In California Taxpayers May Get An IOU Instead Of A Tax Refund!

Like a lot of states, California is also feeling the "pinch"! Not since 1992 has the state issued IOU's instead of cash payments. In 1992, amid a budget crisis triggered by a deep recession, natural disasters and the Los Angeles riots, California ran short of cash and was forced to send out thousands of IOUs. They resembled checks but included a notice that they could not be paid by California "for want of funds."

In addition to maybe not receiving tax refunds, there is also the possibility that some student grant payments will not be made as well and that vendors may also not be paid! Under the state Constitution, schools and bondholders get first rights to any cash from the state. Among the first to get IOUs instead of payments would be business and individual taxpayers who are expecting refunds, local governments and recipients of grants from that state's student aid organization. Last year, more than 10 million taxpayers received state refunds totaling $8 billion.

Court-appointed lawyers, 1,700 judges, legislators and their staffs would also go unpaid. And officials are preparing to delay a popular program that helps elderly and disabled Californians by paying their property taxes.

Last year, nearly 5,500 homeowners benefited from a 32-year-old Property Tax Program, which was created to help keep low-income elderly people from being forced to sell their homes or lose them to foreclosure.

(For more information about student loans and grants, just click here)

There is a budget gap (projected to reach $41.6 billion dollars by the middle of next year) in California and no agreements between Govenor Schwarzenegger and the democratic legislators so far.

In a letter sent to the Democrats on Tuesday night explaining his veto, Schwarzenegger wrote: "The measures you sent me punish people with increased taxes, but do not make the serious cuts in spending necessary to balance our budget; do nothing to help keep California families working during this recession; and do nothing to help Californians facing foreclosure in this mortgage crisis."

The Top 10 Scams Of 2008!

Here is a link to the top 10 scams of 2008!

It has been issued by the Chicago Better Business Bureau!

I won't give it all away but as someone that does grant research, I would have to agree that you should investigate places, people and sites that you want to do grant work for you.

Of course also included in the list are a lot of work-from-home scams as well!

Tips To Help Save On Gas Money!

As soon as I saw this online article I knew that I had to post a link to it from this blog!

Currently gas prices are at an all-time high and average at least $4 a gallon and to make matters even more worse that price is expected to rise to $5 per gallon!

How To Reduce Your Gas Costs!

Have You Ever Heard Of "Eminent Domain"?

Its really a terrible situation. Basically what it means is that the government can take your land or property. Here is a link to an article where business owners are facing this threat.

The power of eminent domain means that the government can acquire property from landowners whether they want to sell or not.

What is also interesting about this situation is that a proposed proposition was put on the ballot that would decrease the power of eminent domain but the proposition didn't pass - meaning that it didn't get enough votes (from the voters) to pass. Since the proposition to decrease the power of eminent domain wasn't passed then that means that the power of being able to take one's property by eminent domain is still there.

It also seems that a couple of the buildings are on the historic registry but can still be taken away by the eminent domain process.

There is an effort going on now to collect signatures for a ballot initiative that would prohibit governments from using eminent domain to buy property that would be turned over to private companies. Cities under the proposal still would be allowed to use condemnation powers to build hospitals, schools, roads and other public-use projects.

I believe that this is another reason why people have to get more involved in their community and use the power of their "vote". You may think that something like this won't affect you but indirectly it really does!


I do a lot of grant research work and unfortunately this is a darker side of the government and what it can do.

So far the situation is at a standstill. The eminent domain process takes some time to implement and in the meantime the government wants to be able to settle with the landowners but some of them do not want to move!

This is truly a "darker" side of the government - unfortunately!

One Person CAN Make A Difference!

A student felt absolutely boggled down with all of the college costs that he had. But then he decided to do something about it - and he did! He managed to get started a new program that provides incentives to students who remain in their state after they finished college. The reasoning behind this is that the students would leave the state after they finished college and the new program that was put in place gives the students the incentive to stay in that state.

Of course getting this law/program passed was not easy and the student said that one of the hardest parts was getting enough signatures to get the initiative passed.

A well noted point in the story was that a lot of people feel that as far as politics is concerned they don't think that they can make a difference. But one student managed to do just that! He made a difference!

Congress.org

Here is a very good link that you should keep in your list of resources/references.

I know that a lot of people don't think that it would do any good to know the addresses of their Congress people but fortunately not all people feel this way. This link will take you to a page where you can find out what the addresses (including email addresses) of your Congress people are. Not only that but this site has a lot of information relating to Congress in general. You can find the Congress people for your area, get on the mailing list to see how your area politicians are voting on certain issues and a whole lot more. There are also examples of letter campaigns that have been done - and you can see examples of those.

I know that a lot of people don't think that it will do any good knowing this kind of information but I think that they are wrong. It's becoming increasingly hard enough not to be involved in politics because it affects so many areas of our lives.

I'm working on adding a direct link to this side on the side of my blog but I seem to be having trouble adding it but I will keep working on it.