Banking Bucks with Barack

One of the things my republican ancestry is afraid of vis a vis Obama, is his stance on raising taxes, principally those that would affect the stock dividends which grease the wheels of the babyboomer easy life parade.

Not that I am insensitive to such problems, but let's consider the bottom line from the younger perspective: My investments won't be appreciating this year, the last under Bush, so what is there to tax? I'd gladly pay more tax, any tax, if the economy was in a better state to make me some solid returns.

And I think the patriarchs would have to agree that there's a strong possibility that better leadership would produce better economic performance and higher investment returns. And hopefully these returns would be enough to offset the increased taxes when you're looking at your absolute net dollar amounts.

Here's some simple math to illustrate the principle:
$100 at 30% tax > $50 at 0% tax

What we see is that there's a balance. At some level of performance, we'd be worse off, at some level we'd be equal, and at a third we'd be making out like bandits, counting our money sipping boat drinks and listening to Earth, Wind & Fire. I don't think Bush had is going in that direction, in fact I'd argue just the opposite.

Which is why I'm ready to put a little money down for Obama.

I Only Thought I Had Real Problems

Nobody likes a complainer. Least of all, angry US economy-hating God.

A day after I complain about the personal finance straits I'm in (which I brought on myself, no doubt) and look what happens:



That's not good. I should have kept my big mouth shut.

On the plus side, I have managed to curb spending somewhat this week. To compensate for my wife flying solo in New York with the credit card, I'm taking an approach that is monk-like in more ways than one, subsisting on a diet of water, available vegetables and condiments eaten alone in the dark.