Love your comment--Voluntary simplicity--DON'T PUSH!!!!!

Belt tightening seems to be in store for MANY of us. Sometimes I am very glad that I am no longer young. (whatever that means)

Peace and patient perseverance be with you, dear heart!

I want to see it done differently but they are eager to please and who turns down money?.It will be a nice shot inthe arm for China's economy though.

man, you put that so well. it's been going through my mind also.

The government did this about 6 or 7 years ago and it seems to me when the next year's taxes came due the money was deducted from our tax refund. I wonder if it will be handled the same way.

I've read that the people who most need it most won't qualify under the republican's plan.

There has been some major belt tightening in my household. I keep as many lights off as I can and turn down the heat as much as I can stand. I bargain shop and I'm trying to cook at home much more, instead of eating out.

I'd have to say I can't believe people are surprised about what is happening to the economy - I'd say I'm dumb when it comes to financial stuff but even I saw it coming.

I was much better off after 8 years of Clinton.

I hope all else is well with you!

Goodfellas. I also thought it was "schmook!"

i like the "grateful" part of your blog. a much better focus than the things we're unhappy with... we give those things too much of our mental space already. we're feeling the financial crunch though, too... going to school puts me more and more in debt every semester, and no matter how much time i spend at work it feels like i don't make any cash.

Whoops. I didn't mean to submit so soon (and so willingly). And I meant to say I always thought, rather than also...

I hear you and am with you on this economy thing. I was pretty much wiped out after 2001, when a couple of investments died from bankruptcies, and now I'm on disability, with no "extra" means for recovering. Bush has proposed tax based incentives, which leave out everybody who doesn't earn enough to pay taxes. And they don't need relief? The Republicans will push hard for an extension of the fat-cat tax cut, saying it stimulated the economy before, and... I say Bull Snot! The only reason we weren't crushed in 2002, was that the Fed, curtesy of Mr Greenspan, cut interest rates to the extent that the bank rate was 0%. This allowed people to buy homes and refinance loans at lower rates, and they spent. And they flooded the market with $$$. That's the irony of the situation today. This mess is starts with bad loans, so when interest rates come down (75 points today was huge), people won't get cash through loan breaks. You say you're sispicious that the incentives will amount to breaks for Bush's rich corporarate friends. I agree, but I'm also suspicious that this mess was caused by that crowd. There was a lot of easy money making its way to Wall Street pockets until the loans started breaking peoples' backs and bank accounts. These guys do NOT lose money. They're probably raking in profits with their hedge funds. And when you make a policy that drives the dollar into extinction, when you know it's coming, you stand a good chance of raking in even more money.

Sorry to rant, but I'm just really pissed as hell at these people. Then I see replays of last night's debate, and I see Democrat candidates tearing at each other's throats, and I just lose hope. Please let us get through this one more year and then elect a compassionate government. We can do it, can't we?

The money spent on war would help a lot of people here in America.

it does seem there is no reward for saving. We will be in a deep collapse for awhile I believe...

it's really horrible to witness family members going through the economic crisis on a personal level.
and the truth is i hear it through the grapevine because it angers me so much that i wont face them
for the knowledge that yes many people are in the same boat but did ya really need all that bigger and better now now now...

i really love the common dreams article.

relevant and honest post-thank you.

media in here talk serious that everyday...people get worry about..I honesty few nervus what's going on...
ryc...thanx, I'm glad you like him music...

Good morning and Goodfellas is right!

Thanks for taking the time to slog through that long post. I'm going to take a wait and see approach.

i approached home buying as you did. simplicity has many benefits. peace of mind is one of them. as for the poor performance of investments for retirement, just remember this: they are only to be used at retirement time so being too concerned about one year is to be focused on the short-term when these investments are to be evaluated meaningfully in the long-term. good luck!

The "tax break" is a boo-boo bandaid. And a morale booster. People hear the "r" word (recession) from people like The Donald and they start to panic - the cheques will help with morale (and if we spend them, yay for the economy, right?).  My spouse and I bought our house in 2003 and opted for the slightly-higher fixed rate because WE KNEW the recession was coming. We had a feeling. And we were right. Sean is right - don't worry right now about your investments. They will be fine in the long run.

Good food for thought.

Good grief! I can't believe how much your health insurance and heating went up! I really worry about people on fixed incomes because voluntary simplicity can only cover so much. After that, what are people supposed to cut back on? Meals?

Call it what you like, decline in spending, recession, depression...we're stuck with it for a bit and it's going to take ever so much more than a "stimulus package" to get us out of the hole. We're just gonna have to hang in there and weather the lean times!

Giving us money to spend will probably not help our national debt much. As you recall this happened after Viet Nam too because this is what wars do to our economy. Hang in there.

*cough* canada *cough*
or...any of the other countries that give a shit about its citizens

It's so hard to see the value of our investments drop lower and lower the closer we get to retirement...not that I think we will ever be able to actually "retire"!

I could sure use the money, too, but I do worry about where it is coming from.  How about a tax amnesty year?  : D

There was a period in my life when I was doing very well in the stock market, thanks to a prodigious amount of research and time spent analyzing balance sheets and such.  Then I got distracted and took up golf, then Scrabble, and lost my mojo.

What might have been.

But 's okay.  Life's good.  Even if I'm not rich.

Given that the mortgage loan crises has a great deal more to give, the current times may soon be known as "the good ol' days."

Ronald Reagan's deregulation phrenzy is proving itself to be the quintessential "Guft that keeps om giving."

Free Market Republicans...God's goft to Wall Street and its noble Mortgage Bankers...

Thanks for coming by and leaving your nice comments on my site.

I hear you and feel your pain. Thankfully I've never had to worry about money issues up until this past year, but when it hit, it hit hard. My new obsession is about how to make ends meet. Pretty sad.