The Economy and Another Rant

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Today Nathan and I were reminiscing about what it was like ten years ago. He had an okay job. We were still technically poor, but it was easier to actually live your life. Everything was cheaper back then. Well... not everything. Housing prices were god awful. Rent was cheaper. Utilities were cheaper. Food was cheaper. Hotel rooms were cheaper. Gas was certainly a hell of a lot cheaper.

After rent and utilities were paid, we still had money to go places and buy things. Nathan and I both loved to travel. We both love the beach. We used to go to the beach multiple times a year. If we were upset or down, we went to the bay for a couple of days. The beach always made me feel better. Our kids love the beach too. We have pictures of all of our older kids at the beach. The last two have never seen the beach. It's really depressing. The kids all want to go back and talk about the beach a lot, but we just can not afford the gas. At $4.00 a gallon it would take a good portion of our monthly income to pay for the gas alone.

Nathan and I used to go to concerts in D.C. on the weekends. We would go to Baltimore, MD, to the aquarium and eat at nice restaurants. We went shopping in Georgetown. I loved going to Smash. I don't know if they are still there. I got my tattoo at Jinx Proof in Georgetown. I loved going to D.C.  It was a weekend ritual. At that time in my life, I had only been in a Walmart a few times. We could afford to buy the kids more toys. The kids wore nice clothes. I could buy more books for my book addiction. We took the kids to the National museums and the National zoo. We could afford to do more things.

With gas only being around a dollar a gallon, we could afford to go places. Also back then, gas prices didn't fluctuate. There was no rising gas prices for holidays and summer, or all the other lame excuses they give now. Gas stayed pretty much around the same price for years. The oil companies made a ton in profits then. But over the past ten years they discovered that they could get away with charging more for gas and raising the price for holidays and summer or whenever they want to. No one did shit. So now they are making three or more times as much in profits at the expense of the economy and everyone's quality of life. The gas prices affect everything. From the cost of merchandise to food to utilities. It affects the quality of life for people because the high gas prices makes everything else so much more expensive. You certainly can't afford to travel as much.

There were better deals at the grocery stores and companies put out better coupons. For example: a coupon for $1.00 off one box of tissues then, instead of $.25 off three boxes of tissues now. Meats were $.99 a pound instead of $5.00+ a pound. We have to think of creative ways to stretch the meat we cook now. Like eat more ethnic foods. Having grilled chicken breasts is a luxury now. Multiple times a week we eat vegetarian simply because it is cheaper without meat. Vegetables were much cheaper too, especially during the in-season. My cart was always filled with lots of fresh produce. We still eat lots of fresh produce but during the off-season it takes a huge chunk out of our food budget. During the spring and summer we have a garden which really helps out. I love seafood and thankfully it hasn't risen as high as other meats. I can't live without salmon, tilapia, and crab. For some reason it is near impossible to find wild-caught salmon in this area. I usually have to make a trip to Harrisonburg for it. So we eat more tilapia. Our diet has changed over the years due to the rising food prices. Plus we rarely ever eat out. My oldest daughter and I cook the meals every day. Nathan usually has a night to cook dinner too. At least our diet is healthier now.

Companies have become more greedier over the years too. Everyone wants to make mega-profits at our expense. Take razor blades for example. The female disposable blades cost around $16.00 for a four pack and male ones cost around $25.00 for a four pack. They have gone way up in price. Can anyone tell me why little plastic cartridges with thin strips of metal have to cost so much? You aren't even paying for a handle, because the cartridges are just refills. I used to be able to find diapers for around $7.00 a package plus I would have good coupons. Sometimes even free coupons from the manufacturer. Good luck finding coupons for free diapers now. Diapers are now $12.00+ for a package.  Now for diaper wipes you get a $.50 off a $10.00 box. Wow- now that is savings. The price of wipes have gone up but the coupon amounts have gone down. It is like that with everything. Just two years ago when I first got my chickens, a 50-pound bag of chicken feed cost $11.00 but now it costs $16.00 a bag. I have noticed that all livestock feed has gone up. I have no idea how much it was ten years ago but I'm sure it was less.

Let's talk about tobacco prices. I know the government has brainwashed people about the "evils" of tobacco, but there are still a lot of smokers out there. More closet smokers now. Anyway, ten years ago a carton of premium cigarettes cost around $20.00 and quite often you could get coupons for $3.00 or more dollars off. Now there are no more coupons and a carton of premium cigarettes cost $46.00+ (and that is in a cheap area). Then there are all the taxes which are allowed to be placed solely on tobacco products. It raises the cost even more. I don't see higher taxes on alcohol products. I don't see alcohol users being singled out to pay more. But the government from the Federal to the local level seem to think they can single out tobacco users to pay more in taxes. They say that tobacco use is costing us more in health care. But that doesn't make sense. Less tobacco is being used than ever before yet the supposed health problems from tobacco continue to rise. There was less of the supposed tobacco use-influenced diseases when more people used tobacco. From what I've read, tobacco is just the scapegoat. The real things causing these diseases are ignored because the companies pay the government to look the other way. Why are they just using tobacco users? How about the obesity problem in America? They are taking a toll on the health care system. But if you actually were to look into the obesity problem then you would open Pandora's box. Just take a look at all the crap that is allowed to go into foods. Or how about all the chemicals sprayed onto our food. Why do we need this? People grew crops without chemicals just fine a hundred years ago. Or how about all the drugs with serious side effects on the market and in our water supply. Or the many chemicals in everyday products. Do you think the furniture one hundred years ago had all these chemicals? No. Plus it was sturdier and better made. Can you imagine? Real wood furniture! Not plastic! What do you think all of these chemicals bombarding us from everything is doing to our bodies? Since the widespread use of chemicals and plastics, there has been a dramatic increase in all kinds of diseases. Yet tobacco gets singled out and gets the full force of the blame. Why aren't alcohol companies or users having to pay out higher taxes for the health problems and death they create? Why aren't the chemical companies having to pay out higher taxes for causing health problems and death? Why just tobacco?

Besides our tainted food supply and all the chemicals bombarding our bodies every day, let's look at another reason for obesity problems. Americans were skinnier ten years ago. Hmmm.... ten years ago you could afford to go places and do things to be more active. Since it costs so much for a tank of gas, more people are staying home. What do people do at home? Watch TV, play video games, surf the internet, and other sedentary activities. If you are in your twenties with no kids, you might be a bit more active at home with your partner, but hey, not all of us can indulge like that. Yeah, it is great exercise and a terrific stress reducer though, so parents really should indulge in it more often. Anyway, with the rising gas prices people can not afford to go out to do things. They are stuck at home. Higher gas prices + less activity by staying home= more weight gain. I haven't seen anyone else correlate these things, but it certainly makes sense. The higher priced economy seems to have an influence on higher weight gain.

Health care was different ten years ago too. More people actually had insurance coverage. Since then, employers don't want to cover their workers and try everything they can to get out of it. Prospective employees compared companies insurance benefits when making a decision. Now you are just lucky to get any job without coverage. Health insurance companies have NEVER had a good reputation, but they have certainly gotten much worse. They make you pay more in premiums and co-pays while they cover less treatments and medications. Or they just drop you if you do develop some disease. If you had no insurance ten years ago, an office visit to a regular doctor cost around $45 to $60, now it is well over a $100. The price of prescription medications have gone up, along with their number of serious side effects. Also ten years ago, if you were in pain you could get narcotic pain relievers to suppress  the pain. Now they just tell you to take a Tylenol or do stupid hippie crap like meditate or such nonsense. If you are in severe pain a Tylenol or meditation is just NOT going to do it. Broken leg? Take a Tylenol. Migraine? Take a Tylenol, or one of the many new drugs with death as a side effect. Narcotics have been used for almost as long as mankind has been around, yet the American government has been on a war path to take away the best antidote for pain. Why? Because some people can become addicted to it? Well that is a stupid reason for making people suffer. I didn't know the government was our parents? I didn't know that we can't make our decisions. Plus the whole reason it is a prescription is so that your doctor can monitor you for any problems. Frankly, I think narcotics should be over-the-counter. Who has the right to judge and decide how much pain you are dealing with or can't deal with? As for the addiction thing, there are many, many other things people can become addicted to and those aren't regulated. Some people are addicted to sex. Is the amount of sex you can have regulated? Some people are addicted to playing video games. Is that regulated? Does your TV turn off after so many hours? Does your fridge and pantry lock up after so long if you are addicted to food? Is there a limit on the number of items you can buy if you have a shopping addiction? Alcohol is addictive and it is sold everywhere. Women have been known to get addicted to laxatives. Are they regulated? It is just NOT a valid excuse to regulate narcotic pain relievers on the basis of its' addictive properties. Besides, NOT everyone who takes them becomes addicted. I have suffered from migraines since childhood. Up until six years ago, I was prescribed Percocet. I took it for years when I had a migraine. In all those years, I never had to take a stronger dose. My body will only allow me to take a certain strength and only a certain amount in a specific time period. Yet it never failed in it's ability to work for my migraines. And I never became addicted to it. I know there are others like me. The government always exaggerates to brainwash people. Six years ago, the government cracked down on doctors prescribing narcotics so it is like going through hell to get one pill. Needless to say, I have suffered horribly through migraines over the past six years. Untreated migraines cause so much pain that they are disabling. Only a couple of times has a doctor taken pity on me enough to prescribe me a small amount of pain relievers. Those few pills were worth more than gold to me. They were my ticket out of suffering and pain. If there is something available for pain, then why are we forced to suffer? Narcotic pain relievers have been used longer than any other pain medication (besides marijuana) and the side effects are well known. These new drugs for pain do NOT work as well and carry with them the added bonus of very serious side effects or death (even with one dose). Which would you choose? Our government regulates narcotics for us, but I bet if Obama or any of the rest of them were in pain, they would have no-questions-asked access. I bet they have no problem getting prescriptions for them and aren't treated as a drug abuser. That is how we get treated when we ask for a narcotic to suppress pain. If you see a doctor for pain, you are suppose to act like a complete idiot who has never heard of narcotics. Otherwise you are treated as a drug abuser with fake pain just trying to score something. It is ridiculous for them to treat other humans like that. I bet that if you and your cat each broke a leg, your cat would have less difficulty getting pain relief than you. We, humans living in America, get treated with less dignity than an animal.

Well, I've gone off on my rant long enough for tonight. Everyone take care.