Building the deficit

President-elect Barack Obama just announced that he, acting upon the advice of economists from both sides of the aisle, will be spending more money than budgeted for as much as two years in order to keep us out of a depression. This brings to mind government salaries.

I don't know about the readership of this little journal (in fact, I don't know if there is a readership of this little journal), but I know that its author would love to make federal pay. The members of the President's Cabinet all will make nearly $200,000 a year for as long as they serve. The President himself will make $400,000. Many other officials in the various branches will top $100,000. To be fair, many of these people are taking significant pay cuts from their private sector jobs, but that leads to my thought: their savings are safe. In the case of our President-elect and our Vice President-elect, they will have their room, board, transportation, utilities, and even entertainment paid for as perks of the job.

It would merely be a symbolic gesture, but what a gesture it would be if all members of the Obama administration voluntarily donated part or all of their federal salaries to the rescue efforts going on. For a President elected because he was truly of the people, it would be a great symbol of how he was still connected to the people and not above their suffering. It wouldn't change the fact that Obama, like many of his advisers, is worth over $1 million. It wouldn't change the fact that none of them will need to worry about foreclosure or bankruptcy in the near future. It wouldn't even make a discernible dent in the amount of money that will be poured into this deficit spending.

As I said, though, it sure would be one hell of a gesture.

I hate TV euphemisms

They wouldn't have dared to do this while Carlin was still alive. Or would they have?

On the brink...

At first it was barely thinkable. Then it became a remote possibility. Subsequently, it was increasingly likely, believable, probable, and, finally, inevitable. Now that it appears to have happened, I'm still in awe of the way that this country seems to have come together -- truly come together in a historic way, with more registered voters participating than ever before -- and done something that was unthinkable not so long ago. Now, I just hope that he doesn't let us all down. It would be a worse tragedy than any other this electoral season if so many new voters stepped up to the plate and entrusted one man with their hopes and dreams only to then become disillusioned with the whole process.

Sitting at home is more comfortable than standing in the cold.

I almost saw John McCain tonight. Don't get me wrong, I'm not exactly a fan of his. In fact, I've liked him increasingly less the entire time I've lived in Arizona. I have never had the opportunity to vote against him before this year, but I voted against Jon Kyl and considered it close enough.

John McCain has decided to visit Prescott, Arizona tonight. Back in 1964, Barry Goldwater decided to announce his candidacy from the steps of Prescott's courthouse. It was a proud moment in Prescott history, and Goldwater is still revered in Arizona and throughout the country as a politician and as a man. It has gone down in the annals of history how Prescott catapulted President Goldwater to victory. Well, anyways, John McCain visited the courthouse a few months ago and apparently decided to end his campaign in his (and my) backyard.

I viewed this as an ideal opportunity to get myself as close to a presidential election as I am likely to be any time in the near future and to take a group of students along with me. With a lot of last-minute planning, I was all ready to leave when everything was sidetracked by a lack of kids to take. Turns out, all of the eager students who wanted so desperately to get a front-row look at politics arranged other rides and left me with an almost-empty van. That, combined with the prospect of spending my entire evening among the unwashed masses, listening to a country singer unworthy of his name, hearing stump speeches from people I voted against weeks ago in order to see Mr. McCain show up at midnight and then finally getting back on campus some time significantly after 2 in the morning, was enough to lead me to call off the trip.

It's all for the best, I guess. At least I get to keep my mental image of downtown Prescott unsullied by the hate and nonsense that I would have to witness otherwise.

First!

Here is the thought that gave birth to this journal*:

I wish that I made enough money for Barack Obama to want to raise my taxes.

I've been teaching long enough to have substantial debt. I know that there are many, many people with more debt than I have, but I really have no desire to think about their debilitating finances when I have my own with which to grapple. I graduated from college owing a couple dozen millibucks to Nelnet, picked up a car that costs me $454 a month, then got married. Then had a child.

We have subsequently run up enough credit debt that we have virtually no credit left, even though we are working as hard as we can to pay it all down. Having both of us in school again really isn't helping with the finances, even though it means that my student loans go on hold for another two years. Here's the big problem, though. I make $30,000 a year**. Sure, I don't need to pay for room and board because of the nice deal where I work, but I make $30,000 a year. This is before tax, to support a family of three with a car payment and credit cards.

I'd like to break down where that $30,000 goes. If I actually were to receive every cent of it, I'd get $1153.85 every two weeks, adding up to $2307.70 each month. After taxes and Social Security and whatever else, though, I actually bring home $996.93 every two weeks, $1993.86 each month, and $25,920.18 in a year. Once our car payment, insurance, and Netflix are gone, we have about $1325 left for our other monthly bills. Meeting minimum payments on our phones and credit cards reduces our monthly income to about $900. Driving is not something that we view as a luxury any more, nor do we go out to eat much, but the child needs diapers, the animals need food, the cat needs litter, and we do need to keep a certain amount of milk and cereal in the house. With the cost of gas as it is, this brings us into the range of $750 a month for anything extra that our family wishes to do. This would include investing in our future, investing in our child's future, fixing the car, buying unexpected necessities or extra treats, and maintaining basic courtesies like sending gifts to people. If we were capable of being truly disciplined and actually setting aside half of that $750, we would be able to save $4500 a year.

We aren't able to save that kind of money, though, because we have family obligations that keep us driving a few hundred miles a month or flying 4000 miles a year. We do indulge in extras (eating at IHOPplebee's instead of McDonald's) and we do even get the oil changed in the car occasionally. We are putting money into the bairn's account, but we keep losing money in our own because of overdraft fees (here's an area for federal oversight: why should someone with a $5 balance be charged $105 for purchasing three items that all cost less than $10?). When everything is taken into account, I think it's pretty remarkable that we are managing to do as well as we are on $25,920.18 (tip of the hat to the wife/financial wizard)! If we had ten times that amount pre-tax, I think we could stand to eat 5% more in payments to the federal government.

Hell, if we had ten times that amount pre-tax, I might eventually be able to retire.

*Call it what you will, but I still don't like "blog".
**My wife makes a small stipend as well, but spends her time being a full-time student and a full-time mother. Any income that she could bring in by working more hours would be more than offset by the money put out for child care expenses and, to be honest, neither of us is willing to turn our child over to someone else for rearing. We shouldn't need to be.