Monday, April 23, 2012

Running in Place

"Well, in our country," said Alice, still panting a little, "you'd generally get to somewhere else -- if you ran very fast for a long time, as we've been doing."
"A slow sort of country!" said the Queen. "Now, here, you see, it takes all the running you can do, to keep in the same place. If you want to get somewhere else, you must run at least twice as fast as that!"

(Through the Looking Glass, Chapter 2)

Are you feeling a bit like Alice? I know I am. In more ways than I care to think about.  The price of EVERYTHING has been going up, with no end in sight. We're all working harder to stay afloat financially, and things are getting harder, not easier. My husband, who works for the federal government, has not had a salary increase in four years, and it looks like he will not for at least another several years.  We've been making do with less and less, just like everyone else out there. We certainly are not hurting as much as we could be, but finances are definitely tighter than they used to be.  I often wonder how families with less income than ours manage to feed and clothes their families.

What really makes the situation frustrating and makes my blood boil is the total disregard by the government to be good a steward of our tax dollars.  Oh no. It's as if they have a credit card with no credit limit, and they keep spending and spending like a drunk sailor. I just heard on the radio the other day that our President's deficit spending in real terms means the government has ALREADY spent all of the lifetime tax payments by our grandchildren! And he wants to spend more! It is obviously unsustainable, and it scares the CRAP out of me! 

As a general rule, I don't buy ANYTHING now unless it is on sale or clearance, except for vegetables at the grocery store. I hate going to the grocery store because you get so little for SO much! I remember when we first got married, we used to be able to fill up our grocery cart and spend less than $100. Now? I might have 6 or 7 items and pay close to $50! Insanity, I tell you. And the reason I avoid shopping as much as humanely possible.

We are fighting back by expanding our vegetable garden again this year. We will have twelve 4 x 8 beds when all's completed. I already planted 3 whole beds with tomato plants in the hope of canning the surplus so I will not have to buy canned tomatoes to use in recipes. The materials set us back $60, but we hope it will pay us back many times over in the future.

But as I work to get the garden prepared for more plants, I see a day in the not-so-distant future when the government will tax us for the pleasure of growing our own vegetables. Call me paranoid, if you will, but I have no doubt that this is something coming down the pipeline. Case in point: we have a well on our property, and we are certain we will get taxed to use it sooner than later. The city  already taxes commercial property owners with a well for the use of the water, regardless of the fact that the city does JACK to maintain the well and the pump. The government is getting too intrusive, too powerful, and too downright scary! And it really annoys the HELL out of me that too many people are ignorant about the dangers of an out of control government. 



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