I hope you are well. I've kept reasonable track of what you have to deal with on a day to day basis. It seems tedious, at best, and ridiculous at times.
Generally, I don't feel compelled to write to my politicians. I have the sense, for better or worse, that American Politics are a sort of dilapidated old truck that gets the job done, however inefficiently. Change, good and bad, tends to be incremental. This is frustrating, but predictable.
I'm not an economist, and I'm not sure that economists know more or less than me--or more or less than a palm reader for that matter. I know that their job is hard, but when dealing in probabilities, there's ample room for interpretation. I work in construction. I've been fortunate. I'm still working. And, because of fortune and hard work, I've been kept on to try and find a way to maintain profitability for my company. Working in home building has its advantages. The main one being that you can build your own home. I invest my retirement carefully, and spend with discretion, but building my own homes has proved to be the most efficient way in which I add value to my family's bottom line. I live in a home I built now, and my family and I are about to begin building another home.
We are taking advantage of the current climate. Land is cheap, and interest rates are low. It is a risk, to be sure, but a calculated one. We will build an extremely energy efficient home that will accommodate our family, and create a space where we will be able to take care of our parents, as the need arises. It's good development. We will probably sell our current home.
I'm not writing to complain. The recession has been hard, but recessions are cyclical; a reminder to be prudent. We are trying to do our part to realize our dreams, and as a small part of that, do what we can to improve our community's economy--many of the people we work with will be payed to work on our new home. I'm writing to make the point that incremental economic problems and incremental government solutions are expected. Catastrophic problems are harder to deal with.
If my work continues to dry up, I can make my family's plan work. It will be hard, but not impossible. It's annalogous to my profession. If I make a mistake, and catch it soon enough, I can correct it, at a bearable cost to myself. If I put it off, to the end of a job, the cost is much greater. Please do not put off a plan to reduce our country's debt and budget deficit. I can deal with a slow economy. I cannot deal with interest rates going from 5% to 15% overnight.
I appreciate your maintenance of my tax rate. And I have dear friends that are collecting unemployment. They deserve the extension. Stimulate the economy now. I understand that. However, push for a plan to get our spending under control. I like the deficit commission's proposal of reducing tax rates and eliminating deductions--even the mortgage interest deduction. I can afford a moderate tax increase. I cannot afford an overnight 10% interest rate increase. Please do what it takes to convince our creditors that we are as solid and investment as we've always been. My wife, my parents, and our daughter will continue to try to realize our dream, and in turn do our part to simulate the economy.
Thank You,
Marc
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