The Economy

[Narrock]

Is anybody feeling the noose tighten? Are you having to cut back on spending? And to rub salt in the wound... Federal income tax is going up (again) in January.

[Jay]

I went from a rather comfortable lifestyle to a much stricter budget after reinvesting into my business w/ remodeling and such. Had to shut down a couple of coffee trucks and overall just cut back on little shit like eating at nice places and going out in general. It's not bad by any means but I definitely feel the "noose tighten" so to speak in some ways. Nothing a proper personal budget can't fix though.

[Arlos]

Income tax is ONLY going up if they don't re-enable the tax cuts, and they are ONLY going up by about 3% even if they do, just back to the same tax rate that existed during Clinton's presidency. Now, I don't know about anyone else, but somehow I don't recall being crippled by taxes in the 90s, even when I was making a lot. Hey too, even if they DO go up, they'll still be lower than they were under Reagan, where the top bracket maxed out at people making 55k a year, and was 50%....

The belief that somehow we are under a historically excessive tax rate these days is utterly and totally false. Even if the Bush tax cuts lapse, we'll still be at one of the lowest rates in the history of the country, going back to WW1. Hell, the max rate in the 50s (you know, a time of rather high prosperity) topped out at over *90* percent, and we somehow survived that....

Anyway, if you give me the choice of seeing a low tax rate rise by 3% for everyone vs adding 1.7 trillion to the deficit over 10 years (which is what the combined cost of the Bush tax cuts comes to), you know, I rather strongly prefer lowering the deficit. I don't even mind keeping the cuts around for most earners, but we sure as hell don't need to increase the deficit by 700 billion over 10 years to give the uber-rich yet another tax break. (just look at the tax rates for earnings via dividends, etc. vs actual WORK for an example of how the uber-rich already get a huge break.)

Oh, as for "noose-tightening", no, I'm not, not compared to a 1-2 years ago though, when the economy was in complete free-fall. I'm actually starting to see more nibbles on my resumes posted online, and seeing more and more businesses here in silicon valley slowly starting to resume hiring. So yeah, I'm still not working, but I'm getting by due to being in graduate school, but I am seeing more hopeful signs than I'm seeing nooses.

-Arlos

[Tikker]

economy here is booming

[brinstar]

Doing just fine here.

lrn2budget kthx

[10sun]

I quit my job after several months of being continually asked to work Saturdays and Sundays on top of Monday through Friday while refusing to give days off.

So I started working on a small construction team turning an old factory into a set of studios. The developer is a slimeball, but he only asks for a 20-25 hours a week and pays cash. Work will scale up to 40 hours a week once the sprinkler system is brought to code.

Took a hobby and made a small business around it; instead of picking up bikes for cheap, fixing them, and giving them to friends at cost, I've been flipping them for a couple thousand a month (variable, last month it was $1200, month before was just under $3000 after expenses). I try to keep a limited stock and my costs are nothing.

I'm enjoying this recession more than ever since this summer.

[leah]

the only real thing that's happened for me is that my property value is in the toilet along with everyone else's; however, i don't plan to move for another several years, so i expect by the time i'm ready to sell things will be OK again. otherwise, i'm just plugging along. haven't had a raise in almost a year, but it's been more than a year for most of the other people in my department, so i can't really complain too much. /shrug

[Zanchief]

If you're buying back into the same housing market it shouldn't make that much difference when you sell.

[Jay]

the only real thing that's happened for me is that my property value is in the toilet along with everyone else's; however, i don't plan to move for another several years, so i expect by the time i'm ready to sell things will be OK again. otherwise, i'm just plugging along. haven't had a raise in almost a year, but it's been more than a year for most of the other people in my department, so i can't really complain too much. /shrug

Plus you're probably gonna be taking maternity leave pretty soon right?

[leah]

i hate you.

[Jeddas]

I smolder with generic rage.

[Tossica]

I "downsized" big time last year but not because of the economy. I just got tired of being house poor and my GF and I had broken up so paying for the entire house myself was no an option for me. My new place is tiny but costs about 1/2 what my old house did. Sure is nice to have a surplus at the end of each month.

[Drem]

i dunno i'm as poor as i ever was so i don't even buy into this whole recession thing. not to mention job security in the fact that people, in general, no time soon, will ever want other people to stop doing menial tasks for them like cook their dinner

also i get boatloads of food from work or can buy it wholesale thru our purveyors so i spend like jack shit on groceries. pretty much only have to buy things to drink and baguettes

so in all honesty i can't tell any effects from this "recession" except for some of our clients not being able to afford it anymore or some of them scaling down, etc., which is fine because there are plenty of other clients to make up for it

but yea i don't feel this recession has affected my life in any way, really. obviously i'm not a home-owner, so, no trouble there

[KaiineTN]

This thread needs a Flink Youtube video imo.

Live rap battle between economists seems fitting:

[leah]

can someone cliffs notes for me what flink's video has to do with how the economy has affected him personally? i make it a point to not watch them but i'm curious as to the point of posting it.

[KaiineTN]

Cliff's notes:

[leah]

[Tikker]

what the hell does Ba'al have to do with anything