Every year we as a nation demand more federal government than we are willing to pay, we are providing an immoral & bad example for succeeding generations.  In fact is is the Baby Boomer's lackadaisical attitude about personal debt that has been transposed to this huge national mess we are going to face either voluntari...more

I liked these stages, now let's apply them to debt-ridden countries like Greece, Spain, US, etc...

Your financial analysis is faulty of the MID.  If you are calculating the Net Present Value when making your home purchase it is true for those turning over homes quickly the MID would have an impact but not as much as these rock-bottom interest rates which carry through the life of the mortgage. For those looking to b...more

Fourth--as a principle encouraging or supplementing personal debt with government money is a poor philosophy.  We have become a nation of debtors and subtle programs like this that encourages people to borrow & never own is a poor moral/philosophical policy that we can all see the results of.

It was September 2008 when AIG was bailed out.  C'mon get a grip--both parties are terrified of letting our house of cards fall down.

Your statement is not true.  The USPS is the only quasi-governmental company that has to prepay benefits.  The reason is simple-look at the local/state governments that are going bankrupt because of over-promised benefits.  The truth is that all private companies must prepay their pensions & in fact have to pay federal...more

When it comes to fed/state taxes you have to measure the net effect, not the withholding.  For instance if both spouses work & earn $40K each, you should measure the final tax burden of a family's 1040 with $80K income vs the same family's 1040 with $40K.  Every family will have different deductions/credits so it is im...more

A deeper analysis of any economic boom/bust would require a demographic analysis of the working age population and MUST discount the deficit spending of the government & the people.  I can point at the huge deficits Reagan started or the ultra-productivity of the Boomers during the Clinton years as factors besides supp...more

If you are experienced & have the time/interest then purchasing your home without a buyers agent is definitely worth it.  It is NOT a free service, it is like saying it is free to use credit cards.  Just because you don't see a separate line item on your grocery receipt for credit card fees doesn't mean the retailer do...more