How do you handle your own budget?

In your personal life, lets say you are in debt ,000. You decide you want to eliminate this debt or at least get it down to a more comfortable level. Do you…

A. go buy a ,600 flat screen with your credit card or
B. invest your money in a company that says they have a project that offers a 10% return on your investment?

Please give your answer, your reasoning and your political stance
C. was not an option…but fine, C. would be equivalent to doing nothing at all (which is what some Republicans are saying we should do)
Bash: that is awesome of you as a son to do that for your mother…that is our social responsibility to do that, to help our family, our friends and our neighbors (and many do). It is not the responsibility of the government to do that nor is it the governments right to tell me that I have to do that. If she were in need, I would give on my own behalf and I do so regularly. I give my money to the causes I believe in and the things I want to support…that is my right to do that and I take great pride in doing so. See the difference? Spending money we don’t have on things that won’t help pay down that debt in the future is moronic. We will be worse off in 3 years once these projects are complete because then all those people will once again be without jobs, and the bills are still gonna be rolling in.

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How will raising taxes get us out of debt?

This is a serious question, and I would appreciate explanations on both sides of this issue.

As taxes are not a zero sum game. You can’t just say we’re going to raise taxes on the top 5% of earners and that will get us such and such revenue. It doesn’t work that way.
Now don’t get Democrat loopholes mixed up with this, such as sweetheart deals for companies such as GE and GM(Government Motors)
I think a plan that is in the work in the Senate as we speak, is a good thing. Lower the tax rate and eliminate loopholes. Again, most loopholes were put in place by Democrats, such as the one for corporate jets that Obama put in and was railing about. Mr. Duplicity himself
No, Andrew, It "Doesn’t" work that way. Stop talking about "Presidents" spending money and driving up deficits. Congress is the only body that can spend money. Democrat Congresses are to blame for "EVERY" huge deficit spike; under Reagan, and Bush(s)

And Clinton getting credit for what the Republican congress did, is laughable
and "BEREN", yes, it "ALWAYS" works that way. Actually, the difference in revenue intake is minimal; meaning you won’t get that much more by lowering taxes, and you won’t get that much less by raising them. But you "WILL" kill the economy by raising them
We have a "SPENDING" problem, not a revenue problem.

We spend close to twice what we currently take in. This is a problem that needs to be addressed…NOW
Again, Socrates, you’re operating on propaganda (limited facts, out of a body of information that will contradict your premise) Corporations didn’t pay much in taxes back then, as they had all kinds of tax shelters and loopholes. The U.S. actually makes the so called "rich" pay more of a percentage of the income taxes than any other country
I would propose a flat income tax that applies to "everyone", no exceptions, no loopholes

We cannot have half the population paying nothing in income taxes; it’s a manipulative politician’s dream.

Income taxes are suppressive, and punish production

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I need a Conservative/Republican answer to this?

I got into a debate about Scott Walker and his Budget Bill, and sadly I’m not very good at debating…This lady got onto the subject of world trade and stuff and I was wondering how I could respond to this. Thank you! Here is what she said-

With regard to our state and nation’s debt/deficit – it is real. The way one looks upon it is what makes the difference. The model for efficient governance is to cut WASTEFUL SPENDING, INVEST WISELY, and RAISE REVENUE to meet the needs of the state. The top 2% in this country are sitting on trillions of dollars of cash – having got obscene tax breaks for decades now which were supposed to be used to create jobs in this country ( all starting under George Bush). Those tax breaks were set to expire in 2010, however the newly Republican controlled Congress demanded that Obama make them permanent or extend them until 2012 or they threatened to shut the government down and cut off unemployment. You cannot expect to balance the state and federal budgets on the backs of the working class. Wall Street created the financial meltdown, Main Street( us) bailed them out ….and they are still trying to squeeze out more from the poor and middle classes. . Instead of creating jobs or spending money in our economy these people and corporations continue to invest or buy another castle, island, yacht , private jet, or set up shop in the next cheap-labor economy market. Busting the unions in this country is their "cheap-labor conservative" strategy. Also one final point on debt – banks, nations, credit card companies, etc…. profit off of debt. There is healthy debt and unhealthy debt. The debt to income ratio along with paying down debt is what is important. 4. Why do I think Scott Walker is doing a terrible job – I don’t appreciate his tactics of scapegoating a specific group of people and inciting blame, hate and fault which is the smoke and mirrors game behind unprecedented and over-reaching power grabs by the Executive Branch of Wisconsin State Government. ( Elimination, restructuring, privatization with no oversight and/or democratic input is the name of his game) This is akin to Fascist Dictatorship. The tax breaks he is offering to business ( that lost revenue has to be made up by either raising taxes or cutting spending. His budget raises taxes on the poor and makes draconian cuts to public education and healthcare for example. I also cannot support the Socially Conservative Christian Radical Religious Rights policies and attacks on the rights of women, the environment, minorities, immigrants, and gays. I believe in religious freedom and the separation of "church" and state. 5. With regard to Naomi Klein and the Shock Doctrine ( I’ve been following her work for years) Clearly the libertarian anarchists do not understand what this universal tactic is. It has been used the world over by governments in order to force radical change and control upon the people.


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    I need a Conservative/Republican answer to this?

    I got into a debate about Scott Walker and his Budget Bill, and sadly I’m not very good at debating…This lady got onto the subject of world trade and stuff and I was wondering how I could respond to this. Thank you! Here is what she said-

    With regard to our state and nation’s debt/deficit – it is real. The way one looks upon it is what makes the difference. The model for efficient governance is to cut WASTEFUL SPENDING, INVEST WISELY, and RAISE REVENUE to meet the needs of the state. The top 2% in this country are sitting on trillions of dollars of cash – having got obscene tax breaks for decades now which were supposed to be used to create jobs in this country ( all starting under George Bush). Those tax breaks were set to expire in 2010, however the newly Republican controlled Congress demanded that Obama make them permanent or extend them until 2012 or they threatened to shut the government down and cut off unemployment. You cannot expect to balance the state and federal budgets on the backs of the working class. Wall Street created the financial meltdown, Main Street( us) bailed them out ….and they are still trying to squeeze out more from the poor and middle classes. . Instead of creating jobs or spending money in our economy these people and corporations continue to invest or buy another castle, island, yacht , private jet, or set up shop in the next cheap-labor economy market. Busting the unions in this country is their "cheap-labor conservative" strategy. Also one final point on debt – banks, nations, credit card companies, etc…. profit off of debt. There is healthy debt and unhealthy debt. The debt to income ratio along with paying down debt is what is important. 4. Why do I think Scott Walker is doing a terrible job – I don’t appreciate his tactics of scapegoating a specific group of people and inciting blame, hate and fault which is the smoke and mirrors game behind unprecedented and over-reaching power grabs by the Executive Branch of Wisconsin State Government. ( Elimination, restructuring, privatization with no oversight and/or democratic input is the name of his game) This is akin to Fascist Dictatorship. The tax breaks he is offering to business ( that lost revenue has to be made up by either raising taxes or cutting spending. His budget raises taxes on the poor and makes draconian cuts to public education and healthcare for example. I also cannot support the Socially Conservative Christian Radical Religious Rights policies and attacks on the rights of women, the environment, minorities, immigrants, and gays. I believe in religious freedom and the separation of "church" and state. 5. With regard to Naomi Klein and the Shock Doctrine ( I’ve been following her work for years) Clearly the libertarian anarchists do not understand what this universal tactic is. It has been used the world over by governments in order to force radical change and control upon the people.
    Um, sure you can answer?


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      How should I approach my live-in boyfriend of 2 yrs. re: his money management before engagement (but coming)?

      My boyfriend of 2 years just moved in with me from another city and we’ve talked about marriage quite a bit; however, we have different views on spending money. I’m a saver/invester (life insurance, 401k, just bought a house and fixing it up to increase resale) and although he doesn’t blow his money, he isn’t saving for retirement (i.e.401k) and is carrying 4k of credit card debt that he’s slowly paying off (he isn’t using his CC anymore to avoid building the debt) He pays all his other bills, though, including 15k of student loans.

      I wouldn’t say he’s not responsible, but he doesn’t appear to see the importance of saving or taking care of his debt (or perhaps he’s avoiding the hassle). He works from home as a freelance writer and makes decent money, but he doesn’t have the option of direct deposit and gets no employee benefits like a 401k to make it easy for him to put the money away before seeing it in his paycheck. And now that he’s saving by living with me, he appears to be spending money on other things (not like crazy, but enough to notice) when (I think) he should be paying down his credit card debt.

      I’ve brought up the topic, but only in a half-joking way that probably comes across as condescending, but I don’t know how else to approach it. Getting engaged is probably going to happen in the next 6 months, but I honestly don’t want to start planning a wedding until he gets his financial ducks in a row. Since I don’t have a ring on my finger, I don’t feel I have the right to say what he should/shouldn’t do with his money, but at the same time I’m taking mental notes of how it could delay the next step in our relationship or cause problems down the road. I want to bring it up with him now so that he’s at least aware of my concerns so I can avoid being condescending, but I’m not sure how to approach the topic without him getting defensive.

      Other notes: I’m 28, he’s 29. My parents raised me to be very responsible with my money. I don’t know how his parents mentored him in money management, but I do know when they divorced when he was 16 they both went bankrupt, even though they lived comfortable previous to that. I came from a wealthier family, but that’s only because my parents worked their butts off and saved whatever they could. His parents are great and also worked hard for their money, but I don’t think they were ‘planners’ when it came to what they made.

      Please help!


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        will the us gov. ever get out of debt in the next 10 years.?

        why does the us gov. keep spending money that they don’t have?

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        How can I get out of debt when I am unable to make my payments?

        I am a music artist involved in a couple projects right now that have the promise of furthering my career into a profitable one, however I keep spending money on them and it’s keeping me from having enough money to make my creditors payments. I have credit card debt and school debt as well. I have thought about starting a company to legitimise my efforts, but will my company become in danger if creditors see it as an asset? Also, it might be hard to even start a company with bad credit, right?


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        How long does it take for your credit line to go up after paying off Discover balance?

        I am going to be paying off my discover card balance and it will make sense for me to transfer balances from other cards to my discover card once they offer the 0% APR for balance transfers for 6 months (which they always do when your card has a zero balance). Every time I’ve paid off the card in full, they’ve upped my credit line but I can’t remember how long it takes. It would be best for me to wait for this time and then transfer the balances… Anybody know how long it takes?

        (I know people are just going to say get out of debt blah blah blah but I’m working 50 hours a week and not spending money on anything besides food and rent (I don’t even have cable) and still having trouble keeping up with interest so playing "pass the buck" makes sense for now….)


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        Has anyone ever tried these Debt elimination programs?

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