I’ve said this before but I think it bears repeating; “The Presidency is a thankless job.”  Just think about it; at any given point during the presidency at least half the country doesn’t like you and is talking trash about you. 

I’m talking of course about President Obama’s concession to the GOP regarding tax cuts for the rich.  Don’t read this the wrong way, I’m not a big fan of Barack Obama but I kind of feel like he was stuck between a rock and a hard place.

On the one hand he made campaign promises to end the tax cuts for the rich, but he has a congress that WON’T cooperate.  If President Obama held firm unemployment would have run out for millions of people and the typical American family would be paying $3,000.00 more in taxes!  Then the critics would be saying he isn’t doing enough for the average American, he doesn’t care about the American people, he’s too stubborn to compromise.

Instead, he chooses to try to help the American people and he is criticized for that as well.   As I stated earlier I am not a fan of President Obama but in my opinion he did what he thought was right.  The people who should be ashamed are the members of Congress who refused to help the middle class without helping the rich.  Let’s face it, there’s a huge difference between deciding which house to spend Christmas at versus food on the table or oil the tank.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, “The Presidency is a thankless job.”

The news show that I watched on Fox yesterday had a brief discussion regarding unemployment, one of the panelists said that there are jobs out there, the problem is that the people don’t want those jobs and that got me to thinking.

The Department of Labor lists the Federal minimum wage at $7.25, if you multiply the hourly wage by 40 (the average number of hours in a work week) you get a weekly salary of $290.00.  While the Federal minimum wage is $7.25, each state can mandate what their minimum wage is.  Again using the Department of Labor website I found that 14 states have a minimum wage higher than the federal government; 5 states are lower than the federal minimum wage, 26 have the same minimum wage as the feds and 5 states have no minimum wage.  I did not include Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands or American Samoa.

Since I live in CT, I decided to use CT as my example; in CT the state minimum wage is $8.25 which means a 40 hour a week job would gross $330.00, the maximum unemployment benefit available in CT is $555 per week.  So my question here is why would someone give up $555 per week for a $330.00 a week job that would probably net them roughly $250.00 per week?  Nevermind factoring the gas you would use to get to and from work, wear and tear on your car etc.

Now Florida is a bit different, their minimum wage is $7.25 but the maximum unemployment benefit they can receive weekly is $275.00; still when you do the math and take out your deductions for income tax, FICA etc…you are looking at a net of about $200.00.  So again, why would someone give up an unemployment benefit to take a job that they might not necessarily like for less money.

See the flaw in the plan?  States need to find a way to make it less expensive for the business owners so they can make a profit but still pay higher wages and once higher wages are being offered people will be willing to give up their unemployment.

My topic on day five is taxes, my understanding is that come January 1, if congress hasn’t reached an agreement about existing tax breaks, then a whole bunch of us will be seeing a lot less in our paychecks every pay-day.  You know, I don’t think I would mind losing my tax breaks quite so much if I actually thought the government was cutting costs to make ends meet instead of increasing their debt.

Think about it; when times get tough in your household what do you do?  You take a look at what your output is and say, where can I CUT spending?  You don’t run out to the bank and say give me a new credit card.

But that is exactly what the government intends on doing in order to meet their output.  Let’s face it, there are two ways to make ends meet 1) find a way to make more money or 2) cut what you spend.  One way to make more money is to increase taxes, the other is to incur more debt (in a manner of speaking I guess it would technically be like raising the credit line on your home equity loan, except they aren’t mortgaging a home, they are mortgaging our future!)  The economy is in the tank and they are talking about raising taxes again, I heard they may increase the amount of federal tax on a gallon of gas.  If the government would figure out a way to decrease spending, then perhaps the American people wouldn’t feel so bad about an increase in taxes. 

Let’s face it; we need to cut somewhere but in my opinion they are cutting in the wrong places.  People on Social Security will not be getting an increase this year and I can’t help but think that the ‘seniors’ have already paid their dues and they are supposed to be in their “golden years” but how can you enjoy yourself if you can’t afford to live?  Why doesn’t the government focus on the folks who won’t work, instead of the ones who can’t work, or the ones who have already worked and just want to enjoy the remaining time they have left?