Archive for February, 2009

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How To Answer Stimulus Questions In Tax Software Packages

Tuesday, February 17th, 2009

I get asked a lot how to answer the tax stimulus questions from last year.  You remember that money, don’t you?  That was the money anywhere generally from $600-1800 you might have gotten last year in Spring and Summer.  You can go to the IRS website to actually get how much your stimulus was to answer the question and that generally works.  There are some oddball situations though that require some thought.  Here is a good one I see a lot of.  A son or daughter goes out to college and is on his or her own.  Last year Mom and Dad (or Mom or Dad or whoever) claimed the person as a dependent and got stimulus money.  The newly free roaming son or daughter, when asked on the software packages available on the market is asked, “How much did you get for your stimulus last year?”  If the person says zero, the software calculates that they should get $600 back (maybe more or less).  That isn’t correct and may cause your efile to bounce back. 

The workaround is if you are filing for yourself the first time, answer that you received the $600 even if you didn’t.  It most likely will not impact the output tax forms but trigger the internal software to not add in the extra though not legally entitled to stimulus amount. 

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Hopefully we will hear from the State of California as to what they will be doing with the economy.  As of the typing of this blog, they were still in session.  No shocker that the legislative parties and the Governor are locked on issues.  Guys and gals, come on.  We have people suffering out here!  I think we need to start taking action by stopping the salaries of the legislature and the Governor for every day that they are late with the budget.  What do you all think?

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At the Federal level I will not be surprised to see the stock market go for a nice run up for a day or two with good economic vibrations after the President signs the new stimulus package for 2009 and beyond.  Be safe and healthy everybody and try and stay happy.

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Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

How To Answer Stimulus Questions In Tax Software Packages

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Posted in Business | 1 Comment »

California Budget Is Weirdsville

Monday, February 16th, 2009

Preliminary reports on the California Budget are really, to put it in beatnik talk from 48 years ago, weirdsville, daddy-o. It looks like the state budget will actually cancel out potential benefits the Federal stimulus bill was suppose to help the state with.  Ouch and yuck.  Here is what I have heard so far:

 

1950stime

 

The California budget will extract about $30 billion out of our state economy through higher taxes and reduced spending.  That is something to annoy both Democrats and Republicans.  The vote would (and by the time you are reading this the vote may have already taken place) knocking some of the $80 billion that California is expected to receive when President Obama signs the stimulus package into law either Monday or Tuesday. 

Higher taxes mean that California will be less attractive to investments and for business development. Bad idea and bad tax idea.  Good idea and great tax idea would be to introduce some incentives to get companies to come back into California instead of have reasons to leave the state, right guys and gals?  We are turning the clock back on the state from the year 2008 to 1950 and early.  Again, yuck.

To be fair, some analysts think that overall it will be good for the state of California and that business will come to California as we try to balance the state budget.  Folks, I’ve lived in California and we use to be able to balance the state budget.  We have a lottery that is suppose to help the school systems here and our schools are still suffering.  We need some of that change that is trying to get through at the Federal level to come down to the state level.

The White House has tenative projections that the stimulus plan will save or create about 421,000 jobs.  I have no idea where the came up with that number at this point and to be fair can’t comment on it other than 421,000 is a small amount compared to the hundreds of thousands of shadow unemployed people who have already rolled off of unemployment and the underemployed people who are starting to get nailed with not being able to make home payments or pay the bills.  This holds true in other states as well but California is a big state and it has things here magnified a little bit larger.

 Howard Roth, of the State Department of Finance, says that the number of dollars that will be added churning through the economy will be closer to a 100 billion dollars.  As one of the State of California’s economists, he should be in a position to know and I hope that it is true and the money churns into the hands of the people that need it and not back and forth between banks to generate interest for them.

In more news from Weirdsville the Federal government is proposing to roll back sales taxes or something similar and the State of California is proposing adding a 1% sales tax.  The net effect would be to cancel each other out but I don’t think the changes would be at the same time and it looks like the California sales tax addition would be a temporary one though taxes have a tendency to stay on for a long time (like the phone tax from the Spanish American War that was finally repealed a few years ago).

More on this and other California and Federal Budget news as it develops and as I see details of the State of California budget.  Please post your thoughts and ideas and remember to fire away any tax related questions.  I am looking for clients as well.  If interested, drop me a post through the website.   Be safe, healthy, and happy!

Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

 

California Budget Is Weirdsville

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Posted in Business | 3 Comments »

Stimulus Approved, What Next?

Sunday, February 15th, 2009

Question from a reader:”Stimulus package has been approved, what is gonna happen next Kim?”

Good question.  The President and both houses of Congress have to start ironing out the details of how and where the money will be allocated to the states, the different agencies and programs that will help jumpstart the economy.  I, like a lot of people, are hoping that this is the beginning of some programs to start re-employing all the people who are laid off and under-employed.  There will not be a recovery of any kind unless people can get employed to get shelter, food and clothing as well as the proper medical care and energy needs for heat and transportation.  Companies will continue to shutter their doors and the downward spiral will continue.

The good news is that it is now a great time to invest in America.  Because things are bleak, salaries are lower and if you invest in American talent and development you are getting a great deal.  Companies, and I am talking multi-national firms as well as local American only ones are going to find it easier to do business in a lot of places in the United States.  It will not happen overnight but I think it is a great place, in some places to start up a business.

I wish I could say the same for California but we really need to work on our business incentives as a state.  Also, we need to take care of our special needs, our elderly and our people who are out of work.  I like the fact that the school systems will be working for more accountability and we need to keep them open all the time and not start turning into a state of part time teachers.  For that kind of work we get part time students and that is a lose-lose situation instead of a win-win situation for one and all.  Hardly the kind of profitable or pleasurable business that we as Americans or people in other nations want to see happen.

For the immediate future I believe there will be a stock market pop at least early in the week, probably after the three day holiday for President’s Day.  Whether it will have enough momentum to keep going may be based on what sector you think will continue to benefit from the stimulus package.  I have been holding onto CAT and I suspect there will be a pop of some kind early in the week.  I think that raw materials providers might do well for some of the construction projects that are looking to be funded. 

If you can program on medical systems you might do well as Congress and the White House look to modernize health care and insurance practices.  The IRS is beefing up it’s roster – it has to, the government is going to need money- and if you are good with numbers and a straight shooter you can get work with them.  So in terms of businesses to watch, programming for medical systems, accounting software related to taxes and anything to do with education at a domestic level.  Our children as well as ourselves will have to continue to be trained and in a lot of cases as we get older, retrained to stay working.

At a local level, it is time for the State of California to get busy and get their budget hammered out.  With Federal funding and state funds coming into play, there should be no excuse for getting the budget balanced and getting our tax refunds sent back to us.  Right?  I know it is just a wish and they won’t listen to one voice like me so I suggest that all of us write our state representatives and tell them to ge the budget balanced, write the Governor and tell them to stop cutting programs that are helping people and concentrate on cutting their own budgets for things like over-priced desks!

Peace and good will to all of you dear readers and be safe, healthy, wealthy, wise and happy!

 Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Stimulus Approved, What Next?

Posted in Business | 2 Comments »

Inexpensive Great Valentine’s Day Ideas

Saturday, February 14th, 2009

Since everybody who knows me knows that I am a lover before a fighter (and I am a pretty good fighter so that should give you a heads-up) I bring to you for this Valentine’ Day some great inexpensive ideas that you can carry on with throughout the upcoming  three day holiday for some of us and for the rest of the year for the rest of us:

 

valentinescupidpsyche

 

1.  Hand make a card yourself using paper, glue and buttons and nick-knacks from your kitchen and around the house.  Jazz it up if you want to make it sexy but remember that if you put inside what is inside your heart you can get a lot more loving than if you relied on a dorky text message saying “Happy VD”.  Trust me, I know some people who do that and wonder why they don’t have a Valentine’s Day sweetie a year later.   It is also great for your partners who are trying to save money.  Heck, all of my ideas are free or next to it.

2.  The Ever Popular Genie Valentine Day Card – You make a card out of paper with a poorly drawn (or use a computer to make the straight dotted lines if you are nuts about this stuff and make cards that have stuff in them like “GOOD FOR ONE FREE CAR WASH” or “GOOD FOR DOING THE LAUNDRY FOR ONE DAY” or stuff like that.  Sure you can do what the lady’s magazines call “naughty” offerings but trust me, when a lady (or man) is dead tired and wants help with a chore, that will carry you a lot more mileage down the path to smoochies and excitement than the straight offer for bedroom favors (though that will go a long way for a card for a man).

 3.   Find a museum or free exhibition or an inexpensive concert, pack a lunch or dinner and take your sweetie (or husband/wife) there.  If you can’t leave the kids behind, see if you can still plan some quiet moments with your significant other away from the brood outside of the house.  It also will go a long way towards getting your relationship on track and not cost a lot of money.

 4.   If you are unemployed, take your sweetheart out to walk by a park or somewhere with a body of water.  Being next to something immense like a lake, river or ocean will put things in perspective that things change, like water moving and even if it ices up, it will only be magical for a few moments (if you consider months moments in the grand scheme of things).  Tell your beloved how much you love them and that your heart is like an ocean for them.  Try not to remind yourself that there have been recent studies showing that love is a chemical response that is more like an addiction that is in your brain and not your heart.  Personally, I still think the energy can resonate from both places.

I also think that you don’t have to be unemployed to take advantage of this and my other suggestions.  I just want to show that you don’t have to go broke spending money to have a good time.

Back to the water idea.

If your partner loves the water-like a lake, ocean or river, so much the better.  Just don’t try to swim in it or fall in.  It is winter and freezing in most parts of the Western Hemisphere.  You are on your own in Europe and Asia for weather but you can still look for large bodies of water.

 5.  As a couple, both of you do something nice and charitable for an organization or some neighbor.  Somebody needs their street sidewalk cleared of snow?  Both of you grab a shovel and do it in tandem.  Things like that work great in new relationships as well because while you are working you can get to know your partner by the lost art of talking and conversation.  If you are a couple who’ve been together for a long time it is a great way to reconnect.

6.  Plant some flowers so you can give your own Valentine’s Day flowers to each other a few months for now.  That is a great surprise and you can get started on the idea of growing your own flowers and if need be planting for your own food.

 

earcorn

 

There are more great ideas that will get you to drop your video game controller but these five should get you started.

Have a great Valentine’s Day and be safe and happy!  Hang onto your cash and your loved ones over this holiday session.

 Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

 Inexpensive Great Valentine’s Day Ideas

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Posted in Business, special needs | 1 Comment »

Friday The 13th IS GREAT for Rett Syndrome Research News

Friday, February 13th, 2009

In keeping with the news of the last day or so, MIT scientists have been doing mouse studies showing that with IGF-1, Insulin Growth Factor, they have been able to slow down and reverse some symptoms of Rett Syndrome in mice.  This is fantastic news because that indicates that there is on the horizon a potential treatment to make the lives of Rett Syndrome girls more livable.  The study is careful to point out that this isn’t a cure but if it can get spinal cells regenerating, keep our daughters healthier, help their heart rate, their breathing and ability to move, I am all for improving the quality of life.

Ironically, Friday the 13th should be a number of coolness for this country as well.  Thirteen stars on the original colonial flag for thirteen colonies.  The numbers one and three represent the numbers of mystical perfection in some religious doctrines.

I personally just am happy that there is great news on the research front and that makes this coming President’s Weekend so much sweeter with possible financial good news from the President and Congress in hopefully getting the stimulus package rolling into the American public’s pocketbooks and purses.

Please help me celebrate the good news and holiday by either making a donation for Rett Syndrome research or by buying one of my books.  Partial proceeds are donated to Rett research.

If you are strapped for cash,  anything you can do is appreciated.  Write your Congressional representatives to help Rett research and keep on praying.

In the California continuing information battle over will we get refund checks vs warrants/nothing, there has been no change on that particular front.  According to the news, there will be more taxes in California for 2009 (no surprise there to be honest with you) and I am inclined to just roll my state refund over into prepaying any 2009 tax liability that I might have.

Please don’t cut any funding for schools or special needs care, State legislature members.  Governor, please remember that you were elected on a platform for helping people.    Remember that there are lots of people who can’t help themselves and their caregivers need to make a wage to take care of them.  Don’t cut funding to help workers of special needs people!

Make sure that you don’t pet too many black cats and walk under any ladders today just to play it safe if you are superstitious.  The ladder superstition is based on practicality since you don’t want a paint bucket to hit your head.  The black cat crossing your path is just plain nonsense.  I would be more concerned if I had pet allergies (like some of my friends to) in having a cat come up and brush against my leg.

Maybe we can have some good luck cash brush against our leg from the economic stimulus package instead.

  

Take care everybody and have a safe, healthy, wealthy and happy weekend.

Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

 

Friday The 13th IS GREAT for Rett Syndrome Research News

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Posted in Business, special needs | 1 Comment »

Things People Will Still REALLY Need In the Depression

Thursday, February 12th, 2009

Hi gang! I do this periodically and it is time once again for my list of things that people will still really need in our current economic Depression:

 

1.  Shelter – People, even if they are out of work, don’t have a lot in savings or have lost their home will still need somewhere to stay indoors.  If you are planning on buying apartment buildings, while I wouldn’t go completely out on a limb and say this is the time to do it, you may want to start looking at properties if you have the cash, the wherewithall to be an apartment owner and don’t mind listening to people’s complaints when the heat goes out or if the water doesn’t refill the toilet fast enough.  You may also, if you are comfortable enough with it, consider taking in people to rent a room but I would advise you only do that if you are capable of being able to evict them if things go bad for them.  Make sure you run credit checks prior to renting them a room.

2.  Food – If you are in the food manufacturing business or service business people will still be eating.  A lot of people will be going with inexpensive fast food as well since they can’t afford a lot.  McDonald’s restaurants did a decent business last quarter so that should be an indicator of the fact that tired, stressed parents would rather spend money on Happy (or perhaps UnHappy) Meals than go home and cook for the kids.

3.  Clothing – Despite images of Depression era people in potato sacks and barrels, people will need comfortable clothes at affordable prices.  If they live in cold or wet climates they will need to dress accordingly there.

4.  Transportation – Depending on where you live, you and others will need a car or some sort of rapid transportation system like a bus, train or shuttle.  That means that people will need to have support services where they can maintain these transportation systems.  Tires will need changing, batteries will need replacing and rails will need to have upkeep.

5.  Protection – With the increasing unemployment and people stressing out, classes in self-defense and sales of weapons (license permitting) will probably rise.  Look for security systems for home and apartments to do well in continued sales.

Keep this stuff in mind for investing or for looking for employment.

 Good luck and talk with you later!

Oh, and Happy Real Abraham Lincoln’s Birthday.

Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Things People Will Still REALLY Need In the Depression

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Posted in Business | 1 Comment »

Fear and Loathing On Wall Street

Wednesday, February 11th, 2009

The markets tanked on Tueday because Wall Street didn’t like what they heard about the bailout package.  Gold came back somewhat, I lost (on paper at this point) a little bit on CAT stock but I am patient and believe that it will go back up though maybe not for a day or so.  That particular company is in need of some good news but people still need bulldozers and heavy equipment, if nothing else to dig themselves and their companies out of the holes that we have dug for ourselves.

In all seriousness my number one concern is the continuing lay offs that are going on.  Somebody is going to have to flip some sort of big switch and it won’t happen overnight to get the “Now Hiring” signs going.  For every job there will be hundreds if not thousands or hundreds of thousands of applicants.  With the ease of the Internet, hiring managers will be swamped and overwhelmed.  The hiring process will drop down to a crawl and in the meantime, people will have to manage their finances carefully. 

I believe that we, as people need to shore up our financial defenses and besides save money, start re-educating ourselves with skills like math, engineering, agriculture and things that will in the long run benefit ourselves and our children.  We need to get our kids out of the Homer Simpson mentality of “D’oh” and into the mentality of being able to make dough.  Take the time to go over homework with your kids (if you have kids) and remind them that in the future and in their lifetime it will be very competitive for jobs.  I believe that we all need to get our Congressional leaders off their butts and keep the money coming for education.  

Mr. President, let’s get talking about the space race to Mars again shall we?  The thought of having American companies hiring Americans to work on a manned American mission to Mars is patriotic and profitable.  We can get people employed by the hundreds of thousands and have a goal that will unite as a people instead of divide us into a nation of villages.

If a lot of these multinational corporations would cut back on their high payments to themselves and take the time to reinvest more into the people who helped get their plants started, created ideas for them and ultimately purchased their products maybe they would fare a little better these days.  To be fair, there are companies that do help their employees and even in layoff times they are doing what they can to help them out. 

The other side of the coins is that  people got complacent and lazy or did at any rate, and they took their jobs for granted.    I am working on trying to get an answer and all roads lead to infrastructure, getting the Mars Mission Race going and doing something to create more jobs – and quickly.  Enough of my ramblings for today.  I need to get up to watch how my CAT stock will fare.

I wish you the best, Mr. President, and Congress.  Have clear thinking and remember that there are people out there who are out of work, hungry and want to get back to working.  

What else should I comment on before I go…..

No word on the California State Refund situation at this point either.  More as it develops for my fellow and sister Californians.

Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Fear And Loathing On Wall Street

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Posted in Business | 1 Comment »

Economic Stimulus Package Looks To Be On Tuesday

Monday, February 9th, 2009

The economic package for stimulus looks to be still a work-in-process in the Senate.  People were expecting issues to be banged out so the package could be live on Monday but it is looking like Tuesday will be the day.  We are talking around 827 billion dollars, a number that  is very hard to wrap one’s head around.  Even harder is trying to see how quickly this money will actually make a change to the millions of people that are out of work, underemployed and those on the verge of being laid off.  People are responding to the supply destruction of jobs by trying to save money.  I just don’t get it.  For a lot of the large companies that are laying off people and shuttering manufacturing plants in some areas, how are they going to make money?  In the case of multi-national giants like Intel with billions of dollars of cash on hand, they can sit it out – but only for so long.

What will happen six months to a year from now at earnings time?  The people who are laid off now will not be buying things over the next year if there is no work.  They will be having a hard time paying the mortgages, making rental payments, getting food and warm clothing.   There will be less room for buying iPods – no matter what people say about always finding money for things that they want.

I see it with tax clients who are cutting corners or who have been laid off.  There are tough times still ahead and not having my crystal ball working at 100% I can’t tell you when the bad times will be bottomed out.  For the short term, I expect that the stock market will still pop when the stimulus package comes out but I don’t see anything to indicate that it may maintain any kind of growth. 

I hope I am wrong.  In the meantime, hang onto your cash and make sure that your bills are paid if you can.  Utility companies are cutting power if clients miss a couple of payments in some localities.  Not a good thing in cold or wet climates.

As of now for my Californian friends, no word on any changes to the dispostion of California Tax Refund checks.  Everything is still on hold until the end of February and at that point who knows if it will be checks, direct deposit, warrants or credit to next year’s tax payments.

Be safe and healthy!

 

Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

 

Economic Stimulus Package Looks To Be On Tuesday

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Posted in Business | 1 Comment »

Monday Might Be Bounce Day If Stimulus Package Is Approved

Saturday, February 7th, 2009

Monday will be the big day and possibly the most watched day in terms of stock market movement because people are expecting things to get better once the stimulus package is announced and signed by both Congressional houses.  The financial realites are that it will take months if not years to see if the money being released into the economy is having an affect on business and the people.   

 

marketbounce

 

 

For people who are out of work and waiting for their unemployment checks, are debating whether to pay their medical insurance premium or the mortgage payment or their utility bill because they don’t have enough money, this coming Monday will be like any other day.  A day where they need money and they need it now.  The money that Congress is approving has to make it through to the people who need it so they can get employed and can pay their bills.

I still don’t expect anything other than a bounce because people now are being forced into savings mode.  The problem is companies across the globe are expecting people to buy their goods and services.  The companies that are waiting for clients or customers will be out of luck.  Unless they have access to cash to tide them over a little longer, they will have to lay off more people and possibly shudder their doors.  That will create a vicious cycle and somebody somewhere has to break it and start spending or hiring.  Possibly do both.

 

Some pundits think that once the stock market starts to recover that in six months the US economy will begin it’s recovery.  They are basing it on past recessions/Depressions but this time the problems are international and it may take a longer time till we bottom out.  I think that we still are at least a ways away from a bottom.  Maybe it is a year away.  The flip side of the coin is that when I see everybody shorting stocks (myself included) it tells me that we are on the way to the end of a cycle.  Whether it is a good cycle or a unicycle and I am just clowning around – only time will tell.  If you decide to invest next week, keep your investments tight and set stop loss goals.

 

ecounicyc

 

Good luck, stay healthy, get wealthy, become wiser and be happy! 

Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Monday Might Be Bounce Day If Stimulus Package Is Approved

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Are my kids calves tax deductible? Moo

Thursday, February 5th, 2009

Question from a reader:”My kids received a cow as a gift.  The cow had calves.  The kids sold the calves but the sale was in their name and they received the income.  Do I have to report this as Farm Income?”

My answer is that I love questions like this.  They MOOve me. Okay, bad puns, aside,  if the cow was a gift, that was great.  The issue surfaces with the calves.  The calves were property of your kids and all things being equal, if they didn’t sell the calves, they wouldn’t have an issue, since you can keep a gift and not declare taxes on it.  You may have to feed and milk the results of this particular gift but it is too cool a tax question to not ponder about.

If everything was in the kids name and they sold the cows, they have entered into a contract which they decided to enforce.  Not knowing their ages, I will assume they are minors and have opted not to rescind the contract.  They therefore have made a gain on the sale of their cows. Remember the basic tax rule from the IRS?  You are taxed on all worldwide income.  Income based on age isn’t a requirement.  The kids made a sale and made a profit on it from selling the cows.  For those who don’t know, minors can rescind contracts and that makes adults who get into a contract with them liable for being on the hook for bad business decisions.  That is one reason you are asked if you are over 18 in some business transactions that don’t involve wild time, drugs or rock and roll.  Assuming that the gift wasn’t from your brother or somebody who was a partner on the farm, you may not have a farm income issue but the kids have an income received issue.

Depending on how much cash they received they may still be below the filing requirements so they may get off tax free though somebody had a lot of cow flop to clean while the calves were growing up.  Keep the tax questions coming gang!

 

mooholstein

 

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Important Stimulus Related Update:

Just so everybody knows – From reading what is in the Federal, not state proposed package for the economic stimulus that Congress is trying to get through, there will be a proposed increase in unemployment benefits and possible medical extended coverage.  There will not be as of now a cash stimulus rebate.  I rebate that there will not be a cash rebate.  There will be a possible $500 tax break for single people and $1000 for couples who are employed.  That means that possibly for the first part of 2009, if you are employed, you will have $20 or so less taken out of your paycheck for Federal taxes if it goes through.  There are other more global proposed items but I figured you guys and gals wanted to get the actual cash part that was coming directly to us.  More as it develops.

—

 

Interested in any of my books?  You may want to make a stop over  here. Please click through to purchase my books and some other interesting items that actually ARE on sale. If you like poker, Heroes (the TV series), comic books, Watchmen, etc, there may be some fast links to get you to what you are looking for.  Have you read my book, “Bad Tax Idea, Good Tax”?   Please order it today.  The tips inside can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars!

 If you are looking for a day job, part time work, suggestions for saving money or investing, please check out my book listed below.  Part of all the proceeds from the sales of that book  go  to Rett Syndrome research.  One girl is born with Rett Syndrome worldwide every fifteen minutes.   My daughter Arianna has Rett Syndrome and we are working to do all we can to make her life easier and find a cure in her lifetime.  Boys born with the Rett gene generally die at birth.

  Practical Money Making-Surviving Recession, Layoffs, Credit Problems, Generating Passive Income Streams, Working Full Time or Part Time and Retirement

 Kim Isaac Greenblatt

Are my kids calves tax deductible?  Moo

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