The Rising Cost of Living

It was maybe a month or 2 ago that I read a very disturbing headline in our local newspaper. It said that gas companies such as Exxon reported record profits despite the recession.
Doesn't this seem odd to anyone else?

Ok, say there's a drought so farmers have to pay more for feed for their cows. Bang! The price of milk goes up. Ok, now say the price of gasoline and other fuels rise. BAM! EVERYTHING goes up. Everything is delivered by plane, truck, anything that requires fuel. You can't buy a cheap steak for less than $4 a pound. Milk is $4 a gallon.

Personally, I think the war was just mere convenience for these guys. They've been telling us the price of oil has gone up because of the conflict. What a load of BS! If that were true, then these oil companies should be making regular profit, not record breaking profits!

Why am I paying anywhere from two to three dollars a gallon for gas? So a shareholder can buy that new jet he's been eyeing? I don't think so. Why do I pay $4 for a gallon of milk? Why do any of us? Because you have to. You still need milk and you're not going to find it anywhere else at a cheaper rate. They know you will still buy the milk. They know you will still buy the gas.
I've read several articles and heard on the radio several times that we--all of America should not buy gas such and such day. They say that would put a killing on the oil companies. For one day, maybe. But tomorrow I will still need gas. And so so will everyone else in the country. It levels out!! I'm not going to need any less gas than the day before. Duh.

So where do we stand? People are crunching their budgets to meet the demands of rising fuel costs. They cut back on such luxuries as Sunday Drives and Dry Cleaning.
I work at a dry cleaners. When people cut back, we suffer. The movie theater suffers, the Wal-Mart clerk suffers, the Driver that delivers the newspapers suffers.
Why? Because when fuel rises, everything else rises in cost but our paychecks. You think I'm counting on a raise when business slows down?
It's truly ridiculous. After the article was published nationwide, prices went down about 5 whole cents at the gas pumps. Whoa now! You don't want to shock us with the savings! Why, I might even be able to buy that pony or that jet plane I've been eyeing!
At first, I was a little concerned that the electric company and the natural gas company was going to raise our rates. But I saved a whopping 70 cents filling my 14 gallon gas tank!

I was born in 1981. When someone my age can say, "You, know I remember back in the day when gas cost only 84 cents a gallon," that's pretty sad. It's down right scary. Pretty soon, we won't be able to afford to live.
If my husband and I get legally divorced and I pop out a few kids, maybe I can afford to get food and get housing. That's the ticket! Live off the government!
That's another thing.
We get jipped on our taxes every year. Did you know that the going rate per child is like, $3000? We pay our tax guy nearly $300 and whatever's left after the refund we get to keep. Ooooh, I'm looking at jet plane catalogs already!
My brother-in-law just bought a special edition Harley Davidson, special ordered out of state. He has 4 kids. You do the math.