I don’t know about other folks, but the elevating cost of gas going up every other day — sometimes every day — is sitting in my craw like heartburn. A nearby station was one price in passing and returning a few hours later it was another. Corporations are bleeding people dry with their stock market speculating. The least in the U.S. or world economics change from day to day, sometimes hour to hour, and it’s an excuse for the prices to rise. One of my relatives, now retired, worked for one of the big name corporations during the 1973-74 gas shortage, and said “don’t let ‘em kid you, there is no shortage. We fly over all the time checking and our tank top are just floating they are so full and ships out there full of oil just waiting. It’s money and politics.” Proving you can’t believe everything you read and hear.
Today low-income families and those who have lost jobs and looking for work are really suffering. Also minimum wage is not enough to cover rent, heating, groceries much less gas. The middle income is just managing. Who is looking out for the little guy anyway? I wonder how glutted the market would be if everyone said, “to blazes with it let’s call a holiday and no one buy gas today.” It would never happen I know, but I can dream. I’m just frustrated to see these families barely making ends meet and needing food bank help the end of the month. Some are on food stamps but they have been cut back. One young mother reported she had a house-cleaning job every few weeks while still looking for work and they shorted her food stamps. She didn’t have to tell them about her few hours of cleaning, but because she was honest, paid a penalty. It seems you damned if you do and damned if you don’t.
I find so many families are living on credit cards. If they can just make their payments on time they can keep a roof over their heads. Some folks are never going to be out of debt. The banks know it and do everything they can to keep them in debt. I can see people who will forever “owe their souls to the company store.” My generation was taught if you don’t have to have, it don’t buy until you do. Pay your bills and put a few cents away every payday. It took years but eventually most of us finally owned our homes free and clear before ever retiring. Yes, it was the American dream. It seems those days are gone.
There are those who would cut out all needed programs because they call it Socialism. Oh, really, is Capitalism still working? Take a second look neighbor. Sure it works well if you’re the billionaire Koch brother who finances campaigns to suit their businesses. When you make billions on the backs of labor, and cry because you don’t want to pay more taxes like the guy in the street – yep Capitalism is great.
Has one thought of what would happen with out regulations of any kind, with no programs to help those in need and money always at the top since the trickle down idea doesn’t even ooze? I think people had better do a lot of listening, reading, and take a good look at what is going on with our economy, labor, banks and other corporations in these next months. Voting in the next election is going to mean voting for your own living conditions in the near future, for better or worse. Do you want to be a have or have not?
