Budget cut of 17 billion dollars
Monday, May 11th, 2009 | Uncategorized
I LOST 40 POUNDS THIS YEAR
I lost 40 pounds this year but you would never know it by looking at me. I decided to implement the federal government’s method of reckoning and creative bookkeeping. When the government reports that the budget was cut 17 billion dollars, what they mean is that the next fiscal year’s budget, which is much higher than the current years budget, was reduced by 17 billion dollars. There was no real savings and in fact, the budget is higher than the current budget. In my simplistic mind I see that as an increase and not a budget cut. How about you?
So, I can claim a 40 pound weight loss because I was expecting to gain 50 pounds but only gained 10 for a net loss of 40 pounds according to accepted government reporting practices. You can apply creative accounting to other areas of your life as well. Imagine how your bank balance could be ballooned by applying this technique. Or ladies, imagine the possibilities using this practice while shopping for clothes. You can report back to your husband that you purchased all those clothes and didn’t spend a dime. In fact, you had a net savings. You were expecting to spend $500 but managed to obtain your purchases for only $432.27 for a net gain of $67.73. “Honey, I made $67.73 today by shopping. Do you want me to deposit my earnings in the checking account?” Your bank balance would increase by $567.73 because you didn’t need the $500 and made $67.73 to boot. What a deal!
Unfortunately, in the real world we can’t operate like our elected officials. If we did, we would be put in jail for fraud. Bernie Madoff discovered the reality of that fact. He was simply employing the principles that his elected officials used. The social security system is the mother of all ponzi schemes. Apparently Bernie thought what was “good for the goose was good for the gander.”
Creative accounting can be used in the home-bidding process as well. A contractor may provide you with a bid that is lower than others but he may have left out some critical elements or priced some things on the low side, expecting to come back later with a change order to recoup the monies spent. When getting bids from several contractors, make sure you are comparing “apples to apples.” My advise would be to get bids from two contractors who have flawless reputations and good recommendations from their previous customers. Be specific and clear in what you want priced in your new home and apply the same criteria to both contractors.
Creative building-schedule promises have been used to lure a customer away from contractors who are honest. A few years ago, after spending many hours with a prospect, they were lured away from me because they were told their home could be built in a time frame much shorter than I had told them. The husband wanted to use me but his wife thought the promised shorter build-schedule was more important. As it turned out, their home took about five months longer from start to finish than I had told them. I started a larger home about a month after their home was started and finished it about four months before their home was finished. Ask a builder’s references if their home was delivered on time.
You can rest assured that we will not use creative bidding practices or creative scheduling to entice you to use us to build your home. We will price your home fairly and tell you as honestly as possible how long it will take to complete construction. Our goal is to have as good a relationship with you at the end of the process as we had at the beginning.
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