Dems & Repubs Protect Us From Inflation???

gordontravels · 08-14-05, 01:02 PM

We elected them right? Considering whether you are 28 or 68, just how do these wonderful politicians do this service for you and me?

They do it by ignoring the cost of housing, food and fuel. Sound reasonable to you? When the Consumer Price Index was reported in July, you and I saw a rise in prices paid for consumer goods of .02%. Business saw an increase in prices or inflation of .01%. That's 2 parts of one penny and one part of one penny based on 10 parts to the penny. Do you believe that? Right away you want to look at the gas pump with $2.25, $2.35 or $2.60 per gallon and wonder how much more it costs Wal-Mart trucks to get those tomatoes to the stores. Oh yes, you will pay much more for those tomatoes and even to drive to that Wal-Mart but that isn't figured into inflation so you are doing just fine.

Do you own a home? Has it appreciated? How about the way you financed it? Do you have an Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM)? Did you get in on one of those great deals where you financed 100 to 120% of the value of the home with no money down? Wow, what a deal; you're in a house and money in the bank. Chances are your house has gone along with the boom and gone up in value. That has nothing to do with inflation though. When figuring inflation the government doesn't take into account the price of a house, the cost of a mortgage, insurance, remodeling or property taxes. They only consider what it would rent for. Wait, rent? Don't you live in the house you bought?

Oh and - if that housing market loses steam like it is and if interest rates keep going up like they will then guess what happens? You end up with a home that is worth more than you can sell it for and a payment that keeps increasing. Don't worry though, it doesn't have anything to do with inflation so if you are retired, disabled or expecting a cost of living increase in your paycheck you'll get it. Of course it won't keep up with expenses like gas but you'll get it anyway, right?

What does this mean to a person that's 68 or 28? COLA; Cost of Living Allowance. A person on Social Security or Disability will get a raise based on the inflation rate. Maybe a worker will get an increase in their paycheck, you know, a raise? Last year someone getting say $700 a month got an increase of around $6 a month. Of course if they had Medicare then there was extra preimums that ate some of that $6.

What about that 28 or 35 year old? Well, one day they get to the age where their benefits kick in and what will they get. Food, fuel and housing costs will have gone up what; 20, 30, 40, 50 percent a year while the benefits they will someday realize went up 2.6% a year?

A year is a long time isn't it? Ten years is a long time isn't it? Thirty? Forty? More?

There comes a time in everyone's life that they reach an age and day in their thinking when they realize that the life they look back on is much longer than that which they look forward to. It's natural and it brings on a shift in thinking. This is a shift in thinking that turns careless into conservative. Not necessarily conservative in the political sense but conservative in financial condition and looking at one's own life, health and happiness.

Inflation? Where?