[speaker001:] okay I guess we start talking about the budget
[speaker002:] very good sir
[speaker001:] okay you you live near the nation's capital what can we do about this mess
[speaker002:] well uh living near the nation's capital unfortunately doesn't do you any good uh all I all I uh find that I can do is read the newspapers and try to decide what's best for us what we need to do and that's sort of a function of the economy and our relationship with uh other countries and so forth and right now we're in this big change since Russia has undergone such a uh big uh renegotiation within themselves
[speaker001:] yeah yeah
[speaker002:] and I'm sure that we haven't quite decided where we stand in that yet
[speaker001:] I see big opportunities in Europe opening up uh it just it just seems to me like we ought to be able to go over there and help the people become a capitalistic society
[speaker002:] yes I think they're looking for that they just need guidance yes that would be very good for us to help
[speaker001:] uh yeah
[speaker002:] show them what it what it takes to have a a capitalistic society and one in which each of them has a a say and uh you know can express their thoughts safely
[speaker001:] yeah another thing I think the uh that the President could do right now on a short term basis to get things speeded up is help out the working people right now the middle income people uh give them some tax credits I think they've done that I seems like I remember that happening once in my past I'm in my forties and I
[speaker002:] um-hum um-hum
[speaker001:] basically remember getting some sort of trax tax credit years ago and I think it helped I think we bought a car uh at that time because we got some sort of a rebate
[speaker002:] oh I don't recall ever getting a rebate but it does seem as though if if we are able to reduce the our expenditures for defense course we've got to get get this big debt that the country has under control and if as we get that under control then I'd like to see the taxes that we pay reduced a certain amount you know so that we're all comfortable but I do believe that the country's gonna have to get itself straightened out debtwise before uh they could do too much that way but I hate to see them raise the taxes if it's unnecessary
[speaker001:] well I've always believed in paying my fair share of of of taxes oh and whatever my government says is my fair share is what I think I should pay
[speaker002:] um-hum sure that makes sense
[speaker001:] uh I don't necessarily agree with people who go out of their way to find loopholes and not paying their fair share
[speaker002:] yes it it it seems as though a lot of the things that we see in the paper and in letters that you receive are showing you loopholes or how not to pay your share and that really is sort of against what the whole ball game's about isn't it
[speaker001:] yeah the lady who does my taxes for me every year it seems like she's got a new suggestion
[speaker002:] um-hum
[speaker001:] and sometimes I go with them and sometimes I don't uh since I no longer work uh usually it's not very complicated anymore but uh
[speaker002:] you no longer work
[speaker001:] I no longer work uh oh it's been almost three years ago I had some uh strange heart problems occur
[speaker002:] oh my
[speaker001:] and uh so I'm more or less hang around the house and uh that sort of thing
[speaker002:] well you have more experience at that than I I just retired from working myself on December thirty first so I haven't really had time to look at it from the retiree point of view but it'll be an interesting uh concept I'm sure
[speaker001:] yeah it's uh I know for the I thought maybe I would go back to work especially during that first year and then they finally decided that then maybe I'll never work again
[speaker002:] hm
[speaker001:] so it took some while to adjust to it and it and it took some adjusting financially and things like that I can no longer afford things that maybe I used to take for granted
[speaker002:] yes that
[speaker001:] and I certainly can't invest money like I used to
[speaker002:] I understand well it's unfortunate you had that problem and I do hope you will be able to work out your circumstances so that you can live comfortably and feel confident that you are doing your share of the taxes
[speaker001:] well
[speaker002:] and you know still there are certain things that you need to do in your family and yourself to enjoy life to its fullest
[speaker001:] what kind of work did you do when you were working
[speaker002:] I was working uh in doing research for the government so I know what it's like I had worked for the government basically I'm actually I'm a professor a retired professor at Penn State
[speaker001:] oh yeah
[speaker002:] and uh but my work has always been in research uh related uh to the government so I'm I'm aware of what it takes to perform the work that's needed and the government has got to decide what it needs to know and then set up the criteria by which problems are solved and and uh the