Taj Mahal, India

Don’t get me wrong, I have no objection at all to us helping out other countries, even though we’re in pretty dire straits ourselves here in the UK.  The thing that gets my goat is the fact that India have said they don’t want the money but the UK have insisted they take it!

The good, honest people of India, instead of grasping it with both hands, actually turned down the offer that had been foisted upon them and India’s finance minister, Pranab Mukherjee even went so far as to say it was “a peanut” that wasn’t needed as India’s economy was growing with some speed and would, in all likelihood, overtake our own in the not too distant future. 

Pranab Mukherjee

There are people here desperately trying to make ends meet; homes are being repossessed, our public services and our forces are being cut back, our government benefits are being “trimmed” which means that the less well off members of our society are suffering which, in turn, affects the disabled, lesser paid adults, particularly those with families to support, and the elderly. 

It’s also been revealed that this year we’ve set aside a budget of £8.1 billion for foreign aid in general and this is due to rise to an incredible £11.5 billion in 2015.  We’ve always been inclined to help out other countries in their hour of need but, with our coffers almost down to rock bottom, it’s utterly ludicrous to give part of this budget to a country that’s already said it doesn’t need it, thanks very much.

As you can imagine, the revelation has upset numerous MPs and, of course, us hard strapped tax payers.

By all accounts, the Indian economy is growing by 10% a year and, within the next 10 years will overtake that of the UK.  In fact, India has set up its own aid budget to help out struggling countries so presumably in a couple of years time India will be helping to dig the UK out of a financial hole!

The International Development Secretary, Andrew Mitchell, has said, in defence of the “donation” to India  “there are states the size of Britain where half the children suffer from malnutrition”.  That may well be true, but if the Indian government have stated they now have plenty of money in their bank vaults I’m assuming some of this will eventually find its way to support lesser well off people.  If that isn’t the case, then rather than pump more money into an obviously financially stable government, wouldn’t it be more sensible to filter some of the money through to charities such as the Red Cross, Oxfam, Save the Children, Age Concern, etc etc so that they can actually get the money direct to those people that need it most?

It is a weak, visionless, cowardly budget that relegates America’s future to a debt-heavy lumbering post-empire decrepitude on both ideas and action.  The budget from the Obama administration would be suitable for Britain in the 1970’s or Jimmy Carter in the last 1970’s — defensive, uncreative, political, administrative.  The bureaucrats will love this budget because it upsets none of their priorities of spending and the status quo.  

In 2011 entitlement programs accounted for 43% of all federal spending.  Without changes, 54% of federal spending will be taken up by entitlement spending in 2022.  It will be impossible to cover these costs without large tax increases or large spending cuts in other programs — it will be easier to deal with these eventualities if they are confronted now rather than when there is a crisis, but the Obama administration does not want to take the lead on entitlement cuts.  

The 2013 budget proposed by the Obama administration will project a deficit of approximately $900 billion compared to the approximately $1 trillion deficit projected for this budget year.  The lower deficit projection is the result of higher corporate taxes and higher taxes proposed on citizens earning more than $250,000 per year in gross income.  In addition, the Obama administration is counting about $200 billion in savings from the wars in Iraq and Afganistan in its budget deficit figure.  Without those savings, the deficit would approximate the deficit for this year.  

Without meaningful action on entitlement spending, the country runs the risk of a major credit crisis in which China and other world powers refuse to loan additional money to the United States.  If that happens, it could happen suddenly, leaving the United States no choice but for the federal reserve to print money to buy up the debt of the U.S., thereby likely causing a currency crisis in which the dollar tumbles in value against foreign currencies and sparks escalating inflation as it would take more dollars to buy the same goods.  

Are there more overpriced printed pieces of paper than Valentine’s Day cards? Add to this the difficulty of finding one that’s not too distant or too intimate, not too serious or too funny, too dispassionate or sexy, and you have another reason to make your own valentine.

The design is easy. Take the best photo you have of the two of you (or the whole family), place it in a nice border, and use it as the front of a folding card. Inside, (and this is the crucial step) write when the photo was taken and how much the moment means to you. Don’t be afraid to gush a little, too. It is Valentine’s Day.

2. Throw a Fancy Dinner

You’ve probably experienced this; taking your honey out for Valentine’s Day only to find your favorite restaurant packed, serving only a limited menu at a fixed (inflated) price, all leading to an expensive yet unsatisfying experience.

Instead, look for a high-end grocery in your neighborhood that offers a fancy take-home meal. Pick it up with a bottle of sparkling wine (not Champagne, but a sparkling wine from California, or an Italian prosecco) and set up a nice table at home. You’ll get away at half the price, and should the romance of the moment inspire you to passion, you won’t even have to drive home first.

3. Do the Time Warp Again

On Valentine’s Day, flower bouquets can be double or more the price at other times of the year. Restaurants can be more expensive. To save considerably, think about time-shifting your Valentine’s Day; after all, who said you have to celebrate your Valentine’s Day on Feb. 14?

Why not celebrate yours a little early or later? You’ll save money on flowers and meals and the chocolate gift selection will be wider, allowing you to find that tasteful, budget-conscious choice rather than buying whatever is left, usually at the top of the price range.

4. Individualize a Gift

It’s easy and cheap these days to have a photo put on a mug, t-shirt, Christmas ornament, crystal, key chain, cameo, playing cards … Why not take your best picture as a couple and have it memorialized on one of these items? It’s way cheaper than a trip to the jewelry store.

An added benefit to such a gift is it allows the recipient to take it to work and subtly relate to workers that most important of Valentine’s Day messages: “I am loved.”

5. Make a Memory Box

This one is a bit more work, but will pay off huge in future years. Find a nice wooden or metal box and put in items that remind you of experiences you’ve shared. This could be a ticket stub from Disneyworld, a menu from a restaurant, a leaf from that maple tree that you necked under, a coffee bean from your favorite hangout, a photo of some random craziness you indulged in, a phone bill when you were spending hours talking to one another on the phone … you get the idea.

Where this really pays off is year two, when your gift can be more objects to put in that memory box.

6. Do a Chore

Many people think to offer a gift of labor on Valentine’s Day, but few really make the grade, because they are unspecific and open-ended. A good gift must be specific and as immediate as possible. You offer to detail his or her car? Set the date: I am going to detail your car this Saturday. I am going to walk your dog every morning for the next two weeks, starting today. I am going to wash your windows on Saturday, May 7. This makes the gift real and commits you to follow through.

7. Plant in His/Her honor

A bouquet fades within a week, and then what do you have? At best, a few pressed petals and mulchable vegetable matter. Why not plant flowers or shrubs to commemorate the date? With a little sharp shopping you can find bargains that will minimize your investment, and if they are perennials you can amortize your investment over many Valentine’s Days. Plus, your sweetie will think of you every time they bloom.

8. Make an Exotic Fruit Basket

A nice alternative to a flower bouquet is a fruit basket, but really, how lazy must you be to buy one already assembled? In 20 minutes you can buy a basket and fill it with colorful, taste-tempting fruit. Don’t be afraid to walk on the wild side and include some unusual fruits such as star fruit, dragon fruit, cherimoya, kumquats, paw paws, and lychees. Be sure that each is labeled, or write out a list for the recipient. Enjoy an evening sampling them together.

9. Burn a Custom CD

We all spend way too much time in the car. Why not help your loved one pass the time thinking about you by burning them a custom CD of their favorite tunes? Be sure to include the one that you both think of as “our song.” Exercise your digital image manipulation skills by making a custom cover out of a photo of the two of you.

10. Think Estate Jewelry

Every Valentine’s Day a steady stream of men enter jewelry stores with no idea what they are looking for except a price point, and every year some of them walk out with overpriced rings, necklaces and earrings that their loved one will wear only to keep from embarrassing him.

This year, think estate jewelry, the industry’s term for used jewelry. Shop antique stores and look for pieces that don’t look like they’ve come off the assembly line. Don’t look for authentic gems, but pieces that use marcasite, cubic zirconia or even foil-backed glass. Look for gold-plated or silver mountings, and, above all, a lot of style.

11. Make Something by Hand

Don’t have any talent with your hands? Don’t believe it; you just haven’t found your field yet. In the meantime, you can bake a cake; just follow the instructions. If you knit, knit a scarf. If you write, write a poem. If you work with wood, make a memory box (see above). If you hike, take him/her on a day hike to a place of special beauty or historical significance.

Give the gift of your time, represented in the object you present to him/her, and they will appreciate it far more than that box of chocolates snatched in passing from the counter at the local convenience store.

First of all, what is the nature of the cuts we are talking about?

It hasn’t changed the defence budget to a very large extent. It has just merely trimmed down on whatever is necessary. These changes has been announced by the Secretary of Defence, Leon Panetta. These cuts include trimming down of the army from a force of 570,000 to 490,000 and the reduction of marines to a 182,000 force. Budget cuts also affects big-ticket weapons like next generation nuclear submarines and the Fifth-Generation F-35 jet and also reducing research on many such projects. Obama has also called on for the closing down of a few domestic military bases.

Image via Wikipedia

After so many cuts, the United States Department of Defense will be saving around $6 billion with a total budget of $525 Billion.

So if we notice, it is not much of an impact. It is a way forward actually.

Since it is just a trimming down, nobody sees why this can be a threat to national security as the republicans claim. US Defense budget remains the biggest in the world in spite of cuts.

As Vice Admiral Mike Mullen said in a Congressional session some months back that the biggest threat to national security is America’s debt, the administration trying to reduce the defense budget should be seen in a good light.

America’s economy has gone down the drain since the 2008 recession. Standard and Poor has downgraded America’s credit rating from AAA to AA+ and its debt has reached the levels of its GDP and it is projected that in a few months from now, the debt will exceed its GDP.

America cannot continue with reckless defense spending. But again, its economy is one which depends on higher defense spending. Senators are worried whenever there is a proposal to close down a weapons factory or a base because it would put many people in his/her constituency out of work and considering the fact that jobs are really hard to come by nowadays, makes the situation all the more worse. This is exactly what Eisenhower wanted to warn his country about when he spoke about the Military-Industrial complex in his farewell speech.

A country cannot sustain itself if its economy is built by selling weapons. America has always had the advantage of its huge industrial base and adequate investments in research. Defense Research and Development is a lucrative business and it is good money, but sustainability with such a model can never be advisable.

In fact, these budget cuts will be important when we consider America’s new role in the emerging world order. Many experts predict the end of the uni-polar world and the emergence of a multi-polar one. In this regard, it is America’s finances which will dictate how much it will dominate world affairs, especially when it involves the use of force.

This in fact would be very good for the United States, considering the fact that it has acquired so much notoriety in the world for being indulgent in wars like the misadventures in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, in the recent Libyan crisis, America took a back-seat while the British and the French took a very active part in the campaign to enforce a no-fly zone over Libya. This itself shows that the debt is a bigger problem than anything else.

In fact, senior officials in the US military have openly said that the problems associated with budget cuts can be solved much more easily than the problems associated with not introducing budget cuts.

In fact, what the US must be doing is shutting down the many US bases it has abroad. While some are strategic and serve a specific purpose, there are quite a few operating which does not serve a lot of purpose. Bases like these needs to be closed down and the military must be trimmed down in a way that it can respond to threats and neutralize them and at the same time make it viable and affordable.

But the fundamental point is that, these budget cuts are very small in size and it is not going to make a big difference to the budget overall. While military is an essential component when you calculate national power, increasing it beyond your capabilities is nothing short of a recipe for disaster.

Increasing your military has to be done in accordance with the economic growth. Again, since the budget is the biggest in the world, trimming it down is not going to affect it a lot. Besides, it is important for any military or country to prepare for a situation of shortages. One cannot expect to have everything all the time. This is also a perfect time to audit the various finances and expenditures and see where losses are being made and what could be good solution to these problems.

But in my opinion, the biggest change America needs to undergo is to spend on research and development in other sectors, especially civilian products and also spending money in expanding its already huge industrial base in order to ensure sufficient alternatives in case the Military-Industrial complex is not able to provide enough jobs or wages.

Copyright © 2012 Ashwath Komath

Newt Gingrich

Abortion: Pro-Life

“I think that abortion should not be legal, and I think that how you would implement that I’m not sure.”

The American View, 2005

Budget: Believes the US must quit spending beyond its means

       Strongly urges Congress to balance budget

       US must cut spending on entitlement programs

       Believes the country could cut costs in half and reduce deficit by drastic government downsizing

Environment:

Gingrich supports lowering carbon emissions but is skeptical of the climate change theories.

He wrote a book on his views of the environment called ‘A Contract with the Earth.

Gun Control: Gingrich is a firm advocate of a citizen’s right to bear arms

Newt accuses the Obama administration of undermining the Second Amendment through a less than open strategy of legislative amendments.

Healthcare: 

He thinks that health care should be competitive and allowed to cross state lines. Competition would lower prices and provide more choices.

He would give tax credits for developing the technology to help and prevent disabilities.

He thinks the government does not belong in health care. Nationalizing health care hurts everyone.

Immigration:

“There’s nothing complicated about what’s going on. The richest society in the planet is within geographic reach now, in the age of modern transportation, of much poorer societies. So relatively smart people wake up in the morning and say, Gee, I could earn $1 an hour here or $14 an hour in Kansas City. I wonder where I’d like to be next week. This isn’t complicated. It’s not indecent and it’s not wrong. But a society which fails to control its own borders is asking for the level of trouble we now have.”

National Security:

Gingrich believes that the greatest danger to the nation is the rise of radical Islam inside this country.

Newt believes it’s dangerous not to compete with India and China – losing our economic advantage will cause us to compromise national security.

Homeland security is willfully hiding from reality, reacting instead of acting and twisting the language (i.e. “manmade disasters”) instead of targeting the real enemies. 

Same Sex/LGBT: 

Gingrich opposes domestic partnership benefits for same-sex couples.

He thinks that same sex couples should not be able to adopt children.

Gingrich believes that homosexuality is a sin.

Social Security:

Gingrich thinks that Social Security has been looted and must be protected.

He would modernize it with personal Social Security savings accounts

He would encourage research and development through tax incentives.

Supports getting rid of the marriage tax and cutting middle class taxes.

John Huntman

Abortion: Pro-Life

“Because although you would not know it in this town, there is something more essential than politics, and that’s life, especially a child’s life. I can’t imagine how much poorer the world would be without Gracie and her younger sister Asha who is adopted from India. Mary Kaye and I give thanks to those two mothers, not just on Mother’s Day, but every day of our lives for valuing their daughters life enough so that they could become our daughters.”

Budget: Believes the US must quit spending beyond its means

       Balance Budget

       US must cut spending on entitlement programs

       Believes the country could cut costs in half and reduce deficit by drastic government downsizing

Gun Control: 

“And when people say, ‘Where do you stand on the Second Amendment?’ I say, ‘With a name like Huntsman, do you think I have a choice?”

Ron Paul

Abortion: Pro-Life

Budget: Ron Paul believes that nations and empires inevitably end due to financial reasons.     

       He would give up the American empire to reduce debt without sacrifice

       He says we cannot afford the wars in the Middle East.

       He says that we’ve come to accept debt and we shouldn’t; we should strive to get the country out of debt and never spend        more than we take in.

       He does not believe that government should bail out private enterprise nor seek to control it. Such acts have ruined our                    budget.

Gun Control: “Mr. Speaker, I rise to restore the right the founding fathers saw as the guarantee of every other right by introducing the Second Amendment Protection Act. This legislation reverses the steady erosion of the right to keep and bear arms by repealing unconstitutional laws that allow power-hungry federal bureaucrats to restrict the rights of law-abiding gun owners.”

Immigration: 

“My approach to immigration is somewhat different than the others. Mine is you deal with it economically We’re in worse shape now because we subsidize immigration. We give food stamps, Social Security, free medical care, free education and amnesty. So you subsidize it, and you have a mess. Conditions have changed. And I think this means that we should look at immigration differently. It’s an economic issue more than anything. If our economy was in good health, I don’t think there’d be an immigration problem. We’d be looking for workers and we would be very generous.”

Rick Perry

Gun Control: Advocate of Individuals right to bear arms

“… proud to welcome all the men and women who have led the fight to protect the Second Amendment for every American… As a gun owner and avid hunter, I appreciate the work the NRA does day in and day out to protect our right to bear arms…

Immigration:

“Look, it’s (illegal immigration) is a huge problem, I would suggest on all the states along the border with Mexico, but, here’s the bigger issue for me, Greta. It’s one that we try to really focus on and try to get the people all across the country to look at. We can have these discussions and debates about immigration reforms but nothing matters, those things really don’t matter until you secure the border. That’s what I’ve been trying to get the Federal Government to focus on for the last four, five years.”

Mitt Romney

Abortion: Pro-Life

Budget: Mitt Romney believes in the principle of reaganomics wherein you cut taxes which is believed to bring in economic growth. According to him the budget should cut taxes on people earning incomes less than $200,000 a year and also cut payroll taxes on people aged sixty five years or older.

He believes that he can bring in savings worth $300 billion dollars in 10 years by capping non defense discretionary spending at inflation minus 1% and will veto any budget that exceeds that cap.

Environment: Romney is of the opinion wherein the solution to our environmental problem lies in adopting a market approach. While solving the environmental challenges, we should also be supporting growth.

Gun Control: In favor of right to bear arms

“Let me speak very directly and candidly about where I stand. I support the Second Amendment as one of the most basic and fundamental rights of every American. It’s essential to our functioning as a free society, as are all the liberties enumerated in the Bill of Rights…”

Healthcare: 

Romney supports universal health care but not a government program which would raise taxes

He plans on market reforms to expand and deregulate private insurance to decrease costs and give more Americans access to affordable care.

He wants to offers tax breaks and other incentives to individuals without insurance.

Immigration:

“I am a great proponent of legal immigration… Many of you are living proof of the unique strength of America that is constantly renewed by new Americans. The promise of America has brought some of the world’s best and brightest to our shores.”

“Illegal immigration has got to end and any form of citizenship amnesty is troublesome.”

National Security:
Mitt Romney feels that USA should hike up military spending to 4% of the country’s GDP. He also believes that the Government should increase the active duty work force by ten thousand.Mitt Romney stands for wire tapping mosques to keep a check on Islamic terrorists and feels that USA should stridently hike up the military investment to counter act racial jihad.

Same Sex/LGBT:

Mitt Romney has created and acquired a reputation for being the most conservative candidate in the 2008 Presidential elections not only by taking a tough stand against gay and lesbian marriage but also opposing most of their petitions seeking rights for these groups.

Social Security:

Mitt Romney has refused to raise taxes as a means for enhancing the social security fund because according to him this would only slow down the economy. He believes that social security can be balanced through measures like encouraging people to invest in personal accounts, changing the retirement age and calculating benefit for wealthy Americans on the basis of Consumer Price Index.

Taxes:

Romney is in favor of the Bush support cuts as he says that these cuts really helped to bring the economy back on track when the country was going through a bad phase. He stated that “I have never opposed the Bush 2002 tax cuts. I supported them.” during the 2008 Republican Primary Debate.

Romney addressing it as “my pledge” has promised not to support or reverse the plan to roll income taxes back to 5% by the next year even if a situation of a budget deficit of $3 billion. 

Rick Santorum

Abortion: Pro-Life

“…and I believe that, that any doctor who performs an abortion–that–I would advocate that any doctor that performs an abortion should be criminally charged for doing so. I don’t–I’ve never supported criminalization of abortion for mothers, but I do for people who perform them. I believe that life is sacred…”

Gun Control: In favor of right to bear arms

Immigration:

Santorum views the influx of foreign workers as damaging to the nation, both on the economic and social front. He was a strong advocate in former President Bush’s US-Mexico border fence initiative. He has voiced support for the contentious Guest Worker program, with strict limitations on any participation in Social Security as well as fast tracking of citizenship applications. 

“I thank you for reinforcing our commitment to maximize the most out of our resources – to cut and continue to fulfill all critical world tasks were are responsible for ,” Ban said in his speech. Agreement on a budget totaling 5.15 billion, compared with 5.41 billions dollars in 2010 to 2011, came following the hectic negotiations that lasted from Friday until Saturday morning.

As in previous years, most of the controversy was between the desire of the poor countries to increase the UN investments in development, and the wishes of the rich countries to reduce costs. The budget is considered “the core budget”, which excludes the costs of UN troops – the UN peacekeeping missions budget is more than $ 7 billion and passes a separate approval procedure. The “core” budget also excludes the budgets of several major UN agencies that are funded by voluntary contributions of member countries.

According to Joe Toreslha, deputy U.S. ambassador to the UN, which is focusing on the management and reform of the UN, the average increase in the two years budgets of the UN in the past 20 years, was 5%. The only previous budget cuts before was in 1998. U.S. pays 22% of the UN budget, and is the largest source of its funding.

The common factor in all of these is that they all cost money, both in terms of paying for the intervention, and in term of time taken off the job. While the online MBA in Finance defines costs as spending where no manager is responsible for proving the return or benefits that derive from the expenditure; the expenditure may or may not be necessary, but it is still a cost. An investment is a cost where a manager has proposed and taken responsibility for the return the organizations should make on a given expenditure. If this is true, then we must not be surprised when some online MBA in finance professionals as well as chief executives also regard the spending on training and development as a cost or an overhead.

A key message, therefore, about managing training and development finance is that managers must be prepared to justify the expenditure and get the agreement of finance that the training and development budget is indeed an investment. Nowadays most finance departments have moved from being obstructive towards regular MBA courses.They try to use financial techniques to encourage managers to meet their objectives rather than a set of rules designed to stop initiatives and spending at all costs.

Under a very basic plan this cell phone is allotted 200 minutes, unlimited mobile to mobile, and free long distance Friday nights and weekends for no additional costs, the monthly bill is $29.99. This phone does not receive texts or have internet access, just basic calling. The first surcharge is Fed. Universal which is .96 cents. Regulatory charge is .16 cents. Administrative charge is .83 cents, CO high cost fund is .74 cents. Under government surcharges and taxes are $3.28 more in charges. The 911 county charge is .52 cents. The CO state sales tax is .95 cents. The Jefferson county tax is .16 cents. The Westminster city tax is $1.26. The FD SPD and CD SPD tax is .03 cents and RTD SPD tax is .33 cents. One can cancel their contract within 14 days after activation. The cost of the phone including a pre-paid activation fee is $35.99. There is a termination fee of $375 which goes down $5.00 each month you keep your plan.  Late fees are 5.00 if it is over a day late. The first month of service is free with a 2 year contract.

Internet and Home phone bundle Century Link

The phone bill  doesn’t change from month to month but the internet bill is determined by usage. The phone bill is 35.99 and the internet bill this month (with 3 users) was $51.63 about $17.21 per person. This month there was a promotional discount of $13 and a $10 discount for bundling every month. Late fees are $5.00. We have caller I.D, unlimited local calling, and unlimited directory service. For internet we have DSL and wireless connectivity. Federal subscriber taxes are $4.00; universal federal charges were .58 cents. Portability charge is .23 cents, 911 county charge is .42 cents,  co state tax is .95 cents and excise tax is 1.08.

Cable Comcast

            To activate Comcast with the box was $10.00 for shipping to receive the kit. The original cable activation fee was $44.95. The cable bill this month was $45.99 with about $9.99 in taxes. Moving your cable plan (if one moves) costs $65. We receive basic cable. The basic 1-13 channels with about 20 other random channels which are subject to change under our contract with Comcast. Late fees apply after one day and are subject to change, but currently sit at about $10. If Comcast is ever late providing a new service (like the digital box) $20 is knocked of the bill.

Image via Wikipedia

But if you are honest about it – it only accelerated trends that had started much earlier, and revealed with all economic brutality that some issues had not been solved or not even properly dealt with. What were or are these issues?

EU member states as per 2007 – Image via Wikipedia

The EU was at first started in order to promote peace and to make another war amongst the European nations impossible. Soon, apart from political measures, economic integration measures were also started, amongst others a customs union.

What had been planned, was to closer integrate economical and political strategies, fiscal measures and to further coordinate economical and political policies. Some of these policies proved, however, as too hard to find a common denominator. They were then abandoned, or in some cases, even exemptions were made for some member states. It showed that beyond a certain point, economical and political strategies couldn’t be coordinated in the European Union.

Despite this, the Euro was introduced in the core member states of the EU zone, and the Euro became the single currency of the European Union. But this also includes exemptions. Sweden and the United Kingdom as members of the EU rejected adopting the Euro as their currency.

Image via Wikipedia

Stability criteria were set for all member states, which they had to oblige with, if they were using the Euro as a currency. Although breaking some of the limits according to the adopted Stability and Growth Pact was considered a violation of the agreements, the reinforcement was weak, and the penalties not properly enforced either.

Moreover, some member states, as it turned out, had beautified their balance sheets in order to pretend they were meeting the targets, for instance with respect to the budget deficit, which should not exceed 3% of the GDP. Although these issues were known, nobody dealt with them properly, and instead, the EU zone went through two expansion cycles. Expansion was forced with a vengeance, although a closer fiscal, economic and political integration seemed to fade further into an unreachable future ideal.

Shielded behind the curtain of self-praise, cover-up and numberless speeches demonstrating goodwill of everybody, the EU zone economies considerably fell behind in terms of productivity, and most concerning trends like the high proportion of government related business and civil servants like in Greece became worse rather than better. Fiscal targets and economic figures also proved much harder to put under control than imagined. So, the crisis grew within the European Union, even before the financial world crisis started hitting the European continent.

Image via Wikipedia

Is there hope? Yes, there is hope, if the EU member states manage it quickly to improve on all the neglected and rejected issues from the past – that is a closer integration of the member stations, a much more regulated fiscal union, better coordinated economical and political measures – and, most importantly: no more exceptions. Countries, who don’t want to adopt EU policies must have the option of leaving the union, or even of being expelled.

What union would that be if one country has the Euro currency and the other one doesn’t, what union would that be if one country charges 12% of corporate tax whilst others charge 25%. If there is no room for negotiation, some countries will have to leave, unfortunately. A smaller EU does not necessarily mean that it would be weaker. Maybe it could even better play up to its strength.

Be prepared to discuss need versus want.  Why is it a need and why a want might be something to plan and save for but until finances improve it is not something your young teenage son or daughter or pre-teen is getting or should expect any time soon.    Include how they can help.    If they are old enough 12-18  encourage them to seek out small jobs.   Spring, Summers and Fall, things like weeding flower beds and mowing lawns, washing windows or walking someone’s dog or even light house work are possible money makers.   Have them make up some business cards, things they might be able to do with name and contact number.    Babysitting is another thing you might look into.   Go around your neighborhood, knock on doors and leave your flyer or business card.  Even if someone does not have something your teen can do.  They might know of something.    Raking leaves in the fall and shoveling snow in winter are other possibles.   Some elderly folks on fixed incomes might not be able to pay a lot but are willing to pay $10 to $20 toward some of these types of work or help like washing windows.   Often grandmother types will fix your son or daughter a sandwich and glass of milk or coke and plate of cookies to boot.   

If they do a good job they can ask to use their happy customer as a reference.   Also ask when they might be needed again.   Even doing errands for those who might drive such as picking up a prescription called in or getting some groceries for people might be something they can do.     This teaches your teen and pre-teen responsibily and that money does not grow on trees.  It will also give them a sense of pride.    Another thing they might do is wash cars for people and even hold a garage sale asking for donations that some might otherwise take to Goodwill.   When your young teen or pre-teen has earned money have them make a budget of things it needs to go toward.  College, a game, a candy bar.  Maybe paying a sibling that helped them with some of the things they did.   If they are creative they might sell some of their things such as art or crafts, jewelry or sew up some items.   if they live near a rural community see if they can help with bucking hay or riding a horse and exercising it.  Cleaning the horses stall or splitting and stacking wood or weeding a garden or picking fruit from a tree.

Parents should not allow teens to scream or demand something they cannot afford and will put them further in debt.   Do they NEED that cellphone or that more expensive brand?   Can they make do with a desk top computer.  I see too many parents giving in to unrealistic demands of youth who throw fits because they are not getting their way or the must have newest toy all their friends are getting or have.     Refuse to get further in debt with credit or debit cards,  spend cash as much as possible and save for the really big expensive items.   Don’t buy into well everyone else has one but me”  First of all that is not true not everyone has one and remember that is the same line you gave your parents and it was not usually true.   A lesser expensive brand of jeans or shirts or shoes might have to make do.    

Too many people have fallen into the buy now pay later trap and it can and does get out of hand and a lot of teenagers think they have to have something they do not need and can actually live without.  We none of us need a lot of the modern day gadgets everyone thinks they cannot live without.    But in realtiy we do not NEED a cellphone, an ipad, or ipod, or cellphone.  They make life a little easier and nice but they are not a genuine need.  

So when it comes to crunch time tell your family it is crunch time and there will have to be sacrifices made.  You do not need cable t.v and you can still use a landline phone which is much cheaper than a cell.  Unless it is a needed tool for your work your don’t need one.   The same goes for computers and nintindo, Wii, gameboy and X box they are a luxury a  want and not a need.    Food, shelter, clothing, utiliites, health, medical, dental and taxes and fees all must come first.   Eating out is a luxury as is getting that morning commute latte.    Be willing to show where your giving something up too.  Canceling the newspaper or magazine subscription that latte, or going to the hair salon when you can do your own hair or get a friend or neighbor or even your daughter to help you.    American people in all income levels need to get a reality check on spending and start saving for what is important and true needs and be willing to give up some conviences and luxury items until you can get back on your feet.   Sit down and write down all the needs in one category and discuss why it is a need.  Then have another of want and one of working toward most important to have as soon as finances permit.    

Most kids when they understand the truth of the financial outlook in your family are willing to help, might have ideas and willing to wait or make the sacrifice when need and you can still employ and mean the old fashioned No not right now and stick to it.  They will get over it and come to terms with reality.