Today's Financial News

Stocks Take Nose Dive On Global Economic Fears

by THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Double Dip: Is U.S. Headed For Another Recession?

by NPR
Obama Signs Bill To Raise Debt Ceiling

by NPR STAFF AND WIRES

The headlines are not very positive these days.  Maybe that's why I make no effort to catch the news.  Instead, I ponder my own debt ceiling and try to calm my economic fears.  I don't think about the national debt or the current figures for unemployment.  I have my own budget to balance and that takes all the financial energy I've got.

I am lucky to have a secure job at a fairly good salary.  Many people are suffering much more than I am.  I've been with my employer for a long time and we get along well.  I have a good retirement plan, or at least I think I do.  Again, I know I am one of the lucky ones.

What I haven't had in several years is a pay increase.  Not a penny.  I work in the public sector and one of the first belts that gets tightened is personnel costs.  An across the board freeze on cost of living increases can save millions of dollars in the annual budget without measurable taxpayer complaints.  The only taxpayers complaining are the employees who didn't see any additional dollars in their take-home pay to cover ever increasing food, utilities and insurance costs.

Well, after years of cutting this corner and that, I am really starting to feel the squeeze.  Maybe it's the teenage boy who is suddenly consuming his weight in groceries each week.  Maybe it's the increased availability of technology that seems like such a good deal since our entertainment budget has been slashed.  Maybe my priorities are just screwed up.  I don't know.

What I do know is that there was no family vacation this summer, no time on the beach, no time surrounded by my children to feed my soul.  The joy of giving has been diminished in direct proportion to the ability to give.  The stress of getting from one month to the next has taken some of the fun out of life.  To balance the scales and my checkbook, I have to strike a balance between worry and letting go.

I may have grown a little too comfortable seeing my accounts in the red.  I need to force my spending be more thoughtful.  In deciding what to spend where, I have to allow for a little bit of fun and a whole lot of creative thinking.  Just like the big guys in Washington D.C., I have to weigh cost versus benefits giving careful consideration to lost opportunities.  Unlike our nation's decision makers, I have to do this analysis, research, weighing and measuring alone.  I don't have any committees to hold hearings.  I don't have anyone to debate. There are plenty of lobbyists who would like to advise me but their self-interest is obvious.  Blocking their messages is another full-time job but I lack an administrative assistant, too.  That position was cut long ago.

So, what's my point?  Only that I need to say that I hate it, that budget management sucks, that I'd rather sit on the beach and watch the sun set but I can't afford that right now.