Hope you all have your taxes done! I did mine late for me, but federal and state for myself and my daughter were sent in last month. Still need to do my local taxes, but they generally get done the day or two before the deadline. So, I'll do them this weekend. I'm one of those who overpays the government each year so I get a refund back. I know I should just bank that money throughout the year rather than "lending" it to the government, but I know if I have it, I'm not that likely to save it anyway, so...
So much uncertainty in the economy these days, and I see it first hand in my work at my church. Not to give you the impression that I spend all my time doing charitable work, I could do far more than I am doing now. But as I've mentioned before, I serve breakfast once a month at a local city church. The number of families with children coming to that breakfast is increasing all the time. Now, it's not mostly men with some occasional women, we are seeing more and more families coming to the breakfast. We ran out of food this month - including cereal which we usually have plenty of leftover. We kept making pancakes until everyone got at least something, but we ran out of eggs, sausage, milk, juice and cereal. Food bank contributions are down and the number of recipients has increased. I notice we get less from the local stores in terms of food donations, like juice, bread and pastries. We used to fill a long table with loaves of bread and rolls that grocery stores gave us - you know, the day old bread they would probably throw away.
As I pay attention to the presidential election, I was shocked to learn that Obama and his wife give very little to charity. Maybe, to give them the benefit of the doubt, they didn't claim their donations, but I find it intriguing that their charitable giving ratio went up around the time he started his presidential bid. Personally, however, I think, he's been planning this bid for years, probably since his college years. The more I learn about his history, the less it matches his public speeches. Some of us are ambitious and I don't necessarily hold it against him, but it does conflict with his public statements. I find it amusing that many of his re-interpretations of his past are not pounced upon with the same glee that Clinton's re-interpretations cause. The Bosnia trip is an example and there is no excuse for her re-interpretation of that event. In some ways, though, I find that more acceptable as I know she is going to do things like that, but I also think she has the knowledge and the attention to details and can make more changes than he can. Maybe it's the fact that she doesn't claim to be as virtuous as he does.
But in general, I find it very intriguing how much people give to charity. It is always surprising to me that the poor give far more in percentage of income to charity than the middle-class or the wealthy. And I was shocked to learn this about a man that I personally find accountable for many of the poor decisions made by the US government in the last 8 years: Dick Cheney and his wife gave 78% of their income to charity in 2005. They made $8.8 million from book royalties and investment income and donated $6.9 million to charity.
I got this information from a tax blog:
This time next week, I'll be sitting on the beach. Can't wait to lay there and listen to the waves come crashing in. Speaking of the wealthy, this is a resort that I wouldn't be able to afford to go to on my own. They rent the cabanas on the beach there for $1000/day. But I'm going with a friend who won a 4-day trip as a sales reward. The ocean always rejuvenates me and after this year, it will be a welcome time away. Am going to be sorry to leave after only 4 days, I know!
