It Seems That California Is Having Even More Bad Money Problems!

Now comes word that tapxpayers won't be receiving any state income tax refunds is there were supposed to get them.

Also some of those that work for the state have found out that they won't get reimbursed for travel expenses ie inspectors of things like nursing homes won't be getting reimbursed for the amount of money it takes them to travel to the nursing homes to inspect them. An online news article has said that some of these workers use their credit cards when paying for these expenses and if they aren't reimbursed that just makes their credit card balances higher! What's odd about it is that the state isn't even required to reimburse their state workers for their job-related expenses.

Also being withheld are college grants to students - government related grant programs.

For more information about government grant programs or college scholarships that you may be eligible to apple for, please visit my Grant Basics 101 Blog)

Some state workers are being mandatorily asked to not work for 2 days a month which of course means that they don't get paid for those 2 days which means they will make less money and will have less money to pay their mortgages and other bills.

Ironically, the lawmakers themselves receive as much as $4500 per month in expense allowances.

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."

A Tax On Grocery Bags!

I saw this headlined article and couldn't believe it!

There is a mayor who wants to put a 20-cent tax on plastic grocery bags! That means that a customer / shopper would have to pay an additonal 20 cents
for each grocery bag that they use!

I really think that this is so ridiculous! However I am reminded of my local Aldi store where shoppers are charged something like 25-cents to buy their grocery bags.

The tax is being proposed because of the feeling about how plastic bags are not good for the environment and to encourage people to re-use their bags.

Here is a link to the news story!

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!

More News On The Ever-Increasing Foreclosure Front

Here is a current article about Prsident Bush and the current foreclosure problems that are plaguing homeowners who can't afford to meet their monthly mortgage payments.

While the President said that he didn't approve of giving homeowners out and out grants, he did favor programs that would help homeowners with good credit to be able to re-finance their mortgages. However I think that a big problem with this is that there are a lot of homeowners that have bad credit ratings who need help with meeting their monthly mortgage payments. There are a lot of homeowners who have taken mortgages with very high rates and more worse they have taken out adjustable rate mortgages as opposed to fixed-rate mortgages. With adjustable rate mortgages the monthly mortgage payments are not the same every month and will sometimes increase to a lot more than what was paid the previous month.

I was watching one of those infomercials about how there is a lot of money to be made with foreclosures but all I could really think about when I was watching this program was about the people and families that have lost their homes!

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!

Barack Obama Has A Website

I know that most of the politicians have a website but it just struck me as something interesting. Here is a link to his website:

Barack Obama's Website

There is also a blog but its written by his staff. You can post comments and find out what is going on currently in his campaign bid for President.

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.