less.  Refer back to option (1).

For those who think this debt can be paid with future taxes I would only point out that we are reaching the point where just the interest on the debt will eat up a very large percentage of any expected tax income.   That takes money away from things like Education, National Defense, Medicare, etc.. 

Think about it on a personal level.  If an individual or family increases his/her/their debt (cars, boats, R.V.’s, credit cards, whatever) eventually a point is reached at which just the interest on that debt exceeds the available income.  What are the options when this point is reached?

For too long Congress has simply “kicked the can down the road” with gimmicks and “creative” accounting to future generations.  Our future generations.  Our children and grandchildren.  Well, the end of the road is near and what is Congress doing?  Borrowing more and more Dollars from lenders (the Chinese, Japanese and others) who are becoming more and more concerned about our ability as a nation to practice fiscal discipline and repay our debt.  What is Congress’ plan if they decide to stop loaning us Dollars?

Is a financial Armageddon unavoidable or is there still time to change our ways as a nation?  I always want to have a positive mindset but I believe the clock is ticking and we need to change those in power or they need to change their ways very soon.  Looking at what is happening in Washington DC, I am not confident that will happen.  I believe we need to act financially on our own to protect ourselves and our families from what seems more and more inevitable.     

Bob Bandy

Listening to “Colonel” Muammar al-Gaddafi at the United Nations I noticed a couple of things.  He looked and sounded like he was on a one day pass from the Shady Dunes Home For Dictators Beyond Their Prime.   Did you notice the papers he kept shuffling around in front of him with the scrawled childish looking (crayon?) notes on them?   The rambling, hour and a half long,  incoherrent speech seemed to have only two points.   One was his view that all nations are exactly equal, with Libya being the most equal.   The other was his vision  that the United Nations should be moved to Africa (Libya maybe?).

I will support “unplugging” the U.N. and shipping its carcas to Libya.  There this broken down stage can provide a circus clown platform for Loud Mouthed Tyrants like Hugo Chavez of Venezuela or  Hate Mongers like Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (King Rat) of Iran to spew their drivel to the Kool-Aid drinking followers of failed ideologies

There is one condition.  Namely, that the U. S.  drop its own membership in this inept,  impotent, mostly America hating club, composed of too many wannabe crybabies with their hands out for goodies and who vote against the United States every chance they get.

And if they continue to come to the United States looking for Aid may I suggest we give the good “Colonel” and all his kind a tub of Kool-Aid and paper cups?

Forget Unplugging Granny.  Lets unplug the U.N.

Bob Bandy

Cartoon by Syl Mateo

 California may have a new problem.  It seems  that a Federal Judge and California Governor Swarzeneggar have decided to release thousands of State Prison Inmates back into society.  Somehow word of what its like on the “outside” in California seems to have seeped into the protective environment of our penal system. 

As prisoners start calculating that they will be trading a life of free meals, free healthcare,  lots of leisure time with their friends,  no taxes and no responsibilities for what the rest of us face on a daily basis,  I’ve got a question.  What if they won’t go?  What happens if we force them to leave and in their desperation to get back “inside” they commit new crimes and then calmly remain at the scene of the crime demanding to be put back where the “livin’ is easy”?  

One idea might be that instead of releasing them, we transfer them to “Gitmo” (Guantanamo Bay – Cuba).  That way the Federal Government can release them and they (the Feds) will pay for relocating them to Bermuda, Palau or some other island paradise as they have done with many of the “detainees” (spelled “terrorists”) that they have set free in recent weeks.    Its an idea that works for me!

Bob Bandy

Pardon me for being a skeptic.  Now that congress has drained the bucket that was supposed to be holding all of our Social Security contributions, you will excuse me if I don’t want to trust them with another bucket called National Health Care.

Maybe one of them could step up and point out for me an example of an efficiently run Government program or agency that has operated as promised, on time and within budget.

How about the Post Office?  It lost Seven Billion Dollars last year.  Maybe Amtrak – but no, we keep pouring Billions of taxpayer dollars into it and it keeps losing money.   These are but two of many examples.

Maybe we could have Health Care run by our military.  They are not typically efficient but they are effective if you don’t mind killing ants with a Four Hundred Dollar sledgehammer.

Could it be  that Congress and the Administration is trying to create another bucket called National Health Care that we taxpayers can pour money into.   A bucket that they can dip money from.  Money they can pay out to favored groups (ACORN is a good exapmple) and individuals so they can keep getting re-elected and stay in power.

And someday, we will find that this bucket too has been filled with IOU’s payable in hyper-inflated dollars borrowed from the Chinese.   Dollars that are now worthless because of Congress’  lack of fiscal discipline.

Why do people who lie to you and mismanage your money seem so surprised when you no longer trust or believe them?         

Bob Bandy