Friday..now what? Stimulate much?

It’s Friday again.

How nice it is to have two free days to regroup from a gruelling week. This has been a tough week for everyone. Seeing job numbers go the way of the Dodo and unemployemnt rates rise like a subprime mortgage rate, it makes me wonder what would happen in the next few days if no action was done.

Now I have not live through the Great Depression so I have no first hand experience on how to act or think. With politicians bickering on whether to cut taxes and spending or spend more and tax more or something in between.

If you ask me, the basics still matter. If government and corporate would act like what every person should be acting, things ‘might’ get a little better.

First, cutting taxes on payroll and capital gains would not matter if taxpayers do not have jobs or businesses to generate taxable income. Cutting spending on aid programs would eliminate not only recipients but millions of government jobs who by the way, pay taxes. So the recipients would receive no aid (cash, health care and etc) can lead to decreased or no spending on their part since Cash aid and health are no longer available and the employees who work in cut programs would also cut or eliminate spending due to a loss of income. So how would cutting programs and spending aid the economy in this way? I am sorry but the Reganomics of yesteryear would not work.

Spending ourselves to the hilt would lead to more debt and more debt would eat through tax revenues in the future. Not really a wise course of action in the long term.

So what are we to do? In plain simple terms, we need to get back to basics. If an ordinary american can represt as governent and wallstreet, here’s what the American should do:

1. Spend on income generating items (such gas to take you to work, job fairs or in the case of government, infrastructure program that create jobs.
2. Have a spending cap or budget. If USA only makes $5 trillion in taxes then spend only $5 trillion or less.
3. Eliminate the spend it or lose it culture. Encourage States and local agencies to be efficient, effective and fiscally responsible by allowing these entities to “bank” surpluses (for a rainy day.. like a recession)
4. Transparency, Transparency, Transparency. We have to be honest with everyone and especially to ourselves. If we cannot afford it, we do not spend it or find a way to afford it.

That’s just my opinion. I do not have the fancy MBAs that the Wall Street rats have but at least it works in the realm of common sense.

Filed under: Opinion, 2009, Barack Obama, black Friday, budget, common sense, deficits, economy, Friday, government, Great Depression, local, MBA, programs, recession, spending, Stimulus, surplus, transparency

2 Weeks Old… Now what?

The New Year is already 2 weeks old and so much has already happened. The economy has been the worst since the Great Depression. Unemployment numbers are at the highest since World War II.  Our Nation faces insurmountable challenges here and abroad.  As homeowners helplessly watch their home values go down, millions face the trauma of foreclosures.  Budgets deficits from State and Local Governments would force these entities to cut services to millions of Americans who are in great need of these services. Meanwhile employees are facing the insecurity of their job security that in return decreases productivity and profits for employers.  Consumer spending has dropped considerably while consumer debt increased into new heights. 

 

While our domestic troubles seem to grow with each day, international crises come from all angles that would make anyone feel hopeless.  With two wars that seem to have no end and the escalating violence at the Gaza Strip our Nation faces difficult political and economic decisions that one would not wish upon their enemies.

 

One must ponder: where or when did everything go wrong?  More importantly, how can we resolve these issues?  At the dawn of the new administration, Americans and people from the world over are setting their eyes upon the new President with a mixture of fear and hope, a sense of anxiety and relief, a cautious optimism of a better day. 

 

While President-elect Barack Obama’s inspiring story is about to open a new chapter, we as citizens of the world have our own story to write.  Would we lose the lessons learned from the past and repeat our follies in the future? On the other hand, would we finally start being accountable to ourselves and living our lives a renewed sense of personal and national responsibility?  This is the challenge of our time.  Our response to the challenge would determine whether we could afford healthcare, college, cost of living and a decent retirement.  Now is the time for us to stop pointing fingers and instead join hands in unity to face our problems head on until we find a more agreeable solution.  This is the time when our actions would reflect the future of our lives, our children and our humanity and we can only hope that our actions today would make us reflect with a proud sense of accomplishment as we share our story to our grandchildren.

 

 

A NEW YEAR BEGINS

HOPES, DREAMS, CHALLENGES TO FACE

TIME TO MAKE A CHANGE

 

 

Filed under: Haiku, Opinion, Barack Obama, Blog, budget, challenge, deficits, family, foreclosures, Great Depression, Haiku, Homeowners, laziness, President-elect, State, Stress, World War II

Year-end post… (if I’m that lazy in the next few days)

Whew! 2008 is finally over.  It has been a tough rough and tumble year for me personally (more on that later). However, I had some bright spots during the year that I would call the TOP 10 BEST MOMENTS of 2008!

 

 

 

10. I noticed a drop of telemarketing calls for refinancing and loans. (Yehey!)

9.  My best friend Chubax visited me on my birthday. (and I got to visit him and Jong in Vegas on August 2008 – plus a Zappos Tour)

8.  I discovered Twitter! (and social networking is never the same… for me at least)

7.  I lost 15 lbs so far from the lifetime high of 240 lbs (more on the weight gain)

6.  I read more books this year than the books I read from 2003-2006 combined.

5.  Comic book movies did not suck (Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk, Dark Knight, etc)

4.  I paid off my credit card bills (and I have a few month’s worth of expenses in the bank)

3. My financial misery of 2007 was over

2. Barack Obama won the US Presidential elections

1. My personal and love life survived a year’s worth of ups and downs.

 

I’m sure I left out tons of great moments but what is a list if it is not exclusive?  Perhaps I will tackle more of that as soon as I remember them.  Now, with every New Year, most people tend to make New Year’s resolutions.  I’d rather make New Year goals.  At least with goals, I’ll fight harder to achieve them than resolutions.  In addition, having a deadline can add more pressure to complete these goals.

 

TOP 10 GOALS for 2009:

 

 1) Pay Off Car Loan – I’ll be done by Feb 2009

 2) Open a ROTH IRA account – I should do this before 2008 ends

 3) Increase emergency savings to at least 18 months of expenses by 12/31/2009

 4) Clean up and organize my feeds, links and bookmarks by June 2009

 5) Read 20 new books by 12/31/2009

 6) Organize photos, videos and music files by 06/01/2009

 7) Save for an iMac (yeah, I already have 2 linux pcs and 2 windows pcs but an iMac would complete the circle)

 8) Weigh 200 lbs by 04/01/2009 – and be healthier

 9) Organize and clean up the Apartment once and for all – get rid of boxes and junk

 10) Make major life changes by 12/31/2009 – Academic, professional and personal

 

These are my best moments of 2008 and goals for 2009.  It may not be as grand and challenging as President-elect Barack Obama but personally, I have a huge challenge on my hands come 2009.

 

Stay tuned for updates.

Filed under: About me, 2008, 2009, apartment, Barack Obama, best friend, Canon Powershot camera, chubax, clean-up, clutter, color, comic book movies, dark knoght, deadline, Disorder, election, emergency fund, exercise, exercise ball pump, family, financial, fitness, games, goals, health, hulk, imac, iron man, jong, lazy, linux, loans, movies, multiply, new year, Obama, personal, photo, pictures, President-elect, refinancing, resolutions, roth ira, savings, social networking, telemarketing, tour, twitter, vanguard, windows, year end, Zappos, zappos.com

Barack vs. the NEW Special Intersts

I’m back… after weeks of non-stop Sisyphus-like tasks, I am back to update my blog.  Well as for current events, lots of Political scandals that rocked our Nation.  One particular issue that really got my attention (no.. not Blagojevich.. I’ll get the facts first before really giving my 2 cents) is the flak President-elect Barack Obama is getting from some of his supporters. 

I got finally fed up with the talk and somehow I got the guts to write to a local newspaper to give my opinion (will they publish it? i’ll wait and see…).  so here’s the letter I sent to the local newspaper to be (hopefully) published on the From the readers section of the San Francisco Examiner:

Barack vs. the New Special Interests

 

As a strong Barack Obama supporter, I am dismayed that some of his supporters are miffed about his choices.  From women’s groups complaining about not having enough women in the cabinet to the gay, lesbian groups fuming over Obama’s invitation of Rick Warren to give the invocation on Inauguration day.  Honestly, I am beginning to think that these groups are acting like the Special Interests of the past. Whenever I hear one spokesperson talking about how they helped Barack win the election and that he “owed” them is just insulting to the American people.  Obama supporters should remember the President-elect’s promise of not giving in to special interests.  We need qualified, intelligent and effective candidates in the Obama Administration not Affirmative Action-influenced picks.  The Rick Warren invite would be Barack’s example on how he would reach out across ideological lines to help make our Country into a “more perfect Union.”

 

So there… that’s my 2 cents for now… will see in a few days what would happen.

 

Stay tuned.

Filed under: Opinion, 2 cents, Affirmative Action, Barack Obama, Blagojevich, Cabinet, Feminist, Gay and Lesbian groups, More perfect union, Nation, Opinion, Politics, President-elect, Rick Warren, rick warren blagojevich women, San Francisco, San Francisco Examiner, SF, Sisyphus, Special Interest, union, Women