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Here is a simple video explaining how the credit crisis came to be.
The Crisis of Credit Visualized Part 1
President Obama just signed the stimulus plan for 2009. Here are a few Tax Provisions from the Stimulus package that I personally like. These are excerpts from a CSPAN PDF Document “Tax Provisions” These are the main things that interested me in the 19 page document. There are lots of little things in there for small business, infrastructure and so forth but these are the points that I think will help me the most.
“American Opportunity” Education Tax Credit. The bill would provide financial assistance
for individuals seeking a college education. For 2009 and 2010, the bill would provide taxpayers
with a new “American Opportunity” tax credit of up to $2,500 of the cost of tuition and related
expenses paid during the taxable year. Under this new tax credit, taxpayers will receive a tax
credit based on one hundred percent (100%) of the first $2,000 of tuition and related expenses
(including books) paid during the taxable year and twenty-five percent (25%) of the next $2,000
of tuition and related expenses paid during the taxable year. Forty percent (40%) of the credit
would be refundable. This tax credit will be subject to a phase-out for taxpayers with adjusted
gross income in excess of $80,000 ($160,000 for married couples filing jointly). This proposal is
estimated to cost $13.907 billion over 10 years.
I really wish they could figure out a way to take into account cost of living adjustments for gross income limits. For people living in large Metro areas where the cost-of-living is very high (San Francisco Bay Area, Southern California, New York, etc.) These maximum income requirements seem low. A single person who earns $80,000 in San Francisco doesn’t make that much money in real money that can be set aside for paying for a house, college, or other expense.
Computers as Qualified Education Expenses in 529 Education Plans. Section 529 Education
Plans are tax-advantaged savings plans that cover all qualified education expenses, including:
tuition, room & board, mandatory fees and books. The bill provides that computers and
computer technology qualify as qualified education expenses. This proposal is estimated to cost
$6 million over 10 years.
Yes! Computers for kids. The more kids that have computers the better
Refundable First-time Home Buyer Credit. Last year, Congress provided taxpayers with a
refundable tax credit that was equivalent to an interest-free loan equal to 10 percent of the
purchase of a home (up to $7,500) by first-time home buyers. The provision applies to homes
purchased on or after April 9, 2008 and before July 1, 2009. Taxpayers receiving this tax credit
are currently required to repay any amount received under this provision back to the government
over 15 years in equal installments, or, if earlier, when the home is sold. The credit phases out
for taxpayers with adjusted gross income in excess of $75,000 ($150,000 in the case of a joint
return). The bill eliminates the repayment obligation for taxpayers that purchase homes after
January 1, 2009, increases the maximum value of the credit to $8,000, and removes the
prohibition on financing by mortgage revenue bonds, and extends the availability of the credit
for homes purchased before December 1, 2009. The provision would retain the credit recapture
if the house is sold within three years of purchase. This proposal is estimated to cost $6.638
billion over 10 years.
Sweet. I’ve been looking into buying a condo, $8,000 of tax credit sweetens the deal. Interesting.
Recovery Zone Bonds. The bill would create a new category of tax credit bonds for investment
in economic recovery zones. The bill would authorize $10 billion in recovery zone economic
development bonds and $15 billion in recovery zone facility bonds. These bonds could be issued
during 2009 and 2010. Each state would receive a share of the national allocation based on that
state’s job losses in 2008 as a percentage of national job losses in 2008 (each state will receive a
minimum allocation of these bonds). These allocations would be sub-allocated to local
municipalities. Municipalities receiving an allocation of these bonds would be permitted to use
these bonds to invest in infrastructure, job training, education, and economic development in
areas within the boundaries of the State, city or county (as the case may be) that has significant
poverty, unemployment or home foreclosures. This proposal is estimated to cost $5.371 billion
over 10 years.
I wonder if this applies to my home state of Michigan. Michiganensians are down on their luck these days so hopefully an infusion will help.
Premium Subsidies for COBRA Continuation Coverage for Unemployed Workers.
Recession-related job loss threatens health coverage for many families. To help people maintain
coverage, the bill provides a 65% subsidy for COBRA continuation premiums for up to 9 months
for workers who have been involuntarily terminated, and for their families. This subsidy also
applies to health care continuation coverage if required by states for small employers. With
COBRA premiums averaging more than $1000 a month, this assistance is vitally important. To
qualify for premium assistance, a worker must be involuntarily terminated between September 1,
2008 and December 31, 2009. The subsidy would terminate upon offer of any new employer-
sponsored health care coverage or Medicare eligibility. Workers who were involuntarily
terminated between September 1, 2008 and enactment, but failed to initially elect COBRA
because it was unaffordable, would be given an additional 60 days to elect COBRA and receive
the subsidy. To ensure that this assistance is targeted at workers who are most in need,
participants must attest that their same year income will not exceed $125,000 for individuals and
$250,000 for families. The Joint Committee on Taxation estimates that this provision would
help 7 million people maintain their health insurance by providing a vital bridge for workers who
have been forced out of their jobs in this recession. This provision is estimated to cost $24.7
billion.
I have a sneaking suspicion that I’m going to get laid off this year so if COBRA is cheaper yes I will get it. It sure beats trying to find private individual insurance.
Happy Chinese New Year Folks, It’s the Year of the Ox, which is coincidentally (?) Obama’s astrological sign according to the Asian calendar.
Obama wants money for education, contraceptives, alternative energy spending, infrastructure (roads, bridges, etc.), and tax breaks. Other interesting things include a “buy American” clause. I haven’t read any more into it than that.
Critics dislike the long-term nature of the plan. Infrastructure will inevitably take a long time for the trickle down because of the time it takes to pass the bill, figure out what needs to get built, apportion money, approve contracts and so on. I, for one, like the long view because we definitely need better roads and bridges.
What do you think of the stimulus plan?
Links:
The BBC has a nice rundown –
Q &A: Obama Stimulus Plan.
Update:
CSPAN compares House vs. Senate stimulus plans American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. Interesting proposed changes: increase homeland security allotment from $1.1B to $5.0B. Reduce education spending by $3.0B?
WSJ Map of which states get stimulus help, I’m happy to see that Michigan gets a lot of help per capita for job training. The manufacturing sector people are going to need it.
Here’s a thought for building the Asian portion of the party: stop doing crooked things. Or if that’s too much, don’t get caught.
It seems like the only time I ever see news about an Asian politician is that he or she is in some type of trouble. This holds for Conservatives AND Liberals.
For instance, back in 2006 Democratic San Francisco city council member Ed Jew got busted for not actually living in San Francisco and for some money related scandals.
A few months later a Chinese man (his name eludes me) got busted for improper donations to political campaigns.
Asian brothers and sisters clean up your act! If you’re going to be crooked at least make it difficult to figure you out. The other guys are getting away with stealing billions of dollars from taxpayers (also known as bailout ‘08-’09) and you’re getting busted for dropping bags of money on a guy’s doorstep?
Sloppy Sloppy Sloppy…
Yesterday President Obama announced a plan to impose a $500,000 maximum salary cap for executives or CEOs of companies taking US bailout money.
Many people, especially those on Wall Street cried foul because it reeks of socialism, or at least non-capitalistic behavior.
Of course on the other hand, the Government wouldn’t have had to do this if the idiots hadn’t given themselves multi-million dollar bonuses despite posting multi-billion dollar losses (or going bankrupt or otherwise). These overpaid executives unfortunately are the face of current modern politicians: mega-wealthy predominantly white males that get away with everything.
The folly of these executives is a clear case why the GOP should “re-brand” itself.
Hi all, I just added a Facebook login feature to Asian Conservative. Now you can leave comments and it will have your Facebook profile attached to it and comments will (optionally) show up on your Facebook feed! Yippee.
Don’t worry about your personal information. Since you come in through Facebook, we only see anonymized/encrypted user information. We can’t see anything beyond your name and Facebook profile.
If you are interested in joining The Asian Conservative, sign in through the Facebook button and send us a note. If you don’t want to use Facebook, we can create an account for you. In either case send us a note.
I don’t know what else the Facebook thing does. If you notice anything cool let us know.
I noticed an Asian man standing behind Barack Obama and Family a few times on TV. Mostly while President Obama watched the never-ending Inaugural Parade from his viewing booth.
It definitely was not Department of Energy head Steven Chu nor do I think it was VA head Eric Shinseki because this guy looks younger. Anyway, if he’s part of Obama’s administration that’s a good sign: Asians, whether conservative or liberal, are getting a foothold in U.S. Politics
Who is this guy? Is he a politician?
Eric Shinseki head of Dept of VA
Also: I’m not a big poetry fan but did anyone else think that the Poet (Elizabeth Alexander) at the end was weak? Robert Frost or Maya Angelou she is not.
Ignorant. Irreverent. Uneducated. Irresponsible. These four words used to describe me as a voter. I joined AsianConservative because I was a non-voter but now I care.
Until this election I was willfully ignorant of ballot measures and political agendas. Being eligible to vote since 2000 I probably voted 4 (at most 5) times. As shameful as it is I probably cannot pass a basic 8th grade civics test. I had a good Civics teacher. I forget his name but he was memorable as a character. He kind of reminded me of the gym teacher, Mr. Buzzcut, from Beavis and Butthead. Unfortunately I’ve forgotten most of my Civics.
I would vote for people but not paper. By “paper” I mean the paper on which our laws and legal mumbo jumbo is written. I would stroll into a polling place and check the boxes for President, Governor, Senator, etc. and then skip the rest of the voting sheet ignoring ballot measures and propositions and all that jazz. I would say that my indifference towards ballot measures could primarily be attributed to irrelevance. At the time most measures could fall into a sparse few categories: (A) raise/lower taxes, (B) approve Indian casinos, or (C) name a street after somebody.
With the 2008 election, however, I realized that the “paper” voting options can be equally as important as the people. Do you oppose discount bus fares for war widows? Your vote could help your cause. Do you approve of medical marijuana? Ferndale, Michigan voted on a measure to allow medical marijuana dispensaries (it passed). One Issue that I was particularly interested in were the high-speed rail from San Francisco to Los Angeles (it passed). Real hot-button issues in California included Gay marriage, teen abortions, and congressional redistricting (that’s hot button?). The issues that we vote on seriously impact the quality of your life and mine.
Why should you care about voting? Why you should tell your friends and family to vote too? Here’s why: the votes for some of the California ballot measures passed by wire-thin margins. Sure there are some no-brainers like discount bus fares for war widows but other ballot measures often pass or fail by razor thin 1%-2% margins, maybe less. That could could be just a few hundred votes depending on the voter turnout in your community. My network on Friendster MySpace Facebook AsianConservative alone could swing that vote.
Knowing the ability of a ballot to impact my life, and knowing the ability of my vote to decide a ballot’s fate makes it ever more important to stay up-to-date on things happening in your community, city, and state legislatures. I found the California Secretary of State website that lists California Ballot Measures that will be headed to the polls. If you find any for your state, county, city, school district, or even Home Owners Association, post it in the comments. Vote AsianConservative and Vote often!
California Ballot Measures http://www.sos.ca.gov/elections/elections_j.htm
According to a New York Times article from 12/9/2008, minorities now account for 50% of the population in the largest U.S. Cities and percentages continue to grow broadly across small towns and suburbs. This being the case, Asian conservatives should strive to increase the public’s awareness of Asian opinion. Minorities have a growing voice in the United States and it is imperative that Asian Americans (especially Asian Conservatives) be recognized as an influential force among the voting public.
In the 2008 elections for instance, California witnessed the impact minority voters imparted on public policy. In particular the voter ballot for Proposition 8: whether or not gay marriage should be banned in California. A “yes” on Prop 8 was against gay marriage, a “no” on Prop 8 was in favor of gay marriage. During the 2008 elections the popular media obsessed over “the Black vote” and the “Latino vote” because these two minorities groups historically have low voter turnouts. In contrast to past elections minorities came out in droves to vote — mostly for Obama. These “new” (or renewed) voters had a decisive impact on the fate of Proposition 8 because both groups overwhelmingly voted in favor of Proposition 8 - consequently banning Gay marriage in California.
The important point here is not approval of Gay marriage. Rather, the outcome that the United States and American media heard in the voices of Black and Latino communities via their ballots. America now knows that these two constituencies have the power to sway a vote. A power that I previously wouldn’t have assumed. Asian conservatives (and Asians in general) should strive to achieve similar recognition in other public endeavors.
My intent as a member of this AsianConservative.com is to get people interested in and aware of the Asian conservative opinion. I encourage public servants, advertisers, American media, Mayors, Governors, Congressmen, and Presidents to think to themselves “What do Asian Conservatives in America think of this?”
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