Folks,

I believe so many of your posts are right on target. All this stimulus package achieves is making future generations pay for our “beyond our means” culture. Going into tremendous debt to “stimulate our economy” is short-sited.

Social Security is a great example. Well-meaning forefathers devised this program so that the elderly and ill would be protected. I believe SSI is a great thing, but look at what was done with it. The government borrowed from our REQUIRED contributions (matchd by our employers) to fund other things. Where are we now? Certainly, anyone my age (Gen-X) or younger will never receive a dime from what we paid. The same goes for the stimulus package — future generations will have to pay for poor decisions and will be impoverished.

In addition to disagreement with all of the porks in the package, the very signage of the act proved irresponsible. (Warning: this may offend Obama fans.) Instead of signing the bill in Washington, our president flew to Denver to sign it. Can you imagine how much that cost? It’s not like he just booked a coach flight with a discount airline. Any trip on Airforce One is quite expensive. It required numerous other planes to fly along with, immeasurable security measures in Denver, etc. The media portrayed this choice as brilliance to “get out of the muck of Washington.” That is nonsense!

Thanks,

Diana

People & the government need to stop using credit…and start paying off their debt as fast as they can. We all need to start preparing for the worse.

The medical information part is scary…people could steal my identity and mess up my health records. It is opening up the door for the government to decide on people’s care…ex. this person is too old for additional medical care/$ spent on them since they don’t have many years left.

I do not like the direction our country is headed. We have come too far from the godly foundation this country was started on.

By the way, pork is in almost every bill that comes up. This is no different, but because of the price tag it’s just being scrutinized more closely.

I think your parents must live in my community. I often wondered where the money was coming from as well for all that new construction. Because I was pretty sure my family’s financial situation was better than many of those folks’ situations, yet I knew they were also “spending” (borrowing apparently) more than us. If you’ve got the money, and want to take the risk, you can get one heck of a good deal on a nice house these days!

We as a society are spoiled! We think we deserve whatever we want whenever we want it. Most have not had to deal with real financial adversity before. Now that difficult decisions are having to be made, folks don’t want to sacrifice. It’s uncomfortable and yes, scary at times. I think it’s important to keep things in perspective. John Stossel had a great segment on this. Even most of the poor in the US are not really POOR. Compare to India, Africa, etc. Many of our “poor” have places to live, tv’s, cable, computers/internet, and resources to have plenty of healthy food to eat – not necessarily LOTS of food, or their favorite foods.

It is encouraging to read so many posts from people who are and have been willing to make those tough decisions and sacrifice their wants to be financialy responsible. I agree. We MUST hold the government to the same standards…but HOW?????

Stemkoski.com has a post on this very topic saying, “During the Great Depression news was controlled by publishers. News good or bad arrived much slower. There were much fewer sources of news and the news that did arrive was filtered at least to some. During the Great Depression positive news and talk of the New Deal as well as the physical effect of the New Deal and the influx of money into the economy eventually helped pull the United States out of the Great Depression.”

The reasons I want the stimulus to pass are personal, but a bit more broad too. Other people are losing their jobs at government (state, local, etc) institutions basically because of their lack of planning. We plan, but why doesn’t the government? It makes the most sense, right? Plan for that rainy day? I guess I don’t understand why people didn’t see this coming. In the town where my parents live, they have been building houses like mad for the past couple of years. Back in 2006, I remembering asking them, “Where is all the money coming from to buy these houses?”…well, now I know. That’s why there are 5-10 houses on every street that are for sale. I guess I just feel like we’ve seen this history before and have learned NOTHING. There’s good times and bad. That’s the nature of most economies.

I really don’t actually want the stimulus to pass because I think people should have to face the consequences of their actions. If they overspent and didn’t save, it really is only their own fault (in most cases, I realize there are exceptions to everything–e.g., lots unexpected medical expenses, etc). I think the government should be responsible too. Why can’t they have an Emergency Fund with one year’s of operating costs? I think they should have to. I guess I am just upset with the lack of responsibility going around. I think it’s dumb.

I don’t exactly know what I am trying to say anymore, so I’ll stop.

I know it’s hard to take a huge pay cut when you’re accustomed to making more, but sometimes that’s what you have to do. In 2007 my husband lost his management job in the advertising department of our local newspaper. He was a salaried employee with great benefits. We had a small emergency fund, but not nearly enough to completely support us.

So my husband took various jobs over the next 6 months until he landed the job he had now. Those jobs included selling ads for a phone book company, radio advertising sales, and yes, janitorial work. He worked the 10 p.m. to 3 a.m. shift cleaning the local YMCA for several months. It wasn’t the greatest, but it paid the bills. Well, it paid the bills along with the sales jobs he was working during the day.

2007 was a really tough year. On the other hand, what we went through really made us realize that we needed to get control of our spending, save a great emergency fund, and pay off our debts, and we’re better people for it.

I guess I say all this, so you will all understand I don’t criticize the stimulus package lightly. It stinks to have to work two jobs to make ends meet. It stinks to lose two jobs in the course of one year. But let’s make sure the fix will actually fix the problem at hand, rather than prolong the problem into another generation.

Shana – my family (my husband and I and our 3 sons 13, 12, 10) does have at least a year’s worth of expenses saved by not spending frivolously. We rarely eat out, go to the movies, and spend very little on clothing. I do however pay a heck of a lot in taxes – which the gov’t wastes most of in my opinion. You cannot convince me to go spend more now. If we lose our jobs, we’ll need our savings to tide us over. I’m telling you, if we weren’t hearing 50X a day from the media how awful it is, we wouldn’t know any better and we would spend our money as usual. The media is fueling the panic.

Marci – YOU ROCK!!! You go girl!

My point was that I’m accustomed to billing much more than that, and that people think it’s now ok to request highly skilled work for savagely sub-par rates. I mean, when was the last time you heard of a janitor making more than a technical writer? ;)

Shana’s last blog post..Lifewise is not so Budget Wise

Yes, you can make that dinner for $10, but what about the restaurant where I ate and my friend and I were the only diners? That’s waitstaff and a business potentially losing their livelihood because people are unwilling to spend $15 a person on a meal once or twice a month.

I’m all for people being financially responsible, saving for a rainy day and not abusing credit. I’m also all for people doing their part in helping the economy in times like these.

That said, I *do* go and spend some money in my community. :) Not a lot, but a little.

Spending a little extra money is not about bailing out those who made poor decisions, it’s about helping to support your local and national economy. Not spending any extra money just creates a greater chasm between those with money and those without, and increases the odds of a depression starting.

Remember, it took *20* years for the economy to recover after the depression starting in 1929 ended.

It’s not my intention to sound like I’m attacking anyone. It’s just, well, I feel quite strongly about this…

Shana’s last blog post..Lifewise is not so Budget Wise