Andy Hough

Five Radical Ways for the U.S. Government to Raise Revenue

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The federal government is running a humongous deficit but politicians don’t want to raise taxes or cut services since that would be unpopular.   Here are a few of my ideas for new sources of revenue for the government.

  1. Legalize Marijuana- And then tax it.  The government is already making money off tobacco and alcohol it might as well make money from marijuana also.  This should also result in a large savings for law enforcement since they would no longer have to expend money to enforce the marijuana laws.  If legalizing marijuana worked then legalizing more drugs could be considered.
  2. Legalize Prostitution- And then tax it.  They would need to come up with a workable system for this.  The Nevada system with the brothels taking 50% of the prostitute’s income is not a good model.  The prostitute should be the only way making money off her(or his) work, except the government of course.  This also should result in savings for law enforcement.
  3. Legalize Internet Gambling- And then tax it.  People are doing it anyway the government might as well make some money from it.  So far my ideas have all been about legalizing vices and thus moving money from the underground economy to the tax coffers.  I have a couple ideas that don’t involve vices too.
  4. Put Advertisements on Money- Just replace the back of a bill with an ad and the government would have a large source of revenue.  Alternatively, they could also replace the $1 and $5 bills with coins and eliminate the penny.  That would not be too radical though and it would save money rather than generate revenue.
  5. Sell Naming rights to public sites- Professional sports teams make big money selling naming rights to their stadiums.  The federal government could cash in on this too.  Perhaps they could have the Washington(Mutual) Monument or the U.S. Capitol(One) building.  I’m sure you can come up with better examples than that.

As you might guess I’m not entirely serious about these ideas but I do believe there are some sources of revenue out there that the government has yet to tap.

My Stock Portfolio is Up

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My portfolio of individual stocks I started investing in last year is finally showing a profit.  Not much of one but compared to the 30% loss in my Roth IRA it looks pretty good.  This doesn’t matter much since I won’t be using the money for several years but it is good to see it heading in the right direction.  I wish I could say that the superior return of my stock portfolio compared to my Roth IRA was due to my investing skill but it is mostly attributable to luck.  I didn’t start investing in my individual stocks until late October/early November after the stock market had already declined steeply.  This wasn’t because I was timing the market but because I didn’t have the money to invest before then.  Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good.

December Expenses- $707.55

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Here is a breakdown of my expenses for December 2008.

Household $414.69
Transportation $27.18
Food $38.73
Entertainment $103.19
Debt/Education $90
Phone $33.76
Total $707.55

I’m quite happy with my expenses for December. This is the level I’d like my expenses to be at every month. They will be somewhat higher this month because I have to pay for my health insurance. My new health insurance is payable every six months rather than quarterly as my previous health insurance was. I’ve decided I’m going to list my pro-rated monthly expense for health insurance rather than list it as a lump sum expense every six months to give a more accurate view of my average monthly expenses. The food expense is for lunches out and snacks only, the rest of my food expense is included in either the entertainment or household expenses.

I’m also considering paying $600 to sign up for my school’s bar prep course. That will obviously cause a serious increase in my monthly expenses for this month. Bar registration fees and bar prep fees will raise my average monthly expenses for the first part of the year but the last part of the year I should have very low expenses. Hopefully those will offset each other and I’ll meet my goal of having less than $10,000 in expenses for the year.

Five Things You Should Get for Free

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This is just a list I came up with off the top of my head.  I’m sure not everyone will agree with them and there are some exceptional situations where you will have to pay for these items.

  1. Pens- I get free pens as promotional items all the time.  I don’t understand why people pay big bucks for fancy pens.  The only thing you need a pen to do is write and in my experience a free pen writes just as well as an expensive one.
  2. Matches- I don’t need these too often, which is good because it is harder to get free matches anymore.  They are still available at many bars and casinos though.
  3. Drinking Water- This isn’t completely free since you do pay something for the water coming out of your tap.  A glass of water would only cost a fraction of a penny though.  If you carry a reusable drinking container you should rarely if ever find yourself having to purchase bottled water.
  4. Music- It is free on the radio.  You can borrow cds from your local library if you feel the need to listen to a particular song.  If you need to own the music I see promotions for free MP3 downloads all the time.
  5. DVD Rentals- If you have a Redbox near you than you don’t need to rent DVDs.  Redbox comes out with a free code every Monday and that code is good once for every credit/debit card you have.  That allows you to get multiple free rentals.  A quick Google search will turn up even more free rentals.
  6. Stock Trades- Blogging Banks suggested getting free stock trades with Zecco.  I use them and haven’t had any problems so far.  I believe there are some other ways to get free stock trades as well.

Check out the comments for many more freebies.

Goals for 2009

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I have already posted about a couple of goals I set for 2009 but with the New Year rapidly approaching I decided to add a few more. I’ve also decided I should try to make them S.M.A.R.T. (specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and timely).

The goals I already set were to have my expenses under $10,000 for next year and my income to be higher than my expenses. I may not have thought out those goals too well though. I can probably keep my expenses under $10,000 next year if I don’t include the cost of bar prep; with bar prep included that goal probably isn’t very realistic. I might not be able to have my income be higher than my expenses either because I plan on hiking for five months of the year. During which time I’ll be making very little money. I’m keeping these goals as non-smart goals for now and I’ll revisit them when it becomes clearer on whether they are realistic of not.

Now on to the S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Financial
Increase my passive income- This goal should easily be met. I will be investing in more dividend-paying stocks and developing other sources of passive income such as eHow.

Health
Lose 30 pounds- My goal last year was to lose 20 pounds. I went backwards on that and now I need to lose 30 pounds. If I go hiking the last 5 months of the year I will easily lose 30 pounds. Hiking would be a lot easier if I were in shape before I started though. My plans to get in shape include. Run/do cardio 3 times a week or more. Finish the Hundred Pushup Challenge. Drastically reduce or eliminate my soda consumption. Eat out no more than 2 times a week. These are all attainable steps but I haven’t done them in the past. I need to do them now.

Blogging
Increase my subscribers to 500 or more- Last year I started off with less than 100 subscribers and my subscribers hover around 300 now. Natural growth alone might get me to 500. I have some plans to help promote the blog though. I will submit my posts to Carnivals and Festivals more often. I will have giveaways at least once a month. I will write more posts. And lastly, I will look for more ways to promote this blog.

I will check up on these goals at the end of every month. That way I can see if I am making progress towards my goal and adjust accordingly.