:Vocalo.org

Illinois Governor Pat Quinn proposed a big tax hike and a lot of spending cuts and a lot of borrowing to get the state through a year when it's about $13 billion short.  Sounds depressingly like a lot of people's personal budgets-- except we don't get to raise taxes.

The state has asked The People for suggestions.  I've seen 'em.  And I think the Vocalo Nation can do better.  

It just may require a little "creativity." So let's swap some stories: 

When have you maybe stretched the rules a little, in order to solve a money problem?  (You can tell us.  Even if it's a secret.)

Call us at 888-635-1112. 

Meanwhile, here's a few to get us started.  Most are pretty funny...

But not this first one, which is an argument about morality:  There are worse crimes than stealing to survive, says this young person.  Some of them are probably legal.

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ABC773 got the citizens of Portland, Maine to 'fess up to stealing a few things:

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Then, these two from Gabby-- collected for February's thread about being fired.  The first one's a Vocalo classic.  In this case, the thief was not the one who got fired:

  ... and from the same storyteller, one about a guy who was sacked for stealing.  And being a moron.

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Sometimes, you need to stretch the truth.  Here are some of the best lies collected by Curie Youth Radio:

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And sometimes, even when things are illegal, they're not necessarily wrong-- in the sense that they're pretty commonly accepted. 

That's how Larry and Jeffrey from Carter's Barber Shop see the Rod Blagojevich case:  In one charge, the former Illinois Governor allegedly tried to shake down Children's Memorial Hospital; unless he got a $100,000 campaign contribution, he was going to hold up a $50 million state grant.

In Larry and Jeffrey's view, Blago was just following the rules of politics    

OK. We've shown you ours.  Now let's hear yours:  888-635-1112.

Brian and Molly interviewed LT Gov Becky Skillman about the federal stimulus funds that Indiana started receiving last year. Becky told us how the money has been used and is going to be used, because Indiana has only received close to half of their allotted 4.3 Billion dollars. She also filled us in on the last minute negotiations happening on the Indiana general assembly floor.

-Invest.In.gov is where you can follow up on how the money is spent.

- The original interview from 1 year ago may be heard here at the following link .

At Thornton Fraction High School South in Lansing, students are having to double up on lockers...

From a story in NWI.com, here.

THINK OF MONEY IN A NEW AND EXCITING WAY !

Money origami is an artform all it's own.

Creative minds produce inventive business.

Create your own personal MONEY TREE ::: It’s like adding an app

A Money Tree is created by you to attract money, a job, inspiration, creativity, opportunity

Mick D Shane is a talented composer and musician. He puts money symbols and places he would like to perform in postcard form on the inside of his guitar case.

"I saw old pictures of big trunks of musicians that I admired. They always had stickers of places they had been and concert halls they performed at. I want to think big. Far away places and infamous venues with history have always been my lifelong obsession to perform at.” he said.

La Margarita Zaida is a student and an artist.  Her money tree is on a large 5 foot canvas, in her foyer, where she sees it coming and going - sometimes serval times a day - it soaks into her subconscious - even when she is asleep.

She painted herself on a throne. She is wearing a crown of 100 dollar bills and she is bejeweled with shiny diamond baubles.

“I painted myself in a castle in Madrid surrounded by medieval furniture,” I wouldn’t mind living there for a year - just to experience what it is like . . . I am sure I would love it . . . even as a child I dreamt of living in castles !

Jared Jacobsen - a computer programmer and math wizard has a personally engineered money tree as his desktop graphic. An isosceles triangle tree with origami bills folded neatly into interesting shapes. Folding bills into creative objects is his current fascination. Jared spends at least 10 hours a day on and off his computer. He carries a red burgundy mini notebook with him everywhere.

Since he wants to travel to exotic places: old world coins are carefully placed 45 degrees away from each other in a very geodesic pattern - he admires Buckminster Fuller - and are from Greece, China and an old British Isles tuppence.

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I have always had lucky money. Money given to me by special people.  Money given to me in a creative or artist way.That is money I try not to spend immediately. Unless it is a last resort.  An emergency.  If it carries a lucky or special meaning.

My mom carried a coin that was shot with a bullet. It was her lucky coin.  If the coin deflected the bullet - it might have saved someone's life.  I thought the coin gave you a second chance. Perhaps a new life.