Stale Green Light

I was reading about a study recently reviewed that analyzed leisure time and how it correlates with education. What they found was interesting because they discovered that those with more education spend less time on leisure activities than those with less education.

think this is so interesting because we have always envisioned the American dream as getting educated, working hard, making lots of money, then leisurely wasting the day away. This is no longer what we as Americans do.

It is important to recognize that those with higher education have a higher employment rate than those with less education. This has to be factored in to the whole formula to get a good idea of what is going on in the market place.

Beyond this though I was concerned when I read that those with less education, although they have more leisure time, they spend less quality time with their children. So here they are, they spend more time sleeping, more time with leisure activities, yet less time with children and less time exercising.

I believe this reveals what is really going on. Rather than focusing on the unemployment argument I believe a huge factor is the work ethic of the different types of people. Education is more and more accessible with tax breaks and scholarships being offered in greater abundance so we need to revamp our society and inject the needle of hard work back into the American Dream.

The state budget in California has been the object of debate for months. The most populous state in the union is looking at a $26 billion deficit. A new budget has been proposed that eliminates the deficit – and many important state programs – including education.

Education spending will be hit hard in this year’s budget cuts. Nine billion dollars of education spending has been cut from the budget. What does this mean for school systems in California? A rough year. With the unemployment rate over 11% and the housing market still in shambles, the Californian economy has had a rough year and state programs will bear the brunt of the budget deficit.

Read the rest of this entry »

I want to jump into the real estate market so did a little research on this year’s $8,000 federal tax credit for first time home buyers. The more I hear about it the more excited I get. In order to qualify for this you just have to make less than $75,000 a year individually or as a couple make less than $150,000.

Another thing that affects your qualifications is if you’ve been a home owner in the last three years. They want to lend a hand to those who have not.

They are doing this based on a 10% credit so if your house costs less than $80,000 then they’ll give you just 10%. If your house is $80,000 or above they’ll give you only $8,000. Since rates are so low right now it is the perfect time to jump in and take advantage of this offer.