Fiscal Responsibility and Rock

Though I may have been called a liberal, politically, I am quite fiscally conservative in my personal life. El Esposo and I just bought some musical instruments the other day, but the money we spent is completely accounted for within our budget and no credit was necessary. Little things like taking lunch to work, making my falling apart boots last one more winter, holding onto my "allowance" money like a miser over the months, often using the "cash back" feature of my credit card to pay for our entertainment (yes, I am THAT cheap), and El Esposo saving every last penny of the tip money he has made (very much in the style of obsessive compulsive) over a couple years playing gui-tar at a certain place every week, make it so we can afford a new keyboard:



and the guitar El Esposo has been drooling over since birth:

We also shopped around A LOT before dropping the cash and made a list of must have and nice-to-have features for the keyboard, did a cost-benefit analysis, and voila.

On the other hand, we are fiscally lucky to the max. Neither of us has lost a job as the economy has been tanking and the money we lost in the stock market was pretty small potatoes since we're young. My raise last year was perfectly the amount we needed to buy our new place with enough money down so we won't have to worry as much to pay the mortgage, which is technically less than the rent of our last relatively affordable one bedroom apartment (not including taxes and stuff).

So, this is where our fiscal luck starts to run out: Because we bought our house a week before the end of last year instead of this year, we will have to pay back the $8000 first-time homebuyer tax credit we get this year. But, the truth is, that's more our style anyway. Though I would like to add a provision that since we are paying our tax break back, our children owe $8000 less towards the deficit, but instead I guess we'll just have to try and teach them fiscal responsibility so they can handle whatever is asked of them.

In this attitude, I went to the recovery.gov website and left this comment, which possibly no one will ever read:

"I really like the idea of this site and hope that it lives up to its promise to track how the money is spent and how the recovery is manifest. We have all heard a lot about accountability and transparency from President Obama, and I am sure that he realizes accountability means not only reporting on the good stuff. What I would really like to see added, either here or elsewhere as a .gov site is a way to track how the stimulus/recovery is being paid for. I realize it is not being paid for up front and the government is essentially taking out a gigantic loan to be paid for by our future prosperity. I'm not going to object to that idea as I have not done enough research to counter it. However, since all loans need to be paid back, I would like to see that activity tracked. I understand that the immediate focus is economic recovery, but following quickly on its heels has got to be balancing the budget and reducing the deficit. I would love to see the connection made between the two. I supported President Obama in the election and especially identified with his talk of responsibility. Why not use the government to model the kind of responsibility we all need in our own individual households?"

And, if you'll excuse me, it is now time to rock.

P.S., THE CONTEST IS STILL RUNNING THROUGH FEB 28.