Thursday, February 18, 2010

People are Gettin' Fed Up

You've probably heard about one man's response to problems with the IRS today (if not, read here) and you may or may not have heard about this guy's problem with his bank. Reading the comments attached to these articles show you how many people actually support (in theory, probably not in method) what these guys did. A Facebook page in support of the IRS guy was even put up before the government ordered it taken down--a security risk they said. Uh huh. Seems people are stressed out, being financially pummeled, and don't want to take it any more.
While I can sympathize with these guys--sometimes you get so fed up you want to lash out--I kind of think that, as with the guy with the IRS problem, you can't really get full satisfaction if you are...um...dead.
So might I make some random suggestions on how to handle such situations short of causing permanent harm/fines/imprisonment/and the like...
  • Stay on top of your finances. Pay your taxes on time, have an emergency fund, don't have any debts, don't co-sign loans or get into a partnership with anyone, avoid situations that could lead to lawsuits, etc.
  • If you are in a financially disastrous situation, fix it: make an offer in compromise, sell everything you own to pay your debt, work five jobs to pay your debt, or file bankruptcy--you can always start over (actually starting over isn't as bad as it seems and you then have many more options when the slate is wiped clean).
  • If you are overwhelmed, learn from people who have overcome similar challenges (Dave Ramsey often tells of how he went bankrupt, owed the IRS a whole lot, and turned his life around. He is now a multimillionaire.).
  • Live "under the radar". Always one of my favorite choices. You can have hours of enjoyment thumbing your nose at the powers that be by doing small things (shopping at garage sales and not paying sales tax) to big things (living so frugally that you can earn just at the poverty line and not pay taxes or going totally underground so there are no records of your life at all) to stick it to "the man".
  • Change your attitude. People get stuck on how things "should be" and get all bent out of shape when things don't turn out as expected. Well, things often don't turn out as expected and if you don't want to end up in the fetal position under your therapist's desk, you need to take life with a grain of salt. Do something totally out of the ordinary...along the lines of "you want my house? here, take it". A 180 from what people would expect to happen but who knows what might happen after you do such an unexpected thing...you may be featured on the evening news, a billionaire gets word of what you did and gives you a mansion at no charge, you go on to write a book...

The bottom line, like a wise Shaolin master once said, is when you meet force with force, you end up with pain and all sorts of bad stuff. Be like water and you will win.

6 comments:

  1. And if you owe more on you house than it can be sold for, is there someone's 'fault' in that equation?

    Mail the mortgage-holder the keys and walk away...

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  2. He lashed out in the wrong way. The proper response is "starve the beast". Simplify, reduce consumption, avoid excessive taxation. That is the winning combination....

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  3. You have to express more your opinion to attract more readers, because just a video or plain text without any personal approach is not that valuable. But it is just form my point of view

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  4. Dont know what to make out of this economy.

    I used to rent an apartment. Got laid off. Been unemployed for over a yr. My rent got increased. My medical insurance cancel at the end of my employment. No more medications. all this the bad side.

    Now the good side.
    I got no more stress from the guy that used to be my supervisor (I can not call him the name for respect to your blog. But he was)..I exercise and my health improved, check my B.P. and my glucose. Pull my money out of my thrift and savings and purchase a run down home in the boonies I absorbed the 10% penalty and pay the tax and still came out ahead of paying the monthly rent. I even growing veggies in my property now. For the first time I own a gun , got my hunting license and was lucky enough to get some game, thanks to my friend that is a good and experience hunter. Had to purchase a big frezzer to keep the game but the expense is woth it, after giving some game to the neighbour I still got enough for a long while.
    Even known that enployment hangs in the balance, I'm taking the classes needed for my nursing license, They are hard but I'm determined to make it.
    I just hope that another extension for unemployment benefits get passed.
    The way I see it. THERE IS A LIGHT AT HE END OF A TUNNEL.

    HOPEFULL.

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  5. I really like when people are expressing their opinion and thought. So I like the way you are writing

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