A very fascinating phenomenon has occurred in baseball this year. The best teams in the playoffs this year are also the teams with the biggest budgets. This begs the question of whether high salaries result in better performance on the baseball field. And if so, can that same controversial budgeting advice be applied to the business world? Money management advisors across the nation have recommended cuts in employee salaries as a way to maintain business profits during the recession. However, if the baseball phenomenon is applicable to other industries then this may not actually be the smartest way of managing your money.

It’s been fascinating to see what has happened with baseball this year. Of the eight teams poised to make the playoffs, six of them are ranked among the top eight in terms of the amount of money spent on the team. The Yankees hold the number one position in the playoffs and they also hold the number one spot as the baseball team with the highest payroll. Is this just a coincidence? Many experts in the baseball business say that it is. But perhaps there’s more to it than just pure chance.

It can be argued that higher salaries are an incentive to do better in the sport, and act as incentive for better players to come calling. This could be particularly true during a recession when even the richest people are wondering what is going on with the economy. The money dangling in front of the nation’s best baseball players may be even more of a motivation than it was in the past to do well at the job. And although it could be just a coincidence that six of the top eight baseball teams are also among the top eight spenders, it seems like a pretty big coincidence to just blow off without a second look.

If it’s true that the increase in spending results in better performance for baseball players then business owners may want to look at their own money management approach. Most businesses have taken the budgeting advice that they have to cut back spending (and that means cutting salaries) if they want to keep their businesses alive during financially tough times. However, if better performance correlates with higher profits and higher wages result in better performance than an increase in wages would result in higher profits. No one is saying that you should change how you’re managing your money just yet but it might be worth it to keep an eye on baseball as you watch your own business budget and see what you can learn.

The people of Chicago were certainly disappointed to learn that president Obama’s strong push to bring the 2016 Olympic Games to their city resulted in failure. However, it’s not just the people of Chicago who are suffering a loss. Taxpayers across the entire nation are paying the real price for the financial debacle that’s been dubbed Obamalympics. The estimated cost of President Obama’s attempts to win the Olympic bid is over $1 million. Many people are frustrated at this example of poor money management which comes at a time when the country needs to be looking seriously at nationwide debt solutions. No one wants to see our money wasted in an economy like this one.

Published articles estimate the cost of Obama’s push to host the Olympics to be at least $1 million. Financial bloggers are saying that’s a conservative estimate. This cost comes primarily from the fees associated with flights to visit the International Olympics Committee in Copenhagen. Multiple flights were taken by the president, the first lady and the necessary assistants and security personnel to argue for the Olympics to be held in Chicago. The cost of presidential travel doesn’t come cheap.

In fairness, the president did show some smart money management efforts by combining one of these trips with some other presidential business. He reportedly used the trip to meet with top Afghan army commander General Stanley McChrystal in Denmark. This theoretically saved the president another trip overseas and therefore saved money for the taxpayers. However, the meeting lasted less than half an hour and it is unclear whether or not it was a necessary meeting. As a result, taxpayers aren’t satisfied that this was a true attempt at good money management and remain disgruntled about the cost of these Obamalympic trips.

The economy is obviously a key issue of importance to nearly all taxpayers today. Taxpayers want the president to come up with smart debt solutions for the debt of the nation, the debts suffered by businesses and the debts that individuals are dealing with. When the president shows poor money management by spending over $1 million on an Olympic bid that results in failure, people are unhappy. To his credit, it must be noted that if the efforts had been successful then it would have meant a boost to the local economy to the tune of a few million dollars, or more. Since it was a failure, the president has to answer to the taxpayers however.

Most moms are skilled at money management. It’s often their responsibility to make sure that the household needs are taken care of without their family going into debt. They use savvy shopping, coupon clipping and frugal living to make sure that their family doesn’t go into debt but also doesn’t go without. Unfortunately, managing your money gets tough at this time of year. As the fall and winter holidays approach, it gets harder to say no to the things that your kids want. The problems start with Halloween. The following budgeting advice can help moms save money on Halloween without compromising their kids’ fun.

The biggest piece of budgeting advice that moms should follow this season is to start working now to save money on Halloween costumes. Costumes tend to be the biggest expense associated with Halloween. If you can save money on your kids’ Halloween costumes then you can save money on Halloween. You can implement some of your usual money management tricks here. Start early, do comparison shopping, make what you can at home, buy what you need at yard sales and thrift stores and don’t be ashamed to put your kids in some Halloween hand-me-downs that you’ve updated with a few cheap accessories. Your kids may think that they want the latest, hottest Halloween costumes from the stores but they don’t have to win this battle. A succinct explanation of the importance of managing your money along with your own enthusiasm for coming up with creative costume ideas should be enough to get your kids on board with your budget Halloween costume plans.

Once you’ve dealt with the Halloween costume issue then you’ll want to focus on applying some smart budgeting advice to decorating your home for Halloween. The same tricks that you used to get an affordable Halloween costume will apply to getting affordable Halloween decorations.

Hopefully you’ve been managing your money well for some time already and you have some decorations saved up from years past. If not then you’ll want to scour clearance outlets and thrift stores for decorations. Make some cheap decorations yourself with the kids. Create a decorating budget and stick to it. It’s more important to stick to your money management plan than to have the best-decorated house on the block this Halloween.

Finally, there’s the issue of Halloween candy. If you’re planning to stay home and hand out candy to the neighborhood children this year then you’ll want to do what you can to get that candy at the lowest price possible. This further decreases the amount of money that you spend on Halloween this year. There are two major tricks here. The first is to buy candy that’s not chocolate because chocolate is almost always the most expensive candy in the store. The second is to buy in bulk at discount stores like a local dollar store, or even major shopping outlets like Costco or Sam's Club. Implement these two tricks and you should find yourself able to buy what you need without breaking your budget.

If you’ve been smart about managing your money this Halloween then you may even have some money left over in your Halloween budget. Consider using it wisely at those post-Halloween sales to pick up the costumes and decorations that you’ll want next year at a real bargain.

The recession has caused agencies at all levels of government to look for debt solutions. Across the board, one of the solutions implemented has been to shift the burden of debt off of the government and on to the taxpayers. Taxes are rising throughout the United States and Canada as budget shortfalls cause government agencies to alter their budgets. It’s certainly a fact that the government has to do something to deal with its debt.

Debt settlement and debt consolidation are abundant for consumers while options for government agencies aren’t easy to come by. Nevertheless, moving the burden of debt on to taxpayers who are already struggling because of the recession doesn’t seem like a smart solution.

We have seen taxes rise in different ways at all levels of government throughout the United States and Canada. For example, New York state legislators voted last year to amend their budget in a manner that resulted in both property tax and school tax increases for residents. These changes may seem like smart debt solutions to New York legislators who have saved almost a quarter of a million dollars in the past two years as a result of the property tax change alone. However it must be remembered that this money is coming from somewhere else: the taxpayers. In a difficult economy, even the smallest increase in taxes can cause financial difficulties for individuals.

In many areas, taxpayers are already paying the bulk of the bills for the city and can’t afford to take on any more of debt to cover budget shortfalls. An example of this is seen in Vancouver, Canada where two thirds of the city’s revenue already comes from taxpayers. The city has a $1-billion annual budget with a $60 million shortfall and that $60 million has to come from somewhere. The city is looking into debt solutions that include cutting jobs and eliminating city programs. This is a no-win situation for taxpayers. Either they experience rising taxes in order to keep city workers employed and programs in place or these people and programs are cut to make up for the budget shortfall.

So what’s the solution? It’s not an easy issue to find answers to. The economy is still shaky throughout North America. Individuals are being forced to look into debt settlement, debt consolidation and loan deferment. Businesses are struggling to stay afloat through the rest of the recession. And the government is going to have to make some cutbacks of its own to reduce budget shortfalls. Hopefully they’ll come up with some creative debt solutions that don’t involve increasing taxes but also don’t cut jobs with an ever increasing unemployment rate.