Straight from the dictionary:
def⋅i⋅cit
| 1. | the amount by which a sum of money falls short of the required amount. |
| 2. | the amount by which expenditures or liabilities exceed income or assets. |
| 3. | a lack or shortage; deficiency. |
| 4. | a disadvantage, impairment, or handicap: The team's major deficit is its poor pitching. |
| 5. | a loss, as in the operation of a business. |
Straight from the horses mouth:
Gov. David Paterson of New York said 43 states now have budget deficits totaling some $100 billion as tax revenues plunge.
"It's clear that the federal government needs to step in and jump-start the economy," said Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts.
Straight from my mouth:
This has been probably the toughest year for me and my family. My wife lost her job in December 2007 and it hasn't been the same since. I'm not blaming anyone for our hardships and I'm not asking for any government bailout. My point is; we had to cut back! Put on the brakes! Circle the wagons! We didn't spend our way out of a personal recession!
We are actually looking for ways to reduce household expenses. The thermostat stayed on 63 this winter, my daughter is learning to sew, we planted a garden this past summer and have plans to triple it in size and I'm learning to hunt. We are also contemplating on turning off cable and our telephone, keeping the Internet as our source of entertainment and communications.
We are the prime example of spending money and not saving enough during the good times. So how can spending more (money that we don't have) improve our situation? I'm confused, anyone care to help me on this one?
What do you plan to do in 2009? How are you going to make a difference?
2 comments:
Ah, yes, deficits..
Here is a fun image
Fantastic graph!
Our family will be cutting back as well, although we technically started this time last year. Just like we did last tax season, 100% of our tax return is going to debt. We're using that money to snowball our debt-related bills. We'll pay off our car and used that freed up money to hit our credit cards one by one.
Other than that, we are also planting a huge garden, dining out far less, ebaying and yard selling things that aren't necessary to have around, and yes, turning the thermostat down doing a bit of draft-proofing in the house.
We are also going to look into helping our community out in some way or another. Obama is right. Much better to do that than be plastered to a tv or computer screen all day. Time to start acting a little more human again. It's easy to lose yourself during hard times. We're going to start holding our head up.
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