Money

WARNING: Complaining ahead.

The UK media is finally realizing that inflation is here and has been here for a while. People gripe that companies and governments are not absorbing part of the strain. Do they forget that there is only one way to make money for a company or a government? They all sit on the tit of the public at large. That is where the buck stops. If it were not for people there would be no money.

Normally, the cost of everything goes up and then the wages of people go up to match the rise. This keeps the economy going because people just refuse to give up their cable TV and corn flakes. The problem is, wages are stagnant this time. People are just not able to afford the same things they got last week as a stable of survival.

In the UK, prices are rising at 5% a year at the moment. Wages are rising 2% at the same time. This means wage earners are loosing ground. They are falling behind. Trust me, something similar is going on in the U. S.. Don't think we are immune. The price of everything I buy every day is going through the roof. It is getting ridiculous.

Our company is having reviews. We got a memo talking about things are tough all over. Don't expect a raise. When I started working over twenty years ago, I made $9 an hour. I wander how far ahead of that, adjusted for cost of living, I am today. I have a family to support for goodness sake.

Then comes the slap in the face. In the same news cast the commentator says "Hey, there is a good side to oil costing so much. You will loose less and we might meet our carbon emission level." Bastards. It is officially convenient that the all these carbon cap and tax markets would pop up just as we see the light at the end of the tunnel from this down turn? People will blame their inability to pay for things on the general economical downturn instead of this new burden that has crept it's way in to our wallets over the last decade.

There is one good thing coming out of this economic down turn. There is a budding movement to tell kids when they suck at something. There are people in educational systems who are saying things like "Not everyone gets a metal for everything." Some people are beginning to think that making kids feel good is not the end goal of teaching them things. Perhaps, children should be expected to perform. If they do not perform at one task, then they should be challenged with other tasks. If you are not frustrated, you are not learning.