I have been doing taxes. That is why there have been no updates.
I could say many things about the art of preparing taxes. I have learned a lot of debatably useful information. But its really sort of immaterial.
The most interesting part is the people. The people I work with are nice, but pretty boring. The people that get their taxes done at H&R Block are changing my opinion of “the masses”.
I never realized how many people are getting by on 10 to 15 thousand dollars a year. And these people have kids. How do you support a family, pay rent, go to the doctor, eat, and keep a car running on 10k a year? I haven’t done a financial analysis, but it would seem almost impossible. And yet they do it.
There are even a large number with incomes in the 4 to 8 thousand dollar range. That is absurd. There are a lot of poor people out there. I had a guy come in the other day that worked 6 jobs during the year. Not at a temp agency….6 separate jobs. How do you get jobs so fast? Wouldn’t an employer wonder if you never stayed at a job over a few months?
I never realized how many single mothers there are. I’d say 70% of the single girls that come in have kids….and they aren’t making any money.
I fear for the future. There is not enough to go around. These people don’t have enough going on in their head to get ahead. They have no concept of money. The fees they pay to H&R Block are outrageous and they all get the Rapid Refund thing, which is really just a short term loan with interest rates bordering on predatory. I tell people all the time to take their W-2s and leave…go to the library, get a 1040EZ and fill out their taxes themselves….but I realize they can’t.
I understand and I don’t understand. I understand that poverty begets poverty and small lives lead to small hopes…but I’m missing something. They watch the same TV I do, listen to the same music….they go to the same public schools. They may not get a college education, but my basic ideas, world view and hopes for the future were already shaped before I left high school. And they were not all shaped by my family. I think TV, movies and a high school education were a large part.
They may be learning the same reading, writing and arithmetic as me, but they’re missing some other, more important part. They have low expectations for life, a general lack of dignity and an inability to realize that present actions affect future outcomes. Those are extremely serious problems.
So taxes have been passing the time for me. I went on a job interview the other day. I sang karaoke at a bar the other night. I go to the gym a few nights a week. Thats about it.
I am still jobless and uncertain when that might change. I am very restless.
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