Utah Lawmakers Take a 10% Pay Cut

Utah lawmakers decided to forgo the automatic yearly pay raise they gave themselves last year and take a 10% pay cut. That amounts to $13 a day. (They get $130 a day which, admittedly, isn't much.) Anyway, the thing that made me laugh was that opponents of the pay cut were talking about how a bigger cut would result in only rich people being able to afford to be legislators. Um...right. Are these guys are aware that here in Utah many people are getting much more than a 10% pay cut -- and they don't have additional jobs to fall back on.

But the pay cut doesn't tell the whole story. They may be forgoing the automatic pay raise, and taking a token pay cut, but they are all about retaining the perks they approved for themselves last go:

• New laptops for all the legislators.
• New private offices for many.
• New BlackBerrys for everyone.

The budgets were approved last year, true, but if our legislators were really interested in "sharing the pain" experienced by many Utahns, they would have denied themselves the perks as well, and let that money go back into the budget. After all, many budgets being slashed now were approved last year. $13 a day is hardly a sacrifice for most of our legislators.

Update: I'm a Rich ***hole!

This is why I love blogging. I got this as part of a comment on my rant about the economic stimulus package:

"Excuse me for saying, but you sound like some rich ***hole." (Not edited over at Yielding Wealth.)

Anyway, here I am saying that I think that a tax cut of $500 or $1,000 isn't enough, and that they should give us more of our money. Did she not read the post? Did she misunderstand?

Oh well. My husband will be ecstatic to learn that we are rich :)

Shameless Self-Promotion: Major Economic Stimulus Rant Happening Now at Yielding Wealth

Last night the House passed a stimulus bill. This morning I ranted about the stimulus bill on Yielding Wealth. If you have a minute, read it. Or skip to the bottom of the post so that you can leave your thoughts on the stimulus bill. Because this is just more proof that our leaders are all about "trickle down" policies that haven't worked since the Reagonomics of the 80s.

Here are some highlights:

• At this point, what’s another $800 billion or $900 billion? Or even $1 trillion? We’ve already spent more than $7 trillion on economic stimulus — most of it going to “rescue” banks and other large institutions.
• We didn’t spend more than $7 trillion so far through massive stimulus packages. Most of the economic stimulus will be spent a little here, and a little there, effective masking the true expenditures from the American public.
• Honestly, and I’ve been saying it for months now, if our government is going to spend our money (and it will) and if we’re going to pay it back (with interest), they should just give the money directly to us.
• Everyone talks about the merits of tax cuts v. government spending, but the bottom line is that for the economy we have, and for the goals our leaders have stated, neither is very effective option.

Neil Gaiman Won the Newbery Medal: I'm Processing This Information

I've known for a couple of days that Neil Gaiman won the Newbery Medal this year for The Graveyard Book. But I've been processing this information.

Despite the fact that the man has been on the NYT Bestseller list, and had Stardust made into a major motion picture, many of us Neil Gaiman readers view him as our little secret. It's sort of like a little exclusive club of people who know who Gaiman is. (People who read Terry Pratchett fall into the same category.)

But that club necessarily gets bigger, thanks to the prestige of the Newbery Medal. Amongst literary types, the Newbery is a Big Deal. And that means that my literary friends who don't read sci-fi/fantasy (and some that do) suddenly know who Neil Gaiman is. He's not my special little secret anymore.

I do feel it necessary to issue a little warning here: Go read The Graveyard Book. Let your children ages 9-12 read it. But don't expect the same family friendly fare in other Neil Gaiman books. Because, frankly, he's got a lot of stuff that's PG-13 and R, and you don't want to pick up one of his other books, like American Gods, thinking that it will be a fun one to read aloud with your 13-year-old. Neil Gaimon is undeniably brilliant, but a great deal of the time he's profanely brilliant.

I suppose that I can assuage my feelings with smugness that I've been reading Neil Gaiman for years before anyone really knew who he was.

At least I've still got Terry Pratchett.

Is There Any Reason That GOP Lawmakers Don't Want to Tap Utah's Rainy Day Fund?

I take the Salt Lake City Tribune, and I've been following this news of budget cuts to cover our state's shortfall. Notably (and not particularly surprising here in Utah), public education is getting the ax. Republicans in the legislature want to cut overall state funding by 15% -- a large part of it will be higher education. (That's quite a bit -- especially considering the programs we all know Utah GOP is most likely to deny). Normally, I'd be all for this show of frugality, but the truth is that it's kind of silly, considering that Utah has a very nice Rainy Day Fund -- with $414 million. Additionally, there's a pretty well funded (nearly $1 billion) in the trust that helps fund education. The Republican lawmakers in the great state of Utah apparently think that the economic tsunami we are facing doesn't warrant rainy day funds.

This has me puzzled.

We have an emergency fund here at home. When one of my clients is late paying me, or if Josh ends up taking sick days and doesn't get his hours in, or if some big unexpected repair needs to be made, we dip into the emergency fund. This bridges the gap. When our finances return to normal, we build the fund back up. It's what makes sense in personal finances -- and it's what makes sense for state finances.

The Democrats in the legislature and the Republican governor want to cut some spending as well (by 7%) and then cover the rest of shortfall with the Rainy Day Fund. This makes sense. It emphasizes frugality while at the same time not being so frugal that it jeopardizes some of our priorities down the road. Unfortunately, the super majority the GOP enjoys in the legislature means that the imprudent course will likely be followed in this matter.

There's nothing wrong with using the Rainy Day Fund. It's what it's there for.

Barack Obama: Get Ready to Work

I am listening to Barack Obama's inaugural speech. He is making it clear that we have a long road ahead, and that we need to go to work. And he is right. it is time for us to "rebuild America" and reclaim our morals and values. But it doesn't happen quickly. It takes work. Anything worth having takes work and time and effort and accountability. And Obama isn't mincing words about this. He's not talking about entitlement as the greatest country in the world. We have to earn our place. And I am ready to contribute to an America that returns to our bedrock values of hard work, civility and service.

I am ready for hope. And I feel inspired. Of course Barack Obama isn't a cure all, but I feel like -- if enough of us re-engage in meaningful political discussion and civic activity -- we truly can take our country back and become a great people.

Optimism is not normally my strong suit, but I feel it now. I just hope that we can all come together. Our goals should be a better country and a better society.

Shameless Self-Promotion: Stimulate the Economy Edition

It's been an eventful week. First of all, I'd like to share the exciting (to me at least) information that I have been invited to take part in Business Advice Day. I will be answering questions about working from home from 2 p.m. to 2:30 p.m. Mountain Time (4-4:30 Eastern).


And, of course, this week has seen a great deal of economic stimulus. Here is some of what I've written about what's been going on:

1. Work from home? That means you won't get unemployment benefits if your business drops off.
2. Tax cuts may sound nice, but I don't think the tax cuts being proposed are going to help all that much.
3. Congress tosses another bone to big businesses by approving the release of the rest of the TARP funds.
4. The government is getting a gatekeeper to help control spending. Do you need a personal finance gatekeeper?

Hurry! Buy Your Guns and Ammo Before It's Too Late!

I've been thoroughly enjoying the increase in gun and ammo radio spots as the inauguration approaches. It's great! As a progressive/liberal and as someone who knows how to handle a gun, has been hunting and grew up Out West, I find it amusing that people just sort of assume that any liberal in office is going to prevent you from legally acquiring a gun.

For some reason, people have this idea that Barack Obama is going to ban guns for all people. (Okay, not "for some reason." The very concrete reason is that the NRA has been spreading lies about a supposed "plan" to "change" the 2nd Amendment.) At any rate, Obama has repeatedly said that he supports individual gun rights. Naturally, there are those who take his calls for reasonable regulation out of context and act as though any regulation of guns means that there is a direct assault on the Second Amendment. (My question: Where have these Constitutional watchdogs been for the last eight years as the 4th, 5th, 6th, and 8th Amendments have been violated?)

At any rate, the commercials have been a source of hilarity for me as I listen to deep voiced men urge the public to "Hurry and buy your guns and ammo before the rights and privileges we enjoy are taken away!" Of course, if a true assault on the Second Amendment was actually on its way, stocking up on guns would be a complete waste of time and money, since "they" would just come and take them out the house.

But it appears to be working. Gun sales are up. At least someone's profiting in this economy.

Frugal Living: Can You Survive on a "Poverty Budget"?

Among the fabulous ladies I met while living in Syracuse is running an interesting project this month: She's living on a "poverty budget". (You can check out the details of the poverty budget project here). I calculated what the poverty budget for our family of three would be: $1,514 per month. I'm already disqualified, since our mortgage payment alone is $1,300. Just our "living" expenses put us well over the poverty budget.

But, of course, there was a time when we existed on a poverty budget. When I was in grad school (along with my husband) we were living on something very close to $1,500 a month. And we didn't necessarily live well, like Heather plans to do on her poverty budget. But we also paid rent, instead of a mortgage, and the rent was about half the mortgage we pay now. If we were back in a two-room apartment, buying almost nothing, we could probably do a poverty budget.

This, of course, causes me to reflect on the nature of lifestyle as our income has increased. Our expenses have gone up as we have been able to afford things like:

• Health insurance.
• Life insurance.
• Buying a home/mortgage.
• Entertainment.
• Retirement account funding.
• Travel.
  

Even though we could buy another car, though, we've stayed faithful to only one. We don't actually need another car, so it seems pointless to buy one. (Except at times when the car is in the shop for repairs.) But there are things I realize that we could cut back on. Especially after the money hemorrhaging experience that was the month of December.

So, even though I won't be participating in the poverty budget challenge this month, I will still be reflecting on what I spend my money on, and considering the answer to this question: Just because I can spend money on something, should I?

Learn About Blogging from the Huffington Post

I love this segment (from a month ago) on blogging. Sort of makes me feel better about the way I earn my living ;)

Anyway, interesting stuff. And I may go out and check the book out from the library. Or even buy it. What do you think about blogging?

(Hat tip: The New Yak Times)

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Arianna Huffington

Barack Obama Interview
John McCain Interview

Sarah Palin Video
Funny Election Video

Happy New Year! (And Shameless Self-Promotion)

I'm all about New Year's Resolutions. I like to think about what I want to accomplish in the coming year, and then make a plan to do it. Some years I get done everything I want to get done, and some years I don't. Last year I wanted to learn to play the guitar. It didn't happen. This year, though, I've rolled that resolution over and Josh found that community education is offering a beginning guitar class. So this makes it rather easy to go and at least start learning to play the guitar.

I also want to find a piano teacher for Gavin. Josh thinks I should teach him, but I really think that Gavin and I will have a much better relationship if he has a different teacher and I just help him with his practice. That's the way we did swimming lessons last summer, and it worked out best all the way around. I'm just not a very patient teacher. But that's not one of my resolutions this year ;)

At any rate, I have made a number of finance related resolutions, and then, as is my custom, I posted them up. I figure the wider your audience, the more likely you are to decide that the responsibility to actually follow through is there:

• Personal finance goals for 2009: Yielding Wealth and All Business Personal Finance Corner.
• Goals for my home in 2009: Banks.com Mortgage Blog
• Investing goals for 2009: Banks.com Investing blog

What are your New Year's resolutions?

Oh, and HAPPY NEW YEAR