Sunday, October 21, 2012

New American Dream?

 

How to write this post without offending anyone? Hmm. These are just my thoughts this week as a fixed income person trying to make ends meet. First off, it is not lost on me how lucky I am, so don't think I am whining because my thoughts do not stem from that but from my day to day life doing what we are all doing, trying to stretch a very thin dollar even thinner.
Everything that I need to buy is skyrocketing and it seems no one is going to do anything about it. Gas is so high that you really have to think before you drive anywhere. Now when gas prices raise like this guess what goes up next? Food, yes already sky high food prices are bound to climb again. If it costs more to ship food the higher prices will  follow.
When fuel prices adjust do the food prices and all the other goods we need go down? No they don't. So I ask is this the new normal? There is no way my fixed income will keep up with these rising costs. Living on less has become the norm for me and I do live a life where I  have enough to eat and a nice roof over my head and I know some do not. I know personally others who do not have  because of job loss and other reasons.
But I want to have hope in the future for my grandkids. I hear of graduates who cannot get jobs. How does  someone graduate top of class and find it hard to get a job? I know keeping at it is important and hopefully jobs will be found, but this is not what it looked like for me when I graduated from high school. It is not what it looked like even a few short years ago.
We are facing a point  in our country where we may not turn these things around. I will not get political on here as that is not my format but I will say it how it is for me as I see it and live it every day. No matter who wins this next election, I ask again is this the new normal? After a while I fear we will forget more of how it was and accept a new lower standard of the American Dream.

Small Print: Please if this offends you, or you disagree,  do NOT leave me a nasty mean comment,  Please do what I do and just move along. I am respectful of others views and I expect the same in return.  Thanks!

3 comments:

Bob G. said...

MsN:
I could not AGREE with you more, dear!
Amen to that.

(love your new fall picture, too).

Stay safe (and informed) down there.

CWMartin said...

I ask myself this a lot, and Laurie brought it up just the other day. No wonder I crawl into my Time Machine and hide...

Marianne (Mare) Baker Ball said...

I think the title of your blog says a lot....waiting for God. This life is temporal, and I think every generation has a tougher time b/c human nature tends to operate at the lowest common denominator. I may be a gloomy gus, but I take an eternal view. Sadly, I think this is the new normal. No matter who's in the White House, society is on the decline. We can try to slow the process, but until we seek God's will for our lives and have a change of heart, I think we will continue to slide. On the up side, this life is temporal. In rough times, it's helpful - for me, anyway - to remember that.