I’m trying to cut back as much as I can. Insurance is great to have. I found out something on my credit card that I wanted others to know about.

When I got my Bank of America credit card I signed up for insurance. This insurance was costing me $0.87 per $100 on the card. Wonderful if you keep a low balance. I ran in to some issues earlier this year that I have not been able to quite recover from regarding the credit card. My wife went into the hospital and I used it to buy food and other stuff while she was there. I have also used it for gas when I forgot the bank card at home.

All of this adds up over time. I have a max of $2200 on the card. Well between the finance carges, and carring a high balance, the Insurance went up to $18 and then to $19 then to $20. We are making the minimum on the card. So if the finance charge is $30, and the insurance is $20, and we are paying $55 we are good and putting $5 toward the balance of the card.

He is where we got caught, and have been caught for a while and didn’t even realize it. The insurance came out of the card after the payment was made. So where we though we had paid the card down low enough from a previous month to get out he the over balance, here comes the insurance tacking on another $20. Then, the 1st comes around and we have an overage charge again, then more intrest along with the penility.

So we are bing charge $30 in interest, $20 in insurance, and $39 on over limit charges. It doesn’t take very much math to know that $90 is greater that $55 a month. We would never get out away from this. They are making a killing on us.

This is called the credit card debt spiral. I am trying to get a hold on everything with the aid of my wife. I’m looking for anything that could help me out. So I killed the insurance on the card. Now if I loose my job, then I’m screwed on the card payments. That is a risk that I have to take right now.

So $30 and $39 is still $70. I still either need to come up with the money to get it paid down below the $2200 mark, so that I will start paying the card off, or just go bankrupt. I am not one to run away from a challendge, so I’m not going bankrupt. Also because of the maxed out limit, my car insurance is much higher than it needs to be. Fucking Insurance.

I have become disappointed at Entrecard. I thought, this is what I get, that Entrecard was going to be used as a Web Business card for sites. In fact it is only used for blogs.

This is disappointing because I was using it for much more. I was using it to help promote ASMW. ASMW used to have a blog on it, and I’m working on getting a podcast setup. I guess I would be able to use it again when the podcast was setup, but I can’t use it until that is done.

This makes me sad. I don’t think that I will get out of the Entrecard game just yet. I’m doing a giveaway for 3000 ECs for others helping promote ASMW. It doesn’t seem to be as good of a deal as I thought. Not many people are doing it. So far I have a friend doing it.

As far as Entrecard goes, I’m sure they have reasons for only supporting blogs. I don’t know why they wouldn’t allow personal sites with out blogs as well.

I have watched and heard some of the talk about there about the different president candidates. It will be my first time voting this year and I plan to hit the poles early on November 4th, mainly because I can’t see to find the time to get to the early polls, and it is a good thing.

I considered Obama at first. All this talk of change. Change what? It appears that he wants to change our taxes. I don’t feel our taxes are where they should be. I personally do not know what would be a good resolution to get everyone to pay their fair share, other than taxing what people buy and not taxing them at the pay check.

Obama wants to raise taxes on everyone that makes over $250,000 a year. This sounds great to those, like me, that make way less than that. The fall out from this could have a devastating impact on the economy right now though.

If I owned a business and my taxes were raised, I would either find a way to not pay the taxes by what ever means, or I would let someone go from my company to pay the taxes. So I have now put the workers I have left under more stress and work load, and I have not been able to give anyone a pay increase because I have to pay hire taxes.

Being punished for working my butt off to make more money is not what America is all about. Spreading the wealth made a lot of sense when I was 18. I wasn’t making great money and I thought that people should share. I have learned though hard work and reflecting on my life that I do not want to be forced to share with people that are not willing to do the same. The phrase “You can’t help someone unless they are willing to help themselves” rings though my mind all the time when I try to help people out personally. I have given people a place to stay when they didn’t have a place to go. The deal was though, they needed to get a job and help pay the increase in bills from them living with me.

This helped make people account able. I have yet to have to kick someone out of my house because they didn’t pay the bills, though I have come close. In this sense I do not want my tax dollars going to someone sitting the the ghetto of a town that is not willing to work, not being able to work is a different story. Those that wish not to work and still benefit from the fruits of someone else’s labors is just wrong. This is a socialist train of thought.

A socialist train of thought works great when everyone, everyone means everyone not a majority, agrees that it is the way that things should be done. This should not be decided by one person, or a community of people. Obama wants to spread the wealth around to everyone, even those that are unwilling to contribute to society, those that wish to just plague it.

Watch the video and listen to the last words that Obama says.

Obama said that, “When you spread the wealth around it is good for everybody.” Listen to it. Think about it. Here is a question. Would you be happy to know that you got up one morning and found out that instead of making $249,999, that you just so happened to make $250,001 and it pushed you into a higher tax bracket. The fact that the one sale has not crippled your business.

This plan to me would make me shut down my business at a revenue steam of $249,999 so that I wouldn’t have to pay more taxes. Paying the higher taxes will cause my business to stifle and not grow.

You can’t look at this as what is going to help me out now. You have to look at what is going to help everyone as a whole. Yes, Obama’s plan will help those that make less at first. When all of the small businesses that make just over the $250,000 mark have to start making cuts because of the higher taxes, then you are going to see the fall out.

I don’t feel that Obama is talking about the American dream. The ability to start with nothing and end up with something. Anyone can make that happen in the United States. Everyone has their own hard time about it. I bitch because I’m a young white male, and there are not many programs that are easy to find to help me get started. If you are black you have to deal with a race issue, either one you have created or one that is truly there. If you are from another country, then you might just have it easier than the rest of us born in the United States.

The point is not matter how you look at it, working hard, being a “go getter” is not going to pay off with Obama’s tax plan. I have no reason to work past the $249,999 mark if I feel that there will not be a benefit for me and my workers.

I know what poor is. I have lived in trailers, I have lived in homes with out heating and AC. I have had to get up at 5:30am to light the hot water heater because we only had a propane bottle that was fit for a grill. I have lived in a trailer park and a house with just concrete floor. BUT! I have also had people help me when I needed it. I have stayed with people that have helped me get on my feet. I have had assistance from my fellow man. I have pointed in directions that I took and some I didn’t’ take.

I’m able to stand on my own feet now. I should say that my wife and I are able to stand on our own feet now. We have hard times, and yes, sometimes we still require assistance. We are growing though. Choices that we make allow us to grow and to make more and to do more for ourselves. The the current plan, we can get more and do more and that more we do, the less we have to pay. If I’m going to be taxed because I grew to big, then I don’t want to keep going, I don’t want to grow. I can help people out where I sit, I just will not be able to help as many.

I feel that I have made my point, and that I’m starting to ramble. I’m not going to vote for Obama because he is a socialist and not a capitalist. I don’t know that I’m going to vote for the republican party either. I have thought about voting for Bob Barr. I just don’t know who I will vote for, I just know who I will not vote for.

Okay, I’m going to give this contest a shot. I wish to give away 3000 Entrecard credit to 1 lucky winner. If you are interested please keep reading.

So the rules go like this:
1. You must have a blog. Where it is hosted at doesn’t really matter. It can be hosted at blogspot, wordpress, or any of the others.

2. You must trackback to this post. If a trackback doesn’t get listed here then you are not entered. I’m not responsable for trackbacks not working. I might make the exception if they seem to fail a lot, but I have not had any trouble in the past but the occasional problem.

3. You must talk about and promote ASMW and also offer people to sign up for Amie Street using this link: http://amiestreet.com/_l/asmw. You may use the link in linking to Amie Street like Amie Street or Sign Up for Amie Street and receive $5

There you have it. Talk about the contest, encourage people to participate in the contest. If you are not signed up for Amie Street, your more than welcome to do so. It is not required at all. You are also not required to participate in ASMW either, although it is encouraged as well. I enjoy listening to what others listen to. It has helped me find great music.

This contest will run until the end of November. You can enter into the contest once a week. So you can have up to 6 entries. Each post has to be different, do not copy and paste the same thing each week.

Recap:

Help promote ASMW and Amie Street.
Link for ASMW — http://amiest.musicwednesday.com
Link for Amie Street — http://amiestreet.com/_l/asmw

If I have more Entrecard credits by the end of the contest then I will be happy to have a running up prize, and maybe even more Entrecard credits for the winner.

Have Fun!

Things are leveling out around the house. Could always use more money, but it seems that things are getting a little better.

Progressive now sucks as an insurance provider. I think that we are going to get Kevin to write us up a policy. All State seems to be much cheaper. So it would benefit us more to go with them. Besides I like what they are offering better as well.

Just an update. I don’t have much else to talk about right now, and I need to get back to work. More just got put on my plate, and it was created by unknown powers. The upside is tomorrow is Wednesday, and we get to hear what other have been listening to this past week on Amie Street.