Well, who doesn't????? I was on my way to work the other morning listening to the news and gave other motorists a chuckle, I suppose, as I'm sitting in my little convertible at a traffic light, giving my two cents to the radio. JEA wants to raise everyone's bill so they can recover some of their losses.... which royally annoyed me, as I'm still searching for some ways to recoup MY losses!
This past year, I've seen my property tax on my Atlantic Beach home DOUBLE, which has added an extra $100 per month onto my mortgage payment for my humble little home.
I'm now also paying MORE than double to fill the ten-gallon tank on my little car. She's fuel-efficient, but geeze, when I'm glugging in $40+ of the precious black liquid she requires to get me back and forth to work (which about the only place I can afford to drive to!), it's emptying $40 out of my wallet at an alarming rate.
Hmm. Seems everything is increasing by double... except for my paycheck! I'm not an affluent person. Just an average person who works a full-time 40+ an hour a week job. I do not lead an extravagant lifestyle. Can't bloody afford it, can I??? Even so, I try to live simply, efficiently, and harmoniously. My financial harmony, however, is playing some pretty outlandish out-of-tune chords.
I'm staging my own quiet little rebellions. The last time I bought eggs was at Easter. There's just something inherently wrong when a dozen eggs are over $2.00. The chickens, apparently, can recoup their losses, but at the expense of the egg-eating consumer. When I bought those eggs at Easter, I bought a half-dozen, which was at least under $2! Ah, eggs are bad for my cholesterol, anyroad, yeah? (Gotta justify this in my own little mind, somehow, don't I?)
The bottom line is always financial. It doesn't matter whose bottom line. Mine, or JEA's, or the tax collector. It's all about companies and utilities recovering their financial losses, and all about more money coming out of MY paycheck to help THEM. WHO, I wonder, is going to help ME recover MY losses????
I was watching our President give a speech on tv not too ago, where he was assuring all Americans that there was nothing wrong with the economy. I wanted to hurl my bowl of popcorn at his image. But, heck, that bowl of popcorn was my DINNER. I seriously doubt GW is ever having popcorn for HIS dinner. And, no doubt all he sees are $$$ floating into his personal bank account whenever the presidential limo stops to gas up. The money it takes to fill the car he rides 'round in, isn't coming out of HIS pocket, is it? Not like it is coming out of MINE when I am putting petrol into my little car. And, I kinda figure GW isn't concerned about the mortgage payments of the White House being late AGAIN because of that extra $100 a month due to the property taxes doubling.
Last time I looked at my paystub, my income hadn't doubled like nearly everything I need to pay out for has. Like the old Sonny & Cher song, before it's earned the money's all been spent.
But, I can rest easy. My president has assured me that "there's nothing wrong with the economy." I'll just send a notice of my rate increases along to him to sort out, then.
miscmood, feeling financially peeved