Monthly Archive for March, 2007
The Porterville Recorder is on a roll son! Last week it was the CTA, this week is the CFA.
A fundamentally flawed system that forcibly takes people’s money to provide other people education might be expected to bear bad fruit. Californians may be about to reap the latest harvest in the union-authorized strike, pending action Sunday by the CSU Board of Trustees.
There are a host of underlying problems in a public university system, not the least of which is how it’s financed. CSU students pay only about a third of their education’s actual cost. Taxpayers pick up the balance. Another problem is the notion every person needs a college education, a contributing factor to the huge number of freshmen requiring remedial education in college.
I think it’s really stupid that the newspaper for a city with one of the highest unemployment rates would attack education. If there are no jobs shouldn’t people try to better themselves through education? Shouldn’t we look to have more of our kids go to college so that they can help develop our town instead of depending on Wal-mart distribution centers to sustain our local economy?
It must also be mentioned that the majority of all Porterville teachers are products of CSU schools whether its Fresno State or CSU Bakersfield. How in the world can the Recorder attack the CSU system when so many Porterville teachers have benefited so much from it. Unbelievable!
One thing that I’ve been taught this year by a fellow 5th grade teacher is the importance of opening a 403b. I’ve just started and I’m glad I’m taking advantage of this perk. I’m on my way to becoming a millionaire. Just kidding. She also let me borrow David Bach’s The Automatic Millionaire which I was a tad bit hesitant to read. Bach actually uses various pragmatic approaches to investing in one’s future.
Using a 403b tax shelter is effective because the money you contribute is pre-tax. Bach gives the example of someone investing $5,000 a year. Others might be hesitant to do this because they belief that they will have $5,000 less in spending money. In reality you would have about $3,500 less. This happens because the government takes a significant chunk of your income in taxes and so on. If you make $50,000 a year, you are more likely making closer to $35,000 after the government takes its fair share. So basically if you invest in a 403b you basically circumvent Uncle Sam to a certain extent.
Giving an extra mortgage payment a year will knock years off the life of your mortgage. I recommend the book…It’s a very good read.
Initially I wanted to go with TIAA-CREF but since no one in my district believes in 403b’s it was too much of a task to get the district to contract with TIAA-CREF. I went with Vanguard because it was highly recommended by my co-worker and by consumer advocates like Clark Howard. If you’re in education don’t waste time and open up a 403b.
Like all special “incentives,” this one blatantly rewards a special class of people - in this case teachers - by granting them a tax credit other people - non-teachers - don’t receive. The effect is that another person, say an auto mechanic or a nurse, pays more tax on the identical income. Such preferences are how meddlesome government potentates tweak the economy and life in general to get results pleasing to them.
“There is no question that teaching is a noble and valued profession, but should teachers receive a tax credit whereas other valued workers in our society do not?”
Thank you Porterville Recorder editors for bringing attention to those money hungry teachers. Before they go after teachers they should go after the agribusiness and their love of government subsidies. I’m sure the Recorder is too afraid to upset agribusiness.
Every morning I drive forty-five minutes to a town in another county to work. Richgrove is the last town I pass through before crossing into Kern County. There are no sidewalks. When it rains it floods the main road. There are four stores (they’re all painted blue for some reason). There is huge water tower (at least I think that’s what it is). A massive packing house takes up most of the entire central strip of town. On the weekends they have a swapmeet across the way from the packing house (This remate is infamous for selling pirated DVDs…then again what remate doesn’t sell pirated DVD’s and CD’s). There is an area with sofas under trees. Most mornings on an empty lot paisanos gather with a fogata to warm themselves while they wait for work. This is Tulare County.