Who can afford a cost of living increase?
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Brenda Seefeldt
Published: March 11, 2008
In the Saturday edition, a writer wrote an opinion which was titled “Taxes are not evil and should not be feared.” The writer also closed with the oft-used excuse, “I’m willing to pay more money, sometimes, for more services.” This causes me to shudder. Who has the more money to pay for more taxes?
In the weekend edition of a recent USA Today, a front page story ran which was titled “More Americans using credit cards to stay afloat.” This article addressed the increasing trend of people paying their credit card bills before or instead of their mortgages because they’ve been using credit to pay for necessities as well as luxuries. Due to increasing gas prices (how much of that is increasing taxes?), increasing heat bills and a tenuous economy, people are extending themselves the extra dollars through credit cards. Not a sound financial solution.
From a recent Pew Research Center survey, it was discovered that 58 percent of Americans say that their incomes are falling behind the rising cost of living. In September 2007, 44 percent said this. Wow. Now the majority are falling behind little by little and are having to creatively find means to bridge this gap or just not pay their mortgages, credit debt, etc. These are not good financial times.
So who can afford to pay more money for services through increased taxes when heat bills or mortgages aren’t being paid?
The times are what they are. Why can’t the government learn to live within their means, or even cut back? So many of us are having to do this. So many of us have little choice.
Yes, there are people and jobs involved with cut backs and those people will suffer in paying mortgages and credit card bills. But I know I can’t afford to pay more taxes like the majority who don’t have that extra room in their budgets. Who can afford another increase in our cost of living?
BRENDA SEEFELDT
Occoquan
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Reader Reactions
Posted by ( barnun ) on March 24, 2008 at 2:58 pm
i hate to break it to you, but Geraldine’s comments were not racist. that is a huge problem in our country. people are not allowed to realistically talk about race, the affect of race within certain circumstances etc without being branded a racist. Standing up against illegals is also not racist. It would be racist to automatically assume the term illegal is exclusively mexican. I can be against the illegals that same as being against rapists, theives, gangs etc. people are either within the law or they are not. It’s really not a gray area. It is really unfair for the legal working class of this country to continually be penalized to pay for the affects of those who choose to live outside the law. people will start thinkking about his more as the economy continues to tighten up.
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on March 14, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Phdee can i assume you are racist, because honey i have never heard of or seen blockbusting in action other than with fireworks. You seem to be very astute in the “Good Ole Boy” ways. Are you from the deep south? Racism is a part of all races, doesn’t make it right. Even political groups at times get in on the act. Like Hillary and Bill with multiple racist comments recently and Geraldine Ferraro just the other day. You are barking up the wrong tree if you think i am a racist here. LOL Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( phdee ) on March 13, 2008 at 6:23 pm
ZCX after the civil rights laws started becoming effective, there was “block busting” whereby whites fought blacks buying hbouses and moving into their neighborhoods. This type of things has always gone on. It’s racism. I’m surprised you can’t get a grasp on it.oe
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on March 12, 2008 at 11:51 pm
I am totally against tax hikes, spending should be cut, and like there was much of a choice between Bush and Kerry, i still believe i made the right choice. Is it not ethnic cleansing when illegals move in and take over an area? Comparatively speaking with the hand dealt by 9/11 and the consequences i am surprised we are not in a Recession or a full blown Depression now. I guess action taken in Afghanistan and Iraq as well as the tax cuts have succeeded. So yes i would say Bush has done ok. Except for his support for the Amnesty Bill. Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( barnun ) on March 12, 2008 at 11:31 am
the auto industry combined with oil has controlled the white house for decades, regardless of the party of the president. this is really not a right vs left issue, it’s bigger than that. dragging political rhetoric into it only allows the problem to continue.
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Posted by ( phdee ) on March 11, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Why ZCX, admit that you are willing to pay more taxes when it fits your prejudices, such as the resolution to apply ethnic cleansing for immigrants. Most people are not. We have to eat and pay bills, not worry about the color of a person’s skin. And can I infer that you believe Bush hsazs done an execLent job?
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Posted by ( raywilliams ) on March 11, 2008 at 6:10 pm
Monkey see monkey do. We watch the media coverage of the Bush Administration spending, borrowing, spending and borrowing more, dragging this country into a well of debt our great grandchildren will still be paying for. Why? To get things Bush “wants” rather than focus on things the country “needs”. I guess its okay for the guy in the White House who walks out on his credit card debt in 10 months, but not good for the rest of us that have to pay off his loans. Certainly no leading by example by this president!
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Posted by ( zcxnissan ) on March 11, 2008 at 4:57 pm
And the abuse of the system will continue with ethanol and a Democrat President. Gas prices won’t go down. What is the real solution. Ethanol according to a recent study may actually be speeding up Global Warming, it also creates 6 gallons of sewage per gallon of ethanol created. Is this really so economical or environmentally friendly. Chris Cummings
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Posted by ( seb21 ) on March 11, 2008 at 10:40 am
I agree with your main point, however the money that local governments need must come from somewhere. The gas issue has gotten completely out of hand due to a lack of federal government regulation. Oil companies are free to raise their prices whenever they please, and they get their increases every year when they raise costs exponentially in the summer and cut them back only slightly in the fall and winter, setting the stage for them to repeat the same stunt the following year. Not only this, but car companies are involved in the scheme as well. They have made gas-thrifty cars for ages, not limited to hybrids. However, these cars are made available in places like the UK where petrol is an extraordinary 8 or more euros per gallon. Americans are sold the cars with the worst gas mileage, since gas is “cheaper” here and more people drive long distances on a daily basis. The federal government needs to step in and control the actions of companies like this that supply everyday goods and services, and a retooled tax system should be researched and implented. Too bad this will never be brought to fruition under the Bush administration.
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Posted by ( barnun ) on March 11, 2008 at 9:18 am
I agree that more taxes are a bad idea. So much of our increased cost of living is based on fuel. The “green” crowd pushed for and finally brought us ethanol. It takes more than 1 gallon of gasoline to produce 1 gallon of ethanol, increasing US gasoline useage. Ethanol production has drained from an already reduced water supply, driven up the cost of corn which has driven up the cost of wheat and the results of this are higher prices for all meat products, all dairy products, baked goods etc, not to mention the fact that ethanol production is subsidised by our tax dollars. The Green crowd has prohibited drilling on US soil. during all of this it seems that everyone overlooks the fact that cars abroad get substantially higher fuel mileage that cars offered to us here in the US. there is no free market play for the consumer in this issue. We need cars, we can only buy what is available. We need gas. Green is great when applied properly. Dipping into our food supply is irresponsible. We need to pay attention to why our cost of living has increased and who profits from it while we pay for it.
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