US Government Wants You To Payback Your Tax Rebate and More?
I am not an economist. However, in my opinion, this post is about our survival which ultimately is about our health. Our dollar has lost about 40% of its value in the last year alone. This is evidenced by Gold going from $600/oz. to $950/oz. in last 12 months. In other words, what used to cost you $650 now costs $950. Your money is worth less so you need more of it to buy the same thing. House prices are plummeting and our country has lost all moral authority in the world.
Remember, our money is legal tender, that is, it’s only as good as our reputation. Our US dollar is a fiat currency and its strength is based on our good name, I mean, was based on our good name. Since the dollar is no longer pegged to gold or silver and therefore going up in value, our money has lost value. My grandfather used to get .25/week for allowance and with this, he could take a bus, go to a movie, buy popcorn and soda and still have a nickel left over… those were the days!
The more money that is printed the less valuable it becomes. Simply, if there were 1 pink diamond in the world, it would be priceless. If there were 10 billion pink diamonds in the world, it would be worthless, getting the point?
How many dollars are in circulation? Good question, this answer is referred to as the M3 but this has not been reported now for a few years when the Fed stopped reporting it.
The Privately Owned Federal Reserve (Not a federal institution) simply prints as much money as it wants, loans it to our government, and we work our tails off to pay taxes so the government can pay the Federal Reserve back the money it printed.
In other words, the government borrows money from the private bank, then charges us taxes so we can pay the bank back the interest. This is a pretty good deal if you are a bank, for the rest of us it sucks!
For every $10,000 a person makes, $2000-$3000 goes to taxes (about $1500 goes to interest on money lent by Fed bank), $3000 for a house payment ( $2800 is interest paid to a bank early on), $500 in auto payments ($250 pays interest to the bank), $500 in credit cards ($400 in interest to the bank). etc. Are you getting my point?
When all is said and done, you have a few bucks left for you and your family- hopefully. What then? we sit around the TV and watch Who Wants To Be A Millionaire and gossip about Britney Spears and Dr. Phil….. what is this world coming to? we ask ourselves, as we drink our Starbucks Venti Latte with an extra shot, easy foam
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US moves to avert economic meltdown
By TERENCE HUNT, AP White House Correspondent
The Fed, announcing its action after an emergency video conference Monday night, indicated further rate reductions were likely, aimed at encouraging people and companies to start spending again.
“The urgency that we feel at home is now even more urgent as we see the impact of our markets on others,” House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said after both Democratic and Republican lawmakers met with Bush at the White House.
Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said the goal was to get a deal through Congress and on Bush’s desk within roughly three weeks — lightning speed compared with the usual snail’s pace on Capitol Hill. His Republican counterpart, Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, agreed the aim was action in the next few weeks and said, “That, by the standards in Congress, is pretty fast.”
Bush expressed confidence that he and the Democratic-led Congress could put aside bitter differences that have marked his presidency.
“I believe we can find common ground to get something done that’s big enough, effective enough so that an economy that is inherently strong gets a boost — to make sure that this uncertainty doesn’t translate into more economic woes for our workers and small business people,” Bush said in the Cabinet Room.
Later, announcing the creation of a panel to educate people about their finances, Bush said he thought there would be an agreement “in relatively short order.”
The White House meeting was intended to show the world that Bush and his Democratic adversaries recognize the gravity of the economic slowdown and are serious about protecting consumers and investors who have watched their holdings shrink. Wall Street and global markets fear the stimulus package outlined by Bush is not enough to avert a recession. The Dow Jones industrial average is down nearly 10 percent since the beginning of the year — its worst first 14 trading days ever.
Official Washington was accentuating the positive.
“I really feel good that we have an opportunity to do something together,” Reid said, standing in the White House driveway with Pelosi after talking with Bush. Reid said the size of a deal suggested by Bush was “a good number.”
Administration officials are focusing on rebates of $800 to $1,600 for individuals and couples and so-called bonus depreciation to allow companies to deduct 50 percent of business investments made this year. Democrats say the package also should include boosts in unemployment benefits, food stamp payments and the Medicaid health care program for the poor and disabled. Talks between Pelosi and Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, have focused on smaller tax rebates of perhaps $500 for individuals.
Like Bush, lawmakers would not discuss what a compromise plan would look like, stressing cooperation rather than potential differences over details.
“This is about one thing in this package: Is it a stimulus?” Pelosi said “So whatever it is that we are considering, it must meet that one criterion: Does it stimulate the economy? Does it put money into the hands of those who will spend it?”
When the Democratic leaders were asked if they agreed with Bush’s statement that the economy is inherently strong, Pelosi said, “I certainly hope so.”
Reid said the House would pass a package first and send it to the Senate. Pelosi, Boehner and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson planned to talk over breakfast Wednesday.
Paulson went to Capitol Hill for talks on the ingredients of the economic package. “Time is of the essence and the president stands ready to work on a bipartisan basis to enact economic growth legislation as soon as possible,” he said earlier in a speech at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
Many analysts say the United States already has tumbled into a recession — a notion rejected by the White House. “We are not forecasting a recession,” spokeswoman Dana Perino said. “Clearly there is a slowdown.”
Leaving open the possibility of a bigger stimulus package, she said, “I’m not going to close the door but I’m not suggesting that anyone believes it has to be bigger” than the roughly $150 billion figure already discussed. Later, she said the White House has not “seen higher numbers floated by members of Congress” and that Bush believes the package he has outlined is “the right amount.”
The Fed’s rate cut caught Washington by surprise. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues approved the cut Monday night after global markets were slammed by rising concerns that weakness in the world’s largest economy was spreading worldwide.
“The world’s stock markets are in meltdown, so the Fed came in with an inter-meeting move to try to stop the panic,” said Christopher Rupkey, senior economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi.
The reduction in the federal funds rate from 4.25 percent to 3.5 percent marked the biggest reduction in this target rate for overnight loans on records going back to 1990. It marked the first time the Fed has changed rates between meetings since 2001, when the central bank was battling the combined impacts of a recession and the terrorist attacks.
Commercial banks responded by announcing similar cuts of three-quarter of a percent in their prime lending rate, the benchmark for millions of business and consumer loans. The action will mean the prime lending rate will drop from 7.25 percent down to 6.50 percent.
Analysts said the fact that the Fed did not wait until its meeting next week to cut rates underscored the seriousness of the situation. The Fed was expected to cut rates further, possibly as soon as their next meeting on Jan. 29-30, if there are continued signs that the economy is weakening.
“This move by the Fed was essential,” said Lyle Gramley, a former Fed governor who is now a senior analyst with the Stanford Financial Group in Washington. “Bernanke promised in a speech earlier this month to take substantive action in a timely and decisive manner.”
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Associated Press writers Martin Crutsinger, Andrew Taylor, Deb Riechmann and Ben Feller contributed to this report.
