Friday, September 26, 2003
Why America Is Mad at George W. Bush:
The people mentioned here are just like any of us. Your basic "good people". Hard-working people. Broke people.0 comments
It's awful enough if you're unemployed. We expect that to be rough. Managing your unemployment—and its unique finances—becomes your full-time job. But even those of you lucky enough to currently have jobs have seen the cost of everything but the Cheerios fly through the roof. On second thought, no, Cheerios are now over $5.00 for the $1.99 box. Thankfully, Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan reminds us there's no/little inflation. Even when most people are hard-pressed to think of something that hasn't gone up.
"Things" may not cost more today, relatively speaking, but necessary services have soared past Pluto into the stratosphere.
My bank "fees" have quadrupled. So, I'm in the process of switching over to a "no fees" bank. But, I just noticed a flyer from them that mentions in passing a fee that wasn't there a month and a half ago when I opened the account.
Check your phone bill or electric bill. If you can even decipher it, there's a (hefty) monthly fee tacked on before you even use the service. In fact, you're no longer paying for the service that you use; you're paying to keep their doors open—any usage that you pay for is strictly extra. My Con Edison gas bill (for our gas stove only) runs $13 - $14 a month. I finally got around to actually looking at it closely. We used $1.73 worth of gas, but the bill was for $13.32! When asked, they said it was my minimum monthly fee. "Minimum monthly fee?" Just what do I get for this "minimum monthly fee"? Basically, the undying friendship of all their employees who haven't been laid off as of yet and the majority of Con Ed's shareholders who'll take any cash cow in a storm.
At the same time, all utilities now routinely pass on to you every tax that was meant for them as a corporate tax. Look at your bill. There will be the usual sales taxes on your usage of the service. Fine. But you'll see lots of other taxes that don't look familiar. Since utility companies can't just raise prices to cover any new taxes they get hit with like other businesses can, they make no bones about getting their friends in your state legislature to allow them to hand any new corporate taxes right off to you.
"Can you say Taxation without Representation, boys and girls? Yes, I knew you could."
Have you had your car fixed lately? Or dealt with health insurance? Or any insurance?
Look at any of your bills these days. Really look at them. You won't have to look hard to find all the hidden charges and fees piled on top of your hidden charges and fees.
Of course, then just when you're stretched to the gills from the basic necessities of your life, you arrive at work one morning to find that eight of you from your twelve-person dept. have been laid off. And to help you acclimate yourself to the degradations to come, they'll even escort you from the building without letting you get your things from your desk. (Don't want any tampering, you know...)
George W. Bush then bounces in, happily assuming that you'll help him win re-election so that he can spend the next four years de-regulating even more industries which will then take this kind of approach with you, as well as getting you to support even more tax cuts for those making over $250,000/yr.
I'm glad George has a plan.
I'd hate to think of where we'd be if he wasn't up to the task.
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posted by Gotham 2:03 AM
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