joanmcq

And it's raining here! Got cold so quickly I had to throw on a sweater and long pants.

Not that I'm taking off work....

:)

Yes, I think so. It shows how much confidence rick has in my house though, that his first thought was that the house was just randomly deciding to collapse!

I wish there was an undecided button. I might not chime in on this one until November or so.

I read a bit about him going bankrupt and feeding his kids with food stamps, which makes the tea party rhetoric a bit hypocritical. IMHO.

Damn, we just had an earthquake. Of course, I was in my car & didn't feel a thing, just like the '89 one. Wasn't in Sacramento-we don't get earthquakes, but 145 miles north.

Phil Drake is a tea party bigot, and I won't support a company that is campaigning against my client base. Learning that bit of info cemented me against Drake.

Sch E? Is it a working interest or a royalty interest?

Iraq was a good idea? The Patriot Act? Puhleez! You'd think all of you that hate government intrusion would hate the Patriot Act.

Go to 12.15 at least.

Yeah, like Dubya.

No, the PPC deskbooks are a lot more in depth. This year I bought the Quickfinder All states on ProReview, which is a iPad app. I'll probably switch back from The Tax Book to Quickfinder just because I like ProReview so much.

Your town isn't my town. Every place is different.

I don't trust the smartphone thing. I've got a Wells Fargo account for my rentals and the check deposit feature is sweet. Unfortunately, I use my credit union for my biz, so I still need to make a note as to what checks I've deposited.

Well out here in CA, you can earn a percentage of your UI and still draw UI. Benefits are reduced after some piddling small amount; it was $68 for me. I've drawn UI twice while still working my biz, when I was a seasonal employee. Now there is an issue with taking a crappy job that pays less than your UI. If you're drawing max UI, you get $1800/month. Minimum wage gets you $1240/month gross, and if you lose that job, your UI could be reduced depending on when your highest quarters are for that claim. If you're already struggling, why chance it? And Catherine, I did hire a part-time seasonal employee, and she's still working for me when I have work. In fact, I'm looking for more bookkeeping work because she can do it, and I get better records at tax time, and she keeps making money, and I can make some too. Win/win/win. The benefits outweigh the hassle of payroll.

I'm not updating because I'm working fine with 12.15. Printings even gotten a bit faster, and I currently have three returns open. I'm not risking it. Actually, most of this year I haven't updated until I see R Fassit is doing ok!

Catherine, it would have been a state agency that threatened to take your friends children. So that example really isn't pertinent to a discussion of whether a safety net should be at the state level, now is it? Now I go to an event that has 'radical self reliance' as one of its 10 principles. That said, community is very important to the event, as 'gifting' of oneself, ones resources, etc. is another principle. I do have a deep belief in doing for oneself. But then I also have a friend, who is coming to the end of the extended unemployment. He has savings. He's also middle aged, and spent his whole work life in an extremely specialized industry. He's actually gotten a few interviews, but has a stack of rejection letters from joBs he's applied for. No one wants him. He's considering trying his hand at playing pro poker because he perceives he has so few choices, the others being keep trying at jobs until he runs out of money and then putting his gun in his mouth, or just doing that before his money runs out. He believed that if one just worked hard & saved, you could have the 'American dream', and until about 18 months ago he thought he had that. Yeah, I know he's seriously depressed, and should get help. But hey, in October he can apply for MediCal, since he'll have no income at that point.

Welcome to the board Dominoes, and thank you for this utterly non-hysterical comment in many falling for the latest 'scandal' inflated by the supposedly liberal media.

I'm on the forum now. Are you back up?

Yes, if disability or SS leaves the family in poverty, then let other systems step in to fill the gap. Automatically giving the children benefits doesn't do the system any good, and is outside of what it was designed to pay for.

No, it's the NY State Workers Comp Insurance Program. As I found out getting my own workers comp for a part time seasonal employee, it's not easy to get WC insurance for a really low payroll. At least I found some without having to go through the state system. This is the only employee in NY, part time so much that she hasn't even worked in 2013.

Ok, this gives me a much better idea of what's going on. I wonder why they haven't had this issue with CA & WA?

I know, but the postman doesn't know if I just didn't pick up the mail the day before or if someone stuck something in there. It's a big mailbox, as I mentioned.

My question about SS is: why do minor children of someone collecting SS automatically get their own benefits? As in man of 65 has much younger wife who is still working and he has retired and getting a pension and SS. His kids automatically get SS too. WTF? This wasn't built into the actuarial assumptions.