This is a partial excerpt from my book, "The American Dream Becomes the Global Nightmare." http://tinyurl.com/4s3exmd

When the housing market began falling, I shared my plan with many people. Part of that plan was, instead of bailing out the Banksters and their accessories on Wall Street, we could have distributed that $800 billion to the investors, who actually owned the loans. In exchange, they would agree to reduce the interest rates to a manageable 5% per annum. In real estate terms, this is known as "buying down the loan."

This would have reduced the number of foreclosures because fewer people would have been hit by the increase in payments when the interest rates adjusted under the terms of the loan. The "bailout" required on each loan, which would have been minimal, would be added to the balance of the loan.

I have heard all arguments from people at the time I made that suggestion. That wouldn’t be fair to those who were more careful in their purchase or put more money down, or that they did not want to help pay for the idiots who accepted these loan ters, and who were not deserving of owning a house anyway. "Why should they be helped, since they did it the wrong way?" I was asked.

The reality is that those people, who did not want to help those who had been taken advantage of or got caught in the lenders’ predatory lending scheme, have suffered just as much, if not more, with their lost equity and, in many cases, lost jobs. Let’s take a look at an analysis of who really lost when the prices started dropping and no one wanted to “bail-out” the buyers who made bad decisions. The scenario is that two people bought identical homes in the same neighborhood at a price of $500,000.00. Buyer A, whose credit was marginal and could only get a sub-prime loan, put nothing down and had 2 mortgages; one for 80% of the price and one for the remaining 20% of the price. Buyer B, whose credit was excellent and was able to make a 20% down payment, had only one mortgage at 80% loan to value.

The chart below demonstrates that those who didn’t want to “bail out” the irresponsible homebuyers were the ones who were hurt the most. By resisting the help to those who were irresponsible, they took their own equity and threw it away without even realizing it.

                                             Buyer A                Buyer B
Purchase Price - 2006       $500,000.00          $500,000.00
Down Payment                            $0.00          $100,000.00
1st Loan                            $400,000.00          $400,000.00
Interest Rate         2.9% pmt, 6.5% actual       5.5% fixed
Monthly Payment                 $1,664.92              $2,271.16
2nd Loan                           $100,000.00                    $0.00
Interest Rate               6.5%, Interest only
Payment                                   $541.67                     None

Present Value                     $375000.00           $375000.00
Out of Pocket Loss                   Nothing          $100,000.00

The big loser is the guy who was responsible, and put down 20% and had a fixed loan. He, in most cases, was the one who was most vocal against those who had been irresponsible, and took on more than they could handle or didn’t pay attention to the terms of what he was signing. The lenders took Buyer B’s $100,000.00 down payment; while the irresponsible Buyer B only lost the place that he was living in on the lender’s investment.

No one, including the banks and the government, took the time to look at the BIG picture.

Take a Tax Deductible Weekend!

A great way to make your business travel more enjoyable is to combine it with a tax deductible weekend getaway! You can end your business meetings on noon Friday, and then enjoy that afternoon, Saturday and Sunday at the location where your business was.

Assuming, of course, that it is a location where you would enjoy spending the weekend.

All you will need to do is have another business related meeting on Monday morning and then go home. It can be a meeting with a business associate, a prospective new customer or even an educational event that ties into your business. The key is that whatever it is that you are doing on Monday must have a direct relationship to your business.

For example, if you are a real estate agent and are going to a convention that ends on Friday, you can arrange to meet with a real estate agent in that area for the purpose of being able to exchange referrals in the future. If you are a salesperson and are meeting with a client on Friday, make arrangements to meet another potential client on Monday (or even make a cold call).

You can also bring a spouse or significant other with you. You won't be able to deduct his or her meals or travel expenses (unless you are driving), but you meals and 100% of the hotel costs will be deductible. Of course, if your spouse or significant other works with you in business, all of the expenses can be deductible. Having your spouse work for you is whole other topic, but there are significant tax savings to be had by having your spouse work for you part or full time.

If you are self employed, you are paying all of your own Social Security and Medicare taxes, rather than having one half of them paid by your employer. That means that for every dollar you can deduct, you are saving up to 49 cents in taxes, depending on your State tax structure. You might as well have some fun while you are taking your deductions.

The main thing is to keep good records of the purpose of your business both before and after the weekend, and keep all receipts. There is nothing that will prevent an audit, but by maintaining good records, it will end up with a handshake and a good-bye with the auditor, and all of your money in your pocket.

So, enjoy your tax deductible business trip with a little vacation mixed in.

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