JoB
alki_2008…
There is no reason that the good people who came in to straighten out the AIG mess couldn’t have been the heroes in this situation had they chosen to act like heroes.
The financial wizards who straighten out this mess will be seen as rainmakers in this economic climate… they wouldn’t be tarred with the AIG brush… they would be the guys who whitewashed the AIG tar.
and please notice that i chose the word whitewashed.. not cleaned up or removed… or even sanitized… just whitewashed enough to patch things up so business as usual can get on with.. business.
Admitted, they might have had to forgo the possibility of more lucrative employment short term… though i think those opportunities are diminishing rapidly… but the sky would have been their limit after.
Those who chose to return the bonuses and continue the work will likely have very lucrative futures… perhaps not as lucrative as might have been possible in the age of golden excess… we can hope that has ended… but still not bad.
Alki_2008.. no matter how you want to paint them.. these aren’t the little guys we are talking about… $250,000 ADJ gross income is an amount beyond the wildest dreams of most Americans… and those who make that kind of income have the expertise available to them to limit their tax liability.
This is our first year without a mortgage and I just filed our taxes and i can guarantee you that even without buying a house we will be making changes this year to limit our tax liability. When your best friend makes double your income and pays half the tax you do.. and doesn’t have a mortgage either… you are quickly reminded that it might be time for some financial planning.
Some people do pay a far greater proportion of their income in taxes because they don’t avail themselves of the kind of expertise available to those who make those quarter million plus incomes.
And most of the average hardworking joes who invested in their retirement programs can’t even claim their losses in the stock market this year since they can’t sell the stock captive in their 401K and take the loss…. an accounting maneuver available to those whose assets are not tied in their 401Ks … and a great vehicle for reducing that adjusted gross income:)
funny isn’t it. you sell and buy the same asset on the same day and you can take the loss that year… you lose nothing in assets.. but you gain a great deal in taxes….
as for our retirement loss.. sadly, i imagine our conversation played out across many living rooms in America… if there was no “need” to get the retirement money out of the captive system… there was no “need” to move it to much safer vehicles… and lose money… that is if your timing allowed access to those safer options within your 401K plan.
Not only are 401K dollars captive in the system, they come with a whole lot more strings attached to what you can and can’t do and how quickly you can do it… and that becomes even more complicated when the money is in a plan administered by your employer.
The “experts” were all urging us to push our money into the stock market as quickly as we could set it aside where it could provide for our financial future :(
I am not bitter about our personal circumstances because most of us are in the same boat and doing our best to deal with the mess the “experts” created for us in their lust to make even more money…
But I am also not willing to hand more of my taxpayer dollars than i have to over to those “experts” while they “solve” the problem to their best advantage.
I just saw how much money i am handing over:(
i think i need ice cream.. too bad full tilt isn’t open this early.