Budget, what budget?...America, New Zimbabwe?

I guess I should not feel so much despair about California’s crappy, (yeah, I said it) fiscal shape…I read today that Illinois is in the hole with a total deficit of $12 billion, half its budget.

California’s $19 billion deficit is a fraction (about 1/10^th) of the overall $200 billion budget…still…

Still, the stuff hitting the fan is hard to take. Most, no correct that; all the clients I have are State agencies. As their budget goes, one of the first things they cut is…privatized and outsource work, like me…so if the knuckleheads under the dome don’t get with it a pass a budget by say July 22, then the hand wringing will begin as to where MY income is coming from. I guess the alternative of massive layoffs is too much to consider, easier to crap on people like me, and void our contracts…

An economist at the University of California said if California fired all state employees tomorrow, it would not save enough money to close the deficit, that the answer was to either raise taxes, or drastically cut SPENDING, which could be achieved by elimination of several agencies that replicate federal agencies (California EPA for one…)

The Governator says if the Obama administration would pay California the $3 billion it owes us for mostly education and medical care costs (I suspect of mostly illegal immigrants), it would help…

Gee, for a recession recovery, why don’t I feel better??? House has lost 50% in value

(one of the things I was counting on for retirement…stupid me), my IRA/401k are ½ what they used to be, and starting next year they are likely to be taxed, especially if I make any gains, which gets into accountant territory to show investment loss to counter balance any gains.

My contributions to retirement accounts have shrunk, and my employer is considering revamping (again) our pension plan, so we will contribute “our fair share” …needless to say as I approach the later part of my 50’s, it sucks to think I will be working well into my 60’s before retirement is anywhere near enough to live on, well, unless we decide to walk away from everything we worked the last 28 years for.

 Us and the dog could pitch a tent somewhere and wait for Obama money, or hell to freeze over, whichever occurs first. Seriously, its one of the reasons we keep our paid for SUV, concern that thinks get so bad we end up living in it…maybe while I still have a job, I should look into buying a home on wheels…my brother did, bought a used travel trailer, says it’s his hedge against being homeless…

Was this the friggin “Change”  Obutma promised, to ruin middle class  America  and make us all poor…so  friggin poor that America become Amerika, and we all grovel at the federal trough for sustenance…Rush was right, I hope Obie fails, f@ck him, assclown

 

Note: I drive by the homeless shelters everyday going to and from work. So here is a side note on that...

States cope with rising homelessness

Nearly 700 homeless families in Massachusetts are living in hotels at state expense because emergency shelters are full. New York City saw a 40 percent rise in families seeking shelter since the recession began. School districts nationwide reported more homeless kids in the fall of 2008 than the entire year before. And tent cities have sprung up throughout Hawaii and in Sacramento, Calif., Reno, Nev., Phoenix, Portland, Ore., and other cities.

By the time a family shows up in a shelter, they’ve done everything possible to avoid homelessness – stayed with friends and family members, gone without food and sold their possessions. They’ve expended every financial and social resource they have. Some were middle-class families felled by layoffs and ballooning mortgages.

Nationwide, some 9.6 million families spend more than half of their income on housing, putting them at high risk of becoming homeless, ....