It has been a while I have had one of my money talks conversations here at Lil’ Suburban Homestead and the reason they are few and far between is because while I am good at being frugal, and I’m a great bargain hunter I am by no means a financial expert or a finance enthusiast but I do have friends who are!
But I do have thought, opinions, and reflections……and one of my opinions is because our government doesn’t want to make any decisions at all. That decision is the portion that affects me is that for every $50,000 middle america makes we give yet another $1000 back to the government(this is how our local news reported it). I don’t like it and while I am all for team work when appropriate I believe our government does not want to roll up their sleeves and do the real work that needs to be done. It makes me angry and for many of us in America it will mean we don’t get to on vacation this year or we will cut back on important services such as our veterinary or dental care by the way both are services that people typically drop when things get tough financially.
Many news reports shared, “Well this is better than the fiscal cliff actually happening”. First of all I’m a big believer in things that I cannot see, so just because I did not see the fiscal cliff doesn’t mean I didn’t believe it was there but I am a big believer in things I do see and I see people struggling financially and frustrated with our current economy everyday and the sad thing is the problems are bigger than we can fix. We keep hoping that we will elect officials into office that can fix things but I believe big government is too big and too huge for any one person to fix unfortunately.
You see I don’t mind being frugal and eating our meals at home most of the time I prefer it because I know the quality of the food is better than what most people are eating out. I also love to go camping which means frugal vacations are some of my favorite and fun but if gas continues to rise that may be another option we don’t have. What I do mind is that the government or the powers that be felt like that was the fix let’s let folks sweat it out some more I mean they are doing good so far. I hope that the powers that be aren’t just trusting what they are seeing on the surface thinking that Americans are just some fat cats soothed by McDonalds and Netflix because there are some major undercurrents and lots of anger and tempers flaring right now I read it in some of the blogs I read, I see it on Twitter, and I hear it from friends and even strangers while I am out shopping.
The sad part is that this is a quick fix not mean to really fix anything but to put a band-aid on things financially and it kind of reminds me of levee soon that will break. I try to be optimistic most of the time but I’m not feeling super optimistic right now. How are all of you feeling? What do you think of the fiscal cliff deal? Do you think like I do that we are back in a recession? If you think the fiscal cliff deal is a good thing from your perspective please share with me why you do think that.
I am solution oriented so I will be posting some ideas I have on saving more money in a world where prices are continuing to rise and raises are few and far between.
Just musing this Sunday evening…..Have a good week everyone!
Fondly,
Related articles
- Fiscal Cliff? What Fiscal Cliff? (americanliberaltimes.com)
- 365 Frugality Tips: Welcome to the Year of Renewed Frugality (suddenlyfrugal.com)
- We’re About to Go Off the Fiscal Cliff – Now What? (mint.com)
- The so called fiscal cliff is over! (honsonluma.wordpress.com)
- Get Stuff Done by Creating Your Own Personal “Fiscal Cliff” (jonathansmith.com)
- Going Over the Fiscal Cliff: Denim or Silk? (towriteistowrite.wordpress.com)
- Despite the Fiscal Cliff, Are Americans More Optimistic About 2013? (suddenlyfrugal.com)
Oh, I could go on and on and on. Where’s my soap box? I can’t find my soap box right now. But in my opinion (and I have been doing a lot of studying and reading about it over the past several years) we are living in a house of cards. Our politicians keep on kicking the can down the road, but every time they kick it, the can goes less far than it did before. This fiscal cliff bandaid will last a month or so, then they will kick, they will punt, they will throw the Hail Mary pass, they will do everything they can to keep trying to shore up our house of cards. But sooner or later (and I think it will be much sooner than later) the house will collapse. And when it does, it will be very, very, very sudden and ugly. Banks will close. There will be riots. That, in my opinion, is why Obama and others want to get guns out of everyone’s hands — now. They know what’s coming and they can’t stop it. Our economy is too far gone. We’re in big trouble. We fought for Liberty against our tyranical government once. We are going to have to do it again. We ask the government to do everything for us and thereby become its sevant. Google Thomas Jefferson quotes. Read them in light of what is happening to us today. Deja vu all over again. Sorry, I guess I didn’t even need that soap box. Thanks for a thought provoking post. Keep them coming.
My opinion echos the one of a cartoon I reposted on Facebook. (sorry, I am not smart enough to repost it here) It shows the earth, with our government standing at the edge of the fiscal cliff, represented by a small bump on the surface of the Earth. Meanwhile people representing the rest of the world are standing by a deep fissure that goes goes 3/4 through the globe and spreads in all directions. They are thinking, “I wonder how they are going to deal with this environmental cliff”. I hope you can picture this.
Their “fiscal cliff fix” didn’t work.
We never got out of recession.
They lied. They lie. They can’t tell the truth.
You know, Karen Lynn, I am by nature a fearful person, so it makes me feel “safe” to be proactive by canning/preserving food, stocking up, and learning to have simpler tastes. I don’t suppose that things will really ever get better, so to me, I’d rather just do what I can rather than get upset about it. I don’t mind that others are–I completely understand–it’s just self-preservation for me.
One of the things that really helps us is to live WAY below our means. We save what we don’t use and stretch what we do. We are not as good as others in our stretching and we do eat out when we want to (mostly when we are out and about, which is not too often), but we are doing well enough. I am learning smarter gardening, which I’m hoping will yield more and more to put up. I could go on and on, but I’m sure you are doing many of these things too.
Have a great day! 🙂
We are so likeminded Kristi I knew that when we found each other online! We will just have to keep inspiring and encouraging each other. Thank you so much for your comment and for taking the time to stop in!
Yes, we will! And it’s my pleasure, Karen Lynn! 😀
I, also, have bees, chickens and an organic produce farm, so really have come to enjoy your blog. Each year, I meet more and more people, at our farmer’s market booth, who are embracing a more frugal and healthy way of living. Contributions like yours can really make a difference and already have for me. Love your recipes!
Just wanted to add to your information on one topic. The $1000 tax “increase” that your media has misrepresented is actually just the expiration of the 2011 temporary tax cut on earned wages. It was meant to give the economy a boost during the recession. We had all paid this tax (most had it withheld as SS tax and never paid any attention to it) for years and years but got a bonus for the last two years. The reduction of 2% on $50,000 is $1000.
From the Social Security Admin: “The Temporary Payroll Tax Cut Continuation Act of 2011 reduced the Social Security payroll tax rate by 2% on the portion of the tax paid by the worker through the end of February 2012. The Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 extended the reduction through the end of 2012. Under current law, this temporary reduction expires at the end of December 2012.”
Sorry if this got long. I am a retired CPA and tend to get hung up on numbers.
Thanks again
Thank you Gwen for sharing your knowledge I myself just kind of crunch the information and process as best I can but since I just got notified at work in a letter that the temporary decrease was over I was kind of glad you sent me your comment it helped me to connect the dots 🙂