So we no longer look at resumes before we hire???

EDIT: at the end of the day, taxes went up on the middle class when we were told they wouldn't by Obama and the democrats. Sadly, the republicans caved and gave in to the FSA. We ultimately have nobody to blame but ourselves. These politicians from the president on down are only doing what they know they can get away with because there will always be fools out there who will vote for them no matter how many times they get screwed. Even now, people are rationalizing the reduction in all of our paychecks...not sure why anyone would do that, but I guess some people have money they don't need.

fact is, our government has a spending problem. It's had a spending problem for decades. It's time we recognize that and actually vote for people who are inclined to attack that spending problem.

The only thing I'm sure of is that I lost $70 a week (net) from my check x 52 weeks = $3640!!!! and the odds of social security being here in 25 yrs when I retire are about 0

Union, no union, Obama, Romney, local govt, state govt, fed govt, guns being bad and labelled assualt rifles, etc...none of this crap matters right now to me!

Where are my $$$. They're just gonna misappropiate this money like the other TRILLIONS we're in debt!

We pay tax on food, cars, lic plates for the damn cars, smog fees in CA, 9.75% local tax here on everything!!!, file fed and state taxes and then pay more after giving thousands throughout the year, home tax anually and when purchasing, SS, medicare taxes....and on and on. How much is enough!

It feels like I have 2 ex wives and 4 kids that will never age to 18 yrs old...it just will never go away.

honestly you should care about it all, because it all will effect you, just not yet and you just may not realize it until it's to late, i'm only 31 but the amount of freedoms and the way things have changed just since i was about your age has been immense, just to go back 15 years would be huge, i see it for sure, and this is just the start of it all.... well that's a lie it's been going to hell since 9/11 everything has become so radicalized and polarized.....
really the last 12 years has been some ****** and i don't see it getting better for you man.....sorry.....i'm really debating if it's worth bringing children into this existence just beyond the fact that the world probably doesn't need anymore izzard's running around.

AGREED! I mis-spoke about not caring about the rest. Actually I care a great deal about politics and all the events mentioned in this thread, just frustrated about being legally robbed. I'm fortunate in the fact that I am financially fine and can pay with no issues, but when I pay more I expect things to be better and this is not the case with this tax hike or any for that matter.

I'll be 42 in April and remember when things were quite a bit better in this country. My kids will be entering college soon and this money could go towards something for them or summer programs to further their knowledge or just get blown on fun things. Regardless of where I put it I'm sure it would be better than giving more to our corrupt govt.

BTW: My wife lost about the same. So it's actually about $7500 from our NET INCOME

ha! i read the first post as you being about 18, sorry 'bout that!.....i'm sure you've even seen some bigger changes than i have!!!! i just wonder why most everyone else doesn't notice....

HA! I said retire in 25 yrs too. That's the age they will give me the SS money, but certanly not my goal.

I remember being a late teen and in my early 20's and getting a job wasn't a thought. I worked at UPS with my best friend when I was 19 and home for the summer from college. He and I both hated it! We quit on the spot one morning and walked out together. On the way home we stopped by J.Crew and put an app in. We asked could we talk to someone then. The HR mgr came out interviewed us both right then and hired us both on the spot! Crazy right? We quit a good job and got another on the way to his house to get drunk and hang out. The pay was $11/hr and that was 1990. Companies are still paying that now and think it's a fair rate to load trucks and do hard blue collar work. Thank God I continued and educated myself.

Aghhhhh the good ol' days

US expats have a dire problem of double taxation. And it doesn’t spare those who become dual citizens without their consent, such as those born of American parents in a foreign land. The tax treaties the US has signed with several countries only seem to largely protect from double taxation the foreigners living and working in the US more than the US expats residing abroad. The US tax treaties do not reduce taxes on US expats’ worldwide income but they can take advantage of exemptions such as FEIE which exempts from taxation the first around $100k of annual income, or the Foreign Tax Credit, which lets one claim US tax credit equivalent to the tax already paid in the foreign tax returns. However, most of the tax treaties do prevent you from having to pay US taxes on foreign-sourced dividend, interest and royalties income if you have already paid taxes in your resident country.