Editor’s Note: Want more JDA? You can see all of her posts for GC here, her blog here and stalk her on Twitter.
I try most of the time not to jerk myself off but this is important and worth paying attention to. Until the grand money laundering scheme is finally put out of commission, economic “recovery” will continue to drag, unemployment will continue to rise and credit will remain tight.
So check out “How a Jobless ‘Recovery’ Costs You… Quietly” for more on the plan to print our way out of this mess. Sort of like Enron after Ken Lay’s convenient death, it’s obvious what’s been going on once you realize the details are painfully simple.
Anyway, the strategy moving forward into 2010 will be one of cautious optimism. Hell, calling it optimism is pushing it.

Business Week (Why This Business Owner Isn’t Hiring in 2010):

Right now the Administration is proposing income taxes that are still equivalent to the rates during the Clinton era. I’m not sure how long this is going to last before the rates start going up. And I’m reading that many states are quietly raising their unemployment taxes. Some experts are estimating that state unemployment taxes could double or even triple in the next year or two. Is an increase in the Federal Unemployment Tax rate on the horizon? One expert thinks so.

Read that again just to make sure it sinks in. Increased unemployment taxes is bad enough a phrase on its own but add the words “double” and “triple” and suddenly you see small business walking blindly into the train tunnel with the 5p Bridge and Tunnel Express coming straight for it.
AccountingWeb reported the potential increase on December 17:

States that have borrowed money from the federal government under the Federal Unemployment Trust Act (FUTA) to cover their current obligations will need to pay this money back with interest.
According to the Journal of State Taxation, at least 12 states, including Michigan, Texas, and Virginia, with depleted trust fund balances had borrowed from the federal government under FUTA provisions of by the end of the summer, and others are expected to follow suit. States that accepted interest-free loans offered under ARRA (the Stimulus Act) will need to pay interest on these loans after two years.

There’s probably some really offensive translation of the FUTA acronym I’m missing here but frankly I’m just tired of having to report on this depressing shit. Looks like another exciting year ahead! Yay!