ABC News reports that states, looking for ways to balance their budgets, are coming up with new ways to get money from their citizens.

Cash-strapped states across the country are looking to their cash-strapped residents for even more money — by taxing services they buy, not just goods. Everything from car repairs and dry cleaning to personal training and party clowns are being targeted for new taxes.

Personal Trainer Kelly Garner is outraged, telling ABC News, “another tax is not what we need right now.” State budget officers disagree.

The new taxes are hitting citizens of states across the country. Hawaii, New Mexico, Washington, South Dakota and Delaware already tax a number of services. Other states are quickly following their lead.

Washington State already taxes some services.  On the GROSS income of the business, not the NET.  Which means many companies are starting to look for other states to relocate to.  But that’s a separate issue.

What states need to start doing is cutting their spending (hint, hint, Gov. Christine Gregoire), not looking for ways to suck even more out of the economy.

But if the states insist on taxing service, as long as they include all services, INCLUDING attorneys and the public service sector — congresscritters, state representatives, mayors, governors, city council members, the President of the United States, etc. — then I guess I’m okay with that.

I have been watching news lately and wondering where I went wrong. First the banks get bailed out and get to make millions and billions in subsequent profits.

I have seen where people who jumped at the chance to get first, second and even third-mortgage loans on homes worth half that much, are now being considered for getting their mortgage cut by Bank of America, and now also by the government.

Granted, the housing market collapsed and I know two main reasons why. First, banks got greedy and made loans they knew were going to be bad.  Please don’t even comment on how I know this because I was in a job where I got to watch it happen first-hand.

Then all of those people who got loans on homes because it WAS so easy, to the point where they had mortgages up to 100% of the value of their homes - yes, homes, plural. I saw people get multiple loans at the same time. I wonder where THAT money went. As I said, I saw this first-hand.

I know there are those who tried to stay the course, keep one mortgage and then the housing market caused their home values crash or there was a family crisis happen. I have all of the sympathy for them and hope they do get help.

But to my question: Where is my help?

I had to leave a job in a bank because of what I considered unethical and border-line illegal working conditions. So, almost 3 years ago I left a good paying job and haven’t found work since. Yes, I KNOW it was my choice, but please let me continue.

So, as a result of my choice, no unemployment checks, even though the working conditions warranted my leaving and subsequently, I would have had to leave anyway because the bank folded, actually more like imploded and every reason I left was substantiated.

We bought a house in 1997 and have one mortgage on it, no second mortgage although at times it was very tempting.

So, even though I played by the book - kept one mortgage and kept all payments current, never drew money from any government agency because I left the job and wasn’t fired - I have NO recourse now.

Because I was stupid about sticking to my ethics and principles, no assistance from the government. Instead, I get to pay the taxes.

But the guy who is 2 payments behind and his house mortgage loan total is more than 20% of it’s value, is going to get bailed out by having his mortgage cut just so banks do not have to deal with foreclosures.

Regardless of his income.

So, my question is where is my help? Do I really want help? No. But it would have been nice if someone at least would have said, ”I am sorry I have to force you to divide your money to help others”. Like that is going to happen.

At least I have a choice which charity I can donate to, but I am waiting for the day that choice to be gone.

Housing prices “unexpectedly” fall.

U.S. stocks fell on Tuesday as consumer sentiment dropped sharply and house prices unexpectedly dipped, denting optimism about a economic recovery. …

The releases followed an unexpected decline in business sentiment in Germany, which pressured overseas markets and fed uncertainty among investors who were worried about the U.S. Federal Reserve’s plans for interest rates and worries over possible sovereign debt defaults in Europe.

We apparently live in a world where everything jumps out from behind the curtains and yells, “BOO!”

I was throwing things at my TV due to the recent census ads I’ve been seeing (frequently).  Do it, because that’s how the government decides what government money you will get!

What about representation? Not mentioned. Isn’t that what the census is for? Does anyone care about that, or are we all assumed to be looking for a government handout?

So you can imagine how I feel about the government spending $2.5 million for a 30 second ad during the Super Bowl while running up a massive deficit and enormous budget.

Taxpayers might want to pay close attention to this Sunday’s Super Bowl broadcast or they’ll miss Uncle Sam’s 30-second, $2.5-million reminder to stand up and be counted. …

And, that’s just a fraction of what the bureau plans to spend this year to get Americans to answer a simple, 10-question survey.

The bureau is spending $133 million between January and May — or, more than $13 million for each of 10 questions, one of which reads: What is your telephone number? — to publicize the national head-count. Part of that effort is the Super Bowl ad, which Kendall Johnson, a spokeswoman for the bureau, confirmed Wednesday to FoxNews.com cost $2.5 million to air. The ad, produced by actor and director Christopher Guest, also will appear in other media, Johnson said.

Since they’ll also be counting illegal aliens in an effort to redistribute Congressional districts (gerrymandering anyone?), I’m wondering if the ad will have English sub-titles.

So the President has proposed a $15 billion cut, in the name of being “fiscally responsible.” Color me unimpressed.

The CBO says that the deficit next year will be $1.35 trillion, or about 1000 times more than these cuts. That’s not the budget, that’s the deficit. So “fiscally responsible” means cutting the deficit by 0.1%. This summer, the family’s having a get together in Long Beach, about 200 miles away. To put the cuts in perspective, 0.1% of the trip barely gets me to the end of the block.

Let me just say that the President is an idiot. I come to this conclusion because he clearly thinks that I’m dumb enough to think that this is fiscal responsibility.

I thought President Obama’s new year resolution was to cut down on spending?  Didn’t he make a speech declaring he was going all deficit hawkish a week or so ago?  That didn’t last long.

The government on Wednesday provided a fresh $3.8 billion cash infusion to stabilize GMAC Financial Services as the financing company struggles with hefty losses in its home mortgage unit.

The Treasury Department said the new aid, which comes from a taxpayer-financed bailout fund, is less than the roughly $6 billion the government had earlier thought GMAC would need to stabilize the company.

The fresh infusion is on top of $12.5 billion in taxpayer money Detroit-based GMAC has already received from the government. The new agreement will boost the federal government’s ownership in GMAC to 56%, from 35%.

Maybe he got his birds mixed up.  Maybe he’s going to go all deficit sparrow.

Here in Washington State, we face a $2.6 billion budget shortfall, but instead of staying home to figure out how to cut spending and not raise taxes, Gov. Christine Gregoire is jetting off on a junket to Copenhagen for the 40,584 tons of CO₂ Global Warming Holiday Festival.

Look, the stuff has already hit the fan on our state budget, the gov. has already dropped the tax increase bombshell, the budget will be submitted to the legislature, and the highest priority for the next week plus is to take off for Copenhagen?…..Give me a break.

The shallow purpose of the trip is pretty lame compared to the “governing” that needs to happen with this budget. You think it’s responsible to just throw the budget at the legislature and run away the next day for a PR trip? Many would prefer that she attempt to “make the case” to affected business owners or others who will be hurt by the upcoming tax increase (many are reportedly about to lose their sales tax exemption) rather than ___(whatever you think will actually be accomplished in Copenhagen)____.

Ironically, as the Copenhagen Climate Change Pilgrimage opens on Monday, the Seattle area is going to be enjoying a record low temperature (for Dec. 7) of 21°.

There are articles floating around about how there may be hope because the total number of monthly jobs lost dropped from the previous month. There is talk about the unemployment rate being at 9.7%, according to government figures.

Several people have mentioned that the true unemployment rate is closer to 17-18%, depending on how the figures are actually accumulated. From my own experience, I reckon that is probably closer to the truth if not understated.

A lot of the government figures are based upon how many people filed for unemployment benefits and how many dropped off the rolls. That is fine if everyone was entitled to unemployment benefits, regardless of the reason they became unemployed. But that is not the case. If you quit, you simply do not get any benefits. You have to be fired or show a lot of evidence why you quit, i.e., discrimination, etc.

You can Google and find many cases of people who quit because of the working conditions, because no one would listen to them when they tried to warn management about unethical or other types of problems in the workplace. Some were classified as “whistle blowers”, while other simply quit because the work environment simply became unbearable.

I know about this because I am very close to someone who simply and quietly quit. Now before you say something like, “they should quit whining” and “it was their own fault”, you should know all the facts first. When you tell management over and over that the day-to-day office goings-on are simply not right and against written policies and then treated as if you are the one in the wrong, it can get to you.  And by the way, ignoring those policies meant a lot of consumers got taken.  You and I are paying for it now through the bailouts and will be for many years.

I won’t get into specific detail, but it was a corporation which went bust and had to go into bankruptcy because of the very things even low-level management were told about and chose to ignore. And those things were uncovered through nation-wide news. They not only broke federal policies, they violated their own written policies on a daily basis.

There are a lot of people out there that are not on the unemployment rolls and were never allowed to be on them because they quit and were not fired. Now they have less chance at getting work because everyone is continuing to cut jobs, so fewer jobs are out there. 6 million jobs lost in less than 2 years.

So there are many people out there that are unemployed, not necessarily by choice, but because of their decision to leave unbearable conditions. I would guess that there are no government figures on those people just as there is no recourse because they decided to live by their principles and ethics. Some made the news, most of those people did not.

So my real point to all this is: Until the government revises their reporting methods; revamps the unemployment system to prevent having to continually extend benefits; makes the system more equitable; and revises policy on unemployment benefits, only then will we know how many people are really unemployed and how bad any given situation really is.

For those who say there is hope because the number of jobs dropped was less than expected, it would be really sensible to think before you say things like that.

Why? Because it is no consolation whatsoever to those unemployed looking for work for the last 6+ months, those who lost their homes because the money ran out, those ending up in divorce because their marriages fell apart, and to those out of work that were never able to get any benefits while looking for new work.

And yes, I do know. Been there and doing that…

Remember when unemployment was at 5.8% and just about every media outlet was wringing their hands over the state of the economy?  Well, now that unemployment is up to 9.7% (holy guacomole!!!!) the New York Times is singing the praises of “funemployment”. 

The work is often mundane: Investment research analysts are now making cold calls to voters, and headhunters are handing out leaflets at subway stations and supermarkets. 

But the experience, coming at a time of crisis in their lives, has been surprisingly powerful for many of them. Volunteering, they say, restores some of what they lost along with their jobs: a place to go every day, a reason to put on a clean suit, people to work beside, a sense of purpose. 

And for some of the jobless, the experience has triggered a profound reassessment. 

Yukyong Choi, 36, a former litigator who has not worked in a year, is now an unpaid volunteer for P.J. Kim, a City Council candidate in Lower Manhattan. 

“One thing that I’ve discovered through this process is I don’t really want to go back to that life,” Mr. Choi said. “That was a life filled with 18-hour days, and having to work with people you may not enjoy. It’s not the money anymore; I want to do things that will have a real effect on people’s lives, as opposed to just trying to get a company out of a situation.”

Put on clean clothes and have a place to go every day?  Who’d have thought it?  Why, everyone knows the unemployed – errrr, funemployed – just sit around in their undies watching TV all day. Yeah, I’m being sarcastic.  The unemployed are usually very motivated.  (Not being able to pay the electric bill or put meat on the table tends to do that.)  And anyone who sits around without dressing isn’t just unemployed, they’re unemployable. If you don’t have the motivation to get up and get going, why on earth would someone want to hire you?

And while we’re at it, could someone please compile a list of these morons who’d rather volunteer than work a day job? Because my son’s contract is up in 6 weeks, and with a wife and 2 children to support, he could use a new job right about now. I’m certain he’d gladly relieve said moron of his/her job to allow them the free time to go volunteer.

I would have thought with all of the problems that have cropped up with the mortgage systems that failed, and the various schemes that have been highlighted, that Wall Street and the banks would have learned something. Like, creative ideas sometimes are simply too over the top. But apparently, Wall Street feels they have the right to handle your money any way they want.

Let me show you what I mean. The recent headlines from MarketWatch says:

‘Life Settlement Bonds could be Wall Street’s next big act’

“SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) - Wall Street is developing a product that packages life-insurance policies into investable bonds, and the plan already is generating controversy, according to a media report Sunday.

Investment banks expect to buy life insurance policies that ill and elderly people sell for cash, then package hundreds or thousands of them into bonds. Institutional and other buyers would be the primary buyers of these bonds, receiving a payout when people with the insurance die, the New York Times reported in its online edition.

With $26 trillion of life insurance policies in force in the U.S., the market for these “life settlements” bonds could be immense, the Times said.

Investment banks stand to profit from the creation, sale and trading of the bonds.

Wall Street has been searching for a product to replace the once-lucrative mortgage business, and life settlements policies are being seen as the answer, the Times said.”

Now, it seems to me that this is exactly how they did mortgage loans and got everyone into hot water, causing the mortgage crash of the century. So now they want to do the same identical thing with life insurance? So now they are also gambling with the only thing left you may have left, not to mention gambling on your life expectancy.

And guess what happens if you decide to cancel your policy. The investors continue to pay the premiums on YOUR life insurance policy and you KNOW who will have to take up the slack on those. And what happens if you decide to continue your policy until or when you pass away?

Read on:

“Yet if its efforts are successful, Wall Street’s gain could come at the expense of the insured. Experts on life settlements told the Times that insurance premiums could rise in the short term if insurers have to pay out more death claims than they had expected.”

So here we go again. Because Wall Street was not satisfied with having us bail out the banks and everyone else, now we will wind up paying more for the insurance policy we already have and pay more for any new ones that our children may buy.

So, when is Congress and the White House going to put a stop to this type of gambling with our money? It had better be soon or there won’t be any left to gamble with.

Or is it that Wall Street runs this country and the government and they CAN’T stop this type of irresponsible behavior. Obviously the Congress has no interest in doing so.