http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicle...es-suv-loophole-vs-clean-vehicle-credits.html "In 2003, the Bush administration proposed increasing the tax deduction to $75,000. Lawmakers responded by expanding it to a whopping $100,000 as part of the $350 million tax cut package. Yet Congress did not change the weight-based classification of the vehicles, creating a huge benefit for the largest, least efficient vehicles. Around the country, auto dealers such as "the Car Guy" Jerry Reynolds in Texas and hundreds of accountants and online tax management sites have been encouraging small business owners such as doctors, lawyers, and realtors to rush out and take advantage of this tax windfall. One advertisement from Dugan & Lopatka, an accounting firm in Wheaton, IL, reads, "Write-Off 100% of Your New SUV? Yes, If Itâs Under 100,000!" wow..those bushies just keep making these big blunders... almost like they know they will gain on the backside. hmmmm sorry smallfry
I came across this economist over the weekend and thought his vision was uplifting. http://www.predicting2020.com/index.html Putting it on my next amazon for summer reading.
A bite to the budget: Credit card rates are rising http://www.mcall.com/business/local/all-cardsapr23,0,5979047,print.story?coll=all-businesslocal-hed April 23, 2006 From The Morning Call The cost of borrowing is rising faster than overall interest levies. By Harriet Johnson Brackey Special to The Morning Call You probably didn't hear this from your credit card company, but the interest rates on credit cards are jumping. The increase is much steeper than the rise in mortgage rates or what banks pay on certificates of deposit. Today's average annual interest rate on a no-frills credit card is 13.8 percent, up from 12.6 percent in January. That's from the Credit Card Monitor survey released Tuesday by IndexCreditCards.com. Credit card debt is usually the most expensive kind of household debt, a fact that's especially tough for consumers when interest rates are heading up. ''Card rates are rising faster than the rise in general interest rates,'' said Justin McHenry, research director of the Cleveland-based survey firm. The higher interest rates will add a few dollars to minimum monthly payments. But over time, that can add hundreds of dollars to consumers' debt loads. Interest rate hikes can actually sneak up on consumers. That's because most credit cards in use today carry variable rates, which card companies can change without notifying customers in advance. Fixed-rate card issuers, which have to notify consumers in writing before rates change, have been busy converting their cards to variable rates. ''I would say there are very few fixed-rate cards left,'' said Curtis Arnold, founder of CardRatings.com, a Web site in which consumers post reviews of credit cards. Rewards cards had the highest rate hikes of all in the IndexCreditCards.com survey. Reward cards raised the average to 15.18 percent, up from 13.64 percent in January. One card, the Capital One No Hassle Cash Rewards Visa, had a rate as low as 9.9 percent in January but the card's current online rate offer is 14.15 percent. Credit cards rate hikes are in response to a string of Federal Reserve Bank increases. But they have far outstripped other consumer interest rate increases. By comparison to the 1.2 percentage point hike in average credit card rates, mortgage rates have popped up 0.28 percentage points since the start of the year. The average is 6.49 percent for a 30-year fixed-rate loan, according to Freddie Mac. Credit cards actually are in a game of catch-up to all those other consumer rates. The reason, says Greg McBride, senior financial analyst at Bankrate.com, a North Palm Beach research firm, is that issuers tend to change the rates they charge consumers only four times a year. That left card issuers, in the final quarter of 2005, responding to two Fed rate hikes in November and December 2005. By the end of March this year, card companies were catching up to two more hikes, one in January and another at the end of March. Altogether, those four rate hikes added one percentage point to the federal funds rate, which is the target interest rate the Fed sets for overnight loans among banks. What's happening to federal funds rates tend to set the direction for other forms of short-term borrowing. The prime rate, the rate banks charge their best customers for short-term loans, also has risen. ''We can thank our friends at the Fed because the interest rate increases they have made are pushing credit cards and other rates such as home equity lines of credit higher,'' McBride said. Financial experts believe the Federal Reserve Bank might soon stop raising short-term rates. The Fed began pushing rates up two years ago. But any such move, if it happens, won't help credit card holders right away. At an interest rate of 14 percent, a consumer who pays only the credit card minimum can stretch a $5,000 debt out over 25 years. That would cost the consumer $411 more than the same debt at 13 percent. That's according to a calculation from Bankrate of a monthly payment of 1 percent of the balance plus interest. ''In a rising interest rate environment, there's very little justification for holding on to credit card debt,'' McBride said. ''It should almost always be the primary focus of your debt reduction efforts.'' Harriet Johnson Brackey is a reporter for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune Publishing newspaper. The Associated Press contributed to this story.
i think folks are too extreme here. there is a balance between personal responsibility and caring enough for others to help them. i guess i wonder why most folks aren't raised with the values that say we should "help those less fortunate" than ourselves. having said that, people have to be responsible to themselves and their families. i think that people tend to resent helping others if they feel that the others they're helping aren't being responsible or working hard to help themselves (for example, driving an suv v8 while complaining about gas prices). i've seen both sides of this coin. i've seen poor, hardworking folks who are glad for any help they get and are willing to work hard to make a better way for their family, even if it is in the future. then i've also seen trifling, do-nothings who have an attitude of everyone else should do everything else for them because they are "less fortunate". when we help those who are willing to help themselves, we help us all, make a better society. and since it's not always easy to distinguish between the hardworking poor and the do-nothing poor (especially when you're not in their social strata), i believe it's better to err on the side of compassion, and avoid stereotyping people you know little or nothing about. yes, more poverty is ocurring, but i would not necessarily presume to know the reason for this, and i certainly don't think it's wise to blame any one group. rich are getting richer, and i think this is because the rich invest and their investments are doing better, a good thing. so what do we do about poverty? we help to enact policies that help the poor out of their muck. we give generously to scholarship funds to help the working less and poor give their kids a chance at a better future. we also invest our time into tutoring and mentoring kids whose future might not be so bright otherwise. my 2cents, for what it's worth....
These are not the folks who will drive the programs into a not enough money mode. IT IS THE DO NOTHINGS THAT YOU CONTINUE TO TRY TO PROVIDE FOR THAT BLEED THE MONEY FROM THE PROGRAMS. You need to understand that there is a fairly good sized group of folks who count on you not saying no. And as they become older, they become more dependent on you continuing to provide for them. We need to start teaching the kids reality. We also need to teach them that poor decisions have bad consequences associated with them. And while they can recover from a poor decision, they need to know that it has a price.