Yeah...wealthy people have land-lines for 911 and other non-cell/VOIP type needs. Freaking expense your telephone to "communications(GAAP 8800)" if YOU are hurting so bad.
Posted on 06/19/2007 12:53:17 PM PDT by andy58-in-nh
NEW YORK
A new Gallup Poll will only reinforce those who claim that while the rich get richer most Americans don't feel they are sharing in the growth in our economy. The stock market may be climbing and the unemployment remains relatively low, but 7 in 10 Americans believe the economy is getting worse -- the most negative reading in nearly six years.
(Excerpt) Read more at editorandpublisher.com ...
Well, from a personal perspective, we’re spending less on needless things. We were always aware of what we spent on non-essential items, but now we’re spending even less on them and that’s because the price for everything is higher so we’re eliminating “play money” extra money” “mad money” etc. Not that it was ever there to begin with.
I’m middle class. The middle class is being targeted in taxes, just like we always are targeted. My parents considered themselves the “working poor” and I have a much higher standard of living than they did but they were right - now the middle class is considered rich by the democrats and they want to tax us into oblivion.
NJ is one of the most liberal, tax the working middle class, welfare states in the Union. Our property taxes aren’t so high because we have the best education system in the country, far from it. Our property taxes are high, those that go to education, because our education has become the true liberal wet dream and in the process has lost what made it one of the best for education.
I think you have the right idea. Many of us don’t live within our means. I live in a nice single family home in an affluent area, whereas my parents lived in a tiny rowhome in the city. I moved up, according to them, and I did move up and we’re paying for it. I have no problem with that. I don’t have credit card debt and that’s a great thing.
Like you, my husband had to be financially independent while he was still in college so he didn’t have anyone to rely on to help him out (other than me and my parents). Anyway, we’re teaching our kids the value of money and how to manage their money.
The bottom line is if they work hard, they will make it.
7 out of 10 Americans always say the economy is awful. Makes them sound knowledgeable.
I think the ones getting polled all live in San Francisco, if you know what I mean.
If I recall correctly, Michigan was the only state in the union with a negative growth rate (minus 0.5) in 2006. The state also leads the nation in U-Hauls leaving.
wow... i respond to your post and for my efforts i get called asshole, arrogant and condescending.
sorry for intruding on your pity party. i think you’re projecting.
I live in Oklahoma. Our property taxes are low, making housing affordable even to the illegal immigrant. When we increase our population, our government gladly allows us to build more housing, thus improving the economy and keeping houses and apartments generally affordable both to rent and to buy. You can get a decent house anywhere in the state for less than $100,000; a half-million buys not a tiny cottage in a terrible neighborhood but a mansion or ranch on several acres.
We could raise real estate taxes (or any other taxes) whenever we want, but that requires a vote of the people. The last time someone tried this tactic, the people rejected higher taxes by the widest margin in state history. Oklahoma now boasts of the lowest tax burden in the United States. Wages are considerably lower than elsewhere, but so too is the cost of living; our middle classes nevertheless still garner the same reduced federal tax rates that only destitute paupers get in other states.
Yes, gasoline prices are high, but we still drill for oil and natural gas here in Oklahoma. Congress hasn’t banned it here yet, and the state government loves those royalties flowing into its coffers and therefore won’t. Fuel production therefore contributes to the locally booming economy and gives plenty of energy-sector workers money that they can spend in retail outlets or invest in retirement, real estate, or otherwise.
So I have good reasons for my contrarian views on our local economy; I recognize that the rest of the nation suffers through worse financial peril than the Great Depression.
Ok... thanks for the economics lessons.. but, I read nothing in either of those that contradicts what I said.
Are we really disagreeing about this???
Let me try once more....
If the Fed thinks the economy is expanding, or growing.... they might begin to worry that inflation will heat up... To prevent this, they might decide to INCREASE short term interest rates... thereby reducing liquidity, slowing the growth of the money supply, and slowing the rate of growth in the economy.
Conversely: If the Fed thinks the economy is slowing down, or contracting, they might consider LOWERING short term interest rates, thereby increasing liquidity, expanding the money supply and providing an impetus for economic growth... such as, just after 9/11.
Of course, these are the very simplistic patterns. Other factors also affect rates, economic growth, inflation, and the decisions of the Fed.
My initial point remains: IF the economy is indeed slowing (and I think it is) then, the FED will be MORE likely to reduce interest rates..... being as, they will no longer be worried about an increase in inflation.
Is that clear now????
Plus, the fedguv is forcing what should be food into our gas tanks.
That affects food prices.
* * *
This lady must have been programmed from birth to think the way she does.. if indeed one can call it “thinking”!!!!
You aren’t going to believe this.
Madam speaker Nancy Pelosi wants to put a Windfall tax on all stock market profits (including Retirement fund, 401K’s and Mutual Funds! Alas it is true all to help the 12 Million Illegal Immigrants and other unemployed Minorities!
Boy, are we in trouble... This woman is frightening. Take special note of the last paragraph. Is she really this whacked out?
Nancy Pelosi condemned the new record highs of the stock market as “just another example of Bush policies helping the rich get richer”. “First Bush cut taxes for the rich and the economy has rebounded with new record low unemployment rates, which only means wealthy employers are getting even wealthier at the expense of the underpaid working class”.
She went on to say “Despite the billions of dollars being spent in Iraq our economy is still strong and government tax revenues are at all time highs. What this really means is that business is exploiting the war effort and working Americans, just to put money in their own pockets”.
When questioned about recent stock market highs she responded “Only the rich benefit from these record highs. Working Americans, welfare recipients, the unemployed and minorities are not sharing in these obscene record highs”. There is no question these windfall profits and income created by the Bush administration need to be taxed at 100% rate and those dollars redistributed to the poor and working class”. “Profits from the stock market do not reward the hard work of our working class who, by their hard work, are responsible for generating these corporate profits that create stock market profits for the rich. We in congress will need to address this issue to either tax these profits or to control the stock market to prevent this unearned income to flow to the rich.”
When asked about the fact that over 80% of all Americans have investments in mutual funds, retirement funds, 401K’s, and the stock market she replied “That may be true, but probably only 5% account for 90% of all these investment dollars That’s just more “trickle down” economics claiming that if a corporation is successful that everyone from the CEO to the floor sweeper benefit from higher wages and job security which is ridiculous”. How much of this ‘trickle down’ ever get to the unemployed and minorities in our county? None, and that’s the tragedy of these stock market highs.”
“We democrats are going to address this issue after the election when we take control of the congress. We will return to the 60% to 80% tax rates on the rich and we will be able to take at least 30% of all current lower Federal Income Tax payers off the roles and increase government income substantially. We need to work toward the goal of equalizing income in our country and at the same time limiting the amount the rich can invest.”
When asked how these new tax dollars would be spent, she replied; “We need to raise the standard of living of our poor, unemployed and minorities. For example, we have an estimated 12 million illegal immigrants in our country who need our help along with millions of unemployed minorities. Stock market windfall profits taxes could go a long ways to guarantee these people the standard of living they would like to have as ‘Americans.’”
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Your attitude is very refreshing to hear. You are making CHOICES that cause you to not have tons of free cash. And, frankly... I’d say most of the choices are good ones. Choices that put your family as your top priority. Congrats.
The only choice I’d question is: Why do you folks continue to put up with life in NJ? We live in Louisville, in a very nice home (6 years old, 3500 sq. Ft, value ~$270k) in a fantastic neighborhood. We pay, maybe $1400 per year in property taxes. (~ 4% Income tax) The public school system here is very good... My son is in his 3rd year of Japanese language class in High School.
My oldest just finished his first year at UK.. cost us a TOTAL of $13k, including room/board and spending money.
This is the 4th state we’ve lived in... and, it’s actually one of the most expensive. (Texas, Louisiana, Georgia) You could live much better elsewhere.
But, then again... home is home. I get that. It’s expensive in NJ because: Lots of people WANT to live there.
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I’m a part of a very close family. My husband would have no problem living anywhere, and has, he lives here because it would be really difficult for me to move away from my family. We made that choice many years ago before we were married.
NJ is considered the other side of the world from philly, where I grew up. You’d laugh if I told you how difficult it is for many to visit it because “we live across the bridge” When we first were married, my husband worked in D.C. I moved there, of course, but once our first was born, I spent more time in philly than I did down there. He got a job in this area mainly because I didn’t want to live “far” from my parents. I was their primary care giver eventually so that worked out and each has since passed but my kids grew up with them living with us. They’re both gone now, my mom recently, and now the only thing holding us back from moving is I have tons of family and friends in this area. Like you said, home is home.
We live in a 3000+ sq foot home worth over 1/2 million and pay close to $10,000 in property taxes. When we bought the house 7 years ago, we paid, $191,000. We owned a town home prior (for 8 years). Our elementary and middle school district(public) use to be fantastic, it’s not anymore. However, our high school district is still one of the best in the area and in the country. Our kids go (2) and will go(2) to the public high school and I have no real complaints about the high school district.
My husband use to travel a lot for work and spent a lot of time in places like Fort Wayne, Indiana - he use to constantly tell me how we could live there for so much less, etc. And other areas. The bottom line was always I had to be close to my parents, and it so happened that it worked out that way (living with us until they died). At one time, a former employer of my husband’s was willing to buy my parents a home (so he wouldn’t leave)- they were willing to give him a huge raise, etc. Finally they asked why and he said his wife wouldn’t move away from her elderly parents and they offered to finance them moving with us! My parents lived in the same philly neighborhood from the time they were born so that wasn’t happening. It was hard enough when my mom had to live here the last year of her life as she never thought she’d leave her home, her neighborhood.
As for college, my kids know they can’t go anywhere they want. It will depend on how much scholarship money they get, etc. Our oldest wants to go to Penn State, our alma mater. We’re out of state and I recently checked and it will cost about $31,000/yr. minimum.
It’s our choice (or rather my choice) that we live here until the last one graduates high school. It’s home. It was hard enough for me to leave my philly neighborhood, lol, to move here. However, I saw a different kind of life once I was a student at Penn State so leaving philly was fine as long as it wasn’t too far ;) I have family here, lots of nephews, nieces, sibs, cousins.
I complain about the taxes, but for now it’s worth it. So to answer your question why I put up with life in NJ - family mostly. My husband seriously wanted to move, as recently as January (my mom died in october). He was never close to his family and they moved lots of times whereas I lived in the same house from birth until marriage. And me moving out of the neigbhorhood, heavens across the bridge to the foreign land that’s NJ was a big enough trauma for my family and childhood friends years ago.
I look at other states, past the taxes, low cost of living, and to the conservative or family oriented values that I cherish and wish NJ was that way. A friend of mine moved to South Carolina, 7 years ago. She moved because of her now ex-husband’s job and stayed because it became home for her and her two kids. She loves living in the South and she’s from the New England area and NJ mostly.
If we HAD to move for my husband’s job (he is the breadwinner)then we’d move. He’s fortunate in that he’s EE and has never been laid off or without a job. He’s chosen to leave jobs for other positions. I can work anywhere.
We stay here because it is home, for me anyway. The taxes are atrocious. It’s probably the most liberal state, even surpassing MA. We have the highest illegal alien population of muslim descent. I live a stone’s throw from one house where at least one of the Fort Dix terrorists lived. I pass that house daily. Our government is so corrupt, our politicians are corrupt - I question daily how they remain in office.
Our public school district (elementary/middle) made national news because of a pro homo video it showed 3rd graders. Garden State Equality, feminists, liberals, leftists, etc. invaded our school board meetings the last few months. Now my kids aren’t in the district but I’m still fighting this and fighting the hiring of a “diversity consultant” since our tax dollars are paying for it, who is promoting everything that is anti parent. I was shocked that this affluent, republican, conservative town fell to this level.
It’s home for now.
I would suspect that a great percentage of Americans equate the rise in gas prices with the economy. If gas prices rise, in their minds the economy must be bad. I doubt most Americans think beyond that. The average American has little understanding of basic economics.
What is the unemployment rate in New Jersey, and is your state running a surplus?
Another positive indicator is the fact that most states are running huge surpluses...something that wouldn't be possible with a poor economy.
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