The Dollar Heyday Is Over

Written by John Finger


Money Matters December 18, 2003 Presented by The Money Management Firm, Inc. www.moneymanagementfirm.com eBay ID: optionsforyou The Dollar’s Heyday Is Over _________________________________________________________________________________________ PAYCHECK GUIDE: The following helpful guide has been prepared to help our employees better understand their paychecks:

Item Amount Gross pay $1,222.02 Income tax $244.40 Outgo tax $45.21 State tax $11.61 Interstate tax $61.10 County tax $6.11 City tax $12.22 Rural tax $4.44 Back tax $1.11 Front tax $1.16 Side tax $1.61 Up tax $1.08 Down tax $1.14 Tic-Tacs $1.98 Thumbtacks $3.93 Carpet tacks $0.98 Stadium tax $0.69 Flat tax $8.32 Surtax $2.23 Madam tax $1.23 Corporate tax $2.60 Parking fee $5.00 F.I.C.A. $81.88 T.G.I.F. Fund $9.95 Life insurance $5.85 Health insurance $16.23 Dental insurance $4.50 Mental insurance $4.33 Disability $2.50 Ability $0.25 Liability $3.41 Coffee $6.85 Coffee Cups $66.51 Floor rental $16.85 Chair rental $0.32 Desk rental $4.32 Union dues $5.85 Union don'ts $3.77 Cash advance $0.69 Cash retreats $121.35 Overtime $1.26 Undertime $54.83 Eastern time $9.00 Central time $8.00 Mountain time $7.00 Pacific time $6.00 Time Out $12.21 Oxygen $10.02 Water $16.54 Heat $51.42 Cool air $26.83 Hot air $20.00 Miscellaneous $113.29 Various $8.01 Sundry $12.09 ------- Net Take Home Pay $0.02 Since 1944,repparttar U.S. dollar has been respected asrepparttar 104836 world’s most stable, valuable and useful currency. It has represented freedom and opportunity. Now, unfortunately, that era is coming to an abrupt end. The Bretton Woods agreement of 1944 establishedrepparttar 104837 U.S. dollar asrepparttar 104838 world’s reserve currency. Not only was itrepparttar 104839 currency ofrepparttar 104840 richest victor of World War II, butrepparttar 104841 value ofrepparttar 104842 dollar was tied to gold, ensuring its value overrepparttar 104843 long term. Then, on August 15, 1971, President Nixon tookrepparttar 104844 dollar off ofrepparttar 104845 gold standard, an epochal change after more than two thousand five hundred years during which money had always been based explicitly or implicitly on a precious metal, prevalently gold. Gold acted as an anchor both forrepparttar 104846 monetary system and forrepparttar 104847 economic system by making maintenance ofrepparttar 104848 parity a constraint on economic policy. Nowrepparttar 104849 anchor was away. The dollar became a fiat currency, meaning there was nothing standardized by which people could judge its value. The government became free to print as much money as it needed in order to fulfill its obligations. Not surprisingly, inflation took off like a rocket after Nixon’s action. Inflation was only halted by high interest rates, complements ofrepparttar 104850 Federal Reserve Board. Soon after inflation came under control in 1981,repparttar 104851 huge budget deficits ofrepparttar 104852 Reagan years came along. Those budget deficits have snowballed with each passing year into an alarming amount of federal debt. They continued throughrepparttar 104853 Bush 41 and early Clinton years. A booming economy duringrepparttar 104854 later Clinton years allowedrepparttar 104855 government to balancerepparttar 104856 books and even run a surplus. Chairman Greenspan was even talking aboutrepparttar 104857 negative implications of paying offrepparttar 104858 national debt! That’s one problem we don’t have anymore. President Bush 43 and Congress have allowed debt to spiral out of control. The 2004 budget deficit should be nearly $500 billion. As of December 15, 2003,repparttar 104859 U.S. has accumulated $6,935,737,372,166.74 in national debt. That’s nearly seven trillion dollars, or $23,684.72 for every man, woman and child in America. How willrepparttar 104860 government pay for all this debt? Inrepparttar 104861 short haul,repparttar 104862 government pays forrepparttar 104863 debt by issuing U.S. Treasury securities. In other words,repparttar 104864 Fed prints money. When they print money,repparttar 104865 value of each dollar decreases. Investors gobble up those securities and think they’re placing their money inrepparttar 104866 safest securities around. If investors are to be paid off, they will be paid in less-valued dollars. It’s like a game of musical chairs:repparttar 104867 Feds use money from freshly-issued Treasury securities to pay offrepparttar 104868 old ones and finance interest on other bonds. The government must issue more and more securities and money with rising deficits. This game can go on for a long time and has already done so. But everyone knows what happens whenrepparttar 104869 music stops.

Small Business Q & A: If It Was Easy Everybody Would Do It

Written by Tim Knox


Q: I started my business about a year ago and everything is going fine. We're growing and making a profit, butrepparttar stress of runningrepparttar 104835 business is really starting to get to me. I spend more time worrying than working. Sometimesrepparttar 104836 pressure is almost more than I can take. I'm starting to think that I'm not cut out to run my own business. Do you have any advice that might help me decide what to do? -- Steven S.

A: I'm full of advice, Steven, and it's totally free. Just remember, you get what you pay for and I can't be held legally or morally responsible if my advice somehow lands you behindrepparttar 104837 counter at McDonalds. I'm not Dr. Phil, for petesake. I'm shorter and have more hair and less money.

Seriously,repparttar 104838 first thing you need to do is take a few deep breaths and take comfort inrepparttar 104839 fact that you are notrepparttar 104840 first entrepreneur to feelrepparttar 104841 weight ofrepparttar 104842 business world on your shoulders. Every business person, including yours truly, has feltrepparttar 104843 way you do at one time or another. For some, it's a feeling that occurs daily, especially when things aren't going as well as we'd like them to. And don't thinkrepparttar 104844 stress will magically disappear if your business takes off. I know people who run multimillion dollar corporations and they will tell you thatrepparttar 104845 stress level goes up in proportion torepparttar 104846 size ofrepparttar 104847 business. These same people will also tell you they love what they do and would never consider doing anything else.

The difference between these entrepreneurs and you, Steven, is that they have been in business longer and have learned to not only handle stress, but to take stress and transform it into a driving force. They feed offrepparttar 104848 stress. It fuels their creativity and innovation. Stress challenges them, it makes them think, makes them better entrepreneurs.

I thinkrepparttar 104849 real question isn't whether or not you have what it takes to run a business. The real question is do you have what it takes to handlerepparttar 104850 stress of running a business. These are two very different questions andrepparttar 104851 answers depend totally on you.

Even onrepparttar 104852 best of days running a business can be incredibly stressful, not to mention overwhelming and exhausting. It's only natural that there will be times when you wonder if it's really worth it. Asking yourselfrepparttar 104853 "should I just get a real job" question simply means that your human side is showing. And as a human you have a limited tolerance for things you can not control. And that's really whererepparttar 104854 stress of being an entrepreneur comes from. We worry about things we can't control. Things like finding new customers, payingrepparttar 104855 bills, making payroll, and a thousand other things. Sure, we can put forth our best efforts to make these things turn out in our favor, but we really can't controlrepparttar 104856 outcome.

So we worry. And worry breeds stress and stress breeds doubt and doubt breedsrepparttar 104857 feeling that an 800 pound gorilla is using your chest for a lawn chair. It's only natural that you being to wonder, "Is this what I really want to do? Do I have what it takes to run my own business?"

I remember once complaining aboutrepparttar 104858 stress of running my business to an elder entrepreneur. He waved at me like he was swatting a fly and said, "Son, if it was easy, everybody would do it. Now suck it up and move on."

Suck it up and move on… probablyrepparttar 104859 best business advice I've ever gotten. No fortune cookie was ever so onrepparttar 104860 money.

My mentor's eloquent point was this: running a business is never easy and always stressful, but that's what makes it so dang exciting. Running a business is like walking a tight rope… backward… with your eyes shut… and your pants on fire… Man, sure beats working for a living, huh.

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