Debt in The Way

[Ham]

One of the stupidest things that I ever heard regarding debt was when the Way Corps branch (or maybe Limb) leader told my son that he was in debt because he was going to have to pay the IRS at tax time rather than getting a refund (he worked several low-paying part-time jobs - anyone whose been in that position knows that it often causes you to have to pay rather than get a refund) - while just a year earlier Howard Allen stood up at the ROA and said that you should strive break even or pay in a little and not try to get a big refund since refund are generally just your own money being returned to you after the government used it interest-free all year.

Exactly. That's terrible advice your son was given, their usual nit picking over a gnat's definition of "debt" versus simple, common sense. If you end up owing some, you just pay it. It's idiocy to plan on paying in anymore than you expect to owe for the very reason HA gave. Everyone knows that. It's kinda nice to get a refund check but it's bad money management to pay any substantial amount over what you calculate to owe over a year's time, knowing that's your money and you won't be able to use it for an entire year until it's released by the IRS.

Tax "debt" is calculated at the end of a calendar year . All you do through withholding deductions in a paycheck is estimate the total tax amount owed based on gross income in that check. Tax liability is calculated based on many other factors not directly represented in that check and that are calculated from an entire year of living.

If a person took that same "refund" money, say 100 bucks a month, and at the minimum put it into a savings account and gained some interest on it and had it available to pay an outstanding amount at filing, they'd at least have use of their money.

The Way's geniuses should be avoided at all costs.

[Ham]

I dunno. Of course uncle(?) howies advice made a little sense..

but if one chose to have the minimum deduction from their meager pay..

figure, what. One has about $12.00 more a month. Now at 2 percent interest, if one is "lucky".. well, unless you play it at the Casino or debilish stock market.. how much "benefit" does the ordinary, out living (almost) in da street believer realize from said advise?

but for some people, the plan actually WORKED. Generally, I took the refund, stocked up on food and such for the family, and *maybe* got some electronic something to build or implement..

I still have my Heathkit HD-1250 solid state Dip Meter.. pretty nifty little device. Still use it over twenty years after building it..

the government tends to be rather "diligent" nowadays..

they actually chased ME down last year to give me a refund that I didn't realize I had coming..

whoda thought..

with that kind of diligence.. I'd rather they owed me..

better record than from some others who still owe me, over twenty years later..

[Ham]

here is a link to the Dip Meter..

http://www.heathkit.nu/heathkit_nu_HD-1250.html

If I listened to Uncle Howie.. I would not have had one of these.. most likely anyway.

the Tunnel Dipper was a piece of junk.. the HD-1250's predecessor..

not because of the tunnel diode oscillator. That was brilliant..

it was the damned leaky germanium transistors in the amplifier and metering circuit..

the novelty was that they would run off of a single 1.5 volt battery..

just have to keep replacing the power transistors, year after year..

I have a few tunnel diodes around here, somewhere..

supposedly they are rad hard. In other words.. if we are ever nuked, they might still work..

[Ham]

what I find interesting.. we have a device, with two "active" components. One "regular" transistor, and one field effect transistor, in the metering circuit.. two itty bitty stinking diodes.. and it can do so much..

I could use this thing to find the length to a fault in an undisclosed length of coaxial cable..

other words, I could measure the length of cable, or the length of cable, to the spot somebody has hacked into it to get information..

and we have microprocessors, with billions of active devices on board, that need "guidance" to figure it out..

very, very interesting..

[Ham]

Here is a link to a device, with only one active component.. does the same thing. Just needs commercial power to operate, i.e. 120 volts.. or whatever the British equivalent required..

I have one of these as well.. from the estate of a dear, dear friend..

http://www.heathkit.nu/heathkit_nu_GD-1B.html

vacuum tubes always work, I guess..

real radios glow in the dark..

[Ham]

maybe, just maybe.. to stay on topic here..

who needs a stinking 1.20 to toss in the horn of plenty, when one can purchase the secrets of the universe.. in broad daylight..

[Ham]

I'll be polite here. F.U. *mr(?)* allen..

Mr.(?) linder, or pudgy replacement, please relate said message to said party..

[waysider]

Well, once again, Mr. Squirrel, you've cut to the chase. (Albeit, it was via a twisting path.) You are correct, in my opinion, when you point out their advise wasn't really designed to help the individual at all. It was designed to make sure you gave your extra money to The Way.

who needs a stinking 1.20 to toss in the horn of plenty, when one can purchase the secrets of the universe.. in broad daylight..

[Ham]

Well, once again, Mr. Squirrel, you've cut to the chase. (Albeit, it was via a twisting path.)

ha! Well, sometimes that's how end up some the best destinations..

maybe that's what got on ha's nerves.. the very thought that da ministry's fifteen percent was languishing in a government vault somewhere..

what a frigging moron..

and what was *best* for MY family at the time, was to have a rather large check arrive in the middle of February..

I was stupid enough to give over ten percent on the gross.. they didn't get a cut on the refund..

[Ham]

"we have your best interests at heart.."

and I don't hear from the numbnuts who ran the "work" here.. for how long? Lost track of the years..

that is a debt, isn't it?

then the government unleashes the bloodhounds from Hell to find me to give me a tax refund..

comparing the two, da way, and the Federal government.. who proved themselves to "have my best interests at heart.."?

when a most secular organization can out-do gawd's "best".. its kind of pathetic, no?

Time for a new thread I think..