The Super Blog

First, take a look at this page: http://reaganbushdebt.org/

The tax layout I support is one where there are no property or income taxes, and taxes are either excise or on sales. However, in my perfect world, spending would be such that it wouldn’t even register as government spending by today’s standards.

Lets have an analogy. The current level of federal (federal only, this does not include state debt!) debt is about $9.7 trillion. The federal tax revenues are about $2.7 trillion. The US government is outspending collections by about $2 billion per day, currently.

So, what’s the problem? Well the analogy is that the United States is like a person that makes $50,000 gross income per year having amassed $180,000 in debt while spending $40 more per day than they make. A wholly untenable position. In that condition, almost any person would go bankrupt in a relatively short amount of time.

It’s amazing that this level of debt has almost entirely been accumulated by the last three Republican presidents (important point, in my opinion).

It’s also amazing to me that both candidates are claiming they will reduce overall tax revenue. I do not see that as a tenable position. McCain will reduce taxes a little more than Obama overall, but McCain will probably spend more than Obama. McCain’s plan, therefore, will push us to real insolvency more quickly than Obama.

What will the consequences be once we reach insolvency? I don’t know. Russia is starting to act up, and China will probably be the country that takes our place as the primary super power. Iran and North Korea are very afraid of our indiscriminate war machine and are doing what they can to become threats in their own right. North Korea is probably further along than Iran.

At home, the consequences will probably be that the country will turn into an authoritarian poor country, which is where the Republicans are taking it anyway, as they have already successfully reduced the value of our currency in exchange by half and domestic prices are rising unabated. They will continue to erode the effective coverage of the constitution and eventually remove all individual rights from the populace, leaving a police/corporate state with a few ultra rich living well while the rest of the country languishes in poverty. Bush already said that the constitution is “just a goddamn piece of paper”, and McCain has now morphed his policies into exactly matching those of Bush. Given the tendency of Republicans to spend excessively while reducing tax intake and killing our reputation in the world, how can you vote for them?

So, I say “Vote Obama” to stave off federal insolvency a little longer.

I have started reading CreditBoards and FICO Forums frequently since I became interested in the topic of credit during the purchase of my house. I’ve learned a lot about credit, and I think I may actually go back to school for Financial Planning because of the interest in this topic I have uncovered. Conveniently, I work at UGA and would be able to go to school near where I work. Hopefully I can get back in.

*NOTE: Sallie Mae apparently has fixed the reporting issue, and should no longer be damaging Equifax credit scores. If you would like to check your Equifax FICO score, you can visit Coastal FCU for a discounted product selection.

If you have a Sallie Mae student loan, and you have chosen one of the graduated payment plans (plans that have a lower payment at the beginning and go up later in the life of the loan), then Sallie Mae is currently lying about you on your credit report. If you had good credit prior, your score could have already dropped as much as 150 points.

Basically, if you were on the lower payment plan, but paying as agreed, they have added a notation that makes it seem as if you are behind more than 60 days, and the entire balance is due in entirety, because they are reporting it like it is a charge-off. The wording added is something like this: Arrangements made with credit grantor to make partial payments. This thread on MyFico.com will help you see what is up. If you are having this problem, you should get in touch with Sallie Mae, local and national news organizations, Equifax, and your representatives in your state and national legislatures. Read that thread for specific contact information.

This is a serious affront by Sallie Mae. There are probably millions of Americans affected by this issue. Hopefully a class action suit is in the works, but unfortunately, that will not be enough to help you if you are in the process of buying a house or otherwise getting credit. If you are in the mortgage process, you should be upfront and let your mortgage officer know what is going on. Sallie Mae is being very nonchalant about the problem, and may not get it fixed in a timely manner. I’m not sure, but it appears that the problem is currently localized with Equifax. However, the score drops with Experian and Transunion may come any day now.

Good Luck.

So, I haven’t written anything on here in a long time. I’ve been relatively busy, but not that busy, mostly just lazy. I did buy a house between the last post and now, so that is something. You can see it if you want. When I started looking for a house at the beckoning of my wife, I wasn’t really ready for that step, so I spent a lot of time reading about credit issues, even though there wasn’t much I could do about mine in such a short period of time. I ended up having to do an FHA loan because we hadn’t saved up a down payment for the house. Looks like a refi will be in order in a year or two, as long as rates are still reasonable.

I’ve been reading a lot at FICO Forums, along with some at Credit Boards. Maybe I will spend some time writing up stuff no one will read that shows what I’ve learned from those places.

Remember, if you’re getting your scores from a three in one service, you’re getting worthless scores.