Here we go

Philadelphia's mayor is proposing a 2cent per ounce tax on sweetened drinks to fill their budget gap and combat obesity. Think on it. That's 32 cents for a 16 ounce soda. Almost a dollar and a half for a 2-liter bottle. Yikes. And it applies to all drinks that have sugar added - not just soda. Sports drinks, chocolate milk... Yet they don't want to tax artifically sweetened drinks? Give me a break. I think artificial sweeteners are worse for us than sugar.

Did you know that Chicago already has this kind of tax? I didn't until just now. I wonder if anyone has actually studied what impact that has had on obesity & spending on beverages. Their tax includes artificially sweetened drinks as well.

If this spreads (and you know it will) they're going to start taxing anything considered not healthy. Watch out. The power of the dollar is going to buy even less. :(

Today it should be "Cranky"

Oh, how quickly the changes come! Actually, I'm not really that cranky. Just a little motivated when talking to my boss first thing this morning. Poor man. Went to get my taxes done last night. For the second year in a row, my W-2 is incorrect. Ackkk. Last year was minor; this year the problem is enough that we had to stop doing my taxes.

We entered everything in, and were reviewing the figures when my tax guy said to me "Is there some reason your Federal wages are more than your state wages?" Ummm, I don't know. That's why I go to him. I don't understand most of the tax rules, etc. "And why are the Federal wages more than the Social Security wages? They should be the same, or the Federal should be less if I have pre-tax deductions...."

Oh, bother (as Eyeore would say). So we couldn't file last night. With the corrected figures I owe $100 less than with the wrong figures. And my state refund more than covers it, so no money out of my pocket.

And I'm miffed - again - at all the witholding table manipulations. I never seem to see huge increases or decreases in my pay check, but if they hadn't implemented the $400 making work pay tax credit, I'd've owed another $400. WTF? And that's with having enough medical expenses to just exceed the 7.5% of adjusted gross income. So there was a few hundred more I could itemize this year. My pay didn't increase that much this year.

I have my withholding set so I don't get huge returns, but this is ridiculous. They don't really cut taxes; just manipulate things so we get more in our paychecks, but then owe more at the end of the year. That tax credit is only good for 2009 & 2010. So after that I'm owing at least that much at the end of the year (if not more because I won't have medical expenses to itemize). I wonder how many people out there are going to get screwed? It kind of forces you to have the maximum taken out so they get free loans. Argghhh. It's too damn complicated.

How am I supposed to keep up and understand these changes throughout the year so I can make sure my withholdings are correct? What happens when the Bush tax cuts expire? (Not that that showed up in my paycheck as extra money then - it didn't - but what do you want to bet it does when it expires and they take more taxes?)

I was cranky enough last night I didn't watch the State of the Union. I'll watch it online at some later time. I just need to keep focusing on my new iPod. And figure out what to get with that Amaz.on gift card. Oh, the choices!!!

This Is Why

This is why I believe health care should no longer be considered a commodity:

We were just notified at work that our health insurance premium has increased by 23%. And that's after it went up 25% when we renewed this past January. Not only that, but they've switched to a new pharmacy. Which has a different formulary of preferred drugs. And yep. You guessed it, two of my meds are now on the third and most expensive tier.

Which means the cost for me has doubled per prescription.

And since our wondeful accountant only budgeted for an 18% increase (what planet is she on???), there's a shortfall. We had a meeting yesterday to discuss options. The boss wanted to know how we value the additional coverages added a few years back - dental & vision. And whether we'd prefer to drop that or increase our deductible.

By the end of the meeting it was basically this: dropping dental & doubling our deductible to $2000 would just cover the increase. Just.

Heaven help me if I need anything next year, because it will all be out of my pocket. There's that 80/20 split after the deductible until the maximum out of pocket is met (that will most likely increase to $2000.)

Well. The CPAP machine better not break, and hopefully my doc will call me back with some alternative meds that are more affordable. I know I need to share in the costs of my health care, but we've had an increase of  almost 50% over two years! And I can guarantee my income & my employers' income haven't increased by that much!

The Reason I Cringe

"the proposal is big and the reason it's big is because it's a big problem". G.W.Bush That's the best our president can do? That's the best he can say? God. No wonder confidence is crumbling. If all the people surrounding him can't come up with something better than that to explain the madness of our government's actions this week, we are in dire straits indeed. It's the reason I cringe when I turn on the news now. Where the heck are the economic and business advisers? The REAL ones, not the ones that got us into this mess. Why isn't anyone standing up in front of the people and saying "This sucks. We know it sucks. But we have to do this without a guarantee of getting all the money back. Even then, the economy will get worse before it gets better. The taxpayers are going to take the burden. CEO salaries and golden parachutes ARE NOT THE PROBLEM THEY ARE A DISTRACTION. Right now we HAVE TO FOCUS ON STABILIZING THE FINANCIAL SECTOR. After that we can deal with the salary cap issue. After that we can deal with the wrong-doers, the speculators. But WE HAVE TO STOP THE CHAOS FIRST." We need to be told in blunt terms the average person can understand that this is not a bailout of the CEO's. This is a bailout of the economy. Which affects all of us. Yeah, no ones paying my mortgage. But financial stability is necessary for economic growth. We may not reach the levels of the Great Depression, but things aren't going to be great for a few years. Unemployment will rise from historic lows, interest rates will go up from historic lows, home buying/values will still decrease from historic highs...But these are all things that need to happen. The economy cannot sustain a high forever. Corrections are needed. We can't hold them off. And the longer we hold them off, the harsher the correction is going to be in my opinion. I'd apologize for yelling, but I need to vent in a BIG WAY about the stupidity of Congress finally listening to "what the voters want" when most of the voters (myself included, even if I do have an Economics degree!) don't have the slightest clue how the economy works, how everything is inter-related, how the banking & finance system works, or the short and long-term effects of bailout vs no bailout. NOW IS NOT THE TIME TO LISTEN TO JOHN Q PUBLIC. Once again, politics trumps doing what's better for the people/country as a whole.

Bright Eyed & Bushy Tailed...

Goal: 3x Abs & Arms, Gym Night
Sitrep: 1x Abs & Arms

...I am not. I think I need a keeper. [g] Went to the bookstore yesterday during lunch to get Dagger Star, the new Elizabeth Vaughan book (author of Warprize, Warsworn, Warlord trilogy). This book returns to that world. Of course, I couldn't get just one book. After work I made a particularly dismal stop at Wal.Mart to pick up prescriptions on the new insurance ($18 cheaper a month, whoo hoo!). I really wonder about some people, you know? I handed them my new insurance card, said it was new insurance and the other insurance was cancelled. Please refill prescriptions X and X under my new insurance. 30 minutes later, I pick it up and they've run it under the old insurance. Sigh. How it went through I have no idea.

So they had to re-run it. One prescription changed, the other was still at $8.00 when it was supposed to go up to $10.00. I could not make them understand this, and eventually I was too frustrated so I left. Ended up finding the $1.00 candy bin and brought waaaaayyyy too much of that stuff home. Ugh. Then at the checkout my Flex Plan debit card kept getting denied. Now I know I have enough in that account. So I had to pay out of pocket. I had the funds, but that's not the point! I'm on a strict budget which I'd already gone over earlier with the books.

Got home and checked online, and they've closed out our Flex Plan account. Our new health insurance is through the same company, and apparently they want to tie the two accounts together (Flex and Health Ins) so last week they moved the funds. Only didn't tell us, didn't give us new debit cards, etc. Arghhh. Do you have any idea how embarassing it is to be sitting there at Wal.mart and having your card declined? That has never happened to me before. Ughh.

To "comfort" myself, I ate too much candy and stayed up late reading. Past midnight. So today I'm tired and cranky. And I decided to give up coffee again today. I must be deranged or something. [g]

Tonight is Gym Night with Big Brothers/Big Sisters and I so do not want to go. But I'm going to because a) I promised Shanni and b) I blogged here and posted on the bulletin board. So. My big mouth is doing me in again. ;)

Probably because I'm cranky, but the talk - again - of bailing out the homeowner crisis is ticking me off. Read one article about this woman that works specifically with homeowners that are in default. She is the middleman between the homeowner and the loan holder. They specifically showcased this dual income couple that had to take out TWO loans to get into their $300,000 plus house, BOTH with adjustable rates. Their mortgage went from $1600 to $2200 over several years, and they ended up behind on their payments. Eventually this lady was able to work it out where the two loans were consolidated into one loan, with no penalties or fees paid by the homeowners, and locked in at a 3.5% for five years, with them needing to refinance again then. WTF? Give ME that deal. I can guar-an-dam-tee you that in 5 years my credit score will still be high enough and my finances at least as good as now that I'll qualify for a loan no problem. What makes them think these people will be any better with their finances or decision making in five years when they haven't suffered any repercussions with their current decision? Why is it that people who are stupid and irresponsible seemingly get all the breaks???

Oooooh, I think I need to take these red-colored glasses off and go talk a quick walk outside or something. Shake loose the cobwebs and crankiness from my brain!

Here are two good things to blog -

- for the 2nd week in a row on Biggest Loser, a girl beat the guys. Heheheheh. I really, really, really hope Ali wins.

- my sister emailed me a picture on my phone of my 4 yr old niece at Disney...Daddy was not able to talk his little girl out of the Princess Jasmine costume...[g]

Too Close to the Edge

Sitrep: Back to Zero. Just got my Girl Scout Cookie order. Why did I order so many? What was I thinking?????

So this weekend I spent quite a bit of time with my little sister's family. Her stepdad has had back problems for years. Several weeks back he "tweaked" it somehow, and it just hasn't been getting better. He has to have four vertebrae fused, which is happening tomorrow. Unfortunately, this puts him out of work for at least 3 months. And, naturally, his employer doesn't provide disability insurance, so he won't be getting any pay. In addition, he can't go back to his job (one he's been doing for pretty much the same employer for 30 years) because of the heavy lifting involved.

So he's basically been laid off for medical reasons. And starting March 1st, they are switching him to his wife's medical insurance plan (they work for the same company) so he will still have insurance. Only she has to pay the premium for him, which is an additional $360 per month. It sucks, big time.

My little's mom was freaking out. Which I can totally understand. They're losing half their monthly income. They were barely keeping their heads above water as it was. They weren't exactly the best with their finances, but they weren't that bad either. Most of their existing debt is medically related. It's amazing how fast medical bills add up even when you have insurance.

But there's just no way they can pay anything on any of their debt with just her income (and she's already working 2 jobs; one full, one part-time). It's barely going to cover basic necessities as it is. And just forget about any of the new medical bills because of the back surgery and rehab. I highly doubt insurance will cover it all. It really sucks. They've pretty much decided they'll have to declare bankruptcy once those bills come in. Because it's a minimum of 3 months until he's supposed to be back on his feet, and then he'll have to be retrained, etc, and find another job. Doesn't look like he can get unemployment because he isn't able to work (one of the exclusions listed) and it takes 6 months (per the SSA) to get SS disability. Which he qualifies for, from what we researched, but we've all heard that you get turned down the first time, no matter what.

It just makes me wonder how many of us are that close to the edge. I'd always realized intellectually how most people (myself included) are one or two paychecks away from disaster. I guess I didn't realize exactly what that meant. The reality of it. Now granted, they could have managed their money much better than they have. But they haven't been doing that bad in the grand scheme of things. It's pretty scary when you think about it.