The Bush Tax Rebate Plan

Bush Tax Rebate Plan White Paper  <- Click to see your rebate

There’s a lot of anticipation and speculation about the tax rebate plan effective the upcoming filing period. Washington should be complemented for an effort to to throw a lifeline to the sinking economy but I’m not so sure this will breathe life back into the existing state of the economy alone. The idea is that rebate receivers will go out spend the additional funds, thus boosting the economy. Some will, some will never see it, some will simply invest it or sit on it.

The ones that won’t see it are the ones that have IRS balances, or will have. I don’t think the IRS is going give money to taxpayers that owe them. That’s something they are not known for, even if they were, most people would still simply send it back to pay off tax balances.

Then consider the large number of homeowners and investers hit with a huge loss of home equity in the last  year,  credit card debt, inflation, and the uncertainty of the economy, and its a sure bet a large chunk of these rebates will ever find their way out of the bank and into the retail arena. But then, the administration didn’t plan to it for this segment,  quote “Proposed stimulus measures linked to housing and mortgages are no longer a top priority after being discussed in White House talks that began in late November”, the official said. ( http://www.freedom4um.com/cgi-bin/readart.cgi?ArtNum=70628 )  Most households will use the rebate to pay down debt or boost savings and investments. The key words here are pay down. Being able to pay off would benefit the taxpayer and the economy.  

Depending upon the size of one’s debt, and the amount of the rebate, this may or may not have an impact on the debt or the economy. Don’t get me wrong, with the state the economy has fallen into, every little bit is welcomed by all affected, but I don’t think this is going to pull a lot of people out of foreclosure or boost the job market. Eight hundred dollars is a stretch to acquire that computer and necessary trimmings for that home based business start up that could realistically contribute to the economy. This is fast money designed to be spent faster. And that’s pretty much going to be the way this pans out.

The recipients that can afford to spend it will do just that, splurge, and close the case. Where and how they spend it would determine the impact and outcome of the plan. Something Washington can’t control, and I feel is the flaw.

Be sure to click the link at the top of this post for a breakout and view of your proposed rebate. It would be interesting to hear  diverse input on this.

Bandit’s Corner

Hi there,

I apologize for for the time that has passed since my last post, but I’ve been really busy. Guarding this house, playing with my owners daughter, sniffing out tidbits here and there, and just taking care of all the responsibilities of being a dog. I watch this place day and night and I’m serious about it.

I did get down to the Pet Expo in Timmonium MD a couple of weeks ago. And I enjoyed myself. I sniffed until my sinuses started acting up. Food, other dogs, vendors just giving away treats like there was no tomorrow. I met a Yorkshire Terrier, that was too fine! She was groomed wearing a pink bandanna, and had the cutest brown eyes. My owner started this come on Bandit nonsense, tugging on my lease while I was trying to get my introductory sniff on. He would have done well if he had followed the lease from the Yorkie’s neck up to who was holding it, that wasn’t bad either, but he didn’t see all that. Something to do with being married.  Any way, I reluctantly watched this beautiful terrier wag an oh so fine hind quarters away from me. That’s okay, there were hundreds of dogs there, I saw a Great Dane I tried to set up a future date in a dog park with, but my owner started again, “She’s too big for you” Maybe I like big women dogs, he doesn’t know. Next year I leave him home!

You know, people wear some run-over shoes. Other people can’t see like I can ( being two feet high and the ability to sniff super low). I saw a man with a pair of shoes where the soles were so thin, if he stepped on some bubble gum, he was sure to taste the flavor. And I saw this lady, in heels, so worn, they looked like flip flops. (Who wears heels to a Pet Expo anyway?) People with too tight shoes, too loose shoes, just interesting observations from my angle.

All in all I had fun. My owner an I have moved our blog from google to this location. More features and they are all free.  So now that we’re somewhat settled in we can begin posting regularly  again.

For now, I’m gonna go, I have to get back to my guard duties. I’ll be back soon………..stay tuned.

Bandit

The Presidential Race

The current presidential race is surely one of the most interesting and intriguing  one we have seen in years. It contains none of the “usual suspects”, as the line up has an African American, a female,  there was an actor, there is the millionaire governor, and some participants no one knew before.  This has all the makings of a good drama on any campaign night. They all have contributed to a fresh face lift to what was a stodgy good old boy private club.

Most refreshing, however is the platforms and agendas they are presenting, and how they are presenting them. Some of the debates were real sparring sessions  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MD9F1t9GQzA  at times no holds barred, but yet not low down and dirty. There are several life lessons to be learned from the candidates and this race in general.

• The main one (politicians themselves seem to forget this one everytime),  watch what you say, and what agendas you embrace through life, someone somewhere may hold you to it someday. Be ready to defend your life’s decisions, and positions whether they are popular or not.
• Study your adversary, and attack the weak and ambiguous positions (this is exactly what the Giants did to win the Superbowl by the way). Don’t get mad, get ahead.
• Back and believe in people based on their character and sincerity, not their ethic origin, gender, or religious preferences. If ethinic , gender, and religious traits genuinely blend into the recipe that works, accept it with the total platform. They should never be the single and only reason for any decision making process. Ask yourself,  are they who they say they are and , are they who I need them to be? 
• Don’t be forced into your allegiances by popular pressure or media influence. It’s your life you are living, and what works for you isn’t supposed to work for everyone else and vice versa.
• When competing, don’t expect the opposition to always play fair. You are in for you, if you are prepared, you won’t have to resort to back bar room tactics. You can succeed and maintain your integrity along with the success.
• Last but not least, deliver on anything you committed to or promised. The same road that got you where you are, will be the same one to lead you away if you had no intentions of following through on any of your agenda.

Sit back enjoy the presidential race, but most of all, vote. If you don’t vote, don’t complain.