Lincolnite

Didn’t listen, didn’t care. You hear one politician speak, you’ve heard them all. There’s enough of that (and then some) to go around this year.

I can’t complain about Beutler. He’s not who I would have necessarily chosen, but he’s done fine. The stimulus package was silly, but I will still give points for thinking outside the box and at least floating the idea out there. Once he saw that it was a crap sandwich, he pulled the plug. Fine by me.

I would disagree about your point that we may see incremental improvements on the budget scene (that’s probably not exactly what you said). I predict a fairly sizable downturn in revenues for the next year, which will lead to a wider budget gap. This city relies heavily on sales taxes, etc. - people are buying less, and buying less big ticket stuff. That will be reflected in a lower amount of tax money coming in. Same with whatever taxes and fees are collected on the sale of cars - those sales have plummeted, and won’t rebound for awhile. Ford, GM, and even Toyota, are all down at least 32% in sales, and showroom traffic is half of what it was a year ago.

That will all trickle down to hurt us a little.

<em>I would disagree about your point that we may see incremental improvements on the budget scene (that

Interesting. Perhaps bad use of the word plummetted. But I stand by the premise. For one thing, it’s a different financial world today than it was on September 7 (when the LJS article was posted), and secondly, when the three top-selling auto makes are down 32, 33, and 35% (I think those were the numbers), and showroom traffic is down 50% - we can’t buck those trends forever. Even if we have a worse 4th quarter in auto sales and consumer sales, we’ll likely be down in revenues, and they haven’t cut spending enough to fix the budget gap.

The state and fed will be in worse shape. How many dollars will flow into the coffers from capital gains this year? A helluva lot less than most recent years. That’s why I am in favor of the legislature sitting on as much of the most recent surplus as they can, and I hope they don’t just rush out and spend it.

We’re going to be in a down cycle for a short time due to the current mess. That down cycle’s length of time will likely be decided on November 4.

Just for the record, I’m not a “sky-is-falling” kind of guy about the current economy. I don’t see a depression coming. I don’t see a lengthy recession, in the way the gov’t defines it. I believe that this too shall pass.

However, I think we’ll be in a short-term economic funk until it gets sorted out, and people stop getting freaked and the media moves on to talk about something else.

I don’t fear banks closing in Lincoln, or massive runs on cash, and anyone that’s stuffing cash into their mattresses and buying gold is kind of silly.

But the reality is, we’ll be in a credit bind for awhile. That’s going to have ripple effects everywhere, and my hunch is that some of those ripples will indeed impact the budgeting of the city of Lincoln. It’s not Beutler’s doing in any way, shape, or form. It just is what it is.

I hope you are right that this won’t last long. Personally, I think we’ll be in bad shape for at least 4 more quarters and by the time Xmas rolls around in 2009, maybe then we’ll be out of the woods. But hey lets face it, when the majority of our economy is driven by consumer spending - which is in turn fueled by our addiction to credit - and the people aren’t spending, we’re in deep doo-doo. 

I wonder if there will ever be a day when consumers are urged to save, rather than spend.

I agree. And my “not long” guess would be about 4 quarters as well.

This is why I am a fan of “The Dave Ramsey Show” on KFOR and on the web. He’s all about indivuduals getting their financial lives in order by getting rid of debt, saving, etc. I love his plan.

The only issue I have with Dave Ramsey is that he advocates no credit whatsoever, and that is not realistic for everyone. Reserving cars, buying plane tickets, getting a hotel room reserved-these all ask for credit cards first. Other than his completely credit free advocacy, the rest of his plan is pretty sound though we can differ on whether or not it’s responsible to pay lower interest stuff first just because of the psychological charge it gives you.

I’m a HUGE fan of Dave as well, and subscribe to his podcast.

I do agree that no credit is unrealistic - especially for your house. Also, I DO use credit cards often - but I always pay them off every month and reap reward points (credit card companies hate me). I have no credit card debt, never have, and hopefully, never will.

But other than those differences I have with his approach, his all around philosophy is sound. Dave is the man.

You can use a debit card for every one of the things you mentioned.

I’m a huge fan, and follow his steps pretty closely. Did I cut up every credit card? No. I kept one for my business and one for personal use. I rarely if ever use them, and I pay them off if I do. Do I sit down and do a monthly budget? No. However, with those two exceptions, I pretty much follow his 7 baby steps (have for about 5+ years now), and I will tell you that the feeling of satisfaction and not worrying about money is amazing.

His plan is very simple, as is losing weight (uh, eat less and exercise more. Case closed). The HARD part is   forming new and better habits.

He’s the first to say on his show that you are correct mathematically about paying of higher interest debts first, but he still feels smaller to larger is better due to the sense of accomplishment and getting some payments out of the way. I would never begrudge someone doing the “debt snowball” by interest rate instead of the size of the debt, but I understand why he advocates it the way he does.

Went and saw his “Total Money Makeover Live” event in KC last year. I highly recommend it. I know he’s coming back there in the spring. He now fills Kemper. It’s a great way to spend a day.

Dude, the reason I USE credit cards is to make money off those bastards. If you put everything on a good rewards card (I recommend the citibank dividends card - though I think they discontinued it) and pay it back every month, you can get up to 5% back on select purchases for a period of time (once they find out you are gaming the system however they will lower your rate). I also have a Discover card, but I’m thinking on dumping it to find a better rewards card.

Even though I have absorbed much of his teachings already, I’d still love to attend a Dave Ramsey lecture in person. I’ve seen signs around town for local seminars, but I want to see him in person. How are they?

Listening to his podcasts, the one thing that strikes me is the importance of getting your partner on board with his plan. That’s the deal breaker.

I regularly subscribe to a lot of finance and business podcasts, and Dave remains one of my favorites. FYI another good one is Andy Horowitz’ The Disciplined Investor.

I’m continuing with the finance guru topic instead of the SotC…

I think I’m one of the few who likes Suze Orman, but I LOVE this guy..  What can I say?  401k plans & Roth IRAs get me pumped up.