Money,Money, MONEY.. (thinking the theme song for the Aprentice)

"But in this world nothing can be said to be certain, except death and taxes." ~ Benjamin Franklin

  I don't know what it is like for the average American.  I only know what my family and I go threw.  YES, we live pay check to pay check.  If my husband doesn't work we don't get to do things like oh say eat and pay rent or pay for wonderful little things like AOL and helping our economy out.  My husband is the only wage earner in our household right now, and that is what seems best for our family with four children to raise.  We are I think a far cry from even being in the upper middle class income bracket and at times have even lived border line poverty level.  When you don't have much and are not used to much, it isn't that big of a deal and *gasp* you are even grateful for what you do have.  My children have learned the difference between what a Want and a Need is.  You want candy, but we need real food, YOU want new toys, but we need clothes. As well has my husband and I.  We want a Harley but we need a car or van to fit us all in.  We want cable t.v. but we need to pay for our utilities.  You get my point, most families come into a sense of the difference of want and need and how to balance it out. Often aournd here..Want turns it to a pipe dream lol Oh ya one last one, I want name brand now and then, but I don't need it.. generic is just as good and sometimes better.  

 My husband has ALWAYS been a good worker and provider.  Before his current profession he was a mechanist and welder.  It paid well but there was a point where he would top off at what an employer wanted to pay and he knew he wasn't happy with what he was doing and at times didn't like some of the dangers associated with that kind of work.  The last company he worked for was a small one but they almost always had work going on, but I don't know if it was mismanagement or just cuz they was small, but there was sometimes an issue of if you didn't know if that pay check they just gave you would go threw or be like rubber.  So when Josh was presented with the opportunity to change careers it was a blessing.  

He is an apprentice thru the local painter's union. (I have my gripes about unions but I will save that) It is a three year program but he actually learns how to do his craft and all the safety things associated with it.  He didn't just go and buy a card like some do.  Apprentices ofcourse make less than journeymen and when he started that first year it was a big drop in pay for him, but we always kept our eye at the end of the tunnel and knew God was going to see us threw it.  Really! It has been a faith building, trial by fire, sort of experience. And God has been so awesome threw it all. When he does finally finish and become journeymen, he will be making what I like to think of as BIG MONEY, but he will be worth every penny. The first year was very shaky and I am sure we could have qualified for all sorts of assistant programs but we only took advantage of The Head Start (I am really bummed that we dont qualify for it and Lilly and Sophia will miss out on that) one for the kids.  God blessed us threw our church family a lot!  Second year when he got his raise I thought, wow we are almost rich! Hahaha we didn't count or plan on a very slow winter, like most experienced construction workers do.  We are still kinda catching up from it. When he became third year as we got ready for that next raise I was thinking, "yesss 80% of scale, a five dollar raise, we will surely have it made!"  And this is where I get pissed!

Apparently with this raise it bumped us up into a new tax bracket.  After taxes being taken out, and after what the union requires and money that goes towards the vacation fund and health and welfare fund and retirement funds and funds for this and that bla blaba.. He takes home almost the same as before the raise!!!  I am thinking  "WHERE IS MY MONEY!" this is so not fair! Josh even changed what he claimed on his W2 but that had about no effect on the take home.   

I am not stupid, I took government in High School, I know taxes is what pays for all the things we need to run our wonderful blessed country.  I know it is our taxes that pays for Head Start that I so loved, and for the help my little sister gets for daycare and food stamps because she is a single working mother.  I know taxes pay for our roads and bridges that we need.  Taxes pay for the schools I send my two older children to.  But is it really fair that the first 4 months of the year of earnings go to the government!?  Isit fair that my congressmen and other representatives get to vote on raising their salaries every year to wages I can't even fathom and also get life time healthcare coverage and big retirement pay?  Yes, I am sure they need those slick suits to do their job and the big staff and fancy offices.  I am not saying all elected officials are like that and just in it for the money, but I can see why it is an incentive to have a longgggg political career.  Bigger government = less money for me and my family.  I am not one to go on rants about taxes and politics (does seem like it is more often here though that I do lol) I don't want much out of life.  I just want to raise my family the way I THINK I should, and having a few extra's here and there would be nice.  It is no wonder that both parents HAVE to work to make the ends meet.  And yes I do tend to think that children loose out on a lot when parents are both working and there is less supervision and family bonding.  Daycare's should not be raising our babies, people should be able to stay home and do that job if they want to.  Don't get me started on all these government programs either that are nothing more than socialism in disguise.  While I appreciate some of the safety nets that are in place, because WE have had to use them here and there, I don't appreciate those who LIVE off of them and make it a way of life and pass that plantation thinking on to their families. 

Something HAS GOT TO change, starting with the family and all the way on up to the big goverment we have.  Mind sets have got to change.  Goverment and Familes need to walk the line between spending on Wants and Needs.  

 This rant has been inspired by this link sent to me in an e-mail.  I don't back this movie but I found it interesting.. Take a gander at it and what it says about taxes.