Up to post #5 of insomnia night. May I suggest you find the first one and read them in order? :)
"The U.S. government "quietly" agreed not to collect billions of dollars in potential taxes from Citigroup... The Internal Revenue Service issued a notice on Friday that extends the benefit to Citi and other companies in which the government owns a stake... accounting experts... estimating Citi would save at least several billion dollars." Citi is taking the hit of being named but clearly others will be benefiting too. And the "bailout" jumps up by several BILLION more dollars.
Apparently a significant minority of federal employees don't feel the call to pay taxes either. They owe at least $3 Billion and that's just what they fess up to owing!
It starts looking like those of us who always felt the need to pay our fair share of taxes are indeed fools. We're stepping up and paying so they can spend every penny and then print money when they run out.
And, indeed, the spending promises continue. Secretary Clinton says we're one of the "wealthy" countries who will be contributing to the $100 Billion/year (PER YEAR) climate aid fund.
The FDIC is nearly doubling what it charges member banks and that means OUR fees will be going up and up. The number of banks failing is growing, exponentially it seems, and this increase will surely push a few more over the brink.
And the national health care reforms are coming with mandated insurance for us all, whether we can afford it or not and without the "public option" to save us from potential criminal consequences if we can't. "Democrats aren't going to let the American people down," Majority Leader Harry Reid said. Yes, of course, better a bad law that criminalizes many of the poor than another delay!
Due to centuries of poor government planning, here we are. You and I are expected to keep digging deeper and deeper into our pockets, constricting our budgets which for many are already down too far too meet necessity requirements. Big business and government just keep spending and spending and printing money which will lead to inflation, eating away at our personal budgets even further.
Fear not if you're in a home finance by Citi! After 2 years of recession and they've foreclosed thousands upon thousands of homes, you're getting a whole 30 days of grace from them. "We want our borrowers to have a much less stressful time, to spend their time with their families during the holidays as opposed to worrying about their homes" You have until January 17, 2010. Somehow I'd be willing to bet they add on late charges, fees, etc., etc. for that 30 days but, for the 4,000 of you who may get this 30 days of grace, don't you feel so much less stressed getting a whole 30 days? ROTFLMAO. Sorry, can't help it. If I were you'd I'd laugh and cry at the absurdity of Citi's comment!
Gun laws are getting looser across much of US... over the last two years, 24 states, mostly in the South and West, have passed 47 new laws loosening gun restrictions. GOOD. Maybe we have a fighting chance to hang on to what little we still have if we spend a bit on some guns. We may need them to protect our families and food supplies in tent cities while all the foreclosed homes sit vacant and rotting around the country. Or maybe we will just get to go down fighting. Still, it seems preferable to me than having the government seize our property (whether pets or inventory) and confiscate and try to suckle from 6 teats when we humans only have 2!