political foo: money matters
Jul. 16th, 2011 08:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
alpharaposaI look at my paycheck and my bills, and I look at the debate in Washington.
Let's start with the bills.
When I look through the bills, the "regulatory fees" are getting bigger. Not quickly - 2 dollars here, 75 cents there. But every couple of months, the number gets a little larger. More regulation = more fees.
Taxes eat a steady percentage of my paycheck. Even when I get a good raise, the amount of increased monthly take home pay barely feels worth it. Democrats want to raise taxes. Doesn't matter on who - either I'll have the percentage of taxes from my paycheck increased, or the company I work for will feel the crunch and offer less of a raise next year. Year before last, the "standard raise" for employees doing a decent job was 3%. This year, it was 2%. (Excellent jobs get slightly more, really amazing jobs got 4% last year.) The money going to the government is taken from somebody, and the cost gets passed right on down to the working schlub.
Gas is going up and staying there. Why? Because the President won't let companies drill. He says he's for it, but the actual executive approvals needed to open up areas again have languished. Less supply, particularly local supply, means both higher gas prices and fewer jobs. (Drilling requires lots of employees to work!) Add to that the ethanol mandates and, well, gas prices suck.
Groceries are more expensive, because the dollar buys less. The Treasury printed a lot of extra bills in order to ensure liquidity. It was probably necessary to keep the economy afloat. It also means that our national debt is worth a little less than it was before (neat trick, huh). China's actually complained that we're sabotaging our credit by making the dollar worth less, so our debts are worth less. But this means that a larger proportion of my paycheck goes to food than it used to. Even if I were still eating crappy food, I'd be spending more. Higher prices just make it more painful to try to eat healthier.
The House passed a deficit reducing budget. That's deficit reducing, not debt reducing. We're still borrowing more and more as far as the eye can see, even if we adopt the "radical" Ryan plan. The President wants to get a deal so he can focus on "new programs". More spending.
More spending, more regulation, more taxes = less and less room for error or crisis when I stare at my family's budget. I'm being squeezed from the top by the pressure of the tax increases, and squeezed from the bottom by rising costs and inflation.
We've got to get away from the coast, but will there be a job for my husband when he finishes school? That's the biggest problem. At this rate? I don't know.
What do I want? Less spending, less regulation, and a simpler tax code. I'll take the same amount of taxes if I don't have to pay somebody to file for me just so that they'll handle things if I get audited instead of me. There's a horde of government monkeys on my back, and I want them off.
Let's start with the bills.
When I look through the bills, the "regulatory fees" are getting bigger. Not quickly - 2 dollars here, 75 cents there. But every couple of months, the number gets a little larger. More regulation = more fees.
Taxes eat a steady percentage of my paycheck. Even when I get a good raise, the amount of increased monthly take home pay barely feels worth it. Democrats want to raise taxes. Doesn't matter on who - either I'll have the percentage of taxes from my paycheck increased, or the company I work for will feel the crunch and offer less of a raise next year. Year before last, the "standard raise" for employees doing a decent job was 3%. This year, it was 2%. (Excellent jobs get slightly more, really amazing jobs got 4% last year.) The money going to the government is taken from somebody, and the cost gets passed right on down to the working schlub.
Gas is going up and staying there. Why? Because the President won't let companies drill. He says he's for it, but the actual executive approvals needed to open up areas again have languished. Less supply, particularly local supply, means both higher gas prices and fewer jobs. (Drilling requires lots of employees to work!) Add to that the ethanol mandates and, well, gas prices suck.
Groceries are more expensive, because the dollar buys less. The Treasury printed a lot of extra bills in order to ensure liquidity. It was probably necessary to keep the economy afloat. It also means that our national debt is worth a little less than it was before (neat trick, huh). China's actually complained that we're sabotaging our credit by making the dollar worth less, so our debts are worth less. But this means that a larger proportion of my paycheck goes to food than it used to. Even if I were still eating crappy food, I'd be spending more. Higher prices just make it more painful to try to eat healthier.
The House passed a deficit reducing budget. That's deficit reducing, not debt reducing. We're still borrowing more and more as far as the eye can see, even if we adopt the "radical" Ryan plan. The President wants to get a deal so he can focus on "new programs". More spending.
More spending, more regulation, more taxes = less and less room for error or crisis when I stare at my family's budget. I'm being squeezed from the top by the pressure of the tax increases, and squeezed from the bottom by rising costs and inflation.
We've got to get away from the coast, but will there be a job for my husband when he finishes school? That's the biggest problem. At this rate? I don't know.
What do I want? Less spending, less regulation, and a simpler tax code. I'll take the same amount of taxes if I don't have to pay somebody to file for me just so that they'll handle things if I get audited instead of me. There's a horde of government monkeys on my back, and I want them off.
