[Digg] The Mom in Credit Card Debt Who Spends $400 on Starbucks Every Month

The oldest Starbucks in the world by CCNZ.

Here's another item of interest I gleaned off of Digg, this time a Consumerist article about a woman named Felice, who appeared on Oprah who despite being more than $135,000 in credit card debt continues to spend like there's no tomorrow.

Based on the article, she's been reported to spend at least $400 per month on branded coffee, $60 a week on tanning and manicures along with continued clothing purchases. All this without bringing in more than $5,000-6,000 a month! Why do people like this even exist?

Call me a stick in the mud if you wish, but given I tend to manage the budget here at home - okay, perhaps it's more like a spending plan - I just feel appalled by such wanton waste. The situation is further compounded by the fact that she has children and even sells their toys if she doesn't like them. WTF?!?!

Wake up and smell the credit card bills! Managing your finances isn't that hard as long as you're willing to make some hard decisions. Clearly some of us are far less mature than others.

[US] Bye, Bye Big Bird?

I'm beginning to use Digg's Blot It feature more and more these days.

Here's another item of interest, this time about the Public Broadcasting Service otherwise known as PBS. As part of Bush's proposed $2.9 billion budget is an almost 25% drop in funding for the corporation behind the network that has been home to such shows as Sesame Street and the somewhat infamous Buster the Bunny.

This is not the first time it has been proposed though - it has come up time and time again but so far PBS has survived primarily because of Congressional protection.Given how the Democrats are largely against a lot things when it comes to this version of the budget, let's just hope the remember to save the little folk on Sesame Street as well.



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[US] Just Under 3 Trillion Dollars

It's that time of the year again - President Bush has forwarded his $2.9 trillion dollar budget proposal for approval from Congress. What sparks the most controversy is not total budget amount but ultimately where all the money is supposed to go.

A large part of the, about $145 billion in fact, is put aside for military spending in Iraq for 2008 alone with an additional $50 billion earmarked for spending in 2009. In order to help support this increase in war funding, Bush proposes to cut budgets in 141 government programs while still protecting the tax cuts he authorized during his first term. Other sources of income are set to come from Medicare since he's also proposing increases in premiums to help support the war spending.

In the end, he claims that he'll be able to achieve what the Democrats have also promised - a balanced budget in 5 years, which is tagged at the year 2012.

Let's get real here - after spending $400 billion in Iraq, sending an additional 21,500 troops despite promises that eventually the US will be pulling out of the middle eastern country he actually thinks the Democrats are going to approve a dramatic increase in military spending, the biggest ever in the recent history of the war? If you didn't think Bush was arrogantly dense, this is definitely the time to wake up and smell the stupidity.

The Iraq war is such a sensitive issue, one that the Democrats practically rallied around during the November elections and that they continue to push against today. A bipartisan senate is making their move to make a sort of "non confidence" motion that will show how against the war they are. Public opinion of the war, and in turn of the president, are at an all-time low. And despite this, he wants to increase military spending?

When this guy stays the course, he really stays the course!

Fat chance that this is going to get through Congress without one major word war in the coming weeks. It makes you think that Dubya is practically handing the presidential elections over to the Democrats on a silver platter.

Related Links:

• CNN.com: Bush's $2.9 trillion request is 'sticker shock'
  
• CNNMoney.com: Military, war center-stage in Bush budget