Do It, Arnold

Tagged as: Money, Political, Seen-Around Jul 01

The whole situation with the California budget crisis is ridiculous. It is looking very likely that California will have to issue IOUs as the new fiscal year rolls around. How did we get into this pickle? The recession! The decreased revenue from falling property taxes and lack of state income taxes from those who are not working has left the Golden State in a huge predicament. $24.3 BILLION?? That is ridiculous.

In the special election on May 19, 2009, the people of this state voted against the increased taxes that were proposed. I am a fairly modest supporter of our Governator as he is standing against the tide. I agree with his observation that the people of California are sick and tired of living in the most taxed state of the United States of America! Even though he has not always been my favorite politician (really who is?), I am glad that he is attempting to stand for what he thinks that the people want.

Democratic state politicians on the other hard are, inexplicably, ridiculous. While they, too, are trying to stand for what they think that the people want, they are doing it in a way that is illogical. From trying to find loopholes to pass the budget with a simple majority (since they can’t pass what they want without Republican support) to trying to pass tax increases along with budget cuts, they are not making the process extremely difficult. They are still trying to get theirs while seeming to not understand what basic tasks they need to do in order to get the state’s finances in order.

Let us put it simply: California needs to cut its costs. It doesn’t have the money and at this point it is not reasonable to increase the taxes that it imposes on its population. At some point people are going to get tired of paying so much for the privilege of wonderful weather (and horrible smog). I wonder if the politicians know this. Maybe good old Mr. Olympia himself knows.

10th Amendment

Tagged as: Money, Political, Rant Feb 13

“The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

This is the 10th amendment to the United States Constitution, which effectively limits the power that the central government has. Have we forgotten this? Whatever happened to letting states decide things for themselves? Or even more, giving the rights to the people (without having it become a law).

On the cusp of the likely signing into law of the Economic Stimulus Plan by President Obama, I can’t help but wonder how we got to this place. This place is one where the federal government gets to control so much of such a wide variety of areas. Will spending more of (essentially) our money revive us? I have my doubts as that has been tried before by FDR’s administration.

This whole administration change has been interesting while I’m reading Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand, who would likely say that what President Obama stands for some of the most ultimate in evil because he is taking from the competent and giving to the incompetent.*

Check out the 10th Amendment Center.

What can we do? Perhaps decentralize the government a bit, huh? Not only is the government fairly unable to spend all of that money in a wise way, but they (at least in my mind) are going against the founding documents that this country is based on. Pragmatists will argue that desperate times call for desperate measures, but ideals are not just nebulous vapor. They are the foundation. Don’t let the foundation rot just so that the roof has new shingles. You can imagine the effect or even perhaps read about it here.

* – Amusingly, I say this as if I know Rand even though I’m only halfway through the novel. So if you know contrary please let me know but don’t spoil the novel for me!

For The Love Of The Game

Tagged as: Entertainment, Money, NBA Jan 05

I do enjoy myself some National Basketball Association. The Los Angeles Lakers have been doing fairly well, and I must say that I’m happy about that. If you’re wondering, I’m not a band wagon fan unlike many other people in southern California!

Sometimes, though, I stop and think about the marketing for the NBA. “I love this game”?? Yeah, I’m sure that they love it so much. But what if they weren’t getting paid millions of dollars to play it? What if they only made the average salary of an American in 2007, which is $50,233? Okay let’s be generous and just go with an even $100,000. I doubt that we would get the talent that we have now because people wouldn’t devote their entire lives to getting better at the sport. Parents would force their kids to go through endless numbers of camps and drills in order to just get that perfect arc on their shot. They definitely wouldn’t spend every moment of the day in a gym. Well at least not the majority of them. I’m sure that some of them would still work just as hard because they really do love the game. But I’m sure that some of them would have to pursue other more lucrative careers that they could be successful at (such as rapping or investment banking).

Love the game? Yeah, not so much.

How is it that we live in a world where the player of a game (which I admittedly enjoy watching and participating in) can make many many times the amount of money of someone who is saving lives as a fireman? Or putting their lives on the line as policemen. Or helping the downtrodden. Money sure isn’t a direct correlation to importance in the grand scheme of things, is it?

How inequitable! But what else can I expect from a world tainted by sin?

What Are You Trying To Pull Here?

Tagged as: Amusing, Money Oct 10

I went to Marie Callender’s in order to get a pie (they’re on sale) a few days ago. Specifically I went to go get a Double Cream Blueberry.

As I was walking out of the house I made sure that I had enough money, and I also grabbed a handful of coins off of my bookcase because I was running low in my car. So I get to Marie Callender’s and order my pie. Since I had a tin (they require a 50 cent deposit on them to make sure that people bring ‘em back) the cost was $6.99. I looked in my wallet, and I saw that I had one each of $20, $10, $5, and $1 bills. Sweet! So I grabbed the $5 and the $1 bills and started rummaging in the handful of change that I grabbed out of my car as I was getting out. I saw that I had 3 quarters, 3 dimes, a nickel and 3 pennies. (On another note, is it sad that I still remember all of this a few days later?) Sweet again! I can make over 99 cents with the coins that I had so I didn’t have to get more change.

The cashier starts looking at the coins (understandable since she needs to count it out), and she starts to mildly protest. I wonder what’s up, and she asks me what “this” is? She’s holding up one of the quarters. And…it’s a Chinese coin. Oh my, I am slightly embarrassed. Then I realize that I’m going to have to take all of the money back since I couldn’t make another 25 cents. Haha I felt pretty silly having to take it back and give over the $10 bill. Thankfully the cashier didn’t seem to mind too much. She did make a comment that it was Japanese or something, to which I mumbled, “Er yeah something like that.” I was too sheepish to correct her.

The whole time after that I was thinking that she might have thought, “What is this Asian guy pulling here?” So Marie Callender’s cashier, if you’re reading this, it was an honest mistake. I wasn’t trying to cheat. It’s also kind of unrelated, but I’m really not that Asian that I usually carry around Asian currency with me.

Driving ~ Playing The Stock Market

Tagged as: Money, Seen-Around Jul 31

Lots of people drive. Although perhaps we should rethink the way that we do it, what with the amount of money we’re sinking into our traveling. While there is much to think about (least of all are my Tips For Saving Gas), you can also find lessons that aren’t initially obvious. And by you, I mean me.

Driving everyday to work has taught me a few things. One thing that I’ve recently noticed is how it seems to me that I need to just chill when I’m driving. That is, it does no good to constantly switch lanes in order to try to get ahead. While I may get ahead a little bit, just a single wrong choice, and I’ve lost all that I’ve worked so hard to get.

So it is with stocks as well.

• Fairly common advice is that you should buy for the long term. The extra stress, work, and volatility are said to just not be worth it. That is, you could do all of that work and still end up at the same place as someone who just set it and left it. And that definitely happens to people when they’re switching lanes trying to get around all of the other people. It’s perhaps even more noticeable since a good deal of the road that I drive is 2 lanes.
• Don’t be shocked if something abruptly happens to you. If you’re going someplace and you need to be on time, isn’t it always better to be early and prepared rather than cutting it as close as possible? That way, if something happens, you’ll have some leeway to recover. And don’t you dare go putting all over your money into 1 stock. Or even all of your money into stocks!
• Notice patterns. When driving the same route everyday, I start to get a sense of how things are. That is, some lanes are more apt to progress more quickly because of the traffic flow. And I start to notice how lights are set up so I know whether it’s worth it to bust my butt to make the light. Alright so maybe that’s hard to make into some lesson for stocks because the whole deal with the stock market is that people are trying to predict what companies are going to do. And it’s only partially based on past performance. Still, take that past into account when doing your stock-picking thing.

The comparison doesn’t hold up completely, of course. While you don’t have to buy stocks, you do have to pick a lane to drive in. But you know what? I’m not concerning myself with making a perfect comparison.