Debt Elimination Companies

What is the best way to eliminate debt? I have three different debts I owe and I am trying to use the best strategy that will work. One method I was going to use was to pay off the debt with the highest interest rate which has 2 years left on it while adding smaller amounts to the other lower cost and interest debts. The other strategy was add a little more to my monthly payment for all debts high and low in order to neutralize them all, but this would take longer I think. Thanks.

What is the fastest and easiest way to eliminate credit card debt?? Estimated 6000 debt on high interest credit card....

Wiping out big-dollar low interest debt. Financially stable 27yr old with a LOT of debt, what strategy to use? I've never missed any payments, and have managed good credit despite my debt/income. I've been putting 10% into a 401k from day1 and I'm living below my means. I now make over $70k/year but have a combined $70k in debt, $60k of it from school loans. They are split 45k in the "PLUS" loan in my parents name at 5.5% and 15k in my name at an awesome 2.5%. The other 10k is at 3.5% on two no-fee credit cards with fixed interest for life of balances. Whats the best plan for repayment? Target the highest interest (>50% total debt), considering its entirely in my parent's name? (won't help my credit any) What about starting investing (beyond my 401k)? I consider this debt to be pretty low interest, so would I be better off carefully funneling cash into the market? My goal is to eliminate debt and build wealth, but I want to be smart about it. My career is stable and my income should continue to increase, so I'd like to accelerate my progress towards my financial goals now. The PLUS loan is 100% in my dad's name, no co-sign. I'm on great terms with my parents and wouldn't think of skipping out on this one, but I'm curious if its in my best interest financially to go gangbusters on paying it off compared to other options. My payment is fixed at $317/mo for the next 20 years. If I start doubling that payment in January, I'll cut the term to only 7.5 years! Geez, maybe I should go nuts on that loan. Plus I'll still be making the min payments on the other loans, so they won't be stagnant for that time. And I should be able to continue to ramp up payments on the PLUS loan to pay it off even faster than $600/mo as other debts disappear and my income increases.

How should I eliminate my debt? I my wife and I have 3 credit cards that have very high intersted!? The interest rates and balances are as followed. 16% on 4,000 with a 5 thousand dollar limit. Minumum payment of $125 9% on 5,000 with a 5,500 limit. Minumum payment $150. and 14% on 11,500 with a 12,500 limit. Minumum payment $250 How should I go about paying these off as far as order and amount if I have about $1100 a month for credit card bills? My wife and I just got out of college and are just starting to work new jobs. We make a combined 87K. We haven't used the cards in 5 months since we started working. I just wanted to know the fastest way to pay them off.

Eliminating Debt, which loan to start with...? My husband and I have been trying to lower and eventually eliminate most of our debts. I have found a problem and need some opinions. Our home mortgage or our car loan--which do we work on eliminating first? Our home--currently owe $7,500 with 10.25% interest with 175min monthly pymnt. Our car--currently owe $8,300 with 7.990% interest and min monthly 292. I keep getting different ideas from reading articles on the net about which is better to payoff first--pay your car off first so you won't be "upside down" if you decide to sell, payoff house first so you don't ever have to worry about foreclosure on your home, snowball debt, pay high interest first, etc, etc, etc. We only have 1 credit card and we have been actively working to eliminate it and should do so by the end of this year. We will then have an extra 350 each month to put towards either home or car, suggestions??

Time to re-mortgage my home to eliminate ccd debt.? I have about $30,000 in credit card debt due to a layoff (I am otherwise highly responsible). I have 30K in home equity. I have very good payment history on my credit (I make double payments on my car, 10X the min. on my ccds). For the last 2 years I have played the credit card companies against each other with 0% interest offers. However, it appears my luck has run out because now they wont give me large balance transfer offers anymore. I have been sending about 2K per month towards credit cards so I have plenty of excess monthly income. My other 0% offers expire in Nov. Is it time to re-mortgage my home to eliminate that debt (I cant do home-equity in Texas)? Is it worth the closing costs and higher interest rate (current rate 5.15%) to take that route? As it currently stands, the 30K will be gone within 2 years without the re-fi the house. Please advise. Thanks! To the person who said: Don't Carry Credit Cards. When you have to be laid off for 1.25 years and you go from a 6-figure salary to 1/4 of you are used to working freelance, thats when you HAVE to turn to credit cards. That was what they were CREATED for.

How should I eliminate my debt!? I am only 20 years old and I have $4,000.00 worth of credit card debt. When I turned 18 I decided to get a credit card..and well I just kept getting more and more. (I know, it was stupid) Well I started out with 9 cards and no I am only down to 5. They all have a very high interest rate and it's killing me! I work part time & am a stay at home mom to rest and my boyfriend pays most of the bills (not my car or insurance.) I contribute as much as I can, but I wish I could get rid of this debt! It's just a hassle each month having 5 different payments! Any suggestions? I work part time and am a stay at home mom the rest of the time. It's cheaper for us if I only work part time because we don't have to pay a babysitter that way. If I went to working full time we would actually be losing money each week.

which is the better tax advantage? mortage debt or education loan debt? I'm creating a debt reduction plan, and one of the questions I have is this: is it better (financially) to eliminate mortgage debt before educational loan debt? I want to pay the least amount of interest so I would think the higher interest rate (mortgage) is what I should pay. However, there are tax advantages to both mortgage debt and school loan debt, and I'm not sure if I would be missing out on better tax advantages by keeping mortgage debt until I have eliminated school loan debt. Any advice is appreciated.

fastest way to cut cred card debt: pay off the small balances 1st or pay off the ones w the highest rate 1st? i have large 10% balances and smaller balances on store credit cards w/ higher interest rates, i would like to make eliminating this debt a priority, but which cards should i pay off first?

Is "snowballing" debt good? We have about fifteen thousand dollars in debt; some school loans, medical bill, but mostly credit cards. I'm asking as I pay off these cards should I close them or keep older ones and use periodically then pay off each month? My older cards are my highest interest, but I heard that closing old cards make your credit history look bad. Debt sucks and there are so many ways to screw up your credit report. What is the best way to eliminate debt?

Should I cash in my IRA to take care of the roof? Need a new roof, and banks are tightening up credit standards. We're in our early 30s. There's enough in our IRA/401k accounts to eliminate all of our high interest credit card debt (20%+) and get the roof done. Once all that is taken care of, we could take the money we were paying for the credit cards and put it back into the IRA/401k accounts. Does this sound like a rational plan? Yes, I know we need to stop using the credit cards. We haven't used them for anything in over a year, but we're scraping by on minimum balances.

Credit Card Debt Consolidation? I owe $11,000 in credit cards. When economic times were better, it wasn't so bad; I could balance transfer to 0% for a fixed 3% one time fee. Now it is much worse, I had to close an account to keep the interest rate from going high, when my debt to credit ratio is already bad now and nobody will give me a balance transfer anymore. So now I essentially owe $9,000 at 8.5% or so, if you compound the different interest rates and balances. With my current living situation / area I live in my rent is over 30% of my expenses. I can make payments each month, but eliminating the debt will take at least 3 years and most likely longer, as something always comes up. I budget extremely well; but it just comes down essentially eliminating a social life, cooking every meal, and that just sucks! Should I do Credit Card Debt Consolidation or is that too drastic and I just should move in to a cheaper living situation (which is drastic as well, but oh well).

Paying off debt owed to several companies? After some bad decisions, I've managed to rack up some debt that I'd like to pay off and keep my name clean. I owe money to several companies from 2 cell phones to a bank account. I'd like to guidance as far as contacting all of these companies and working out a payment structure while negotiating a lower payback amount (maybe eliminating late fees and high interest rates, etc.) I don't know what to look out for or who to contact as I've never done any of this before. I'm not looking for a loan - just a way to let the companies know I want to pay them back as long as I can afford it.

What's the best use of my cash, given the following details:? - I have 10k cash. - I bought a house in Nov 2008. - I was laid off in April 2009. - I have been working almost a year, but I'm at a job where my position is temporary. I'm also making 10k less a year than I was when I bought my house, a situation that's making it difficult month-to-month. There's real potential for me to be hired permanently, and possibly at my old salary level, but it's not certain yet. - I now have 20k debt (some due to medical bills, some due to house issues, some due to being laid off for 6 months+, and some was just spent on fun- not smart, I know.) This amounts to about $500/month that goes towards my two cards. $200 of this is ridiculous interest, each month. - My 1995 Camry that I've been driving all my life recently died, and now I need to get another car in the next few weeks. - My cash was my security blanket while I was unemployed, and I lived on cards so as not to dwindle my savings. I didn't realize how far into debt I was getting, but I'm glad to have this 10k at least. I feel that I need to keep at least 2k in my account to feel comfortable, so I have about 8000 in play. I feel like I have 2 options. 1) paying $8000 off on my cards and freeing up around $250/month. I could then buy or lease a car with that money. I like this obviously because it eliminates a lot of my card debt/high interest payments. If I didn't do this, I have no idea when I'd be able to pay my debt down. 2) buying a car outright with 5000-7000$. No car note, which will help me month-to-month, but I'll still be paying (wasting) money on my card debt. My questions are-- which seems like the better decision, long term? And between the buying vs. leasing option, since my finances are indefinite (with my job situation), could leasing at a lower note be an acceptable alternative for a year or two until things firm up? I generally disagree with leasing, but I don't have a lot of room for mistakes here with my money, and I hate to *buy* a car under pressure, I'd rather buy the one that's right, when I'm ready. Also, to be completely honest, the cars I like are out of my price range. I know I'm being unrealistic, but I'd much rather be in an '06-'09 toyota/honda or small SUV, and those are not what I can afford. I'm kind of in denial that I actually have to make this decision pretty quickly, and all alone. What I want and what I probably should do are not in alignment. Thanks for reading this. Please only serious replies. Thanks.

Would you consider abolishing fractional reserve banking, in order to eliminate the business cycle? Would you agree that fractional reserve banking is the cause of the business cycle? The banks loan out reserves that they don't have and they have to require higher rates of interest than they would get in the stock system. This creates a disconnect between what things are worth and what they are valued at. This is how the bubbles form. Then a recession must flush out the bad debt. What would be the values and drawbacks of full reserve banking?

are you ready for the GLOBAL DEBT BOMB? Let’s play a little game called Disaster. Imagine an event that could trigger a genuine, knock ’em down, worldwide catastrophe. Think of Pearl Harbor, multiplied by 10, or even 100. We’ll limit the options to man-made events, but eliminate traditional candidates like nuclear war or co-ordinated terrorist attacks. Climate change scientists might put their money on a massive greenhouse gas-induced drought that triggers uncontrollable emigration—entire countries emptying out, their citizens swelling the populations of Europe and North America. Doomsday economists, on the other hand, could raise the spectre of a global debt bomb: When industrial and emerging economies all exceed debt thresholds, a sovereign default by one country spreads like a firestorm, and triggers a global depression. There’s no telling when, or if, the climate-change scenario could take place. Unfortunately, that’s not true of the second one. Debt bomblets have already exploded. And the big one—the Daisy Cutter—is being primed for action. Greece is ground zero. Look at the damage the country inflicted on European debt, equity and currency markets this spring. How could a nation that accounts for less than 3% of the European Union’s gross domestic product (GDP) be so destructive? There are two possible explanations. The first is that Greece’s fiscal problems belied its size. When Argentina, a country much wealthier than Greece, defaulted on its debt in 2001, the country’s annual budget deficit was the equivalent of 3% of its annual GDP. Its total accumulated public debt was 50% and its yearly international current-account deficit was 2%. And Greece? Its budget deficit last year was a whopping 13.6% of GDP, its public debt was 115% and its current-account deficit was 10%. The second is that Greece is not a special case. Some of the world’s largest developed countries have budget deficits almost as large, relative to the size of their economies. The United Kingdom’s deficit weighs in at 11.4% of GDP, Spain at 11.2% and the United States at 9.9%. As deficits climb, so do national debts. Federal debt in the United States has climbed by half since 2006, to $12.3 trillion (U.S.) at the end of last year, swelling the debt-to-GDP ratio to 84%. Japan and Italy have debt ratios well beyond 100%. Almost every other country in the 30-nation Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development is watching its debt ratio climb relentlessly toward triple digits. Enormous debt loads used to be a problem for emerging economies. Today those burdens are also a problem for the allegedly wealthy countries. More columns from this month's ROB magazine •Does Japan's decline fortell our future •Washington struggles to corral U.S. banks •A manager who’s tamed bulls and bears •A high-yield alternative to income trusts National debt loads in the West will continue to climb as economies struggle to recover. The debts are only affordable now because central bankers have kept interest rates near zero. Watch what happens when interest rates rise. Economic growth isn’t rapid enough to stabilize debt-to-GDP ratios. Tax revenues have yet to recover, and no politician dares to take an axe to stimulus spending if it means plunging the economy back into recession. With governments, businesses and consumers still carrying such heavy debt loads, another major banking disaster could trigger another round of costly bailouts or nationalizations. Oh yes, aging populations will also inevitably create a pension crisis. Economists Kenneth Rogoff and Carmen Reinhart, authors of the 2009 book This Time Is Different: Eight Centuries Of Financial Folly, calculated that, on average, countries add 86% to their debt loads within three years of a credit crisis. Governments of mature economies will issue an estimated $4.5 trillion (U.S.) worth of bonds this year. The upshot is that some major countries face debt restructurings, debt defaults or both. High debt-to-GDP ratios alone can kill growth, as governments soak up private savings to pay interest charges and borrow more. Since 1980, Mexico, Russia and Argentina have all defaulted on their debt. The same thing could happen in bigger Western countries—the Daisy Cutter event. Sovereign defaults can wreck economies. Banks can go bust as the prices of government bonds they hold plunge to cents on the dollar of face value. They can’t lend any more, which paralyzes businesses big and small. Currency devaluations destroy consumers’ buying power. Yes, eventually a mess can sort itself out, but that could take years, even decades. The Mexican peso crisis of 1994 walloped the rest of Latin America, and as late as 2002, some Brazilian bonds traded as low as 40 cents on the dollar. Here’s a guess: Governments will take the cowardly option and try to inflate their debts away. They won’t stop spending, and the currency printing presses will run flat out. But that strategy often backfires, and t SCOTT B, YOU ARE PART OF THE DELUDED MASSES , look beyond the contrived media headlines you twit !

Are there credit cards (visaand mastercard) that want do balance transfers? My mom got a loan and wants to get rid of the high interest cards. I told her to pay off the 1.9% card and transfer the 20% and 19% to the 1.9%. The money to pay off the debt push me in this direction. there is not enough to eliminate the debt in full.

credit card to pay off debt? I have a few little bills and stuff to pay off (phone bill, store card) and want to eliminate all this debt. Once to store card is paid off, I'll be cancelling it and cutting it up! I DO work so I am capable of paying the credit card bill every month, I just don't want to have really bad credit and want to get rid of all this stupid debt. My store card bill is getting ridiculous because the interest on that is SO high. I'm seriously debating getting a credit card but seeing it as a loan just to get rid of all these debts dotted about the place? Anyone think thats an ok idea Or a really awful one?! No, I'm not intending on paying my phone bill every month on the credit card! Just the debt I have at the moment, then the contract is finished. Also, the store card would be finished after that and the store card's interest is about 30% so I'd be saving money?

I have destroyed all of my credit cards but one and want to become debt free? I'm in debt. My credit score isn't bad and I pay all my bills on time but it's getting overwhelming when I pay the minimum each month and realize how long it will take to pay them all off. So, I have decided to sit down and cut expenses on the useless things I really don't need to spend money on. I've also decided to pay off the credit cards with the lowest balance first. I have 4 of those all with $100 or less on them. I'm going to pick one and pay it off then move onto the next. After I eliminate them, I plan to move onto to the credit cards with the higher interest rates pick the one with the lowest balance and pay it off and so on. Is the right approach to take? I figured that paying off all the little ones with a small balance could be something done in a couple of months and even though the minimum payment on them is low it adds up. I don't want to close out the credit accounts because I've read that looks somewhat bad on your credit report so I just destroyed the cards instead leaving one for in case of some emergency. Would like to here from others who have paid off their debt and their approach to it. Thanks Agree with paying off the high balance cards first but they have the lowest rate. The ones with the high rates are the 4 that have less than/around $100 balance. So I figured paying them off would give me an extra 50-70 a month to put towards the higher balance but lower interest rate ones. Thanks for all the info so far keep it coming :D Wanted to add to Steve's that is good advice but the low balance ones are the ones with the worst interest rates. IE my home depot card, a couple of other dept. store cards. They are all in the 21% range. My high end balance cards have an interest rate of 13.99-14.99

What is thebest way to pay off my credit card debt? I have debt on 3 credit cards. I have heard that paying off lowest to highest balance allows you to pay off more cards in a shorter amount of time because you eliminate the lower balances quickly. But I also know that it is wiser to pay off the one with the highest interest first in order to save yourself from paying ridiculous amounts of money. I have a balance of $657 on a Capital One card with a 15.3% APR. I have an Amazon card with a balance of $1,178 and a 15.24% APR. I have a Chase credit card with a balance of $2,911 and an APR on purchases of 10.24%. I am also getting charged 10.24% on that card for $541.14 (as a result of a credit card balance transfer). Any good suggestions would be great. The chase card has a 10.24% on $2,342 in purchase and another 10.24% on $541.14 from a balance transfer.

Inheriting $250K and looking for some financial advice? I am a 21 year old male college student currently living in North Orange County. I am preparing to inherit about $250,000.00 from a family member's estate, and I am somewhat unsure of what to do with the money. I am a full time student, and I only work a few hours a week. I profit about $10,000.00 max annually from work, so I need to make a significant return in order to pay my annual bills, which total about $20,000.00 right now.Here are some key points to consider: - I do not have any school bills to worry about. I am studying to receive my BS in Business Administration and I will graduate by 2009. - I have about $10,000 in debt - mostly medical bills - which I plan to eliminate immediately. - I have extremely poor credit at this point in time, so I'm assuming I should avoid investments such as real estate which will yield a high interest rate every month. - I need to purchase a car, and I plan on buying a used car in the neighborhood of $20,000.00 - $25,000.00

Pay lower or higher debt first? I have 3 credit cards that I am trying to pay off I have 2 credit cards in the $2,000 range I have 1 in the $500 range Would you try to pay down the lowest or the highest debt first I am tempted to pay the lowest first just because it'll be eliminated faster but I'm not sure if that's the wisest choice. I pay $77 dollars a month to the $2000 credit cards and I pay $20 to the $500 credit card. I have an extra $80.00 that I could be putting towards a creditor each month. The interest rate on the $2000 is about 10% and the %500 is I think about 8%. With that said any suggestions Smarta%$ I have stopped using them years ago!!

I need the name of a reputable mtg co. to refinance current Countrywide neg-armt vary loan?? I help my 81yr old mother with her Triplex she owns and am very new to borrowing $ for mortgage since I have never owned a home myself and am 50. 2yrs ago I refinanced her bank loan she had since the begining with Countrywide and desperately need to change this loan NOW. We now owe CWide an additional $5000 from the original $ borrowed AND monthly pmts have gone up AND we still can only make the bare minumum pmts each month especially now!!!! Countrywide has backed us into a corner and wont call me back at all to help us!!!!!!! We also have a few credit card debts and would love 2 pay off to eliminate them due to high interest rates (29.9% on Chase!!!!) I just don't know who to turn to, trust, or rely on for this mess...Chase is getting ready to put a lien on Triplex for non payment (90 days past now) MOM DESERVES THE RIGHT NOT TO DIE BANKRUPT!!!!! It is HER turn to live the rest of her life worry-free!! After all she's done everything right ALL her life-I Love Mom!HELP!!

Do we still need a 10-20% down payment? I have been renting for two years and have decided to buy the home. My landlord told me to tell the bank/lender I have given him $10,000. We have paid $12,000 in rent. How does this work? Do I just tell the bank we have given this money as a down payment? Logically, I know the process is much more complicated than that. I am just confused b/c loan apps ask how much you "have" for a down payment. Right now we only have $3,000 to apply toward a DP. A 20% down payment on this home would be $10,000. Applying for a $0 down pmt./high interest, high monthly pmt. loan is not an option. I will only buy if we have a good down pmt. If there is anyone with real estate experience with this type of situation any advice is appreciated. Also, I don't know how relevant this is but... Our credit is good, not great. Our landlords are really great. We have decreased our debt to ~$3,000. It should be completely eliminated in 4 months.

refinancing now? I am one of those home owners being hit with an ARM! My ARM term changed this summer and my payment increased about $350 more monthly. I was thinking of a refi to lock my interest (probably will end up paying about the same monthly amount as I am now) but would get cash out to pay off my credit card and my husband's car (taking care of those two monthly payments) and leaving enough for a rainy day or month! On the other hand my friend told me that because of the mortgage crisis, many banks are letting borrowers get into another program. She told me to call my bank and tell them I can't make those high payments and they would probably rather give me the original payment (or close to it), change my loan terms without any refi closing cost associated with this and prevent foreclosure, but won't have any cash out options to eliminate the two debts I need to take care of. Status quo is not an option because I can see myself losing the house in a year or so if I don't eliminate some debt.

Intelligence/Counterintelligence/Federal Agent career possible with poor history, but amibition and brains? I'm now 25 and have spent the past 7 years putting all my efforts into one area and I've come up empty handed in the end. Time for serious change and an aggressive move forward. I've always had an interest in government work and law enforcement. I've been considering Active Navy and Air Force Intel. Air Guard, and reserves as well. Since I'm married with a 3-yr-old step-son, and a baby girl due in March, I figured the easiest thing to do for me and my family would be to try and get hired on at the local Police Department. It would allow me good training and a good job, and the ability to continue pursuing my education, not to mention stay home and close to my family. I took the Alert 07 Police Entrance Exam this Saturday and scored 140/160 (87%). It wasn't as high as I had hoped, but it reserved me a seat to move on to the next step which was an initial interview. Out of about 20-25 candidates, there were only 4 of us remaining for the interview process. Nobody else had passed the exam. Although I have no criminal history or anything of that nature, upon looking at my issues with Bad Credit, Collections, splotchy work history, and a full year of college in which I only completed 3 credit hours, I was advised to voluntarily withdraw from the application process as I would be disqualified after background investigation. I cannot blame the recruiting officer and/or department policy. I'm well-aware of how it looks. Irresponsible, unreliable, and lazy. But it's like you have to have a second chance before you can get a second chance. You have to fix it to make it better, but it's got to start getting better in order for you to really fix it. It's a catch-22. Nothing pays well enough (even if I worked multiple jobs) to eliminate the debt, improve credit, and provide for my family. Especially without education. But I can't afford that at the moment, and I'm not eligible for aid because of credit and collections. So easy to fall into this and so difficult to climb out! I need to do something stable/secure that will pay a decent wage, allow me to get out of the debt/credit crunch, help me to get my college education, and possibly help set me up for a career with meaning with which I can support my family. I'm now considering Army HUMINT, and the future possibility of Counterintelligence Agent afterward, finishing my degree in Criminal Justice, and trying to secure employment with a government agency. Is this even a remote possibility in my situation. And in the two mentioned Army specialties, what are the realistic chances I may not make it home to my family? What are the chances any of this could even be a feasible reality for me? Even if I fixed my financial status, maintained steady employment, and obtained my college degree(s), is my past too marred for careers with agencies like FBI, NSA, CIA, etc? I don't want to take risks, make major lifestyle changes for and be away from my family in vain. If I would be wasting my time, tell me. Would government agencies touch me with a 10' pole? If I have a shot, it could be worth it. I don't know what else to do in my life to best provide for my loved ones at this point. Please give me some advice! Thanks, J

What's the best way to finance a condo and improvements simultaneously? Hey everyone, I'm looking into purchasing a condo, and it's asking price is $37,000. I put in an offer at that price, and I'm hoping that it will get accepted. The only issue is that it's air conditioning/heating unit isn't functional, so that will need to be replaced the moment it's purchased, which should run about $4,000 or so. I'm a first time home buyer, and by the time the deal would close if accepted, I'll have about $4,800 in savings, while I'm asking the seller for 3% toward closing costs, and I'll likely have to pick up about $500 of the closing costs. I also have a 725 credit score and a debt to income ratio of under 5% before this purchase, being only about 20-25% with it, as I'm trying to keep minimal debt. The property is not FHA approved, because the condo complex doesn't fit its criteria, and everyone who has tried a spot approval on other units have been denied. I know that an FHA 203K renovation loan would have been good, but it's seeming like FHA won't be an option at all. I'm being told that right now that a conventional loan is my only option, and that I would have to probably finance the unit through an air conditioning company. I'd prefer not to do that, because of high interest rates and high monthly payments due to short repayment plans. I know that home renovation conventional loans exist, but I hear that they have specific criteria about the Loan to Value ratios, etc. and that going 90% LTV due to a 10% down payment doesn't leave room for the improvements. With that being in mind, I'm thinking that it eliminates the ideas of a home equity loan or line of credit. Does anyone have any ideas for options that I may have? I would prefer not to do a personal loan with a high monthly payment and gouging interest rates of 16% or more. If there isn't a specific type of mortgage that can do it, then any ideas with no payments no interest for 6+ months would be nice too, as I would have freed up money for settling in at first, and maybe even could just use my tax credit to pay it off entirely. If you do have ideas for a type of mortgage that may help me out, please name a specific bank/credit union/broker who offers it. I'm in Arizona, 85203 Zip Code is where the property is. Thanks! In response to Debra's comment, it's bank-owned and as-is, and honestly, similar condos in the market with a working A/C and everything else in great condition, updated appliances, cabinets, fixtures, flooring, and more like this one is, go for about $60,000 or higher. I'm set on this property and know I'll get no assistance from the bank. Any suggestions to make this scenario possible? Oh, and Amanda, 10% will have to go down on the property, or $3,700, and about $500 toward closing costs will still be due from me. That's $4,200 of that gone, with $600 left over, in the scenario that I go conventional. Oh, and the seller can only pay up to 3% of closing costs (both bank property who's selling it, and a requirement on a conventional loan, at least in AZ if not everywhere).

Looking for info/ reliable source of high risk lenders..no payday please? I am searching for all of those alleged high risk lenders that are willing to lend money for those with credit scores in the low 500's. I am not interested in payday advances. My wife took a $10,000 a year net pay cut this year and we are struggling to keep it together. We had a little girl last year and my wife was out for 7 months. We are still paying off medical bills. We have consolidated all of our debt and credit cards and cut them up. I am so through with CC. We are too comfortable using them. We restructured our finances and eliminated the fluff. Now we are down to the house, car, food, electric. I need help to pay off 4 payday loan companies I had to turn to during my worst months this year just to keep the lights on. I will thank those in advance who will say…live simply and things will get better…I work 60+ hours a day and between the two of us we bring home more than 7.5 K monthly…the payday loans will not let us get back on track. My family is not able to help much.

If things are so bad, why are they so good? If things are so bad, why are they so good? With all the gloom coming out of Wall Street, the Democrats on the campaign trail, and the mainstream media, a remarkable thing just happened: Real gross domestic product, the best summary report of the American economy, came in at a breathtaking 3.9 percent annual rate for the third quarter. In fact, following the 3.8 percent growth rate for the second quarter, the U.S. economy has posted its strongest quarterly growth in four years. The economy actually appears to be speeding up, following the relatively sluggish performance of the prior 18 months. On top of this, the inflation rate is actually slowing down. The consumer spending deflator is reading 2.1 percent for the past year, compared to over 3 percent six quarters ago. The core inflation rate is down to 1.9 percent, below the Fed’s 2 percent target. Even employment is holding its own. According to Automatic Data Processing’s private employment survey, which showed its strongest gain in four months, October looks like it will produce about 125,000 new jobs. Meanwhile, rising exports of American goods and services are booming to such an extent that the deep housing recession is being cancelled out. And while many continue to predict a consumer collapse because of falling home prices and tighter credit, after-tax inflation-adjusted income is 4.1 percent ahead of last year, for a $344 billion gain, while the purchase cost of energy prices are flat. The little noticed factoid is that consumer energy use per unit of GDP has actually fallen by more than 50 percent in recent decades. Again: If things are so bad, why are they so good? The stock market roared after the Federal Reserve cut its target rate on Wednesday by 25 basis points to 4.5 percent. The rate cut was a small insurance policy, just in case the subprime credit crunch and the housing downturn take a larger toll on the economy. But listening to the Democratic presidential debate on Tuesday, you’d think it was 1929 all over again. The litany of scare-talk complaints includes China trade unfairness, globalization, immigration, income inequality, stagnant wages, a shrinking middle class, the sinking dollar, and high oil prices. Yes, there is home deflation on Main Street and loan deflation on Wall Street. It will continue. But what about the rest of the story? When you listen to the hedge-fund short-sellers and the liberal politicians as they attempt to discredit the Bush economic boom, you could almost fall for their bear-market seduction. But the seductress turns out to be an economic harlot — not a beautiful woman. The true message of the strong economy is that we’re virtually guaranteed of a Goldilocks soft landing or better — and certainly not a recession. It’s interesting that while the Bush tax cuts of 2003 continue to encourage investment and entrepreneurship, expanding national income and higher tax collections have brought the big bad budget deficit down to $160 billion, or roughly 1 percent of GDP. Using something called the primary deficit — which extracts net interest on the debt and can be used to measure fiscal stimulus on the economy — we actually have a 70 billion surplus. These are all reasons why it would be foolhardy to embrace large-scale tax-hikes to allegedly fight the budget gap. House tax chief Charlie Rangel’s great idea to reduce the corporate income tax is the first pro-growth tax-cut measure from a Democrat in many years, and hopefully his effort will spur a discussion of full-scale tax reform by the Republican and Democratic candidates. But looking to the rest of Rangel’s plan, there are ways to eliminate the alternative minimum tax that do not require big tax hikes on the most successful earners and investors. For example, the Bush administration’s tax-reform panel, chaired by former senators Connie Mack and John Breaux, proposed a growth-and-investment plan with only three income-tax brackets of 15, 25, and 30 percent. The plan would repeal the AMT and reduce the corporate tax to 30 percent. Capital gains and dividends would remain at 15 percent. Or there’s the new plan from Wisconsin House member Paul Ryan that would move to a 10 and 25 percent tax system while also eliminating the dreaded AMT. In other words, there are a lot of ways to gently nudge tax rates lower while broadening the tax base that would keep the Bush boom going well into the future. The print and broadcast media do not give President Bush much credit for his economic policies. But somehow I have to wonder whether low unemployment, strong growth, negligible inflation, and record stock markets do not deserve just a bit of praise. It is still the greatest story never told.

Help me score my essay, please!? I am reading a self-study book to help me prepare for the GED tests. I wrote a pretest essay and need help scoring it. This is my first essay in over 10 years! If anyone wants to read over my essay and answer the questions beneath for me, it would be greatly appreciated. It will help me to know which sections I need to concentrate on. THANKS!! Topic: What is one important goal you would like to achieve in the nest few years? In your essay, identify that goal. Explain how you plan to achieve it. Use your personal observations, experience, and knowledge to support your answer. My essay: In the next few years, I would like to have all of my debt paid off. To accomplish this, I will need to dedicate more money to paying my bills and stop spending needlessly. Each month, I will pay the minimum payment to each card, as well as an additional amount. I will try to pay more to the cards that have the higher interest rates. As each card is paid off, I will cancel it, saving only the card with the lowest interest rate. To avoid spending money I do not have, I will remove my credit cards from my wallet, leaving only the lowest rate card for emergencies. If I need to make online purchases using a credit card, I must first have the funds available in my bank account to immediately pay the balance. Most importantly, I will have to resist impulse purchases. Before buying an item, i must ask myself if I really need it and if I will use it enough to justify the price. I also need to stop feeling pressured to support my friend's and coworker's various fundraisers and jobs by donating or purchasing items I do not need. If I assign half of each paycheck to paying of my credit card debt, I could have my debt paid off in just over a year. All it will take it dedication and willpower. (Now that I've typed it all out, it looks so short. The book only said it should be long enough to develop my topic adequately) Scoring questions (these are all Yes or No answers): Respnse to the Prompt 1) Does the essay answer the question in the topic? 2) Is there a clear main idea? 3) Does the essay stay on topic? Organization 4) Are there an introduction, body, and conclusion? 5) Does each body paragraph include a topic sentence and supporting details? 6) Does the writing flow smoothly from sentence to sentence and from paragraph to paragraph? Development and Details 7) Do the topic sentences support the main idea of the essay? 8) Are topic sentences supported with specific details and examples? Conventions of Edited American English 9)Are complete sentences used? 10) Does the essay have a variety of sentence structures? 11) Do subjects and verbs agree? 12) Is it clear what each pronoun refers to? 13) Are correct verb forms and tenses used? 14) Are all words spelled correctly? 15) Is correct punctuation used? 16) Are capital letters used correctly? Word Choice 17) Does the essay use specific and clear language? 18) Have all unnecessary words been eliminated?

Do you think its funny when McCain supporters still say they dont know what Obama's change is? Here comes all the "empty suit" references from the rightwing mouthbreathing, knuckledragging squad. John McCain/Bush stands for a third term of the disasterous Bush administration, the guy should be stuffed and mounted and put in a museum somewhere in South Carolina. Here are some of Senator Barack Obama's positions: Opposed the Iraq war from the start. Voted to end the war in Iraq. Supports capturing and killing Osama Bin Laden. Favors a $1000 tax cut for every working American family. Will implement tax form simplification to reduce filing time. Provide tax credit for all middle class homeowners. Provide a tax cut for all families making less than $75,000 a year. Amend NAFTA to protect American workers. Amend NAFTA to strengthen environmental protections. Providing Flex Ed training accounts for workers. Extending Trade Adjustment assistance to service workers. Supported Patriot Employer Act of 2007 that gives tax credits to large companies that keep workers here in America. Double funds for basic federal research. Implement a long term research and development tax credit. Invest in green technologies. Reduce carbon emission gases. Tackle the challenges of global warming. Create an energy focused youth jobs program. Create Federal Renewable Portfolio Standard. Extend the Production Tax Credit. Expand Broadband into every community. Keep the Internet tax free. Expand high speed internet access in rural areas. Fight for passage of Employee Free Choice Act. Ensure freedom to unionize. Would overturn "Kentucky River" classifications of Bush's NLRB Protect rights of striking workers. Increase the mininum wage to index it to inflation. Crack down on predatory lenders. Provide a universal mortgage tax credit for homeowners who don't itemize. Sign the Stop Fraud Act to prevent lending fraud. Mandate accurate loan disclosure. Create a fund to protect people from foreclosures. Close the bankruptcy loophole for mortgage companies. Establish a credit card rating to improve disclosure. Ban utilateral credit card charges. Apply interest rate only to future debt. Prohibit credit card interest on fees. Prohibit Universal defaults. Require prompt and fair crediting of cardholder payments. Protect working people from unfair bankruptcy laws. Ban executive bonuses for bankruptcy companies. REquire disclosure of pension investments. Cap outlandandish interest rates on payday loans. Implement legislation to drive unscrupulous lenders out of business Create a bankruptcy exemption for people that went broke because of medical bills. Double funding for after school programs. Extend Family and Medical Leave Act. Encourage states to adopt Paid leave. Expand the Child Care Tax Credit Supports ratification of UN Convention Rights of Persons With Disabilities. Supports independent, community based living for people with disabilities. Expand educational opportunites for people with disabilities. Expand job opportunities for people with disabilities. Strengthen civil rights enforcement. Sign into law the Fair Pay Act. Sign law reversing recent SCOTUS rulings that permitted discrimination against women. Sign law reversing recent SCOTUS rulings that permitted discrimination against racial minorities. Strengthen federal hate crimes legislation. Eliminate the sentence disparities regarding crack cocaines. Establish drug courts for first time, non violent offenders. Create a prison to work incentive for those transitioning back into society. Passed a law to prohibit the practice of racial profiling. Supported reauthorizing the Voting Rights Act. Opposes all discriminatory barriers to voting. Helped reform death penalty system in Illinois to protect innocent people on death row. Voted to ban cluster bombs. Provide high quality affordable child care to families. Will quadrulple Early Head Start funding. Will increase Head Start funding. Creates early learning challenge grants. Abolish overly rigid teach to the test curriculum in schools. Improve accountability in public schools. Invest in intervention strategies to reduce dropout rates in schools. Increase funding for afterschool programs. Supports Step Up program to increase summer learning opportunities. Support English language learner programs. Expand college outreach programs. Create teacher service scholarships. Requires all public schools to be accredited. Create teacher residency programs. Create the American Opportunity Tax Credit for higher education. Streamline financial aid application. Introduced legislation to increase Pell Grant to $5,100. Reduce carbon emissions by 80% by 2050. Confront deforestation. Promote carbon sequestration. Accelerate commercialization of plug in hybrids. Promote development of commercial scale renewable energy. Invest in low emission coal plants. Transition to new electric digit grid. Double science funding for clean energy products. Create Green Jobs Cor

For people who say "the GOP has no ideas," what do you think about these? In 2013, when President Mitch Daniels, former Indiana governor, is counting his blessings, at the top of his list will be the name of his vice president: Paul Ryan. The former congressman from Wisconsin will have come to office with ideas for steering the federal government to solvency. Not that Daniels has ever been bereft of ideas. Under him, Indiana property taxes have been cut 30 percent and for the first time, Standard & Poor's has raised the state's credit rating to AAA. But in January 2010, Ryan released an updated version of his "Roadmap for America's Future," a cure for the most completely predictable major problem that has ever afflicted America. Some calamities -- the 1929 stock market crash, Pearl Harbor, 9/11 -- have come like summer lightning, as bolts from the blue. The looming crisis of America's Ponzi entitlement structure is different. Driven by the demographics of an aging population, its causes, timing and scope are known. Funding entitlements -- especially medical care and pensions for the elderly -- requires reinvigorating the economy. Ryan's map connects three destinations -- economic vitality, diminished public debt, and health and retirement security. To make the economy -- on which all else hinges -- hum, Ryan proposes tax reform. Masochists would be permitted to continue paying income taxes under the current system. Others could use a radically simplified code, filing a form that fits on a postcard. It would have just two rates: 10 percent on incomes up to $100,000 for joint filers and $50,000 for single filers; 25 percent on higher incomes. There would be no deductions, credits or exclusions, other than the health care tax credit (see below). Today's tax system was shaped by sadists who were trying to be nice: Every wrinkle in the code was put there to benefit this or that interest. Since the 1986 tax simplification, the code has been recomplicated more than 14,000 times -- more than once a day. At the 2004 Republican convention, thunderous applause greeted George W. Bush's statement that the code is "a complicated mess" and a "drag on our economy" and his promise to "reform and simplify" it. But his next paragraphs proposed more complications to incentivize this and that behavior for the greater good. Ryan would eliminate taxes on interest, capital gains, dividends and death. The corporate income tax, the world's second highest, would be replaced by an 8.5 percent business consumption tax. Because this would be about half the average tax burden that other nations place on corporations, U.S. companies would instantly become more competitive -- and more able and eager to hire. Medicare and Social Security would be preserved for those currently receiving benefits, or becoming eligible in the next 10 years (those 55 and older today). Both programs would be made permanently solvent. Universal access to affordable health care would be guaranteed by refundable tax credits ($2,300 for individuals, $5,700 for families) for purchasing portable coverage in any state. As persons under 55 became Medicare eligible, they would receive payments averaging $11,000 a year, indexed to inflation and pegged to income, with low-income people receiving more support. Ryan's plan would fund medical savings accounts from which low-income people would pay minor out-of-pocket medical expenses. All Americans, regardless of income, would be allowed to establish MSAs -- tax-preferred accounts for paying such expenses. Ryan's plan would allow workers under 55 the choice of investing more than one-third of their current Social Security taxes in personal retirement accounts similar to the Thrift Savings Plan long available to, and immensely popular with, federal employees. This investment would be inheritable property, guaranteeing that individuals will never lose the ability to dispose every dollar they put into these accounts. Ryan would raise the retirement age. If, when Congress created Social Security in 1935, it had indexed the retirement age (then 65) to life expectancy, today the age would be in the mid-70s. The system was never intended to do what it is doing -- subsidizing retirements that extend from one-third to one-half of retirees' adult lives. Compare Ryan's lucid map to the Democrats' impenetrable labyrinth of health care legislation. Republicans are frequently criticized as "the party of no." But because most new ideas are injurious, rejection is an important function in politics. It is, however, insufficient. Fortunately, Ryan, assisted by Republican representatives Devin Nunes of California and Jeb Hensarling of Texas, has become a think tank, refuting the idea that Republicans lack ideas.

Will Obama assume the presidency before January 21, 2013? Why does Obama think Bush is still president? Bush averaged 5.26% (6.0% highest annual rate) unemployment (Clinton 5.20%). Obama has averaged 9.3%. Obama said his $900 billion stimulus must be passed immediately without reading the bill to keep unemployment under 8.0% Obama's 2009 spending and 2010 budget are massive increases of the deficit and nation's debt. Obama has increased the number of troops in war. Obama promised hope, change, to return the troops, debate health reforms openly and eliminate special interests. Obama has been a complete and utter failure on every single of his main initiatives. And according to Obama, he has not even assumed the presidency yet beyond occupying the White House, traveling to more golf courses than Bush over 8 years and accepting awards for doing nothing.

Will Increased Gas Taxes "Combat Global Warming"? Here's what is currently being proposed to raise money to maintain roads: --- Projected shortfalls in revenue led the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, in a report issued in January 2008, to call for an increase of as much as 40 cents a gallon in the gas tax, phased in over five years. Charles Whittington, chairman of the American Trucking Associations, which supports a fuel tax increase as long as the money goes to highway projects, said Congress may decide to disguise a fuel tax hike as a surcharge to combat climate change. Transportation is responsible for about a third of all U.S. carbon emissions created by burning fossil fuels. Traffic congestion wastes an estimated 2.9 billion gallons of fuel a year. Less congestion would reduce greenhouse gases and dependence on foreign oil. "Instead of calling it a gas tax, call it a carbon tax," Whittington said. Motorists' habits spur call for tax increases http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_go_ot/gas_tax --- OK, raising gas prices might encourage people to drive slightly less, but not a single dollar of the revenue raised would go directly to reducing global warming. Furthermore, higher fuel prices encourage people to switch to more fuel efficient vehicles, LOWERING revenue from gas taxes. What happened to the reasoning that investing in road infrastructure to reduce congestion simply encouraged people to move further out from city centers, increasing emissions? Where is the public policy change to reduce the rampant suburban overbuilding that creates the traffic? We are given contrary arguments on this issue over time, whatever suits politicians' needs at the time (diverting road funds to other agencies in the name of reducing emissions vs. increasing taxes to replace the diverted funds). Why not first eliminate the approximately $80 billion in subsidies to the oil and gas industry? Why not better allocate the over 50% of our federal income tax dollars that go towards the Department of Defense (and interest paid on war debt)? Donald Rumsfeld admitted in 2001 that the Department of Defense was so poorly managed that it couldn't even account for $3.4 trillion dollars. (Coincidentaly, that story broke on September 10, and it was military attacks using airliners the following day that effectively buryied the Department of Defense scandal, the predictable patriotic flag-waving by politicians even resulting in tremendous funding increases to the DoD, increasing the national debt to astronomical levels and setting us up for future financial collapse.) So do you think politicians will take the bait and propose another "global warming tax" that really has its funds diverted to other programs (like Los Angeles did to fund public transit? If politicians do, will you vote them out in 2012)? As a side note, I am concerned about global warming, but that's all the more reason to oppose measures that give the public the mistaken impression that they've already funded a response, and which divert funds that otherwise could have gone towards directly productive responses.

Will politicians lie about gas taxes "to combat global warming"? Here's what is being proposed to raise money to maintain roads: --- Projected shortfalls in revenue led the National Surface Transportation Policy and Revenue Study Commission, in a report issued in January 2008, to call for an increase of as much as 40 cents a gallon in the gas tax, phased in over five years. Charles Whittington, chairman of the American Trucking Associations, which supports a fuel tax increase as long as the money goes to highway projects, said Congress may decide to disguise a fuel tax hike as a surcharge to combat climate change. Transportation is responsible for about a third of all U.S. carbon emissions created by burning fossil fuels. Traffic congestion wastes an estimated 2.9 billion gallons of fuel a year. Less congestion would reduce greenhouse gases and dependence on foreign oil. "Instead of calling it a gas tax, call it a carbon tax," Whittington said. Motorists' habits spur call for tax increases http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090102/ap_on_go_ot/gas_tax --- OK, raising gas prices might encourage people to drive slightly less, but not a single dollar of the revenue raised would go directly to reducing global warming. Furthermore, higher fuel prices encourage people to switch to more fuel efficient vehicles, LOWERING revenue from gas taxes. Why not first eliminate the approximately $80 billion in subsidies to the oil and gas industry? Why not better allocate the over 50% of our federal income tax dollars that go towards the Department of Defense (and interest paid on war debt)? Donald Rumsfeld admitted in 2001 that the Department of Defense was so poorly managed that it couldn't even account for $3.4 trillion dollars. (Coincidentaly, that story broke on September 10, and it was military attacks using airliners the following day that effectively buryied the Department of Defense scandal, the predictable patriotic flag-waving by politicians even resulting in tremendous funding increases to the DoD, increasing the national debt to astronomical levels and setting us up for future financial collapse.) So do you think politicians will take the bait and propose another "global warming tax" that really has its funds diverted to other programs, like Los Angeles did to fund public transit? If politicians do, will you vote them out in 2012? As a side note, I am concerned about global warming, but that's all the more reason to oppose measures that give the public the mistaken impression that they've already funded a response, and which divert funds that otherwise could have gone towards directly productive responses making our power and transportation infrastructure more efficient.

Did John McCain forget about Bill Clinton's economic boom? He claims that Obama's taxes will eliminate jobs. If that's the case, why didn't Clinton lose jobs when he raised taxes on the top 1%? As usual, McCain's tax cuts are the kind that got us into this mess in the first place. If Bush had directed more of the cuts to the middle-class and the working poor--like Obama's plan intends--instead of the wealthy and the super-rich? We wouldn't be so bogged down in debt. ($10.1 trillion dollars.) But I would like to know is what kind of jobs he INTENDS on creating with his Bush-style tax cuts? Will he also be open to more increases in the minimum-wage like Obama or will 80% of working Americans still be a prisoner to impoverished and substandard wages? Because $9/hr right now isn't cutting it for most Americans. Some people I talked to working for Wal-Mart (the other night) tell me that even $11 an hour still doesn't make a dent in the overall high costs of living. If McCain *intends* on cutting taxes, then he should immediately adopt Obama's economic plan of action. If he REALLY wants to distance himself from Bush--then he should be open to the needs of ALL Americans--not just the privileged few. (Which is whom he's targeting once again. Is the rich and wealthy really in serious danger of falling apart that they have to be rescued by the government time and again--at the expense of the working American taxpayer?) Doing it all the same again isn't going to work for any of us. In fact, it's just going to make things even worse. I'm not saying this to scare people. Just look at how our current wages have been UNABLE to keep up with inflation or the cost of living. This is what the GOP has done to us as a country--while rewarding the rich and powerful with our hard-earned tax monies. We're not getting ahead with people like McCain at the helm. We've fallen farther and farther behind as a people. We are struggling because the government and its backwards politics have decided that the needs of the common folk are of no interest to them any longer. It's the rich and wealthy that now have full command of McCain's economic polices. Not the people whom need it the most.

I'm almost 3 years away from 30. What should I do with my life (considering my current financial situation)? This is a little messy, but here's the situation: I decided to take a two year break from college about a year ago to find myself and figure out what I wanted to do with my life. In that period I bought a car, did really well for a while on my own, and then got into a slump with the increase in gas prices and limited availability of overtime at my last job (I recently got a new job that pays twice as much more). So, I have a car that I owe 15,000 on and student loan debt in addition to that. I have finally decided that I want to go back to school to get an ADN in Nursing, and then to pursue other endeavors on down the road as well (such as Healthcare Admin/Management, Medical school, or perhaps something in Politics - I know, strange). I'm living with my parents in a temporary situation as my earnings the last year weren't exactly what I had hoped them to be, and am just beginning to get out of the hole so to speak with a great new job that earns more, but is still in the 25,000 to 32,000 range. My question is, do you see it more beneficial for me to sell the car and eliminate as much of my debt as I possibly can before going back to school so that I don't have to juggle a work schedule and school, or do you believe that I should keep the car? To further add to this discussion, Taxi fares are high where I live and Mass transit is not very easily accessible; so having a car is almost a must. I think you should also take into consideration that I have already paid 6,000 on the car, and besides that the only other debt I have is student loan debt. I love my car and obviously see a great need for it, but would give it up to further my education. The only way I see realistically doing this however, is to move onto campus, go back to school full-time and then let my Bank repossess my car. I say this because I believe that with as much as I owe on it, selling isn't really a viable option. Thoughts? I'm interested to see what people have to say.

Ten Multiple Choice American Government Questions? 1.) Voting is not only a right, but it is a burden. task. duty. 2.) Self-government can succeed only if we pay higher taxes to fund such programs. if the people do their part. if the leaders can get out of federal debt. 3.) ___ can be awakened to a new interest in good government. Citizens Leaders Governors 4.) Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet offer Republicans the chance to bring their arguments directly to the Democrats. people the chance to bring their arguments directly to the candidates. candidates the chance to bring their arguments directly to the people. 5.) Since our country is ruled by political parties, much good can be done by ___ and helping it clean up anything that is wrong. protesting against the system only by lobby organizations belonging to a party 6.) Government in a democratic republic such as ours is never the same as its citizens make it never better than its citizens make it. worse than its citizens make it. 7.) When we elect capable men to office, our work is not finished. We must support them and defend them against corrupt interests. support them and defend corrupt interests. volunteer for our local government. 8.) Women represent about ____ of the base voters Democrats need. one-third two-thirds three-fourths 9.) The continued freedom of U.S. citizens is directly dependent on the President party politics voters 10.) Voting is a duty and obligation helps eliminate political machines from creating corruption both of these

HELP WITH MY GOVERNMENT HOME WORK? 1.) Voting is not only a right, but it is a burden. task. duty. 2.) Self-government can succeed only if we pay higher taxes to fund such programs. if the people do their part. if the leaders can get out of federal debt. 3.) ___ can be awakened to a new interest in good government. Citizens Leaders Governors 4.) Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet offer Republicans the chance to bring their arguments directly to the Democrats. people the chance to bring their arguments directly to the candidates. candidates the chance to bring their arguments directly to the people. 5.) Since our country is ruled by political parties, much good can be done by ___ and helping it clean up anything that is wrong. protesting against the system only by lobby organizations belonging to a party 6.) Government in a democratic republic such as ours is never the same as its citizens make it never better than its citizens make it. worse than its citizens make it. 7.) When we elect capable men to office, our work is not finished. We must support them and defend them against corrupt interests. support them and defend corrupt interests. volunteer for our local government. 8.) Women represent about ____ of the base voters Democrats need. one-third two-thirds three-fourths 9.) The continued freedom of U.S. citizens is directly dependent on the President party politics voters 10.) Voting is a duty and obligation helps eliminate political machines from creating corruption both of these THANK YOU SO MUCH

10 points for each correct answer and please don't answer if ur not going to help me. Thank u.? 1: Voting is not only a right, but it is a burden. task. duty. 2: Self-government can succeed only if we pay higher taxes to fund such programs. if the people do their part. if the leaders can get out of federal debt. 3: ___ can be awakened to a new interest in good government. Citizens Leaders Governors 4: Newspapers, magazines, radio, television, and the internet offer Republicans the chance to bring their arguments directly to the Democrats. people the chance to bring their arguments directly to the candidates. candidates the chance to bring their arguments directly to the people. 5: Since our country is ruled by political parties, much good can be done by ___ and helping it clean up anything that is wrong. protesting against the system only by lobby organizations belonging to a party 6: Government in a democratic republic such as ours is never the same as its citizens make it never better than its citizens make it. worse than its citizens make it. 7: When we elect capable men to office, our work is not finished. We must support them and defend them against corrupt interests. support them and defend corrupt interests. volunteer for our local government. 8: Women represent about ____ of the base voters Democrats need. one-third two-thirds three-fourths 9: The continued freedom of U.S. citizens is directly dependent on the President party politics voters 10: Voting is a duty and obligation helps eliminate political machines from creating corruption both of these

Dear Valued Employee: [Is this a rip, or what?]? Isn't this the biggest rip you've seen?? Got this in the company mail today: Dear Valued Employee: As you know, President Obama has asked Congress to pass the beginning of his health insurance plan for all Americans. The starting plan will cost some $65 billion a year, of which the President has proposed $30 billion in higher taxes for firms doing business overseas, which is half our company's business. He asked Congress to find the rest of the money. Congress has said the other $35 billion a year will come from disallowing corporate tax deductions for employee health insurance, as well as raising the general corporate income tax rate to 35%. The company will absorb the higher taxes on our foreign operations and the tax increase to 35% even though we expect this to eliminate our currently low net income. Our corporation pays approximately $6,000 per year per single employee and $9,000 per year per employee family for the health insurance coverage you presently have. This means that Congress has decided to raise our taxes by $2100 per employee with single coverage and $3150 per employee with family coverage. As you know, our company's sales have recently fallen by more than at any previous time in our company's history. Our company is paying no dividends to the owners and may soon be in danger of not earning the interest cost of our debts. Accordingly, we must pass onto our employees the entire added tax that Congress will impose on your health insurance plan. It is either this, go out of business, or move operations and most jobs overseas. Effective the first of next month, all US employees electing single coverage health insurance will have their monthly contribution increased by 175 dollars and those electing family coverage will contribute an added 262.50. For hourly employees paid every two weeks, this is $80.75 and $121.15 respectively. Thank you for your continued efforts to make the company profitable, Human Resources Department

Should states cap spending growth, say at the greater of CPI or 4% per year? And then require any surplus to be used to buy back state debentures? Over time, tax revenue typically rises faster than that. And what happens is that when the money rolls in, the politicians dream up new ways to spend it. But there's no logical reason for state spending to increase faster than the rate of inflation. There's no need for a state to spend more in 2009, in constant dollars, than it spent in 2005 or 2000. And even with revenue down from last year because of the recession, it's still a lot higher, in every state, than what that state spent in 2000, in constant dollars. Politicians' inability to control themselves is, then, the structural reason for the deficits. So why not eliminate budget crises altogether by capping state spending growth? This would require no cuts at all. It would simply preclude new pork. If some new "need" developed (keep in mind that states don't fund wars and that most "emergencies" are responded to by the federal government), existing pork could be cut to make up the difference. Keep in mind also that if there were a surplus and a reduction of state debt, that would fuel private sector growth and reduce interest rates, thus reducing the likelihood of such a "need."

Advice for an Engineering student having second thoughts? I'm now in my third year of university as a civil engineering major and am worried I may have made a mistake. The main reason I chose to pursue an engineering career was because I was good at math and physics in high school. (I chose civil by eliminating the disciplines I was not interested in) I enjoy most of my upper level courses, but others just seem very boring. I'm afraid that a civil engineering career will not be as exciting or as fun as I want out of a life long profession. I spend most of my time in the library studying or working on some kind of homework, and it's hard to find time to do anything outside of school. When I graduate I want to travel and see the world, not have the same schedule as now, working day and night in an office. I'm also concerned about the pay, $45k/year doesn't seem like very much of a payoff for the around the clock studying for 4 years and total commitment to a job. It seems unfair that some professions can make so much more $ without the same amount of work. I already have enough debt with student loans so changing majors is not really an option now. any advice or thoughts?

Has any president ever had any success in eliminating the Federal Reserve? It appears not. LOL!! Always follow the money: Kennedy signed a not very well known Executive Order, # 11110(2) in June of 1963, only five months before the assassination (also, click here to read ALL Executive Orders JFK wrote throughout his Presidency, ordered by numbers). This Order returned the power to issue currency to the government, without going through the Federal Reserve Bank. Kennedy gave the Treasury the permission to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or standard silver dollars in the Treasury. In plain language this means that for every ounce of silver in the US Treasury vault, the government could let new money into circulation. JFK brought nearly $4.3 billion U.S. notes(3) out on the market. So, we can now clearly see that by signing this Executive Order, he was about to put the Federal Reserve Bank (and with them all the International Bankers) out of business. The Federal Reserve Notes would eventually not be in demand anymore, and by doing so, Mr. Kennedy probably also signed his own death warrant. Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S. the ability to create its own money backed up by silver. The Lincoln Parallel An interesting thing, which makes the Federal Reserve theory considerable, is a parallel 98 years from the year JFK was killed. In 1865 another US President was assassinated. His name was Abraham Lincoln. What did he do before the assassination? Well, he created government interest-free money, so called greenback dollars, to pay off the debt from the Civil War. Shortly after he was killed, the greenbacks were taken out of circulation(6) … Lincoln was well aware of what was happening, as shown in this letter: "I see in the near future a crisis approaching. It unnerves me and causes me to tremble for the safety of my country. The money powers preys upon the nation in times of peace and conspires against it in times of adversity. It is more despotic than a monarchy, more insolent than autocracy, more selfish than bureaucracy. It denounces, as public enemies, all who question its methods or throw light upon its crimes. I have two great enemies, the Southern Army in front of me & the financial institutions at the rear, the latter is my greatest foe. Corporations have been enthroned, and an era of corruption in high places will follow, and the money power of the country will endeavor to prolong its reign by working upon the prejudices of the people until the wealth is aggregated in the hands of a few, and the Republic is destroyed."(7) . http://www.illuminati-news.com/kennedy-assassin.htm More on the destruction of the Republic http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOhBmOD71B4

Is this a pretty good description of what the Fed is doing now with its trillions in commitments of new credit? "#4 – The Fed blows up yet another bubble Conventional wisdom said that the Fed was out of bubbles to blow up once the housing market fell apart (and continues to do so). True, the home was probably the most convenient way that people could be cajoled into borrowing money on ‘equity' that in fact never really existed to begin with. However, the Fed properly understands the relationship between debt and economic growth in a fiat monetary system. As such, Fed governors know that the American public must continue to borrow money. They also know that the US government, like consumers, is flat broke and needs to borrow money. So the Fed is now using its member banks to indirectly monetize debt. Put simply, the Fed creates money from nothing, then exchanges it for bad assets on the balance sheet of its member banks. The banks get rid of the toxic assets, then take the Fed's new money and buy US Treasuries. The government ends up with the fresh money, and you the taxpayer have not only the responsibility to pay the principal back, but also to make interest payments to the Fed (vis a vis its member banks) in the meantime. In doing this, the prices of US government bonds have gone parabolic, and correspondingly, yields are now scraping against the ocean floor. The net result of this is that savers are further punished by near zero or even negative rates of return on short-term money market instruments and other debt that as recently as a year ago were paying north of 4% interest. On the consumer side of things, mortgage rates have dipped significantly. The idea here is to stimulate borrowing by creating (once again) artificially low interest rates. Doesn't this sound familiar – a la 2001? One problem is that banks are not lending like they were in 2001. Ironically, they are invoking lending standards again even though the Fed has almost completely eliminated risk from the equation! While money is available, it is generally available to only those with the best credit at the lower rates. The rest it seems need not apply. On the other side of the ledger, consumers are in much worse shape overall than they were in 2001. In many cases, mortgages are underwater, there is no ‘equity' to be tapped, and credit card balances are higher than ever. In addition, the one means of supporting a debt lifestyle (employment) is being yanked out from under many people as weekly unemployment claims and monthly job loss numbers continue to mount at an alarming rate. http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/index.php?name=News&file=article&sid=7948 -- and by the way - Merry Christmas and a Happy Holiday!

Should I go back to college? I was hoping to get some unbiased advice here on a bit of a quandary I'm facing in my life.... I entered college when I was 18 to pursue a career in aviation (specifically, as an airline pilot). Flight training, for those who may now know, is extremely expensive - it quickly wiped out my savings as well as the money that my parent had saved for my education (even when taking the need-based financial aid into account). Due to this difficulty, I was forced to pursue outside work to meet the increasing costs of continuing my education and flight training. As time went on, my academic performance dwindled due to an inability to concentrate on academics w/ the full time+ job I was involved in at the time. I grew disheartened by my situation, but continued to take courses, though far fewer credits considering my work schedule. I dropped below full time, triggering repayment on two of the loans I had outstanding, which further exacerbated the financial hardship. If that wasn't enough, a condition with my sinuses caused my FAA medical certification to be revoked, thereby eliminating any chance of pursuing my original career path. The obvious course of action at the time was to withdraw from school, pursue more lucrative employment to repay a portion of my debt, and then return to pursue an alternate degree. I withdrew with 59 credits on my transcript and a 2.2 GPA (due mostly to the flight courses I failed since I couldn't complete them considering I had lost my medical certification) I'm currently 25 and have seen a reasonable degree of success in my current career field managing the production operations of a mid-sized factory. I feel I have some talent in this field - as such, I feel it would be advantageous for me to pursue a degree along these lines. The issue here lies in the course of action to take... Considering my poor academic performance towards the latter part of my previous college experience, do I even have a chance of being considered by ANY college? My SAT and ACT scores were relatively high in HS - would it make more sense to apply as a freshman to avoid having to work past this issue and abandon my previous credits? A contributing issue here is the fact that the program I'm specifically interested in seems to only be offered by fairly prestigious institutions (UPenn, U of Delaware). Do I have any chance at all here considering the schools that offer these programs are extremely competitive? Does my work experience have any bearing here? Thanks in advance for your advice.

Econ help 10 pts!!!!!!!? 19. (Consider This) Ticket scalping: a.imposes economic losses on both buyers and sellers. b.creates economic gains for both buyers and sellers. c.imposes losses on buyers, but creates gains for sellers. d.imposes losses on sellers, but creates gains for buyers. 20. Income data that show how total income is distributed as wages, rents, interest, and profits describe the: a.functional distribution of income. b.horizontal distribution of income. c.personal distribution of income. d.vertical distribution of income. 21. The personal distribution of income in the United States is such that the richest fifth receives about _____ percent of personal income. a.30 b.40 c.50 d.60 22. Listed in descending order of relative size, households divide their total incomes among: a.consumption expenditures, saving, and taxes. b.saving, consumption expenditures, and taxes. c.consumption expenditures, taxes, and saving. d.taxes, consumption expenditures, and saving. 23. The majority of personal consumption expenditures go to purchase: a.nondurable goods. b.durable goods. c.capital goods. d.services. 24. In economics, a business establishment that owns one or more plants is called a(n): a.industry. b.shop. c.conglomerate. d.firm. 25. The advantages of the corporate form of business include: a.the ability to raise financial capital by selling stocks and bonds. b.the fact that owners are subject to unlimited liability. c.the elimination of the principal-agent problem. d.single taxation of corporate earnings. 26. The owners of a firm face unlimited liability for the firm's debts in: a.a corporation. b.a proprietorship, but not in a partnership. c.a partnership, but not in a proprietorship. d.both a proprietorship and a partnership. 27. Government may lessen income inequality by: a.providing transfer payments to the poor. b.directly modifying market prices as, for example, by establishing a legal minimum wage. c.using the tax system to tax the wealthy relatively more heavily than the poor. d.doing all of the above. 28. Negative externalities arise: a.when firms pay more than the opportunity cost of resources. b.when the demand curve for a product is located too far to the left. when firms "use" resources without being compelled to pay for their full costs. only in capitalistic societies. 29. Which of the following is a public good? a.chewing gum b.bread c.a professional baseball game d.street lights in a city 30. In performing its stabilization function it may be appropriate for government to: a.increase both government spending and taxes when the economy is experiencing rapid inflation. b.reduce government spending and increase taxes when the economy experiences substantial unemployment. c.increase government spending and reduce taxes when the economy experiences rapid inflation. d.increase government spending and reduce taxes when the economy experiences substantial unemployment. 31. Government transfer payments: a.have been virtually eliminated by Federal revenue sharing. b.have virtually no effect on the distribution of income. c.make the distribution of income less equal. d.make the distribution of income less unequal. 32. The three most important sources of Federal tax revenue in order of descending importance are: a.sales, payroll, and personal income taxes. b.personal income, corporate income, and sales taxes. c.personal income, corporate income, and payroll taxes. d.personal income, payroll, and corporate income taxes. 33. A progressive tax is such that: a.tax rates are higher the greater one's income. b.the same tax rate applies to all income receivers, so that the rich pay absolutely more taxes than the poor. c.entrepreneurial income is exempt from taxation. d.the revenues it yields are spent on transfer payments. 34. Government lotteries are: a.used by a large number of states to supplement their tax revenues. b.illegal in the United States, but are a common source of revenue in other countries. c.used by local governments, but not by state governments. d.a form of progressive taxation. 35. The physical export of motorcycles from the United States to Mexico best illustrates a: a.trade flow. b.resource flow. c.financial flow. d.technology flow. 36. About half of United States international trade is with: a.other industrially advanced capitalist countries. b.the OPEC countries. c.developing countries. d.Russia and China. 37. In recent years the United States has: a.exported more goods and services than it has imported. b.imported more goods and services than it has exported. c.realized an approximate balance in its imports and exports. d.experienced a falling absolute dollar amount of imports and a rising absolute dollar amount of exports.

Economic homework help ! 10 pts!? 19. (Consider This) Ticket scalping: a.imposes economic losses on both buyers and sellers. b.creates economic gains for both buyers and sellers. c.imposes losses on buyers, but creates gains for sellers. d.imposes losses on sellers, but creates gains for buyers. 20. Income data that show how total income is distributed as wages, rents, interest, and profits describe the: a.functional distribution of income. b.horizontal distribution of income. c.personal distribution of income. d.vertical distribution of income. 21. The personal distribution of income in the United States is such that the richest fifth receives about _____ percent of personal income. a.30 b.40 c.50 d.60 22. Listed in descending order of relative size, households divide their total incomes among: a.consumption expenditures, saving, and taxes. b.saving, consumption expenditures, and taxes. c.consumption expenditures, taxes, and saving. d.taxes, consumption expenditures, and saving. 23. The majority of personal consumption expenditures go to purchase: a.nondurable goods. b.durable goods. c.capital goods. d.services. 24. In economics, a business establishment that owns one or more plants is called a(n): a.industry. b.shop. c.conglomerate. d.firm. 25. The advantages of the corporate form of business include: a.the ability to raise financial capital by selling stocks and bonds. b.the fact that owners are subject to unlimited liability. c.the elimination of the principal-agent problem. d.single taxation of corporate earnings. 26. The owners of a firm face unlimited liability for the firm's debts in: a.a corporation. b.a proprietorship, but not in a partnership. c.a partnership, but not in a proprietorship. d.both a proprietorship and a partnership. 27. Government may lessen income inequality by: a.providing transfer payments to the poor. b.directly modifying market prices as, for example, by establishing a legal minimum wage. c.using the tax system to tax the wealthy relatively more heavily than the poor. d.doing all of the above. 28. Negative externalities arise: a.when firms pay more than the opportunity cost of resources. b.when the demand curve for a product is located too far to the left. when firms "use" resources without being compelled to pay for their full costs. only in capitalistic societies. 29. Which of the following is a public good? a.chewing gum b.bread c.a professional baseball game d.street lights in a city 30. In performing its stabilization function it may be appropriate for government to: a.increase both government spending and taxes when the economy is experiencing rapid inflation. b.reduce government spending and increase taxes when the economy experiences substantial unemployment. c.increase government spending and reduce taxes when the economy experiences rapid inflation. d.increase government spending and reduce taxes when the economy experiences substantial unemployment. 31. Government transfer payments: a.have been virtually eliminated by Federal revenue sharing. b.have virtually no effect on the distribution of income. c.make the distribution of income less equal. d.make the distribution of income less unequal. 32. The three most important sources of Federal tax revenue in order of descending importance are: a.sales, payroll, and personal income taxes. b.personal income, corporate income, and sales taxes. c.personal income, corporate income, and payroll taxes. d.personal income, payroll, and corporate income taxes. 33. A progressive tax is such that: a.tax rates are higher the greater one's income. b.the same tax rate applies to all income receivers, so that the rich pay absolutely more taxes than the poor. c.entrepreneurial income is exempt from taxation. d.the revenues it yields are spent on transfer payments. 34. Government lotteries are: a.used by a large number of states to supplement their tax revenues. b.illegal in the United States, but are a common source of revenue in other countries. c.used by local governments, but not by state governments. d.a form of progressive taxation. 35. The physical export of motorcycles from the United States to Mexico best illustrates a: a.trade flow. b.resource flow. c.financial flow. d.technology flow. 36. About half of United States international trade is with: a.other industrially advanced capitalist countries. b.the OPEC countries. c.developing countries. d.Russia and China. 37. In recent years the United States has: a.exported more goods and services than it has imported. b.imported more goods and services than it has exported. c.realized an approximate balance in its imports and exports. d.experienced a falling absolute dollar amount of imports and a rising absolute dollar amount of exports.

Would you consider abolishing fractional reserve banking, in order to eliminate the business cycle? Would you agree that fractional reserve banking is the cause of the business cycle? The banks loan out reserves that they don't have and they have to require higher rates of interest than they would get in the stock system. This creates a disconnect between what things are worth and what they are valued at. This is how the bubbles form. Then a recession must flush out the bad debt. What would be the values and drawbacks of full reserve banking? This would mean that the only money that banks could loan out would be that which is locked up for a certain amount of time.

Can anyone help with economics? Chapter 1 Introducing Money and the Financial System 1.1 Multiple Choice Questions 1) All of the following were events in the financial world in the early 2000s EXCEPT A) fears of deflation in Japan, the Eurozone, and the United States. B) governments of Eastern Europe abandoned communism. C) Argentina defaulted on its public debt. D) the value of the dollar declined significantly. 2) The financial system is primarily a means by which A) borrowers can use savers' funds until the savers themselves need the funds. B) money is put into circulation. C) the government puts into operation its plans for the economy. D) business firms distribute their goods. 3) Which of the following is NOT a financial instrument? A) a bond issued by Google B) Wachovia Bank C) A home mortgage loan D) a certificate of deposit 4) If you buy a bond issued by Intel, the bond is a(n): A) liability to Intel and an asset to you. B) liability to you and an asset to Intel. C) liability to both you and Intel. D) asset to both you and Intel. 5) Why would a saver with $10,000 be more likely to put it into a bank account than to lend it directly to a borrower? A) Direct loans of that sort are not legal in the United States. B) Banks pay higher interest rates on deposits than individual borrowers are likely to pay to individual lenders. C) It is easier and less risky to save money in a bank account and allow the bank to serve as a go-between with potential borrowers. D) Interest received from a bank is deductible on the federal income tax, whereas interest received from an individual borrower is not. Question Status: Previous Edition 6) Formerly in Eastern Europe and the Soviet Union, funds were transferred between savers and borrowers primarily through the A) banking system. B) stock market. C) bond market. D) government. Question Status: Previous Edition 7) The experiences of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union have demonstrated that A) using private networks in a financial system to channel funds from savers to borrowers is not a good approach. B) using the government to channel funds from savers to borrowers is not a good approach. C) the government can be very effective in increasing private saving. D) savers are usually willing to lend greater amounts than borrowers wish to borrow. Question Status: Previous Edition 8) Which of the following is NOT a key financial service provided by the financial system? A) Risk sharing B) Profitability C) Liquidity D) Information Question Status: Previous Edition 9) Economists define risk as A) the difference between the interest rate borrowers pay and the interest rate lenders receive. B) the degree of uncertainty of an asset's return. C) the ease with which an asset can be exchanged for other assets or for goods and services. D) the difference between the return on common stock and the return on corporate bonds. Question Status: Previous Edition 10) Economists define liquidity as A) the difference between the return on the asset and the return on a long-term U.S. Treasury bond. B) the fraction the asset makes up of an investor's portfolio. C) the ease with which an asset can be exchanged for other assets or for goods and services. D) the difference between the total demand for an asset and the total supply of the asset. Question Status: Previous Edition 11) Which of the following assets is the most liquid? A) Money market mutual fund B) Computer C) Washing machine D) U.S. Treasury bond Question Status: New 12) By providing and communicating information, the financial system A) reduces the difference between the return on three-month U.S. Treasury bills and the return on thirty-year U.S. Treasury bonds. B) relieves individual savers from the necessity of searching out individual borrowers. C) eliminates the risk in investing in the stock market. D) guarantees investors a reasonable return on their money. 13) Which of the following statements is correct? A) The financial sector is a large source of jobs in the U.S. economy, but a relatively small source of jobs in other major economies. B) The financial sector is a relatively small source of jobs in the U.S. economy, but a large source of jobs in other major economies. C) The financial sector is a large source of jobs in the U.S. and other major economies. D) The financial sector is a relative

Article - Legalized Sex Slavery - Why are some Governments ignoring God's Commandments? Women and Children are supposed to be protected by the Governments of the world. The Governments should not be legalizing Prostitution. The World Governments should be working to eliminate prostitution. *Perilous Times and Decaying Morality Europe's brothel - in a corner of Spain* Madam's is just one of a series of macro-brothels making prostitution a growth industry Giles Tremlett in Capmany Saturday June 24, 2006 The Guardian The small stone chapel that local people once used for baptisms, first communions and weddings is now a storeroom and the sign that read Hotel Mercéi has been replaced by a glowing piece of neon announcing that this is now a busy brothel called Madam's. Selling sex is, as this thriving, 50-room "macro-brothel" shows, a far more lucrative business than catering for the family celebrations of a scattered population of farmers and wine-growers in this north-eastern corner of Spain. Located on a main road just inside the Spanish border with France, Madam's has a large sign reading Entrée.The yellow number-plates on the Peugeots and Renaults in the car park are also mainly French. "Most of the clients are from over the border," says Patricio, the muscle-bound, tattooed manager of what is now one of the biggest businesses in the small municipality of Capmany. "Things are a lot stricter over there." Inside, several dozen scantily clad women in thongs and micro-skirts sit at the neon-lit chrome bar. Others totter around on glittery platform shoes or in thigh-length boots. Despite the ample display of flesh, they are having trouble competing for the attention of a handful of early evening punters with the World Cup football showing on a giant screen. Occasionally, one walks off, a client in tow, to the lifts that take them up to the four floors of bedrooms above. Exploitation Madam's is just one of more than a dozen macro-brothels to be found on the outskirts of the small inland villages of a region known as the Alt Empordà. "They are turning us into Europe's brothel," complains Ferran Jarabo, the priest for four small village parishes. "We shouldn't tolerate this sort of exploitation. Women are being reduced to mere objects." Dallas, Desiree and Baby Doll are a few of the names that shout out from huge neon signs. On back roads, bikini-wearing prostitutes from Romania, Nigeria or Colombia watch the cars going past, pimps discreetly in the distance. The brothels here, just a few miles from the tourist beaches of the Costa Brava, are part of a nationwide growth industry that Spanish politicians - immersed in a debate over whether to fully legalise and regulate prostitution - are finally waking up to. Although no proposals have yet emerged, Roman Catholic Spain already rivals liberal Holland and Germany in its laissez-faire attitude. Brothel-owners themselves claim that prostitution, and its spin-offs, are now an €18bn (£12.4bn) business sector - equivalent to half of Spain's education budget. The country's confusing prostitution laws mean that running a brothel is neither fully legal, nor fully illegal. At the moment, it is illegal only to live directly off prostituting other people. That allows many brothel owners, like those who run Madam's, to argue that they are hoteliers who only rent out rooms towomen who work for themselves. "I only make money on the rooms. The girls are free. We don't force them to work a timetable, or fine them if they don't turn up - which is what happens in other places," says Patricio. A doctor and a psychologist are, he says, also on the payroll. Regulation Madam's has a licence from the regional government of Catalonia "to gather people to practise prostitution". The government has decided the only way to control prostitution is by regulating it. Police say the number of prostitutes in Spain has doubled since 1999, with one civil guard report from 2004 counting 20,000 in a region containing a third of the country's population. In reality, say campaigners, only a minority of brothels obey both the spirit and letter of the law. Many are run by mafia outfits using women trafficked from around the world or who are forced to pay off massive, interest-bearing "debts" to those who brought them here. Apart from a group of six priests who have lobbied for the brothels to close down, local people have been quiet. One of the visitors to Madam's on the day the Guardian called was Jesús Figa, the mayor of Capmany. "The town hall is not allowed to ban a business for ethical or social reasons," said Mr Figa, who was there to see Patricio. "That is up to the government of Catalonia" Claudia, 25, arrived from her home in the Transylvania region of Romania two years ago. She escaped from the pimp who brought her to Spain but continues to sell her body at Madam's. "He has threatened to kill me and has even come here to the club," she says. Three black-uniformed security guards, kitted with combat boots, batons and walkie-talkies, man the doors. She sends money home to her mother and the five-year-old son she has not seen for two years. "It means they have three or four times as much money as they would normally earn," she says. Madam's even operates as a Western Union branch - and has posters in Russian advertising its services - so the prostitutes can wire money home. Just over a mile up the road, police this week raided a notorious club called Lady's Dallas. A total of 143 prostitutes were working there, including 38 illegal immigrants and one under-age Romanian girl. The prostitutes came from 15 developing world and eastern European countries. None was Spanish. Spain's National Statistics Institute reported in 2003 that more than 27% of Spanish men under 49 had had sex with a prostitute during their lives, and one in 15 over the previous year - "noticeably higher than those in other surveys in Europe". Arguments presented to a parliamentary committee investigating prostitution vary from calls for abolition and the prosecution of male customers to German or Dutch-style legalisation. All sides agree on one thing. Whatever happens, Spanish men are going to keep paying for sex. "What needs to be done is to educate men so they relate to women as equals and respect them in all walks of life," argues Irene Boada, a columnist in El País newspaper.

Should we give money to poor ppl? ZAKAAT (Alms) Ramadan is the month of giving and benevolence, the Messenger was more benevolent than a falling rain. Muslims are encouraged to emulate the Messenger of Allah (saas), to assess and pay their Zakaat during the month of Ramadan, thus combining the two pillars of Islam at the same time. Zakaat (alms) is the name of what a believer returns out of his or her wealth to the neediest of Muslims for the sake of the Almighty Allah. It is called Zakaat because the word Zakaat is from Zakaa which means, to increase, purify and bless. Who Should Give Zakaat The obligation of Zakaat is mandatory on every Muslim who possesses the minimum Nisaab, whether the person is man, woman, young, old sane or insane. Because the proof of Zakaat in Al-Qur`an and Sunnah is general and does not exclude young or insane. Allah (SWT) stated that: "Of their goods take alms so that thou mightiest purify and sanctify them..." (Al-Qur`an, 9: 103) Imam Ibn Hazim said that every Muslim young or old sane or insane needs to cleanse his or her wealth with Zakaat because of generality of the evidence. Anas bin Malik reported that the Messenger of Allah (saas) said: "Trade with the money of the orphan, lest it is eaten up by Zakaat." (At-Tabraani) In another Hadith `Amru bin Shuaib related from his grandfather that the Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever is entrusted with money of an orphan should trade with it and should not leave it sitting to be used up by charity." (Tirmidhi) The point of reference in these reports is that the Messenger (saas) urged the trustee on the estate of people who due to age or other reasons cannot manage their own financial affairs, to invest it in a business that will yield a return and make it grow until they are in a position to do so themselves. For, if proper investment is not made with an ophan's inheritance, it will be depleted by charity, thus leaving the orphan with little or nothing. The Nisaab The Lawgiver, Allah has prescribed the minimum amount that is obligatory for Zakaat in different ranges of properties, and that minimum amount is known as nisaab. The reason for nisaab is to ensure that no one is forced to give Zakaat out of what he or she does not have, and that no wealth goes without Zakaat. Nisaab is also an insurance against the tyranny of the state to tax the poor and or the neediest as is the case in many countries. Nisaab is a reference point for the average Muslim who is not sure whether he possesses the minimum wealth on which Zakaat is obligatory. The wealthy need not worry about the Nisaab. Zakaat is obligatory on their entire wealth and must be paid out at the end of financial year that they set for their Zakaat. The Nisaab will not be valid unless it fulfills two conditions: 1) The amount that has reached Nisaab must be the excess or surplus known as "faadil" from one's essential needs such as food, clothing, housing, vehicles, tools and machinery that is used in business. The essentials for living are exempted from Zakaat. Although what constitutes nisaab may change from one country to another, the amount that is needed for the basic needs of living in different countries is very similar, because the market place determines the prices, whether it is an official market or a non-official market. In the poorest countries people do without or live below the poverty standard, and that is why many go hungry or without basic essentials. However, we must realize that Zakaat is an act of worship (ebadah) like Salaat. The element of intention (niyyah) is necessary, and we should not overly rely on state agencies to determine for us the requirements of our religious duty. The so called the "consumption basket" (that is poverty level as determined the social security administration which are updated every fiscal year) may not be the same as what Islam considers minimum Nisaab. In the industrialized countries, the consumption basket may include items that are not necessarily essential, such as entertainment, extra clothing, variety of food, eating in restaurant or eating at home, owning more than one car as opposed to having three cars in the driveway, drinking water as opposed to juices, eating regular food or special "health" food. This is why I believe it is essential that we do not lose site of the fact that Zakaat is ebadah of wealth, like salaat and fasting. Non Muslims may consider all the things mentioned above as essentials while Muslims will not. Indeed, no Muslims in good standing will attempt to hide behind the label of consumption basket so as to evade Zakaat. Nisaab eliminates the possibility of injustice or unfair treatment of the Zakaat payer. To suggest that if we do not follow the rules of International Monetary Fund or the arbitrary figures of social security administration or department of agriculture we will be doing injustice to the Zakaat payer is ludicrous. 2) Nisaab must mature, that is the money is not liable for Zakaat unless it has remained a full year in the possession of a person. This is the understanding of the majority of the scholars. Imam Abu Hanifah (raa) said: "What should be considered is the existence of nisaab at the beginning and the end of the Zakaat year set by the payer". It does not matter if the nisaab money increases or decreases during the calendar year, as we will explain later. This condition does not include farm produce, for it is due on the day it is harvested. Allah (SWT) stated: "... But render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered..." (Al-Qur`an, 6: 141) According to Imam Al-`Abadi, (raa) Zakaat money is of two kinds: one that by its nature can not be invested and Zakaat of this category is due on the day of harvest. This includes all the farm produce that is liable for Zakaat. The other is wealth that can be invested in the hope of a good return, like cash, gold or silver, because the opportunity is there that cash in one's hand can be invested for a good return. This includes currency investment, merchandise and livestock. Their Zakaat is not due until they have matured in one full year. The proof of this condition is the Hadith related by Ibn `Umar that the Messenger of Allah (saas) said: "He who acquires property is not liable for Zakaat on it till a year passes." According to Ibn Rushd (raa) this is the understanding of the majority of scholars, including the four rightly guided Khalifahs. Zakaat Of Salaries The condition of yearly term maturity applies to the commodities on which the Lawgiver said Zakaat is due, and this includes silver, gold, modern paper currency and livestock. Paper currency is analogous to silver, therefore, it takes the case of silver. There is no Zakaat on salary, earned income from wage earners or professionals or independent contractors until such money matures in a full year. There is no such thing as paying your Zakaat on the day you receive your paycheck. What the wage earner must know is that he or she can purify that money with charity (sadaqah) anytime they cash the paycheck. Allah (SWT) states: "And in their wealth and possessions (was remembered) the right of the needy, he who asks and he who (for some reason) was prevented (from asking)." (Al-Qur`an, 51: 19). We can deduce from the concept of "yearly maturity" of wealth on which Zakaat is due as encouraging, among other things, saving on the part of the Zakaat payer, and enhances the chances for eradicating poverty, because if the poor receives his rightful share of Zakaat there will be the possibility that he can take Zakaat money and invest it and become a Zakaat payer instead of recipient. This possibility will be lost if he receives few Zakaat dollars every month. To say that the wage earner just brings his check home and spends everything on necessities and lives from check to check with nothing left over means the person is eligible for Zakaat. Using farm produce as analogous to salary for Zakaat is wrong analogy. As Imam Al-`Abadi said, these are two different categories of money. $2, 500.00 cash can be invested by the person and expect a good return whereas it will be difficult to invest a bushel of corn. It can be traded as a commodity, which is what it is. This why we must know that analogy has rules that must be followed before it is applied. Certainly the jurists are unanimous that earned income, known as almal al-mustafadah, should either be added to existing money and wait until that amount reaches maturity and then give their Zakaat; or if there is no money on hand the time one possesses this money, he or she should wait one full year before assessing it for Zakaat. Zakaat is one of the five pillars of Islam and a vital element in the religion of Islam. It is the twin sister of Salaat. In Al-Qur`an, Allah (SWT) stated: "So establish regular Prayer and give regular Alms; and obey the Messenger; that you may receive mercy." (Al-Qur`an, 24: 56) Also, "...Establish regular Prayer and give regular Alms, and loan to Allah a beautiful loan...." (Al-Qur`an, 73: 20) "And they have been commanded no more than this: to worship Allah, offering Him sincere devotion, being true (in faith); to establish regular Prayer and to practice regular charity; and that is the religion right and straight." (Al-Qur`an, 98: 5) In a famous Hadith reported by `Umar Bin Khattab (raa), the Messenger of Allah (saas) responded to Jibreel (as) and said: "... Islam is to testify that there is no deity but Allah and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah, to perform the prayer, to pay Zakaat, to observe fasting in Ramadan, and to make pilgrimage to the house of Allah if you are able to do os...." (Bukhari, Muslim) There is consensus among Muslim scholars that it is mandatory on every believer who is financially able. Whoever knowingly denies this obligation, while he possesses the minimum amount, would be considered a disbeliever and a renegade from Islam. Whoever is stingy, or tries to cheat, is considered among the wrongdoers. Zakaat is mandatory on four categories of items. 1. Farm produce of seeds and fruits, such as wheat, barley, rice, dates, raisins, cocoa, pistachios, coffee, cashews. Allah (SWT) stated: "O you who believe, give of the good things which you have (honorably) earned, and of the fruits of the earth which We have produced for you..." (Al-Qur`an, 2: 267) Also: "... But render the dues that are proper on the day that the harvest is gathered..." (Al-Qur`an, 6: 141) Thus, these two verses and many others indicate that Zakaat is due on farm products that reached the minimum amount (nisaab). No farm product is liable for Zakaat unless it is a product that is considered as food and can be stocked or saved naturally without refrigeration. If the produce is perishable fruit, such as grapes, there is no Zakaat. But if one sells them they will pay their Zakaat on the profit earned when it matures. The nisaab is 612 kilos, which equals 1,346.40 lb. There is no Zakaat on produce that is less than this amount. If the farm produce or crops grow dependant on rainwater, or without any man's labor or irrigation, Zakaat due is one-tenth of the total. If it is grown by irrigation, then the Zakaat due is half of one-tenth of the total produce. There is no Zakaat on fruits like apples or oranges or vegetables which are perishable and need refrigeration for long storage, but they should be considered as any income if the profit earned from their sale reaches the amount of Zakaat, then Zakaat should be given. 2. Cattle, including camels, cows, sheep and goats, that are freely graze and are raised for trade and production. For Zakaat to be obligatory, the number must reach the nisaab. The nisaab of camels is five, of cows 30, of sheep and goats, 40. By freely grazing is meant the animal goes out to feed without the owner buying or bringing it feed or hay. If it is not a grazing animal, there is no Zakaat in the stock by itself. The stock will, however, be considered as articles of trade, then will be assessed for Zakaat as articles of trade when the profit earned from their sale reaches the amount by itself or in combination with other articles of the trade. 3. Merchandise and goods of trade and commerce. This includes anything that is obtained for the business of buying and selling: land, animals, food provisions, fabric, cars, spare parts, etc. This inventory is evaluated annually and assessed for Zakaat, whether the value is the same as the amount spent on it, more, or less. The owners of grocery stores, like any other business, must evaluate every item and give their Zakaat. Simple bookkeeping of inventory, orders, cash on hand, and credits, that is non-delinquent loans, will give one a good picture of the zakaatable assets. But if one is unable to account for everything in the store or shop, he should assess it according to his ability until he is sure that his conscience is clear. There is no Zakaat on what is within one's dwelling or property which includes food, drinks, furniture, houses, animals, cars, clothes and shoes. The only exception is gold and silver. There is no Zakaat on assets from rentals or lease, whether they are apartment units, taxi cabs, etc. That is, there is no Zakaat on the apartment units, buses or cars for rental like yellow cabs company or trucks for rental or equipments. But there is Zakaat on the proceeds or incomes from these rental assets if these assets reach the executable amount, either by themselves or in combination with other assets. Business Activities Many scholars are of the opinion that any business activity that brings any return to the entrepreneur or investor should be assessed for Zakaat. If the activity has a prescribed nisaab, such as gold, silver or paper currency, that nisaab is applied for Zakaat. But if the business has no declared nisaab, its nisaab is the nisaab of commerce, one reason being that most business activities are considered as commerce and because, in actual fact, it is not factitious business name, such as GM, Apple or GE that is taxed for Zakaat, it is the individual investor. We do not tax cooperations such IBM, Apple, GM or Rajihy Bank but the individual investors, share holders and owners of these corporations. Indeed, there are enough rules in Zakaat books to cover all types of business activity, be it cash or risk investment. If the business activity is analogous to commerce, it should be assessed the same rate as commerce. To subject the business to a different Zakaat rate of 10%, which is the rate of farm products instead of its correct rate of 2.5%, the rate of commerce, is unfair and unjustified. Besides, there is no proof, even a weak one, to justify this unfair arbitrary taxation. The difference between 2.5% and 10% is high. The Zakaat system is not like a state revenue collection, but Allah's `ebadah. However, if a business person decides to give more than 2.5% after deducting all the expenses including depreciation, Allah (SWT) will accept it from him. 4. Gold and silver, whether used for commerce or jewelry. Allah (SWT) states: "...And there are those who bury gold and silver and spend it not in the way of Allah: announce unto them a most grievous penalty. On the day when heat will be produced out of that (wealth) in the fire of hell, and with it will be branded their foreheads, their flanks and their backs. This is the (treasure) which you buried for yourselves: taste you, then, the (treasures) you buried." (Al-Qur`an, 9: 34-35). By hoarding is meant refusal to give it in the path of Allah, which includes Zakaat. In a hadith reported by Abu Hurairah (raa), the Messenger of Allah (saas) said: "For the owner or possessor of gold and silver who does not fulfill its obligation, on the Day of Resurrection it will be cast into sheets of fire and be branded on his forehead, side and back. Whenever it cools it is to be repeated for him in a day whose length is the length of fifty thousand years, until the judgement is rendered among the people." (Muslim). By its obligation is meant assessing it for Zakaat. In another version: "No possessor of a treasure who does not give its Zakaat." Zakaat is mandatory in gold and silver, irrespective of its form: in coins, raw or nugget, or jewelry for wearing, or for rent, because of the generality of evidence of Zakaat without any detail. In a report by Abdullah bin `Amr bin `Aas (raa), he related that a woman came to the Messenger of Allah with her daughter. On the daughter's wrist were two heavy gold bracelets. The Messenger asked her, "Do you pay Zakaat on this?" She replied, "No." The Messenger said: "Would it please you that Allah will encircle you with two bracelets of fire?" The reporter commented that she took them off and threw them down in front of the Messenger, and said: "They are for Allah and his Messenger." (Ahmed, Tirmidhi). The Messenger's wife reported that: "The Messenger entered into my house and saw in my hand a huge ring made of silver, so he asked, `What is this?' I replied, `I made them to beautify myself for you, O Messenger of Allah.' He inquired, `Do you give their Zakaat?' I said, `No,' or `Allah willing.' He said: `It will suffice you in the hellfire.'" (Abu Dawuud). Zakaat is due on gold when it reaches the amount of (nisaab), which is 20 Dinaar. According to a hadith, the Messenger said: "No Zakaat on you is due until it reaches 20 dinaar." (Abu Dawud) The Islamic dinaar (currency) is one mithqal, a unit of weight which weighs four and one quarter of a gram. Thus, the nisaab is 85 grams. This is equal to $30.00 US dollars. Similarly, there is no Zakaat on silver until it reaches five oqiyah, because the Messenger said: "There is no Zakaat on less then five oqiyah." (Muslim/Bukhari) Oqiyah is equal to forty Islamic dirhams. The nisaab is 200 dirhams. One dirham is equivalent to 595 grams. The zakaatable amount in both the gold and silver is a quarter of a tenth only. Paper Currency There is Zakaat on modern paper currency because it is equivalent to silver. During the early days of Islam, silver and gold were the currency of exchange minted into dirham for silver and dinaar for gold. Silver, not gold, had a larger circulation. Thus many scholars are of opinion that silver should be the standard for the paper currencies of today because that is more advantageous to the Zakaat payer, as it raises the minimum nisaab whereas gold lowers it. Although both metals are no longer circulated, they are still considered as a security against ever fluctuating paper money. Silver should be used as a standard to assess Zakaat annually, not paper currency, even if the currency is hard currency like the US dollar, Yen and Deutch Mark or Pound Sterling. Because these currencies are backed by political decisions that may not have anything to do with the economy, the value and strength of this paper money depends largely on all haram usury system of interest rates. Thus, the Zakaat payer should look up in the local newspaper's financial or business section for the price of silver which is currently about $3.82. per ounce. The nisaab, then, is 596 x .04=28.80 ounce multiplied by$3.82= 90.91. therefore. The nisaab is about $100.00, as of December 17, 1991. The nisaab should be based on the market value of the currency. If the money is hard currency, there will be no problem, but if the money is a non-marketable currency, like most currencies in the third world countries, the nisaab should be based on the black market, which realistically reflects the value of the currency on the money market. In any case, the silver rate should be used to assess the Zakaat. If the nisaab is determined, the zakaatable amount is 2.5%, or .025 multiplied by the amount. For instance, if the zakaatable amount is $56,000.00 it will be 56,000. x .025 = $1,400.00. Zakaat is due on gold, silver, and or paper currency, whether it is cash in hand or credit in the hands of borrowers. Zakaat is due on debts or cost of merchandize or rental money. If the borrower is a wealthy person that you know will pay back the debt, the lender (that is Halaal lending free of usury) should include that money in the assessment and give its Zakaat. However, one can delay Zakaat on a loan until he receives payment, then return its Zakaat for the past years that he was unable to assess for Zakaat. If the borrower is poor or is refusing to pay the debt, there will be no Zakaat on the money until the lender receives the money. Then he will assess it for Zakaat of one past due year, but there will be no Zakaat in the years before that. There is no Zakaat on precious stones such as diamonds, or metals such uranium, regardless of their value. Gold and silver, of course are assessed for Zakaat. However, if a person possesses any of these stones or metals, he should give their Zakaat like any other articles of trade. If a person possesses diamonds or any other precious stones as an edge against inflation or for ornaments, there will no Zakaat on these. How To Give Zakaat Zakaat may be assessed and returned in two ways: a) Make a record of all money earned, either daily or monthly, which has reached the nisaab and remains in the treasury. The Zakaat of that money would be due one year later on the same day the money was earned and reached nisaab. This means every month's income must be set aside and assessed for Zakaat and so will be the case for the rest of the months. For instance, the income of January, 1991 will be assessed for Zakaat in January, 1992, and the income of February, 1991 will be assessed for Zakaat in February 1992, etc. This method of assessing Zakaat is very difficult because it entails complete bookkeeping of daily or monthly earnings. b) The best way is to set a day or a month, preferably Ramadan, for your annual Zakaat return calendar, say Ramadan 1st, 1412. One year later on the same day Ramadan, 1413, your Zakaat is due and payable. Whatever is in the savings is due for Zakaat, regardless of whether all the amount in the savings reaches a year or not. For instance: if you have $20,000.00 in the savings account on the 1st of Ramadan, 1412 and one year later by the 1st of Ramadan, 1413 there is $50, 000.00, your Zakaat will be assessed for $50,000.00, that is: $50.000.00 x .025= $1,250.00. If, on the other hand, by the 1st of Ramadan, 1413 the amount in the savings is $15,000.00, your Zakaat will be for the amount in the savings, that is $15,000.00 x .025= $375.00. This method is the best because it is easy to assess, meets one's obligation and relieve one's conscience. The Recipient Of Zakaat Knowing who qualifies as recipient of Zakaat is an important aspect of Zakaat collection in Islam. Fortunately, Allah (SWT) has been merciful to us in that He Himself spelled out the people eligible to receive Zakaat. In Surah Tawbah He stated: "Alms are for the poor and the needy; and those employed to administer (the funds); for those whose hearts have been (recently) reconciled (to truth); for those in bondage and in debt; in the cause of Allah; and for the wayfarer: (thus is it) ordained by Allah, and Allah is full of knowledge and wisdom." (Al-Qur`an, 9: 60) In this verse Allah enumerated the people who deserve this divine welfare, and they are as follows: The poor and the needy. These are individuals, and those under their care, to live on. By the poor and needy is meant the people whose income or salaries, or whatever material goods they have, fall short of the cost of living in a given environment and economy. The poor and the needy should be given what will suffice them and their families for one full year. The needy who want to get married and have no means should be given enough for this purpose, and so, too, the student who needs money for tuition, rent, food, and books. The working poor should be given supplementary Zakaat. But the wealthy, or any person with enough income to live on should not be given Zakaat, even if they asked for it. Instead, they should be warned and admonished for asking for what does not belong to them. In a hadith reported by Abdullah bin `Umar, the Messenger of Allah (saas) stated: "A man keeps on asking others for something till he comes on the day of Resurrection without any piece of flesh on his face." (Bukhari/Muslim). This hadith indicates a humiliating appearance before Allah (SWT) that awaits a person who asks illegally. Some said: this hadith implies Allah will punish a person with the very limb, the face, that he used to impress on others to give him their money unlawfully. In another hadith reported by Abu Hurairah, the Messenger of Allah said: "Whoever asks people for their money so as to get rich, he is asking for flames of fire. It is up to him to ask for more or less (he should beware)." (Muslim) This hadith indicates the severity of the punishment, the more one asks the more punishment, the less one asks the less the punishment. In another hadith, reported by Hakeem bin Hizaam said: I begged the Messenger of Allah and he gave me. I begged again, and he gave me. I begged again and he gave me. He then said: "This money is green and sweet; he who receives it from people with a cheerful heart, Allah will bless him in it; he who receives it, with an avaricious mind would not be blessed in it. He will be like the person who eats without being satisfied; and the upper hand is better than the lower hand" (Muslim) This hadith gave an analogy between money and green, ripened fruit that people love to eat. Thus, it indicates that both are greatly loved but easily finished. For money that is easy come easy go, one must be careful about the punishment that awaits the illegal eater. If a person asks for Zakaat and there are no signs of wealth, and he does not know that he should not ask, or a person who is well and able, who can work, but does not; if these people do not know that it is not permissible for them to ask, it may be given anyway. In a hadith reported by Ahmed, Abu Dawud, and Nasa'e, two men came to the Messenger of Allah (saas) and asked for Zakaat. He looked at them closely and found them strong and able, he said, "If you want I will give you. But you should know that the wealthy or an able person who can work has no share in Zakaat" (Ahmad) Those who administer the Zakaat department, assigning people for collecting, bookkeeping, making lists of people eligible for Zakaat, and a financial calendar. These people will receive Zakaat as compensation for their work, even if they are wealthy. This does not include a person who works as an agent for one or two wealthy people to take Zakaat for himself. They should donate their time for Zakaat disbursement and do it with honesty and truthfulness. If they can not, they should be paid or rewarded for their time. In a hadith related by Abu Musa Al-Ashi`ari (raa), the Messenger of Allah said: "A trustworthy Muslim executor is the one who executes completely what has been entrusted to him of Zakaat money in good faith." (Bukhari) That is, he will give the Zakaat money to any of the eligible recipients of Zakaat. He should carry on the duty voluntarily, but if he can not distribute the money without being paid, the Zakaat payer should pay him for his work. The payment for the service of distributing Zakaat should not come out of Zakaat money. The new converts to Islam whose hearts we want to harmonize into the fold of Islam, either because their faith is weak or we are afraid of their being harmed, should be given Zakaat to strengthen their Iman or until we no longer fear their harm. The bonds person who has contracted with his master to buy himself out of bondage deserve Zakaat and should be given enough to pay off their debt to the master and be freed themselves; similarly, Muslim prisoners of war if their freedom is tied to monetary payment, deserve Zakaat sufficient enough to secure their release. On the other hand, if a pearson accidently killed someone and have no means to pay off the blood money, he should be helped from Zakaat funds. The people in debt are of two kinds: (A) The guarantor, who takes the responsibility of someone else's debt so as to reconcile the two warring parties, to extinguish the fire of fitnah between them. If the person requests Zakaat money to pay off this debt he should be given it, which will encourage him to continue in this noble cause. In a hadith reported by Qubaysah Al-Hilaaly (raa), he said I was under debt (hamaalah) and I came to the Messenger (saas) and begged him to help me pay it off. The Messenger told him: "Wait until we receive charity, so we will command that it be given to you." However, the Messenger stated: "O Qubaysah, begging is not permitted except for one of three categories of people: A man who has incurred debt (as guarantor to reconcile blood wit) for him begging is permissible till he pays that off, after which he must stop it; a man whose property has been destroyed by calamity which has smitten him; for him begging is permissible till he gets what will support life or will provide him reasonable subsistence; and a man who has been smitten by poverty, the genuineness of which should be confirmed by three knowledgeable members of his people; for him begging is permissible till he gets what will support him, or will provide him subsistence. Besides these three, Qubaysah, begging is forbidden for every other persons, and one who engages in such consumes that which is forbidden." (Muslim) (B) Whoever incurs debt and has no money to pay it back will be given from Zakaat to help pay his debt, whether the amount is large or small; or his creditor should be paid directly on his behalf, so long as it is paid off. Zakaat can be given in the path of Allah. By this is meant to finance a Jihad effort in the path of Allah, not for Jihad for other reasons. The fighter (mujahid) will be given as salary what will be enough for him. If he needs to buy arms or some other supplies related to the war effort, Zakaat money should be used provided the effort is to raise the banner of Islam. The wayfarer. This is the traveller who in a strange land runs out of money. He or she deserves Zakaat, enough money to take him back to his country, even if he is wealthy and can find someone to loan him the money. On his part, he should take with him on his trip sufficient money, if he is wealthy, so that he will not need Zakaat. Zakaat money can not be used to pay off other obligations, such as giving Zakaat money to people you are obligated to take care of by law; or Zakaat money can not be used to pay for hotel and food expenses. It is, however, permissible to give Zakaat to a wife or family member, provided it is not part of their daily living expense money, but is needed to pay off a debt for one's wife if she can not pay it. So is the case for one's parents if they can not pay their debt. Zakaat money may be given to members of the family for their expenses if one is not obligated to take care of them financially. The wife can pay off a debt of her husband with Zakaat money, because he may be among the eight eligible recipients and she is not obligated to spend on him as he is on her. The eight eligible recipients of Zakaat can be denied their right to Zakaat without proof from Al-Qur`an or Sunnah. In a hadith reported by Ibn Mas`ud, his wife Zaynab heard the Messenger of Allah order women to give Zakaat, so she asked the Messenger (saas): " O Messenger of Allah, you commanded us to give Zakaat, and I have jewelry that I wanted to assess for Zakaat, but my husband Abdullah bin Mas`ud claimed that his son deserves it more than anyone." The Messenger replied: Your husband Ibn Mas`ud is right. Your son deserves your charity more than anyone." In another hadith reported by Salman bin `Aamir, he said the Messenger of Allah said: " Charity to the poor is only charity, but charity to the rest of kind is charity and maintenance of relations (sillah)." (Nisaee) No loan should be written off as Zakaat because Zakaat is taken and given. Allah (SWT) said: "Of their goods take alms...." (Al-Qur`an, 9: 103) And in a Hadith the Messenger has been reported as saying: "Allah has mandated on you Zakaat to be taken from the wealthy and to be given to the poor." Thus, writing off debt is not taken. For instance, If you loan a person money, you can not write off that loan as a Zakaat. However, it could be written off as sadaqah charity. Furthermore, loan, delinquent or not, is considered an absent money, therefore, it should not be transacted in Zakaat. for Zakaat is assessed only in cash in hand. Besides, debt money is valued less than cash in the hand, and using that money for alms is like exchanging good money for bad. The assessor of alms should try to give his Zakaat to an eligible person, but if he makes a mistake and gives it to an ineligible person it is accepted. In a hadith related by Abu Hurairah, he said the Messenger said: "A man expressed his intention to give charity, so he came with his charity and placed it in the hand of an adulteress. In the morning the people were talking and saying charity was given to an adulteress last night. The donor said: O Allah, to thee be the Praise - charity to an adulteress! He then again expressed his intention to give charity, so he went out with it and placed it in the hand of a rich person. In the morning the people were talking and saying charity was given to a rich person. The donor said, O Allah to You be the praise - charity to a rich man! He then expressed his intention to give charity, so he went out with his charity and placed it in the hand of a thief. In the morning the people were talking and saying charity to the thief. So the man said, O Allah to You be the praise (what a misfortune that charity has been given) to the adulteress, the rich and the thief! Then someone came to him and told him your charity has been accepted. As for the adulteress the charity might become the means whereby she might restrain from fornication. The rich man might perhaps learn a lesson and spend from what Allah has given him, and the thief might thereby restrain from committing theft. (Muslim/ Bukhari) http://www.islamfortoday.com/beliefs.htm

kamal karna roy, a newer vision of life in new and upcoming democratic rule ?

HOW YOU GUYS FELT ABOUT THE ''OBAMA REVOLUTION''? HEY FOLKS I WAS WONDERING HOW YOU GUYS FELT ABOUT THE ''OBAMA REVOLUTION''? IS IT GOOD OR BAD FROM WHAT YOU READ ABOUT THIS ARTICLE The Obama Revolution Paid for by the people.Article In the closing weeks of last year's election campaign, we wrote that Democrats had in mind the most sweeping expansion of government in decades. Liberals clucked, but it turns out even we've been outbid. With yesterday's fiscal 2010 budget proposal, President Obama is attempting not merely to expand the role of the federal government but to put it in such a dominant position that its power can never be rolled back. APThe first point to understand is the sheer magnitude of federal spending built into this proposal. As the nearby chart shows, federal outlays will soar in fiscal 2009 to $4 trillion, or 27.7% of GDP, from $3 trillion or 21% of GDP in 2008, and 20% in 2007. This is higher as a share of the economy than any year since 1945, when the country was still mobilized for World War II. It is more spending by far than during the Vietnam War, or during the recessions of 1974-75 or 1981-82. But let's assume, for the sake of argument, that Mr. Obama is right that this spending is needed now to "jump-start" an economic recovery. Though the budget predicts that the economy will recover in 2010, spending will still be 24.1% of GDP that year, and the budget proposes that spending will remain higher than 22% for the entire next decade even as the defense budget steadily declines. All Presidential budgets predict spending will decline in the "out years," if only to give the illusion of spending restraint. Mr. Obama tries the same trick, but he is proposing so many new and expanded nondefense programs that his budgeteers can't get anywhere close even to Jimmy Carter spending levels. These columns focus on spending, rather than deficits, because Milton Friedman taught us that spending represents the real future burden on taxpayers. Nonetheless, the 2009 budget deficit is estimated to be an eye-popping 12.7% of GDP, which once again dwarfs anything we've seen in the postwar era. The White House blueprint predicts that this will fall back down to 3.5% as soon as 2012, but this is based on assumptions about Washington that aren't going to happen. For example, Mr. Obama's budget assumes that nearly all of the new stimulus spending will be temporary -- a fantasy. He also proposes to eliminate farm subsidies for those with annual sales of more than $500,000. This is a great idea, and long overdue. But has the President checked with Senators Kent Conrad (North Dakota) or Chuck Grassley (Iowa)? We hope we're wrong, but a White House that showed no interest in restraining Congress during the recent stimulus bacchanal isn't likely to stand athwart history to stop the agribusiness lobby. The falling deficit also assumes the largest tax increase in U.S. history, starting in 2011 with the repeal of the Bush tax rates on incomes higher than $200,000 for individuals and $250,000 for couples. The White House says this will yield upwards of $1 trillion, if you choose to believe that tax rates don't affect taxpayer behavior. In the real world, two of every three tax filers who fall into this income category are small business owners or investors, who are certainly capable of finding ways to invest that allow them to declare less taxable income. The real impact of this looming tax increase will be to cast further uncertainty over economic decisions and either slow or postpone the recovery. Ditto for the estimated $646 billion from a new cap-and-trade tax, which no one wants to call a tax but would give the political class vast new leverage over the private economy. (See here.) Then there is Mr. Obama's plan for national health care. The White House has put a $634 billion place holder in the budget to pay for covering tens of millions of uninsured Americans with government subsidized coverage. But even advocates of this government plan say the cost will be closer to $1 trillion over 10 years, and probably much more. Meanwhile, the President is promising to reform entitlements, but his budget proposes a net increase of about $1 trillion in Medicare, Medicaid and other entitlements. The biggest illusion in this budget may be its optimistic economic forecast. The White House assumes that the economy will decline by only 1.2% this year, before growing by 3.2% next year. This assumes the recovery will begin later this year and gather steam quickly to return to normal levels of growth. By 2010 to 2013, the budget adds, the economy will be cooking by an average of 4% a year -- which is also how it conjures up magical deficit reduction. This growth is a lovely thought, but how? The only impetus for growth in this budget comes from the government spending more money that it is taking out of the job-producing private economy. With $1 trillion of new entitlements, $1.4 trillion in new taxes, and $5 trillion in new debt, America

What about this idea on Criminals and Prison Reform? Issue: Prisons and Criminals Problem: Prisons house convicts and produce nothing except negative results such as: •Better trained criminals to release on our society •Larger state and federal spending to house criminals •Continual increases in facility sizes and no way to keep up with the need for more and larger facilities •Continual increases in prison staffing requirements and no way to keep up with the need for more staff •A criminal population that our society and prison systems are exponentially increasing the numbers on As we understand it: •Criminals are in prison because they have been convicted of violating the Law •It costs the government (state and federal) a lot of money to house these criminals and this cost is growing beyond control with no relief in sight •Criminals produce relatively nothing except burden •Criminals are not rehabilitated for the most part •There is no incentive for criminals to change into law abiding citizens Ideas: •Establish a pilot program with first time offenders •Segregate first time offenders from second and third (repeat) time offenders and deal with each based upon different end goals •First time offender goals oPay their debt to society (cost of their crime, incarceration and training) oActively participate in all aspects of the first offender program oComplete all aspects of the program and probation •First time offenders 1.Will be indoctrinated upon assignment to the program and trained in the procedures and rules to be successful and graduate from the program. After the completion of indoctrination and signing the contract of understanding, the offender will be enrolled in the program 2.This is not a free ride. The offender must actively and continuously produce positive results in all aspects of the program to be returned to society. Resistance to any aspects of the program (including passive resistance) may result in disciplinary action and possible removal from the program. Any violation of rules of the program will be thoroughly reviewed and appropriately dealt with. Violence will not be tolerated and if repeated may cause the offender to be removed from the program 3.The end goal is to return an individual to society that will not reenter the criminal justice system 4.Analyze and develop a psychological profile for the offender 5.Create an incarceration plan. Develop the end goal and work backwards through the plan. NOTES: (1) The plan must be reevaluated annually and any time the offender does not meet a milestone or goal in the plan on or ahead of schedule. (2) The plan must also be reevaluated any time the offender meets a milestone or goal ahead of schedule 6.Create an incarceration cost estimate based upon the above plan (incarceration budget). This cost estimate must be based upon cost of all support required to return them to society. This cost then becomes the debt they will be required to pay back to the system before they can be returned to society. NOTES: (1) The incarceration cost estimate must be reevaluated annually and any time the offender does not meet a milestone or goal in the plan on or ahead of schedule. (2) The incarceration cost estimate must also be reevaluated any time the offender meets a milestone or goal ahead of schedule 7.Analyze the offender’s personality profile (Myers-Briggs) and potential occupational specialties that they are compatible with and interested in 8.Provide the offender the opportunity for training necessary to reenter the work force and be successful. This training can be taught during their incarceration and while on probation after release 9.Evaluate the offender’s performance and based upon this, establish a risk assessment on returning the offender to society. If the offender displays they are not making significant progress on their incarceration plan or the risk assessment is too high that they will not succeed and remain a productive member of society, consider moving them into the second offender program 10.Assign the offender to productive work and pay them a fair wage to allow them to repay their debt to society and have money in savings when they return to society so that they can be successful 11.Assure they are placed in a position when they are returned to society and that they remain in the position during their probation unless there is a problem with the employer or the position in eliminated by the employer. Part of the probation requirements is that the offender must take responsibility for their own success or failure 12.Upon successful completion of probation, all history of their arrest and conviction (including what the police have access to) will be sealed. It may only be unsealed and access made available by the court system based upon a subsequent arrest. NOTE: (1) This will protect an individual from unnecessary police harassment •Second time offender goals 1.Pay their debt to society

I neeeeeeeeeddddddddddddd a Thesis, Clincher, main point summary to my essay? THe topic is "a balanced budget amendment requiring that the goverment cannot spend more money that it takes in... I'm for this, not against.....Here's my essay. Benjamin Franklin once said, "When the people find that they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the Republic. ’’ A balanced budget amendment should be added to the constitution because there is no reason that the government should be allowed to deficit spend. A balanced budget amendment would put a check on the governments spending power; they would only be able to spend as much as they bring in. This would make them look at each spending program and hopefully cut out allot of the extra pork. I personally would like to put this statement on every spending bill: ‘’This spending is so vital to our national interest that it is the opinion of all voting for and signing into law that the governments power to spend this money is more important than the peoples right to their own property’’. 2We won’t ever balance the US budget until we learn to be independent of our national debt. Our country owes trillions of dollars to China, Kuwait, etc. In other words we have been bought and paid for by other countries. All they would have to do is demand the money we owe and if we are unable to pay we could become a territory of that country. Next is the issue of enforcement. It is the duty of the Congress and the President to balance the budget, according to the Constitution. It's not up to the Courts to raise taxes. One solution is to state that if the government runs out of money and the Congress and the President haven't agreed to a new balanced budget, then the court has the authority to order the government to shut down(like it does now) if a budget is not passed. The Federal government has expanded far beyond its duties specified in the Constitution. These expansions require an ever-increasing infusion of cash. The only way to solve the problem once and for all is to scale the Federal government back to within its constitutionally proscribed limits. This will not happen for two reasons: 1) Power, once obtained, is not easily relinquished; 2) People have become spoiled and lazy and would rather have the government do for them rather than do for themselves. Thus, the welfare state and the "entitlement mentality" of so many today. A balanced budget amendment would only lead to higher taxes because people would continue to demand ever-increasing levels of handouts.3 there are valid reasons to temporarily run a budget in deficit.1. Accumulated surpluses allow for greater spending on infrastructure not covered by a single year's revenues 2. Recession reduces the revenues of a country. To cut services (and so spending) would likely send the country further into recession as potentially would increase tax rates - so a temporary deficit is justified 3. In times of war we do not want out ability to defend ourselves to be restricted by the amount of tax revenue brought in. The main thing is we need to stop spending. By allowing the government to spend more then it makes we are feeding failure. If the government can't live on its income it needs to make cuts, just like you or me. 4 An example of covering costs (buying and selling) to stay in a budget. When most products are imported from other countries and not as much is manufactured and sold from here then the revenues received coming in are not going to be enough to cover what is being imported. There are obviously some good reasons such an amendment, mainly that it puts government spending in check and forces Congress to think a little harder before spending so much money. 5I'd say the strongest counterargument against such a law is that it could cause problems in times of crisis. We're in a war right now so there's a lot of spending, and thus a lot of deficit spending. The only ways to maintain a balanced budget in a situation like the one we have today would be to do one of the following: Spend less on the military (slim chance of that happening)Cut funding to other programs (not much left to cut, lots of people suffer) Raise taxes (people are having trouble paying their bills and taxes as it is without tax hikes)In a way it's just putting off today's financial problems until tomorrow, but there is something to be said for deficit spending. I think there should be less of it though. the financial needs of various social and federal programs coupled with other essential costs such as the defense budget is greater than the money taken in. Your proposed balanced budget will cause more trouble to people than help. The other counterargument I can think of is a stalling effect on the economy. In order for the government to balance its budget, many government contracts will need to be reduced or eliminated while taxes may need increased. This loss of revenue and increase in costs for many businesses and their employees would definitely have an adverse impact on the economy.

OMG PLEASE HELP WITH AS MUCH AS YOU CAN- Worst subject.? you dont have to give me answers, just explain and help me eliminate answers. PLEAE HELP ME 10 PTS FOR FIRST ANSWER THATS NOT STUPID!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 1. Which of the following is an example of the barter system? (1 point) Instead of paying rent, you clean the house for the owner. Instead of paying cash for a computer, you use a credit card. Instead of paying the full amount for a car, you pay 10 percent in cash and pay for the rest in monthly installments. Instead of paying for a purchase in Mexico in pesos, you use dollars from the United States. 2. What is the purpose of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC)? (1 point) to make sure that banks do not fail to make sure that customers do not lose money if a bank fails to make sure that banks charge a fair amount of interest on loans to make sure that the government has enough gold to cover its expenses 3. What did the Federalists believe about banking? (1 point) They believed that they banking system already in existence was sufficient. They believed an international banking system would be best. They believed that a centralized banking system was necessary. They believed that state governments should own and run the nation's banks. 4. What is a mortgage used to purchase? (1 point) car real estate college tuition business expenses 5. Why is using coins as money easier than using gold bars? (1 point) coins are more durable coins are more portable coins are more uniform coins are more limited in supply 6. What happens when you make a purchase using a credit card? (1 point) The credit card issuer pays the store. The money is immediately deducted from your account. The amount of the purchase is deducted from a prepaid account. The place where you made the purchase receives the money within 24 hours. 7. What is the largest source of income for banks? (1 point) the interest they receive from loans fees charged to customers for accounts money deposited in savings accounts special accounts such as NOW accounts 8. When you pay for a new CD with a debit card, you authorize the transfer of money from your account to the music store's account. In other words, a payment by debit card is the electronic form of a payment by (1 point) money order. credit card. check. cashier's check. 9. Which of the following statements is true? (1 point) Money is a medium of exchange. Money is a unit of account. Money serves as a store of value. all of the above 10. In the 1990s, the Russian people lost confidence in the value of the ruble, and many were no longer willing to sell goods and services in exchange for Russian currency. Which characteristic of money did the Russian currency lack? (1 point) acceptability uniformity limited supply durability 11. The main advantage of diversification as an investment policy is that it (1 point) reduces risk to investors. increases investors' access to their money. offsets the effects of inflation on investments. guarantees a fixed rate of return on an investment. 12. An accurate statement about bonds would be that (1 point) they insured by the FDIC. they are generally held for 3 or 6 months. they are usually a low-risk investment. they entitle the holder to a share of ownership in a corporation. 13. An example of equity is (1 point) a treasury bond. a share of stock. a treasury bill. a long-term certificate of deposit. 14. All of the following are low-risk investments EXCEPT (1 point) junk bonds. treasury bonds. municipal bonds. savings bonds. 15. A stock that reinvests its earnings in the business instead of paying regular dividends is called (1 point) an income stock. a common stock. preferred stock. a growth stock. 16. In June, Leslie wins a cash prize of $2,000. She plans to use this money to pay her tuition bill in September. Leslie puts this money in a savings account because her main priority is (1 point) receiving the maximum amount of interest possible. taking a risk in hopes that she'll get a high return. liquidity, since she'll need to use the money in a short time. making a safe long term investment. 17. Against your better judgement, you lend $100 to your cousin Manny, who has a reputation for failing to pay back loans. You are taking a (1 point) liquidity risk. time risk. inflamtion rate rate risk. credit risk. 18. Since bonds are considered among the safest investments, you would expect that they would (1 point) mature quickly. have high interest rates. take a long time to mature. have low interest rates. 19. The Great Crash can be attributed to all of the following reasons EXCEPT (1 point) many people had gone into debt buying consumer items on credit. the practice of making high-risk investments with borrowed money. the small number of people buying stock on margin. a relatively few companies and families held much of the nation's wealth. 20. You are a financial ad

please help!!personal finance!!I cannot afford to get any wrong!!!! giving away as many points as possible!!!! 1. Which of the following might not be an option for increasing your present income? (1 point) Quitting your job to find another Requesting a merit increase in pay Requesting a promotion Looking for a better job without quitting your old job 2. Which of the following is true about a merit increase in pay? (1 point) It is based only on how long you have been with the company. You have prove that you deserve it more than your coworkers. You might have to wait for a certain anniversary date to get it. You automatically receive merit raises every year. 3. Corporate structure may be defined as _____. (1 point) the way a corporate building is structured whether a company pays corporate taxes the method a company uses to pay its employees the way a business is organized 4. Your resume should include all of the following information EXCEPT (1 point) contact information. personal history. education background. qualifications. 5. The single best way to increase your income is to get an education. Why? (1 point) You automatically make more money if you are educated. You can obtain jobs that have higher starting salaries. You automatically get promotions if you are educated. You will automatically receive better benefits. 6. Which of the following will probably earn a higher level of income? (1 point) A female file clerk with a high school diploma and a year of college. a male file clerk with a high school diploma and a year of college. A male accountant with a Bachelor's degree. A female accountant with a Master's degree in business administration. 7. The term "educational attainment"means _________________. (1 point) you have earned a degree whatever education you have earned you are attending school to earn a degree you have earned the highest degree possible in your field 8. Which of the following is not a core module of accounting? (1 point) accounts receivable accounts payable debt collection purchase orders 9. What is a general ledger also known as? (1 point) a normal ledger an enumerated ledger a nominal ledger none of the above 10. Which of the following is not one of the three types of business arrangements in the United States? (1 point) sole proprietorship partnership corporation sole partnership 11. With a sole proprietorship, who pays the taxes? (1 point) the shareholders the company the owner both the shareholders and the owner 12. Which one of the following would not be considered an advantage of a sole proprietorship? (1 point) Decisions can be made quickly without having to consult others. A proprietor is also responsible for his or her own health insurance. There are no legal formalities if the business dissolves. All of the profits from the business go right to the owner. 13. What can a proprietor do to minimize personal risk and liability? (1 point) change his/her name form a limited liability proprietorship form a limited liability partnership form a limited liability company 14. Why are partnerships often favored over corporations? (1 point) They have more power. A partnership structure eliminates the dividend tax levied upon profits realized by the owners. They are more successful. none of the above 15. Why are partnerships often favored over corporations? (1 point) A partnership structure eliminates the dividend tax levied upon profits. They are more successful. They have more power. none of the above 16. What are the two types of partnerships? (1 point) limited and general limited and sole general and private private and limited 17. Which of the following would not be considered an advantage of a partnership? (1 point) A partnership usually involves low start-up costs. Each general partner is deemed the agent of the partnership. It's easy to form a partnership. You can share the responsibilities with your partners. 18. As a generic legal term, __________ means any group of persons with a legal entity. (1 point) partnership business corporation proprietorship 19. Who regulates a corporation? (1 point) the bondholders the government of the state, province, or national government with which it is registered the corporation's founders the corporation's union 20. Which of the following is not a legal characteristic of a corporation? (1 point) transferable shares perpetual life legal protection from lawsuits limited liability 21. When claiming dependents, they must meet the following criteria EXCEPT: (1 point) the dependent must be a relative. the dependent must reside with you. the dependent must be under nineteen years of age unless he or she is a full-time student. the dependent was unable to provide over half of his or her support for the year. 22. If you opt to put money in a medical flexible spending account rather than trying to amass enough medical expenses to itemize on your tax return, you are taking advantage of ___________________. (1 point) an exclusion a credit a deduction withholding 23. A form of taxation in which everyone pays an equal rate of taxes is called a _____________. (1 point) progressive tax regressive tax net tax flat tax 24. A form of taxation in which the highest income earner pays the largest percentage of taxes is called a (1 point) progressive tax regressive tax flat tax net tax 25. A form of taxation in which the lowest income earners pay the largest percentage of taxes is called a ___________________. (1 point) progressive tax regressive tax flat tax net tax 26. Which of the following best defines health insurance? (1 point) An annual contract between an insurance company and an individual a type of insurance that protects your personal property if you are unable to pay your bills. a type of insurance whereby the insurer pays the medical costs of the insured a type of insurance that assists your loved ones in the event of your death 27. Which of the following illustrates the main difference between Medicare and Medicaid? (1 point) Medicare helps to insure the elderly, while Medicaid focuses on low-income individuals and families. Medicaid helps to insure the elderly, while Medicaid insures low-income earners. Medicaid helps to replace lost income for the poor. Medicare is available only to those over the age of 65. 28. What is life insurance? (1 point) Health insurance that covers you for the rest of your life Insurance that supplements your income if your life is threatened Insurance that assists your loved ones with income in the event of your death Insurance that protects you in the event of an unexpected illness or accident that prevents you from working 29. Which of the following statements is not true about HMO insurance? (1 point) It is a managed health care system. In an HMO you can choose your own primary care physician (PCP), but specialists must be referred by the PCP. In an HMO , you are assigned a primary care physician. The letters stand for Health Maintenance Organization. 30. Which of the following might be considered positive aspects of HMOs. (1 point) Free choice of primary care physician Care from non-HMO provider not covered Out-of-pocket expenses are usually low Easy to receive specialized care 31. Which of the following might be considered a negative aspect of HMOs? (1 point) Out-of-pocket expenses are usually high. Not easy to receive specialized care HMOs focus on preventative care Free choice of primary care physician 32. On average, compared to a person with good credit a person with poor credit will pay __________ for insurance. (1 point) 5% to 10% more 10% to 15% more 20% to 50% more 55% to 70% more 33. How long does it take to rebuild your credit history? (1 point) 7 years 8 years 9 years 30 years 34. Secured debt means a lender gives you money in exchange for what? (1 point) collateral credit report principal interest 35. When an asset, such as a car, decreases in value over time what is it called? (1 point) depreciation financing equity leasing 36. If you miss one payment on a credit card, what's generally the penalty? (1 point) a late payment fee a higher interest rate a lower available credit line a negative notation on your credit report 37. If you miss two payments on a credit card, what's generally the penalty? (1 point) a late payment fee and a lower available credit line a higher interest rate and a late payment fee a late payment fee a negative notation on your credit report 38. What are expenses that do not change called? (1 point) stable costs fixed costs variable costs known costs 39. What is the margin of safety? (1 point) How much sales can fall before a business starts making less than 5% profit How much sales can fall before a business makes less than 15% profit How much sales can fall before a business starts taking a loss none of the above 40. The two components of ______________ are variable and fixed costs. (1 point) entire cost required cost complete cost total cost 41. What are expenses that change as conditions change? (1 point) changing costs fixed costs moderate costs variable costs 42. What can be the best type of safety net in hard times? (1 point) Gambling Mortgage Rental property None of the above 43. Real estate is considered a(n) _____ investment. (1 point) illiquid liquid sure partially–liquid 44. Individual mortgage interest rates are generally determined by what? (1 point) The economy The individual's credit score The property value The state the property is located in 45. What is PMI? (1 point) Personal mortgage issuance Personal mortgage investment Personal mortgage insurance Personal mortgage interest 46. Why is investing in gold beneficial? (1 point) It is easy to mine. It is considered a stable investment. Gold is more expensive than stocks. The value of hold is subject to inflation. 47. What is an entrepreneur? (1 point) a sole proprietorship a corporation one who opens a new business a bank that loans money 48. Which of the following is the best definition of probable operating costs? (1 point) Amount of money required to start a business Amount of money required to market a business Amount of money required to purchase business equipment Amount of money required to keep a business running 49. Which of the following is a start–up cost associated with opening a business? (1 point) Equipment Legal fees/licensing Insurance All of the above 50. Which of the following is an example of an unsecured bank loan? (1 point) Credit card debt Bank overdrafts Corporate bonds All of the above