Lubrication For the Economy

"Lubrication for the economy"; that's what the news media is calling the bailout. An alternate title for this post is: Bend Over and Smile Taxpayers!
All I have to say on this matter is: it's a sad reflection on our gov't when they unconstitutionally use taxpayer's hard-earned money to reward irresponsible behavior!

I have ZERO faith in the greed-driven, fantasy world of Wall Street, along with their lackeys on Madison Avenue. MARK MY WORDS, this bailout will fix nothing for "We the People" of this country. To the thousands and thousands of you that contacted your Senators and Representatives about not voting for the bailout; stick to your threat! Don't vote for these people ever again! The next politician that screams "socialism", when referring to exempting the insurance industry from our health care system, is likely to wind up with my foot down his/her throat!

Nothing will change after the presidential election, no matter who is elected! Our next president will be unable to implement his plans, because there won't be any money for them. Our tax dollars are tied up paying for wars and corporate bailouts.

I've got news for our politicians. Rural America is WAY past recession. We're quickly falling into depression! Property values, in our county, fell 20-25% this year. Our local banks are solvent, because they didn't jump on the sub-prime bandwagon. Will they be rewarded for acting responsibly? I doubt it. We live in the forgotten netherlands of "outstate". Our citizens struggle to pay their bills, while all our tax dollars go to big city development.

We no longer have a retirement fund. We had to cash it in, 2 years ago, in order to stay eligible for our state's health insurance. Next year we'll probably have to cash in our whole life insurance policies in order to be eligible. We TRIED to be responsible by living within our means and stashing away a minuscule nest egg over the last 30 years. Were we rewarded for this behavior? Nope; we were penalized! We re-invested our money in the only place we could: our home. Did this raise the value of our property? Nope; the value dropped 20%!

In the last year, my tips have dropped by 25%, while our cost of living has risen by 15-20%. L's hours will more than likely be cut by 30%, or more, for the winter. Our roof/porch project wound up costing us $2800 more than we planned. L lost 2 weeks and I lost 3 days of pay to get L's eyes fixed. On the bright side, we're debt free, with the exception of the $3700 left on our garage loan.

So what's my plan for surviving the winter? Pare down our budget...again! When L's place of employment closed 6 years ago, the first thing I did was knock down our budget. The first thing to go was the cell phone. Next, I didn't renew any of our magazine subscriptions. Then I reduced our cable and phone bills by $20/month apiece. We struggled through the following year with L working a series of part-time jobs, while collecting reduced unemployment benefits. When L landed a full-time job, it was still 25% less than he had been making at his former job. BUT, during this time we managed to keep paying our bills, and finished paying off our home and truck! That freed up $800/month from our budget, which became our salvation.

The following 5 years have found our small-town economy sliding further into the shitter, so we've been forced to make further cuts in our spending. The last vacation we took was 4 1/2 years ago. Last year we cut out the 6-10 meals/year that we ate out. We also cut the 2-3 movies/year that we watched at the movie theater. This year we cut all travel, including the 300 mile trip to visit relatives and weekend camping trips. Now we try to limit our 2 mile trips to town to one/week.

Next month, I won't be renewing our $125/year subscription to our local paper. I will buy the Monday paper for the grocery ads and read the news on the paper's website. We have limited our remaining home projects, for the season, to the materials we have on hand. This means that our old porch will remain in our yard until next spring, when we can afford the dumping fees. I will make it through the winter with my 6-yr-old jacket and 4-yr-old boots. We just turned our furnace on, for the night, this week, when our temps dipped into the 20F range. We will try to keep our furnace set at 65F until the weather dips below zero. We will be eating more pork and chicken, and less beef. Turkey burger casseroles and homemade soups will be our mainstay. I'll be cruising the internet for inexpensive, tasty, new recipes. The 2 light fixtures we use the most have been switched to fluorescent bulbs, and the rest of the lights will be OFF as much as possible.

We'll survive the winter with what we already have. Board games, reading, photography, and creative cooking will be our entertainment. We have food, shelter, water, and LOVE. What more could we ask for? We are truly blessed.