next january will be three years since i got my green card, time flies when you’re having fun. although i have my green card, i can’t vote.
after many years of writing in none of the above on various ballots in elections in trinidad, i find myself in a position that is truly frightening. i don’t even have the option to voice my dissent in a public forum. isn’t this how the boston tea party happened? the people were tired of paying unreasonable taxes without having a voice. some friends of mine just moved from DC back to Trinidad and i was meaning to ask them for their tags so i could put one on the front of my car. i think the thing that burns me is my inability to make a contribution to in any form about where my taxes dollars are spent.
i’m not about the handout. not to anyone, the bear sterns bailout pisses me off just as much as the people on welfare for years. i firmly believe there should be a cutoff point for welfare, what do you mean you can’t find a job. in the last three years there have never been less than four W-2s delivered at the end of january, in 05, i think we had an all-time high of seven and two 1099s and these were concurrent jobs. maybe that’s why there’s a problem in the labour market, we’ve got all the jobs. and the concept i’m paying to bailout a privately held billion dollar company makes my blood boil.
and i wonder how many people are in the same boat i’m in, i’d be curious to see actual numbers. what percentage of taxpayers are non-citizens? what percent of the tax burden is carried by these people, especially considering all the people in specialty industries on H1B visas?
in january, i’ll have had my permanent card for three years which makes me eligible to apply for citizenship. on the face of it, it’s another $600+ to the USCIS, plus whatever documentation they require and the indeterminate wait, a trip to Memphis for an interview and the quiz. it will give me the right to participate in government – local, state and federal and as i understand it i wouldn’t have to give up my Trinidadian citizenship however the downside of this is an issue with the tax system that that forces citizens to pay taxes when they live abroad. how is that fair or right to pay tax on income in the country of residence and the country of citizenship? basically you’re paying a premium to be a US citizen.
i`m following with abject fascination; you know the rubbernecking at a fatal crash kind of way; this new bankruptcy bill and it seems like indentureship and poorhouse are on the way in, again.
one of the reasons i`m watching on, in abject horror, is we are struggling with some debt of our own and have received all manner of threatening phone calls and completely untrue statements from the credit card company. vic had this credit card for over 10 years, making her payments until November 2003 when she lost her job, about two months after i arrived they phone calls started coming and it`s interesting the lengths these companies will go to get their money. they accused me of being a bad husband for letting my wife running up this credit card debit; never mind the majority of it currently is interest; then told her she was a bad wife and mother because she couldn`t pay, told me my credit would be ruined if she didn`t pay, because i`m married her, the debt was now mine legally; those last two statements are patently untrue. we`re currently making interest payments; just barely; and squirrelling money away until we can make a settlement offer.
we`re not intending to file for bankruptcy; we`re sort of solvent, we have no credit cards so we`re not incurring anymore debt and we`ve got health insurance; sort of; but we have no savings so in the case of major emergency we would be in trouble and we seem to be the lucky ones. i thought bankruptcy protection was supposed to help people out of a tight spot, not just the ones with money.
we have an opportunity to clear up a financial albatross but; there is always a `but` isn`t there; i can`t get a loan from our bank to make the settlement because i have no credit.
i don`t exist, well at least until about 9 months ago, i didn`t pay bills, i had no debt, no social security number. i haven`t lived anywhere long enough, i haven`t worked anywhere long enough, so i`m a non-person. vic has a credit history but isn`t working full time anywhere and doesn`t qualify. i`m hoping to hear from our bank today to see if our combined job/credit history situation is good enough for us to settle the credit card and repay the bank at a significantly lower interest rate.
this whole concept of existence based on your social security number smacks very much of the mark of the beast. who you are and what you can and cannot do based on a series of number is a more than a little distressing.
i got paid today and for one brief shining moment it looked like we would have something left over for us to treat ourselves. that moment soon passed but not entirely.
we`re actually pretty good financially this week but there are some blips on the horizon, starting with the USCIS required medical this afternoon and then a colposcopy for vic later this month; neither of which are covered by health insurance. well mine isn`t and vic only has major medical now.
we also need to make a major grocery run, we`re out of a lot of basic stuff. plus, what happens when your wife works in a book store and you`re both book lovers? you buy lots of books. well you take lots of book and try to make sure the account is paid off. we`ve been pretty good about not abusing the account and the discount so far, but i went on a bit of spree this week and ordered three book and picked up another three in the store. slowly but surely my amazon wishlist is getting whittled down. this week i got Nick Hornby`s Songbook, the Jon Stewart America book and the new Hunter S. Thompson; Hey Rube, still on order is From Hell, Erotique Noire and The Mammoth book of Sex Diaries. that i think is our entertainment/treat budget right there.
at least we have an entertainment/treat budget right?
also out the door was the tax return. which i`m very proud of myself for. i e-filed this morning and should get a response in the next 24-48 hours ensuring that i`ve done everything correctly and this should be the only year with all the specific complications like declaring foreign income. hopefully all the returns forward should be simpler.
i think the insurance scenario may be sorted, i called the company that we have our life, car and renters` insurance with and they gave me some good advice. apparently when you purchase family insurance, there is the assumption that there will be addition children and your rates are padded to account for the possibility of pregnancy. vic and i decided that we`d done enough for the planet`s population so there are no more children in our future, so we`re getting individual policies for her and the boychick; with the same deductible as i have in the office but no vision; for about 75% of what it was going to cost me if i kept them on the plan. i have to say i`m really pleased with that. the difference in take home now that it`s just me will cover the added premiums without making us destitute.
