"Murphy was an optimist!"
A Tale of Our Times July 13, 2009 11:11 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy Subjects , add a commentEveryday I read something online that is telling either directly or subtly of our economic times.
The tow truck is now on its way to my friend Wayne’s garage to be fixed. Please pray for me that the repair costs will be affordable!Thanks! [Source, Twitter, isacarybell]
Over the years, I have desired to intimately write about our financial victories and our financial struggles but could never figure out how to do so without sounding like a braggart or a beggar. I simply could never be as intimate nor poignant as DeMarCaTionVille in the post Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me. Read the whole thing!
Over the past six months, my daughter nearly died. I lost my job…the hubby was laid off…during the same week Diva’s thoracic surgeon mailed out his bill….also lost two relatives…merging households with my mother-in-law…the KKK [Source, DemarCaTionVille, Gloom, Despair and Agony on Me]
Btw, to DeMarCaTionVille, thanks for the Hee Haw flashback!
add a commentDouble Your Money March 25, 2009 9:57 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy Subjects , 2commentsInstead of buying a lottery ticket tonight, Make 2 for 1 on your money.
2commentsSeeking Referral: Accountant March 24, 2009 2:05 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy Subjects , 3commentsHello Knoxville! I’m seeking referrals for a personal accountant. This accountant would be for family accounting and planning, and helping with my consulting and quarterly tax filings. Please leave your referrals in comments or email juggler@gmail.com. Thanks! Doug
3commentsClaiming your kidnapped child on your taxes March 23, 2009 9:42 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy Subjects , 5commentsFolks, as tax season closes up many of us may rush through doing our taxes to meet the April 15th deadline. I wanted to point out a couple of details about your kidnapped child. Remember, if you plan on claiming your kidnapped child as a dependent, make sure that the kidnapper is not someone in your family or the child’s family (I’m not terribly clear on how the two are differentiated). Also, the child must have lived with you for at least one half of the portion of the year that they were actually with you. And remember, the child can no longer be claimed a dependent the year after they would have become 18 years of age because, well, they’re not with you and they are adults which makes them emancipated…they’ll claim themselves. For the actual IRS language, see Topic 357 – Tax Information for Parents of Kidnapped Children Last Reviewed or Updated: November 25, 2008. Those people at fairtax.org just haven’t thought about all the possibilities that Uncle Sam has already covered for us!
This post with apologies to anyone who actually has a kidnapped child.
5commentsTP Emergency! December 3, 2008 9:25 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Economy, Family, Of Being Dad, Touchy Subjects , 3commentsThe house is incredibly low on toilet paper! "Kids, we are rationing! Your choice is 2 squares a day! If you want more, you’ll need to sacrifice a Christmas present." Damned economy. Think I’ll write my Senator and ask for a bailout. "Dear Senator, I need 32 rolls of Charmin. It costs $5.6 million. Thank you!"
3commentsPeter Schiff Knows! November 24, 2008 3:37 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy Subjects , add a comment add a commentNobody knows what gas is worth September 29, 2008 9:58 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy Subjects, Transportation, Travel , add a commentSame street corner. Intersection of Northshore and Morrell. The free market is confused.
- Weigel’s: $3.489
- Texaco: $3.459
- Pilot:$3.399
I don’t know if it had anything to do with the price of gas or just being a Monday but Pilot’s parking lot was a clusterduck of activity and could barely fit any more vehicles. There was no order to it either. Looked like an intersection in Hanoi! The McDonald’s 18 wheeler was delivering supplies. The Waste Connections truck was picking up the dumpster. Landscapers were filling up their tanks. Between the huge trucks and trailers, cars were zigging and zagging and negotiating right of way by hand signals. And you know what! It worked. No accidents. No red light cameras. No traffic signals. Granted, it was just a parking lot.
add a commentI Support the $700bn Bailout! September 26, 2008 12:32 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States , 3commentsDear Gov’ment, Barack, and John,
I think you are all doing a fine job! Please let the $700,000,000,000 bank bailout pass. You have my full support with one small request. Please ear mark a measly $250k, just a drop in the bucket, for me. My own $250k bank bailout will afford me to clear debts and invest in certain assets to be a far more productive citizen with a greater contribution to the GNP.
Thank you! And keep up the great work!
Bank bailout unnecessary September 24, 2008 12:28 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy Subjects, United States , add a commentThe bank bailout is unnecessary is Naked Capitalism’s assessment of Bert Ely’s comments from an interview at Institutional Risk Analytics.
A banking industry expert, Bert Ely, who has a stellar track record in predicting crises and calling false alarms says that the banking industry can handle this mess internally and does not need subsidies. [Source, Naked Capitalism, Banking Expert: Bailout Not Necessary, Industry Can Take Losses]
Update: Bailout has been planned for months and The New York Times says the Issue Is Payback, Not Bailout.
Update 25Sept2008: Billionaire George Soros says Paulson cannot be allowed a blank check.
Update: Ron Paul lectures Bernanke on the flaws of the bailout plan and the hazard of the attempt to fix prices versus letting them correct naturally in the free market.
Update: Newscoma points to another billionaire, Mark Cuban, who is harsh on the bailout. "The bankers that we hope will reflate the economy with loans to the people and companies who need it ARE THE SAME BANKERS THAT GOT US INTO THIS MESS." Watch for comments at No Silence Here.
Greenbacks or Gold? September 19, 2008 6:22 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Touchy Subjects , 4commentsWorried that the dollar might tank and that the paper in your wallet might be worth more keeping the house warm than spending? Are you thinking, "I really should have a pile of gold in the house in case the economy really gets horrible."? Think again. In 1933 Ol’ Delano took measures to make sure you didn’t have that concern.
4commentsFrom: President of the United States Franklin Delano Roosevelt
To: The United States Congress
Dated: 5 April, 1933
Presidential Executive Order 6102Forbidding the Hoarding of Gold Coin, Gold Bullion and Gold Certificates By virtue of the authority vested in me by Section 5(b) of the Act of October 6, 1917, as amended by Section 2 of the Act of March 9, 1933, entitled
An Act to provide relief in the existing national emergency in banking, and for other purposes
in which amendatory Act Congress declared that a serious emergency exists,
I, Franklin D. Roosevelt, President of the United States of America, do declare that said national emergency still continues to exist and pursuant to said section to do hereby prohibit the hoarding gold coin, gold bullion, and gold certificates within the continental United States by individuals, partnerships, associations and corporations…
[Source, The Privateer Gold Pages, The Roosevelt Gold Confiscation Of April 5, 1933]
IRS Update September 19, 2008 10:46 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Economy, Touchy Subjects , add a commentUPS just delivered an envelop one inch thick from the IRS. Whee!
add a commentBushanomics September 19, 2008 8:06 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Politics, Touchy Subjects, United States , add a comment
Commenter Horn56 keeps it real:
…Bush had nothing to do w/ bill that lead to the mortgage crisis and banks collapsing, but he’s not clean and innocent from this situation either.
To blame Clinton is to only look at date of who was in office. The bill was written by 3 republicans after 20 years and $300 million in lobbying, passed by the republican dominated congress and shoved into an “essential spending measure” Clinton had to sign. I believe only 6 democrats voted “yea” on this, and that was only after they added privacy stipulations to the sales of loans.
There was nothing in this that applied directly to how you can give a loan, it just made the banks feel more secure in giving loans to unqualified people thinking they now had a backing if the loan was not repaid. Of course with everything being sold on speculation now because of this change in laws, the money wasn’t really there to back anything. One deadbeat after another started to default on the loans they couldn’t afford and never should of been given, the backing was not really there…peace banks.
The fact that the main person that wrote this bill deregulating banks, who also wrote the legislation that deregulated energy and allowed oil to be sold the way it s now, was named as one of McCain’s top advisors… If McCain claims to not understand the economy, and the economic adviser he picked caused the problem, who exactly is going to fix it if he gets in?
It’s still a very funny picture and caption!
add a commentNo more OPEC?! September 11, 2008 12:33 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Economy, Environment, Politics, Touchy Subjects, World Politics , add a commentYesterday I was reading about OPEC wanting to cut production by 550 million550,00* barrels a day and wherever I was reading that commented that the cuts would amount to more oil than the US could produce if they drilled all US land and territories. Not sure if I believe that. But the point is that OPEC is powerful. Er, was.
Saudi Arabia walked out on OPEC yesterday. It said it would not honor the cartel’s production cut. It was tired of rants from Hugo Chavez of Venezuela and the well-dressed oil minister from Iran.
As the world’s largest crude exporter, the kingdom in the desert took its ball and went home.
…
OPEC has made no announcement to the effect that it is dissolving, but the process is already over.
Of course, I’m not an economist so I have no idea if this is a good or bad thing.
Update: A friend explains that this is good for the United States in that gas prices will go down but bad for the world because greenhouse gases will go up.
Update: *Thanks to Brian Arner for the correction!
add a comment2/3s of the way there! September 9, 2008 11:34 am
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Blog, Communications, Economy, Publishing, Technology, Touchy Subjects , 4commentsI feel like a presidential candidate asking for 20 people to donate $5 each to send Cathy and Sarah to BlogHer Nashville. Some amazingly wonderful people have contributed to sending Cathy and Sarah to BlogHer! Sarah is thrilled! Cathy is so jazzed that she wants to be a panelist at BlogHer 2009. So if you are attending a BlogHer event, be sure to whisper loudly within earshot of the organizers, "Gee, I sure wish Cathy McCaughan of Domestic Psychology were speaking." Sarah and Cathy are going to come back with their blogs on fire like never before! We are a 7 person household and 6 of those people have blogs! (that doesn’t include Facebook and MySpace etc.) We are "The Family That Blogs Together." With 5 children in 5 different schools this year, such a trip would not be feasible without your help. Thank you!
4commentsUS Government Mob Style August 27, 2008 12:06 pm
Posted by Doug McCaughan in : Daily Life, Economy, Touchy Subjects , 7commentsToday the IRS chose to empty one of my bank accounts. Any funds I put in that account go straight to Uncle Sam. I apologize to anyone whose checks bounce (Knox County Schools) because of this but I have no control over my government that is so desperate to fund an illegal war that it is willing to starve a 7 person household and threaten to put them on the streets. And all of this over not filing taxes for one year that I didn’t make any money and another year that I barely made enough money to sustain myself. [Update: This may have less to do with unfiled taxes and more to do with a (once small) lingering tax debt that haunts me from an old business.Nope. This totally has to do with an unfiled tax return. Irony: Had I filed, I would have been due a refund! Yes, the IRS sent me letters and yes I was taking action to avert this. It still hit me out of the blue.]
For the record, they overdrew my account by $102 dollars. Not only does your government have the legal authority to financially ruin you, make you homeless, and starve you to death, they can withdrawal more money than you have resulting a huge number of bank fees.
People, always file your taxes!
More to come after I buy a lottery ticket and a bottle of scotch. I mean, after I make some phone calls.
The irony in this type of situation is that I should be working my tail off right now to be able to pay the debt but instead of working I have to spend the entire day on the phone with the IRS negotiating with a manager to suspend collections for one year (of course, the house will have a lien on it during that year) by sending them a good awful amount of paperwork via fax which is billed monthly to the account that no longer has money in it to pay for the fax service (of course I could go to Kinko’s and use my bank card to…oh right, no money in the bank..no faxing from Kinko’s). When not talking to the IRS I have to be trying to get a lawyer to talk to me "um, retainer? well, see, the IRS took all my money.."
Update: A barrage of emails sent re IRS. Now we wait on those while sending some faxes on an unrelated issue that has to be played out like a chess game. I get a bonus move on that one then its up to them again.
Update: The tension in my wife’s voice is killing me.
Update: Newscoma has some commenters on the topic. And Michael Silence noted it.
Update 8/28/2008: What a great day!
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