SavvySugar

Got your (economic stimulus) check yet?

syako — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 13:02:28 -0700

So I know regardless of what your feelings/opinions are about the rebate check, I doubt anyone of us would take the check, rip it apart and throw it in the trash. I read that some people are already getting their checks today deposited in their bank accounts.

So I want to know, have you got your check yet? (And feel free to answer the poll and then come back and comment once you receive it)

UPDATE: If you want to find out if you're eligible and also calculate how much you should get you can use the IRS Calculator to find out , you just need a copy of your return and fill in a few blanks and then it will give you a total.

Who Should I File My Taxes Through?

elisabeth — Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:07:23 -0800

I recently graduated and found my first job! Yes! But now that taxes are due soon and I was wondering which online site should I file them with? My taxes are pretty basic, so I am confident that I can do it myself and I don't need a real tax man. But there are so many options out there, my friends have suggested turbotax. Any other reccomendations, I want to make sure my rebate check is everything it should be!

Taking Control of Rebates

Cassandra57 — Wed, 10 Dec 2008 15:39:01 -0800

** PUBLIC POST **

I don't know about all of you, but I'm shopping more carefully than usual this year, trying to get the most I can and trying to hold to a budget. Ran across this article, and thought it was too important to miss.

Taking Control of Rebates
Just Say No to Not Getting Your Rebate Check

By Donna L Montaldo, About.com

Industry figures show that 40 percent to 60 percent of rebates go unredeemed. While some of the rebates are not redeemed because consumers do not bother to send them in, in all too many cases even the most diligent consumer is unable to receive his or her rebate.

"Rebates are extraordinarily popular for the very reason that most of them go unredeemed and provide what is essentially free money to the manufacturers." says U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer.

Rebates make up big business. According to Business Week, nearly one-third of all computer equipment is sold with some kind of rebate along with 20 percent of digital cameras, camcorders and LCD TV's. The industry estimates that 400 million rebates are offered each year with an estimated worth of $6 billion.

"This is the post Christmas bait-and-switch," Schumer said. "People go into stores with the promise of getting money back, and months later they still haven't seen checks."

Rebates are extraordinarily popular for the very reason that most of them go unredeemed and provide what is essentially free money to the manufacturers. Very few places offer immediate cash rebates, the most common are those that are done through the mail.

While rebates have grown in popularity as a sales incentive, so have the complaints to The Better Business Bureau, which receives thousands of complaints regarding rebates each year.
The Way It Works
Many companies contract with rebate-processing centers, or fulfillment houses, to pay customers' rebate requests, some of whom market themselves with their low rates of redemption. Many of these companies design complex rules, have very short filing periods or ask for documentation that is nearly impossible to obtain - all in an effort to not give the consumer their money back.

The rebate companies will ask for copies of receipts multiple times or delay the rebate check for months. Applications will be ignored and consumers will have to redo the entire process.

Many of the companies make the rebate check envelope look like junk mail so it ends up in the trash and consumers are stuck retracing all their steps to get the money again.

Often, months after a rebate application is sent in, the customer will be asked for other documentation to get their rebate such as codes off of the products box that was thrown out months before or original receipts that have already been sent away.

The Bottom Line
"The bottom line is, rebates unfailingly bring in billions in excess profits for companies that offer them, but when it comes to saving the shopper a dime, as rebates claim to do, they fail the consumer more often than not," Senator Schumer said. "It really is a combination of scrambling to meet deadlines, reading the extremely fine print, following unclear instructions and then crossing your fingers in hopes that the rebate check ever gets sent."

Which Rebates Should You Avoid?

* Companies which fail to provide consumers at least 30 days to redeem their rebates and who do not fulfill the terms of the rebate within the same amount of time required of consumers, not exceeding 60 days.

* Companies that do not send rebate checks in a manner which identifies the piece of mail as the expected rebate check.

* Companies that do not accept copies of receipts.

* Companies that require consumers to write identifying information on the rebate form (unless the receipt does not identify the purchased product).

* Companies offering rebates that require information that is not necessary to process the rebate, including information other than name, address and phone number.

* Companies that fail to provide telephone numbers or contact information for rebate inquiries so consumers are able check on the status of their rebates.

Consumer Steps to Sending In Rebates
To avoid having the rebate you mail in, rejected, follow these guidelines:

* Keep all receipts for items you will get rebates for. Companies may make you mail either copies or originals of all receipts.

* Send in you're rebates as quickly as possible. Many companies have a period as short as seven days for consumers to send in their documentation.

* Save the box. A rebate application may require the UPC code off of the packaging that the product came in.

* Always sort your mail carefully. Many rebate checks are created to look like junk mail. Don't be fooled.

* Make copies of every element of your application. Companies have been known to ask for you to resubmit, citing a mistake or loss of an application so copies of everything are a must.

* Have the appropriate numbers for follow up. You may have to contact the company if the rebate doesn't arrive as promised.

Steps to Take if Your Rebate Check Does Not Arrive
If you do not know what company is handling the rebate, check MyRebates.com. Enter in the name of the company where you made the purchase or the manufacturer of the product your purchased.

To track the status of your rebate, visit WheresMyRebate.com or Rebatestatus.com

Don't mess around with playing the game of sending in multiple copies of receipts already sent in properly. If the rebate check never arrives or arrives late, file a complaint with the FTC, the state Attorney General or the local Better Business Bureau.

Also write to the corporate headquarters of the company where you made your purchase and include copies of your correspondence with the above organizations.

Getting a rebate check may end up being difficult and frustrating, but be relentless. Remember the process is designed to make you give up.

Have fun saving money while you shop!

http://couponing.about.com/od/bargainshoppingtips/a/rebatefraud.htm

Biden’s Version

Grandpa — Mon, 07 Sep 2009 18:57:11 -0700

Biden’s Version
By the Editors (National Review Online)

There’s a line in the movie Dave in which a guy impersonating the president, looking for ways to cut the budget, asks his commerce secretary, “So, we’re spending $47 million so that somebody can feel better about a car that they have already bought?” It doesn’t cost $47 million to get Joe Biden to give a speech - he’ll talk anywhere, anytime, at great length, for free - and his address to the Brookings Institution on Thursday was intended to prevent buyer’s remorse. America already has bought the $787 billion stimulus package and will be paying off that bill for a very long time. Was it a good buy? Two hundred days later, unemployment still is creeping upward, almost at 10 percent, and the public is starting to wonder why it is getting so little bang for its buck. President Obama, just returned from Martha’s Vineyard, dispatched Biden to make Americans feel better.

But in making his case for the stimulus, Biden - exaggerated. Just a little. First, he offered a revisionist history of the financial crisis and the administration’s response to it. Biden said that when Obama took office, the economy was “on the verge of failure. Credit was frozen. Businesses couldn’t borrow for inventory, much less expand or hire.” Not really. By January, the worst of the crisis had passed. Problems remained, but the credit markets had mostly thawed, aided by unprecedented interventions from the Treasury and the Fed to guarantee interbank lending.

Biden also exaggerated when he said, “We took the very unpopular, but necessary, step of rescuing the banks.” Actually, the Bush administration did that. The Obama administration’s only notable contribution to the constellation of bank bailouts was the Public-Private Investment Program, a dimly burning star that tanked with investors when it was unveiled and hasn’t really been heard from since.

“And now,” Biden added, “although there’s a long way to go, eight out of ten of the largest financial institutions in America . . . have repaid the government in full, and, I might add, at a $4 billion profit for the taxpayers.” As Biden failed to mention, that $4 billion profit is dwarfed by the hundreds of billions in debt and dubious equity the taxpayers still have tied up in failed companies like AIG, Citigroup, and Fannie and Freddie, much of which is unlikely ever to be profitably resolved. A long way to go, indeed.

Biden said that the administration “took action in stabilizing the housing market, allowing responsible homeowners to stay in their homes. And we’re beginning to see the results of that.” But the administration’s efforts have not had much of an effect on foreclosures, primarily because the slice of borrowers who are good loan-modification risks is relatively small. Most borrowers who fall behind in their payments either catch up eventually without help or can’t catch up no matter what.

That’s four big exaggerations or omissions, and we haven’t even gotten to the stimulus yet. Biden kicked off this portion of the speech with a silly metaphor. Critics of the stimulus, he said, call it “a grab-bag of too many different programs. But the fact is . . . the Recovery Act is not a single silver bullet. I think of it as silver buckshot, as opposed to a single bullet.” This is an illuminating analogy. Think of the stimulus as scattering the nation’s silver instead of hitting targets with precise shots.

According to its starry-eyed backers, the stimulus was supposed to fund hundreds of infrastructure projects, create thousands of “green-collar jobs,” put millions back to work - fast. But the money for such projects has slowed to a trickle. Instead, the bulk of the stimulus has gone to pay for tax rebates, income redistribution, and bailouts for fiscally incontinent state governments, all of which Biden ignored in his speech.

On tax rebates: “My Republican friends - as my mother would say, God love them - forget that they insisted on $288 billion in tax cuts.” Wrong. The tax rebates in the stimulus were included to fulfill Obama’s campaign pledge that 95 percent of Americans would receive a tax cut. It’s strange that his administration would “blame” the Republicans for insisting on tax rebates that Obama now wants to extend. If it had been up to conservatives, the tax cuts would have taken the form of rate reductions, not rebates.

On income transfers such as extensions of unemployment benefits, food stamps, and Medicaid: “I know my Republican critics think maybe we shouldn’t do that. Maybe that’s the difference between being a Democrat and a Republican. . . . I believe this was the right thing to do morally.” Putting aside the question of whether these programs are morally virtuous, Republicans opposed these provisions of the stimulus bill because they all but locked states into making “temporary” extensions of these programs permanent, inflicting enormous expenses down the line. This is why some governors, such as Rick Perry of Texas, said thanks, but no.

On state bailouts: “Ask the governors, Republican and Democrat. Without the billions of dollars in Recovery Act stabilization funds coming in, could they have maintained essential services in their states?” That is mostly true of Republicans named Arnold Schwarzenegger and of Democrats in blue states that have redefined “essential services” to include six-figure annual pensions for state employees and health insurance for “children” up to the age of 25.

As far as infrastructure spending is concerned, Biden talked a good game. But a brutal fact-check issued hours after the speech by the Associated Press noted a number of exaggerations and omissions in this part of his speech, too. Biden neglected to mention the dramatic slowdown in highway spending, numerous complaints of waste because of a lack of competitive bidding, and more than $1 billion spent to “repair” bridges that passed recent inspections with high marks.

“If you look at the Recovery Act as a two-year marathon,” Biden said, “we’re at the nine-mile mark. . . . Two hundred days in, the Recovery Act is doing more, faster and more efficiently and more effectively than most people expected.” To the contrary: There are plenty of reasons to think that the stimulus has been as inefficient and ineffective as its critics feared it would be - unemployment is getting worse rather than improving as predicted, countries that spent less on stimulus (and those that employed tax-rate reductions), are recovering more quickly, etc. - and Biden’s exaggerations only served to highlight these reasons.

We don’t feel better. Do you?

New Jersey: Corzine calls for 'choices we might not otherwise make' in budget address

tdsollog — Wed, 11 Mar 2009 09:54:00 -0700

Corzine calls for 'choices we might not otherwise make' in budget address
By DEREK HARPER Statehouse Bureau, 609-292-4935

Published: Wednesday, March 11, 2009
http://www.pressofatlanticcity.com/185/story/425145.html

Gov. Jon S. Corzine proposed a $29.8 billion budget Tuesday that would slash state spending by 9.4 percent but cushion the blow to the state's most vulnerable residents, the governor said.
"Even as we cut the government in unprecedented and historic amounts," Corzine said in his budget address to both houses of the state Legislature, "we are doing so in the right way - the way that sustains our abiding commitment to those core values ... nurturing our children, honoring our seniors and protecting the most vulnerable."

The budget document estimates that without cuts or adjustments, the $32.9 billion budget approved in June would grow to $35.7 billion next year. But at the same time, the state expects to collect just $28.6 billion.

To make up the difference, the election-year budget proposes $3.6 billion in cuts or other spending reductions or deferrals, relies on about $1.1 billion in new taxes or fees, and uses $2.2 billion in federal stimulus spending and about $199 million in surplus funds.

Corzine's budget increases spending for grade-school education and children's health programs, while keeping the state's property-tax rebate programs largely intact for senior residents.

At the same time, it cuts about 850 programs, calls for a one-year, 0.75 percent tax increase on state residents earning more than $500,000 and halves the income eligibility for property-tax rebates for non-senior citizens.
It increases the nation's highest $2.575-per-pack cigarette tax by an additional 12.5 cents per pack, and raises taxes on liquor and wine by 25 percent.

The budget calls for a new tax on all lottery winnings in excess of $10,000 and extends a 4 percent corporate business tax surcharge set to expire this year.

"The unprecedented circumstances of our national economic crisis require choices we might not otherwise make," Corzine said in his address. "Our responsibility requires us to have the courage to meet these challenges, deliberately, honestly, with compassion and good judgment. And that is precisely what we have done in crafting this budget."

State legislators in southern New Jersey said the austere budget was dictated by the times.

"It's a real budget, and it's not a pretty one," said Senate Majority Leader Stephen Sweeney D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland. "We're doing what the public wants. We're spending less money.

"There is no sunshine in this room today," Sweeney added. "None at all."

Sen. Jim Whelan, D-Atlantic, said he expected worse.

"You can't plug a $7 billion gap - which is what we're looking at - without everyone feeling some pain," Whelan said. "You can do it with smoke and mirrors; that's the way we used to do it. We can't do it that way anymore."

While Sen. Jeff Van Drew, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, said there was a lot of good in the spending plan, "Currently as it's constructed, I can't support the budget," he said, citing new proposed taxes as well as cuts to tourism and beach replenishment programs.

At the same time, Assemblymen Daniel Van Pelt and Brian Rumpf, both R-Ocean, Burlington, Atlantic, called for reducing the size of government. Van Pelt advocated layoffs.

"The state of New Jersey does not have a revenue problem," he said, adding later that it has "a spending problem."

Others said Corzine missed the mark.

"We're not targeting where we should," said Assemblyman John Amodeo, R-Atlantic. "We should eliminate health care benefits to part-time legislators."

The largest single reduction to the state's base budget is an $895.3 million cut to state pension funding, which apparently includes a $564.7 million reduction to state teacher pension fund contributions.

Also likely to be controversial is a proposal to cut some property-tax programs to save the state an additional $517.1 million.

The budget eliminates property taxes as a state income tax deduction, which the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Services said would yield between $500 million and $580 million in savings. An analysis of 2006 returns found eliminating the deduction would affect about 1.6 million filers, costing them an average of $300 each.

Lawmakers were uneasy with this.

"I don't know that we're sold on eliminating that deduction," said Assemblyman John J. Burzichelli, D-Salem, Gloucester, Cumberland. "It may not survive."

Sen. Christopher Connors, R-Ocean, Burlington, Atlantic, said the proposal was startling. "You can't eliminate the property deduction from taxes. That'd be devastating."

Assemblyman Vince Polistina, R-Atlantic, echoed Connors.

"It sounds to me like he plans to finance this on the backs of middle-class New Jersey," Polistina said. "So that means it is going to punish every single person in this state that owns property."

The budget also keeps property-tax rebates for seniors citizens earning less than $150,000, while halving that eligibility for everyone else for one year to $75,000.

Budget documents estimated the average senior property-tax rebate check would be $1,200 next year. Checks to non-senior households earning less than $50,000 would average $900, while those earning between $50,000 and $75,000 would average $700.

This is down from this year, when checks averaged $1,115 for homeowners earning as much as $100,000, $665 for those with incomes between and $100,000 and $150,000 and were eliminated for those earning more than $150,000.

Corzine blamed the ongoing economic downturn and called for restoring the rebates when state finances stabilize. The problem, he said, were too many layers of government that must be cut or combined.

"But in the meantime, however, rebates remain the primary tool by which the state can ease the property-tax burden on individual citizens."

Renters' rebates, which averaged $80 last year, remain intact.

While the budget reduced the limits on property-tax rebates, budget documents said that more than two-thirds of people getting them last year would continue to receive them.

Furloughs and salary freezes for state and college employees would save an additional $418.5 million.

Published reports prior to the address said the state could furlough workers one day per month for the next year, or if unions do not agree, lay off several thousands workers. Corzine's address briefly mentioned furloughs but not layoffs, which might suggest the issue had been settled.

Not so, said Bob Master, spokesman for the Communication Workers of America, the state's largest public employee union.

Master said while there had been some "informal exchanges of ideas which were not terribly productive" no negotiations are currently scheduled. As for layoffs, he said, "I don't believe this is a settled question but I think you need to speak to someone on their side."

Corzine spokesman Robert Corrales declined comment, saying state Treasurer David Rousseau would address the question at a news conference today.

Of local interest, state beach replenishment spending will decrease from $25 million to $18.75 million, while tourism funding is budgeted to decrease from $10 million to $7.5 million.

In his speech, Corzine cast it as prioritizing.

"We didn't want to cut funding for tourism advertising and beach replenishment, but we chose to maintain safe neighborhoods, safe highways and homeland security," he said.

Van Drew said the cuts reduce funding below a "poison pill" threshold and would prevent the state from collecting taxes that fund the programs. As such, they would require legislative changes for enactment.

Assemblyman Matt Milam, D-Cape May, Cumberland, Atlantic, said he wondered why the governor targeted this.

"You don't cut a revenue stream," Milam said. "When I'm sitting in my living room and see a commercial about Delaware and Maryland beaches, I want people in Maryland to see commercials about our shore."

E-mail Derek Harper: DHarper@pressofac.com

What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls (Rasmussen)

Grandpa — Sat, 29 Aug 2009 12:24:34 -0700

What They Told Us: Reviewing Last Week’s Key Polls

Saturday, August 29, 2009

The death this week of longtime Democratic Senator Edward M. “Ted” Kennedy means one of two things for the troubled health care reform plan proposed by President Obama: Either the plan has lost one of its most powerful advocates or now its supporters have an emotional rallying point to successfully push for passage. Only time will tell.

For now, the good news for the president and congressional Democrats is that support for their proposed health care legislation has stopped falling. The bad news is that most voters still oppose the plan.
Perhaps even more worrisome for backers of the plan is that most voters also think they understand it better than Congress does - and about as well as the president himself.
But then 62% of Americans say taxpayers, not bureaucrats, are the best judges of how to spend their own money, and that’s why it’s always better to cut taxes than increase government spending.
Seventy percent (70%) of voters favor a government that offers fewer services and imposes lower taxes over one that provides more services with higher taxes. That’s the highest level measured in nearly three years.
While leading Democrats have been crying foul about Republican opposition to the health care effort and are talking about going it alone, just 24% of voters think the Democrats should pass a bill that is opposed by all Republicans in Congress. Fifty-eight percent (58%) believe the Democrats should change the bill to win support from "a reasonable number” of GOP legislators.
Democrats aren’t helped by the worsening numbers for one of their most visible leaders in Washington. Sixty-four percent (64%) now have an unfavorable opinion of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Obama’s approval ratings remain in the negatives, too, in the Rasmussen Reports daily Presidential Tracking Poll.
This summer brought a significant shift in voter preferences in the Generic Congressional Ballot. Republican congressional candidates once again lead Democrats by a 43% to 38% margin this week, the ninth straight ballot on which the GOP has held a modest advantage. It is important to note, however, that the recent shift is not because Republicans have been gaining support, but because Democratic support has been falling.
Still, in Kennedy’s home state of Massachusetts, one state that already has mandatory universal health coverage, 53% of voters favor the health care reform plan proposed by Obama and congressional Democrats. Unlike most other states, the number who have strong opinions on the topic are nearly evenly divided. Expect to hear more about the Massachusetts model as the health care debate continues.
The health care reform push may be losing some of its momentum with this week’s announcement of an even higher federal deficit, continuing high unemployment and other signs of a sickly economy. Voters see deficit reduction as the most important priority for the President. Health care reform is a distant second.
Nearly eight-of-10 American adults (79%) know someone who is out of work and looking for a job. A government job looks less attractive to Americans than it did at the beginning of the year, but it remains the top employment choice in today’s economic environment.
New government data suggests the housing market may be slowly beginning to revive, but for most Americans, short-term and long-term views of that market remain basically unchanged. Just 19% of American homeowners think the value of their home will go up in the next year, while 27% expect the value to go down. Those numbers turn around dramatically, though, when homeowners are asked about the housing market five years from now.
Fifty-nine percent (59%) say buying a home is still the best investment a family can make, but that’s down seven points from September of last year.
The Rasmussen Consumer and Investors Indexes, which measure daily confidence, have stayed in a narrow range over recent weeks. Both are still up from the first of the year but down from a week ago. Seventy-six percent (76%) still think the United States is in a recession.
Thirty-five percent (35%) of adults say the federal "cash for clunkers" program to encourage sales of newer, more energy-efficient cars was good for the U.S. economy. Twenty-three percent (23%) say the program hurt the economy, and 27% say it had no impact.
Next up is a “cash for clunkers" program offering government cash rebates to those who buy new, energy-efficient appliances. Thirty-nine percent (39%) of Americans favor the plan, but 49% think it’s a bad idea.
Several national security issues also promise to make things more complicated for the president when Congress returns a week-and-a-half from now.
Forty-nine percent (49%) of voters disagree with the Justice Department’s decision to investigate the treatment and possible torture of terrorists during the Bush administration. Thirty-six percent (36%) agree with Attorney General Eric Holder’s naming on Monday of a veteran prosecutor to probe the CIA’s handling of terrorists under the previous administration.
Most voters (54%) think the investigation of the Central Intelligence Agency threatens U.S. national security.
Fifty-five percent (55%) now oppose Obama’s decision to close the prison camp for suspected terrorists at the Guantanamo Naval Base in Cuba where some of the CIA abuses are alleged to have taken place. Voters were evenly divided on the question when the president announced his decision in January, but support for closing the controversial facility has been falling ever since.
Seventy-five percent (75%) of voters are at least somewhat concerned that dangerous terrorists will be set free if the Guantanamo prison is closed and some prisoners are transferred to other countries. More worrisome for many is the possibility that Guantanamo inmates will be housed in prisons in the United States. Nationally, 58% oppose moving some of those suspected terrorists to a soon-to-closed maximum-security prison in Michigan. But in that economically devastated state, 39% favor housing the inmates at the state prison 145 miles north of Detroit, while 50% are opposed.
Just two percent (2%) of Michigan voters rate the economy as good or excellent, and 79% rate it as poor. These numbers have changed little since June.
In other polls last week:
-- Eighty-two percent (82%) of Americans disagree with Scotland’s decision to release the terminally ill terrorist convicted of blowing up a Pan Am jet over Lockerbie, Scotland, so he could return home to die in his native Libya.
-- For the second straight week, just one-third (34%) of likely voters believe the United States is heading in the right direction, but that's up seven points from the week Obama took office in January and compares with 10% in late September and early October of last year, the low point in two years of surveying on the question.
-- Republican challenger Chris Christie continues to lead incumbent Democrat Jon Corzine in New Jersey’s closely watched gubernatorial race, but his lead is slipping a bit.
-- Sixty percent (60%) of Americans say there is too much media coverage of the president’s personal life and family. Obama asked the media to back off this week while he and his family were on vacation in Martha’s Vineyard.
-- In the first poll since Judge Sonia Sotomayor joined the U.S. Supreme Court, 34% of voters say the high court is too liberal, up 11 points from two years ago. But the plurality (41%) say the court’s ideological make-up is about right.
-- Sixty-three percent (63%) of voters in Michigan, the home state of the Big Three automakers, say Ford will be the most successful of the companies in five years’ time. Just 17% say General Motors will be the most successful of the three at the end of that period, while five percent (5%) say Chrysler will come out on top.
-- Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick has an even longer way to go now if he wants to win a second term next year. The Democratic incumbent is losing support and trails the most prominent Republicans in the race to date.
-- Fifty-one percent (51%) of American adults say alcohol is more dangerous than marijuana. Just 19% disagree and say pot is worse.
-- At least 25 well-known colleges and universities nationwide have asked Anheuser-Busch to drop its “Fan Cans” campaign, which features school colors on Bud Light cans, amidst fears it will promote underage drinking. Fifty-two percent (52%) of Americans oppose the company’s plan to sell beer in school colors.
-- In a prediction challenge issued in early May, Rasmussen Reports asked adults which film would be the summer's biggest opening weekend blockbuster. Eighteen percent (18%) correctly predicted that "Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen" would earn the most money in its first weekend of release. The film pulled in over $108 million that weekend.
Remember, if it’s in the news, it’s in our polls. Check out the latest numbers on our home page and keep up with our daily Presidential Tracking Poll. Premium Members get access to more data, a morning briefing from Scott Rasmussen and an advance look at key findings.
If you’d like us to keep you informed, sign up for our free daily e-mail update. Rasmussen Reports updates are also available on Twitter or Facebook.

25 Ways to Save Money (from WebMd and Good Housekeeping)

tdsollog — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 06:11:05 -0700

25 Ways to Save Money

WebMD Commentary from "Good Housekeeping" MagazineBy Stephanie Nelson & Lisa Goff
http://women.webmd.com/features/25-ways-save-money?ecd=wnl_wmh_030909

Lots of small savings can add up big. These easy penny-pinching tricks let you preserve more of your paycheck.

Food and Drug Items
1. Shop the ethnic-food aisles. Spices, rice, and other staples are sometimes half the price of similar name-brand items at the supermarket.

2. Ask how a particular promotion works. For example, a "10 for $10" sale may not require that you purchase 10 items; you might be able to buy only what you need and still get the reduced price. (Use a coupon, and you just might end up paying nothing.)

3. Sign up for store loyalty cards. You'll get generous coupons for products that you tend to buy regularly.

4. Feeling high-tech? Try downloading online coupons onto your grocer's loyalty card. At shortcuts.com, you choose the coupons, add them to an account tied to the loyalty program, and redeem them when you show the cashier your card.

5. Visit grocery stores' Websites to find valuable savings coupons that you can print and take with you when you go shopping. When it's not prohibited, combine coupons issued by the store and those offered by the manufacturer for the same item.

6. Ask whether the store matches the advertised prices of its nearby competitors. If so, save time by bringing in other stores' flyers, and then get all of your savings in one place. And if the store accepts its competitors' coupons, bring those in with you, too.

7. Take advantage of savings programs from drugstore and discount chains. When you combine drugstores' automatic-rebate programs with their coupons and sales, you can occasionally wind up getting certain items for free. In some cases, you can even receive money back! For the latest national-drugstore bargains, visit couponmom.com.

Fuel Costs
8. Whenever possible, gas up your car at superstore fuel centers, where the average cost per gallon tends to be lower than at local service stations. Some superstores offer fuel discounts based on your grocery tab. And search for stations that will charge less if you pay cash. For the lowest gasoline prices in your area, visit the gasbuddy.com site.

9. Keep tires inflated to the proper pressure; that will improve your gas mileage by about 3 percent or so (check the sticker on the driver-side door for your car's correct tire pressure). And try to chuck all the junk from the trunk: An extra 100 pounds in your vehicle reduces mpg by about 2 percent. Driving with the air-conditioning on can increase your gasoline consumption up to 11 percent, too. Unless it's unbearably hot, roll down the windows, or apply solar film to the inside of them so the car's interior stays cool.

10. Snip your home's summer cooling bills. You can probably save 1 percent on your electric bill for every degree you set the AC thermostat above 72 degrees. Year-round, you can slice off another 1 to 2 percent by unplugging major electronics when you're not using them. "Unplug one fax, one computer monitor, and one TV, and you could save more than $70 a year," says Brad Stroh, CEO of bills.com, a consumer-finance Website in San Mateo, CA.

Online Goodies
11. Snap up deals from grocers' online photo centers. The per-print cost is often low (starting at about nine cents a photo); uploading from home is remarkably easy; and you can pick up the pictures in the store, eliminating any expensive shipping costs. Sign up for your store's e-mail newsletter, and you'll receive coupons and special offers, such as free prints for new customers or free enlargements.

12. Look for "grab bag" specials on brand-name bathing suits for your kids. The retailer picks out the color and style; you reap savings of 50 percent or more. Swimoutlet.com offers great service and selection. The Speedo Website (speedousa.com) has good grab bag savings, too; recently a $36 girl's Splice Tankini was on sale for $21.60.

13. Sign up for free samples of health and beauty products online. You can order them at sites such as freeflys.com, mysavings.com, startsampling.com, and Wal-Mart's instoresnow.walmart.com. You may need to answer a few questions, but you generally won't have to pay for shipping. And at these sites, you won't be put on spam lists.

Family Fun
14. Zap exorbitant vacation costs by swapping homes with another family. It's not too late in the season to make a trade. Home-exchange networks charge $65 to $229 for listing your home in an online directory. You'll find huge selections in the United States and abroad on intervac.com, homelink.org, homeexchange.com, and Vacation Rentals By Owner (vrbo.com). The Intervac site refunds its $95 annual membership fee if you don't get an exchange arranged within a year of signing up. Only In America Home Exchange (exchangehomesoia.com) is exactly what it sounds like and has no membership fee. Also free: asking friends or friends of friends if they're interested in a vacation switcheroo. You might even be able to swap automobiles and save yourself the cost of a car rental.

15. Try an urban vacation. Maybe Chicago or Philadelphia aren't the first places that come to mind when you think of a summer trip. But consider this: While prices at the beach and resorts spike in summer, business travel slumps - so many big-city tourist bureaus offer bargains, especially on weekends. Subway passes make transportation inexpensive and easy. And 11 metropolises (including New York City and Seattle) have passes that will admit you to attractions at up to 50 percent off the full-price ticket (cost: $34 to $247; citypass.com).

16. Buy an Entertainment Book of discount coupons; 150 areas have them (entertainment.com). In early summer, these guides sell for their lowest price of the year (about $10 per book). You can buy a book for the city you're visiting to receive "buy one, get one free" coupons for restaurants, museums, and other attractions. Once you register at the site, you can get 50 percent off hotels, discounts on rental cars, a 5 percent coupon for American Airlines, and rebates. You can also print out coupons for attractions in other cities.

17. Check out the popular travel-destination Websites like frommers.com and fodors.com for excellent insider tips on how to get discounted rates at popular attractions or to find out about free events. For example, entering San Diego at the Frommer's site and selecting "Free Attractions" recently turned up several museums with free admission one Tuesday per month.

18. Hire a personal camp counselor. Join forces with a few other local families and pay a responsible high school student or two to care for all your children during the day. The kids will enjoy many of the same types of activities as at a local day camp - tennis, hiking, swimming, crafts - at less than half the cost.

Flights and Hotels
19. Register with "fare watcher" services at the major travel search engines, like expedia.com and travelocity.com. You'll be alerted when the price drops for the ticket you want. Most sites let you select a flexible-date option to help find the lowest prices for flights.

20. Look for weekend Web deals on airlines' sites to take advantage of rock-bottom last-minute fares. Yapta.com may even get you money back if a fare has dropped since you bought the ticket.

21. Get indirect savings on travel spending. The Website upromise.com lets you earn free money in a college-savings account by booking travel. You can also earn 1 to 8 percent of your spending on hotels, car rentals, airlines, restaurants, and vacation packages.

22. Score a deal on the price of airport parking at the site longtermparking.com. You may snag a coupon to cut your cost in half.

23. When booking a hotel room, don't forget to ask about any freebies. Breakfast, parking, Internet access, or airport shuttle service included in the price of lodging can mean big savings for families.

24. Try using bidding sites such as biddingfortravel.com to stay for the lowest price.

25. Save on hotel parking charges by checking nearby parking-garage options ahead of time. You could avoid paying $25 or so per day for valet parking just by using the garage across the street.

Originally published on July 11, 2008

Sorry NYC

cine_lover — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 14:04:03 -0800

Tax Hikes, Budget Cuts In The Works For NYC
Bloomberg Says Promised Property Tax Rebate Is Off Table

Reporting
Marcia Kramer NEW YORK (CBS) ― Mayor Michael Bloomberg is going to cut the city work force by 3,000, but that's just the beginning of the pain New Yorkers will feel as part of the fiscal crisis. A slew of new taxes are also on the agenda.

There will be 1,000 fewer cops, but the city will hire 200 more traffic agents to give out $60 million a year in new block-the-box tickets.

"The gravity of the budget situation requires us to propose both deep spending cuts and revenue increases," Bloomberg said.

The spending cuts mean reducing the city work force. The revenue increases mean taxes -- lots of taxes.

In the current fiscal year there's the 7 percent property tax hike that starts in January -- and the plan to renege on a promised $400 property tax rebate.

"I think the people of the city are going to be enraged," City Councilman Simcha Felder, D-Brooklyn, said. "They've been told the check is in the mail on the rebate."

To close budget gaps in the year that starts next July the mayor is thinking about a combination of sales tax increases and income tax hikes.

"Every city agency must push each dollar further," Bloomberg said. "We're going to do that and doing that means making hard choices that will not be popular with everyone or perhaps anyone."

The mayor proposed raising the income tax by either 7.5 percent or 15 percent.

At 7.5 percent a taxpayer making up between $50,000 and $75,000 would pay an additional $116. At 15 percent that same taxpayer would pony up an extra $233.

"When people are suffering to tell them too bad you might suffer even more next year is telling them to eat cake next year," Felder said.

Added Councilman Lewis Fidler, D-Brooklyn: "Nobody likes to raise taxes and it's not something I'm planning on doing unless I'm absolutely sure we've exhausted every other reasonable resource."

But not everyone thinks the tax hikes will help the city's finances.

"Increasing the personal income tax would be a disaster for the city," said Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute. "It's hard to overestimate that fact. We've already got the highest local personal income tax in the nation."

The mayor said he thought his proposals would generate some lively discussion with the City Council.

Council Finance Chairman David Weprin, D-Queens, said he's going to hold hearings on the tax proposals.

Paulson: Bush right on Wall Street 'hangover' quip

Cassandra57 — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 07:57:43 -0700

Because Bush got so much flak for his off-the-cuff remark, I thought this follow-up was interesting.
===============================================
WASHINGTON (AP) - Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson says there's a lot of truth to President George Bush's comment that Wall Street "got drunk and now it's got a hangover," and it will aid understanding of the current economic climate.

Paulson, a former investment firm executive, also is taking a wait-and-see approach on a possible second round of economic help - an idea that congressional Democrats are pushing to a vote.

The $168 billion program of tax rebate checks that Bush signed into law in February was the right size to help the struggling economy this year, Paulson said. He wants to see how it ends up helping the economy in the July-September period and worries about driving the budget deficit higher with a second plan.

But House Speaker Nancy Pelosi plans to have the House vote on additional aid when lawmakers return in September from their summer vacation. She believes more is needed to counter higher gasoline prices and other costs.

The economy is struggling to emerge from crises in the housing, financial and credit markets and to cope with rising prices at the pump and grocery store. Paulson, in a television interview broadcast Sunday, asserted that the country's economic fundamentals are sound.

But asked about Bush's remark, the former Goldman Sachs chairman and chief executive acknowledged Wall Street has played a role in the current downtown, particularly in its borrowing and lending practices.

"Absolutely there's a lot of truth to what the president said. And in terms of Wall Street, there was too much leverage in the system and more leverage than was appropriate and more than people recognized, because the leverage came into the system in the form of highly complex, structured products, which were difficult to understand," Paulson said. "So there was excess leverage, excess complexity."

The president, in an unguarded moment, made the comment at a political fundraiser in Houston last month after asking members of the audience to turn off their video cameras. The request was ignored and a snippet wound up on a blog. The media was barred from the event.

"There is no question about it. Wall Street got drunk," the president said. "That's one reason I asked you to turn off your TV cameras."

"The question is, How long will it (take to) sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments?"

Paulson has offered a 218-page blueprint for overhauling regulation of the nation's financial system. The plan would create three super agencies with power over the financial industry.

It is the broadest proposal since the current system was formed in response to the biggest financial crisis of the last century, the 1929 stock market crash and Great Depression.

"We have, of course, one priority getting through this period with as little damage, as little negative impact as possible on the economy. But the second part is to take steps to reduce the likelihood of these sorts of things happening in the future," Paulson said.

But time is running out on the administration's term - Bush leaves office in January - and Paulson said he would not continue serving as treasury secretary under the next president in hopes of seeing the new rules through.

He said the $168 billion stimulus effort has helped the economy and he wants to give the tax rebate checks more time to boost growth.

"We sized that program to say how could we do something that will be meaningful this year but not so big that it would jeopardize some of our long-term priorities and our fiscal priorities and balancing the budget. So again, my view would be let's see how this program works in the third quarter," Paulson said.

The Democrats' new aid plan could include additional tax rebates, heating and air-conditioning subsidies for the poor, public works projects, higher food stamp payments and aid to the states.

Paulson said it would take "well beyond the end of the year" to work through the serious problems in housing, an industry experiencing its worst downturn in more than two decades.

But Paulson repeated his belief that the nation's economy remains fundamentally sound despite the mounting losses on bad mortgage loans that have shaken Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

Find this article at:
http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-08-10-paulson-economy_N.htm?c...

Hill Republican: Stimulus aids illegal immigrants

Grandpa — Thu, 29 Jan 2009 09:52:02 -0800

WASHINGTON (AP) - The $800 billion-plus economic stimulus measure making its way through Congress could steer government checks to illegal immigrants, a top Republican congressional official asserted Thursday.
The legislation, which would send tax credits of $500 per worker and $1,000 per couple, expressly disqualifies nonresident aliens, but it would allow people who don't have Social Security numbers to be eligible for the checks.

Undocumented immigrants who are not eligible for a Social Security number can file tax returns with an alternative number. A House-passed version of the economic recovery bill and one making its way through the Senate would allow anyone with such a number, called an individual taxpayer identification number, to qualify for the tax credits.

A revolt among GOP conservatives to similar provisions of a 2008 economic stimulus bill, which sent rebate checks to most wage earners, forced Democratic congressional leaders to add stricter eligibility requirements. That legislation, enacted in February 2008, required that people have valid Social Security numbers in order to get checks.

The GOP official voiced concerns about the latest economic aid measure on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss it publicly.

Republicans have already blasted the package for including what they argue is wasteful spending and omitting tax cuts for wealthier people and businesses they say are needed to jump-start the anemic economy.

Not a single Republican voted for an $819 billion version of the plan when it passed the House on Wednesday.

GOP senators arranged a midday news conference to voice their concerns