meta-dad

How does the new California budget affect families

With the Governor wasting no time, he has quickly added his signature to the newly resolved state budget which has closed the $41 billion dollar gap for California. Now that the dust is settling in Sacramento, how will it affect me and my family?

When will the state income tax refunds be mailed out? Who will benefit and who will be laid off? And of course, how will the school systems fair in all of this? So many questions. How will the national Stimulus Plan offset some of these state cuts? I hope to share with you as these details come online.

The financial package includes tax hikes, spending cuts and borrowing billions of dollars more. How will the tax increases affect the average Californian family? Here is the at-a-glance breakdown;

• The are four types of tax increases in the current package; personal income tax, vehicle license fee increase, dependent tax credit and a sales tax increase. Recent legislative analysis of these four tax increases, an average family of four with an annual income of $75,000 would pay $963 more a year in taxes. That’s quite a punch in the gut, to say the least.
• May 19th, 2009 is an important date, mark your calendars. There will be a vote to move $226 million from mental health programs and $608 million from programs aimed at children younger than 5 years old.
• The state ultimately will resume paying all its bills, including tax refunds. But doing so could take weeks, so the exact date when California income tax refunds will start being mailed has not been announced. Mr. Chiang (State Controller), we are waiting with baited breath for your word.

Sited & Related Links:
Los Angeles Times | California Budget Plan; Key Elements
Los Angeles Times | The California Budget: A timeline for the events to come
meta-DAD | California state delays income tax refunds

Let’s all just Kongregate!

Perhaps it’s a rainy day or a snowy one, or maybe the kids have finished all their homework and they’ve built every puzzle in the house or they’re just driving you a little crazy and the usual tricks aren’t working. Enter Kongregate, a website with over eleven thousand free games to play.

I understand there’s a time and place for mindless drivel and let it be said, I am a huge proponent of limited screen time for kids and parents alike, be it television, game console or computer screen time. Whenever I try to talk about the redeeming qualities of video games and the likes of, it’s as if I am trying to argue the nutritional value of Twinkies.

Depending on the genre and the game, there is some value in some of them. Personally, I am drawn to builders, multi-players, strategy games and puzzle solvers. One could argue that these have a fair number of redeeming values assuming they are well designed and executed, sure some may think I am stretching here but I concur, it beats watching re-runs.

Many feel like “sketches” of games with placeholder art, stick figures and all, while others have a very impressive professional ‘gloss to them. But when you get down to game play many of them are quite fun, dare I say (a tad) addictive. With titles like Shopping Cart Hero, Fantastic Contraption, and Monsters’ Den there is plenty to explore. Set the egg timer (otherwise, you’ll lose track of time) and have a blast.

Gorgeous Valentine’s for the wife

There are classic gift ideas like; jewelry, a box of sweets, flowers or maybe a sexy lil’ number. The challenge (for me anyway) is how to make these classics spin into something deeply personal, something that really hits the right chord. Ahh, such is the dance we call “love”, right?

Last year, I got my wife a engraved pendant necklace (*above center) that is a simple chain with small handcrafted gold bars inscribed with each of our sons’ names and on the other side of each is a word like “cherish” or “adore.” She treasures it.

I ordered the necklace from the San Fransisco based boutique, Penelope Poet. They carry a beautiful array personal pieces handcrafted by indie jewelrymakers and artisans throughout the country. Pictured above [left lto right] is the classic 14k Gold Love Knot Earrings, the Nashelle Cherished Engraved Bars Necklace and the Amour Circle Filigree Necklace. Pieces from Penelope Poet have been featured in Oprah magazine, Life & Style Weekly and others.

What better way to celebrate St. Valentine’s Day, than by supporting moms and wives who craft beautiful handcrafted pieces.

California state delays income tax refunds

My wife and I filed our taxes this afternoon, this year we are motivated to get our forms in and get the refunds so we can keep making ends meet. Does this story sound familiar? The punchline at the end of this scenario was when our accountant informed us of a 30 day delay for our 2009 California state income tax checks to be processed. Upon further inspection, this feels a bit like wishful thinking as it is based on reconciling the massive $40B deficit in the budget which has been pending the past few weeks.

It is anticipated that as soon as the cash and budget problems are solved, the refund delay will be lifted. It is clear that part of this stalemate in Sacramento is linked to the Senate approving the current Stimulus Plan. They are linked because recent estimates say the massive stimulus plan will pump $4.5B in projects and tax incentives into California alone. Obviously this will infuse the state with much needed cash and help Sacramento close the gap on the budget.

Meanwhile, my wife and I wait for this financial log jam to clear. To be clear on the implications of this income tax delay that State Controller, John Chiang has employed, this includes any type of return regardless of the year of the return or issue. This is a complete freeze of funds, full stop.

What is looming over our head is that if the 30 days pass without the budget being approved the state has threatened to issue I.O.U.’s. They have only done this twice in the the state’s history; 1992 and the Great Depression.

And if you are wondering if they will issue your refund with interest, yes but only interest accrued after June 1st, 2009 (45 days after April, 15th, 2009). My wife and I have joked that if we have trouble paying the upcoming property taxes in April we should issue the county a I.O.U., it’s only fair, right?

Sited & Related Links:
State of California Franchise Tax Board | State Controller announces delay for tax refunds
Mercury News | Still no deal in California’s budget stalemate
China View | Obama pushes stimulus plan forth as Senate debate continues
The Sacramento Bee | Stimulus plan would give California $4.5 billion for infrastructure

02.20.09 UPDATE: meta-DAD | How does the new California budget affect families

Kids & language – semantics and syntax development

There is a lot to say about the many nuances of language acquisition and what is considered the normal range of development for toddlers and young children. What my wife and I have learned is there is a wide spectrum of normal development and a lot of things (specifically – incorrect pronunciation and grammar) “work themselves” out in the early years of grammar school.

The chart above presents typical language development, specifically grammar and vocabulary development. It is presented so you will have a better idea of what is considered a healthy and acceptable range of development. My understanding is that delays in syntax and semantics may point toward other delays or issues with speech and/or cognition in general. That said, the wide spectrum that is considered acceptable is affected by many factors. There can be environmental things slowing down your child’s language development. One example is if the child is living in a house where more than one language is spoken on a regular basis, they may develop English slower than a classmate that only hears English in the household. In this case, it is important to point out that the child being exposed to two languages is more apt to pick up the second language quicker than her monolingual classmate.

We have been keeping close tabs on our children since our oldest has had a speech delay and issues with low tone since early on. Like a lot of parents, we did a lot of research on the possibilities of autism, apraxia and other language or communication disorders. He has been doing individual and group speech therapy, as well as various occupational therapy (O.T.) for the past few years (he’s four years old) and we have tried to adopt a healthy regimen of reading to him (with an emphasis on word-play, rhyming and song) and using flash cards to give him as much opportunity to practice and sharpen his language skills. My understanding is like working the many major and minor aspect of a muscle group, reading, singing and rhyming use different parts of the language/communication portion of your brain. His articulation has progressed, although he still has problems expressing himself.

If your child seems significantly behind in language development, you should talk with your child’s physician regarding your questions and concerns. The chart illustrated above attempts to map the general syntax and semantics development, although it purposely excludes phoneme development. Phoneme development is the way your child’s articulation and pronunciation develops during these early years (*follow the link, “What sounds should my toddler be saying?“ below for a Phonological Development Chart).

Sited & Related Links;
Meta-DAD | What Sounds Should My Toddler Be Saying?
Child Development Institute | Language Development in Children
American Speech, Language, Hearing Institute | How Does Your Child Hear and Talk?
American Speech, Language, Hearing Institute | Late Blooming or Language Problem?
Medem Medical Library | Age 4 to 5 Years: Language Development
CDI | Children with Communication Disorders
Everything ESL | Stages of Second Language Acquisition
DOWNLOAD:
General Syntax and Semantics Development in Children [PDF file]
General Phonological/Articulation Development Chart [Image file]

What the new Stimulus Plan will mean for Amercian Families

Most of us know that the House passed President Obama’s Stimulus Package and it is now being passed through to the Senate for approval. First, the Senate and House will have to reconcile their versions of the package, which would also have to be negotiated with the Obama administration. This could be a sticky process, to say the least, since the details are far from bipartisan and current debates are drawn heavily on party lines. If and when the Senate passes it it will end up on the president’s desk for final approval.

But what does it mean for the millions of struggling families or unemployed families? Will there be check sent like the Bush Stimulus? How will parents and their kids benefit from the current draft of the bill?

Understanding that this package has not gained final approval and is still going through substantial revisions, the centerpiece of the current draft promises for American individuals and families a tax break, not a stimulus check. Individuals will receive $500 and couples $1000. Aside from the tax incentives, there is more of an effort to provide heavy-handed government subsidies for COBRA health coverage going to unemployed individuals and older workers as well as the high profile job creation portion of the plan. The job creation portion of the plan as it is currently stated would shore up the Education Sector to avoid lay-offs and cancellation of existing programs (ex. Head Start, Early Head Start, etc.).

A recent audit of the bill brought the original number of $819 billion to $816, but there is ongoing mentions of additional tax incentives and other initiatives that may be tacked on (or deleted) to get it through the Senate, which have estimates pushing it as high as $900 billion. The bottom line is it is still a work-in-progress. The fact that there is little bipartisanship in the House or Senate means that there will probably be quite a few drafts before it is pushed all the way through.

Related Links;
NY Times | House Passes Stimulus Plan With No G.O.P. Votes
US News | 3 Ways the Stimulus Package Would Help Laid-Off Workers

meta-DAD | How the 2009 Stimulus Plan will benefit me and my family