This thread has no soul purpose per say...Just pointing out what I feel is happening,and in a few short months people will be taking this crap to the streets.

I guess I'm bitching about how the cost is going up when it comes to gas,and thus also the price of goods due to the floods in our corn-belt per say.

Our wages are not going up to adapt,and I'm sure I'm not telling any one of you anything ya don't already know on this subject.

For all of you that live pay-check..to pay-check..I'd take serious concern on how ya can cut back,and still be able to afford the sins all of us average Americans have,and so much enjoy.

#1..Go to a cheeper beer is a starter.

#2..Grow your own tomatos,because the prices you'll be paying for them will be like the cost of...well be like something that won't get ya high...So a "Victory Garden" might not be a bad idea.

#3..Go apply for any government support whether it comes to food stamps,or heating assistance..let alone even the food shelf..Because if you don't..you'll either be to late to qualify,or it'll go to something else the goverment is responsible for..for there so lack of.

The day is comming when it'll cost between 7000.00-10.000 to heat your home during the winter months..(for those that live in a house).

Kiss the renting market good-bye...

The day is here now..that just a couple small bags of groceries costs 40.00 dam bucks...

5% living increases/spending will be happening every month..and is happening in alot of parts of this country every month.

This whole F-ing war with Iraq is to protect our oil needs...but every time some fool takes a wrong turn in the gulf with a dam 12 foot boat..Our living goes up,and so does the price of oil.

We don't need a Huricane to tip the balance...just a dry season..or a rainy season can do our arses in.

Better look out for #1...because the government is totaly outa whack when it comes to looking out for ya.

Soon..alot more of you will be living pay-check..to pay-check....Keep hoping for light at the end of the tunnel I guess.

Creek

Blech ....

My grocery bill has been climbing like crazy right along with the gas bill. It sucks and something has got to give. I honestly don't have a clue how low income families are weathering this storm.

Personally, I quit smoking, which was a bitch but totally worth it.

I stopped driving 70 MPH to work and cut it down to 60 ... it made a big difference for me.

I also cut back on the soda. Mostly drink just water now. I was amazed at how much money I would drop at convenient stores on butts, drinks, and snacks. I saved a ton there by holding onto my "pocket change" and quitting a vice.

Going to cheaper beer assumes that people spend a considerable amount on beer to begin with.

That may help some working poor teenagers and drunks, but I doubt it will help many familes already struggling to make ends meet.

A (rather large) victory garden that is fiscally meaningful requires that one cans or finds other ways to store a consideraable amount of homegrown food. Few people have the land or the skills, or even the money to set up such a system.


As to the various government programs you're speaking of?

Contrary to the belief that apparently many of you here have that welfare is out there and the living is easy, there really isn't all that much out there that I am aware of.

Here's what I think I know about those programs that working people are eligible for here in Maine..

1. Heating assistance gives people about 200 gallons of oil (My very modest cape uses about 700 gallons a year)

2. Food stamps pay $5 a day per person depending on you family income

3. I just looked up welfare in Maine to discover this: Welfare bennies are cut off for a family of 3 which makes more than $596 A MONTH.

Quote:

In Maine, for example, the maximum benefit for a family of three is $461 and the "standard of need" used for fill-the-gap purposes is $596. A family with countable income (income after allowed deductions) of $200 would be eligible for a benefit of $396, the difference between the $596 need standard and the $200 countable income. Under the more common method for determining benefits, the family's welfare grant would be $261, the difference between countable income and the maximum benefit.

That's it' folks. Those are the goverment welfare programs that exist that I know of to help the destitute or the working poor.

Anyone here imagine those bennies are really going to significantly offset the problems they're facing due to the spiking of food and energy?

So the only REAL solution to rising costs is increasing your income.

It is going to be interesting times this winter. I expect to see a significant migration from the Northest of people trying to escape the cold.

Empoverished snowbirds will coming your way this year, Dixie.

Much like the people who tried to escape the dustbowl of the 1930s I expect.

Better yet, demand the government quit forcing us to use ethanol, one of the main reasons food prices are going through the roof.

__________________

I expect that might help, Ravi, but ...

the environemal disasters world-wide, PLUS the fall of the dollar, PLUS the cost of energy are all coming togtether for a perfect storm of economic disaster for the poor, working poor, soon to be poor middle class, and working middle class, methinks.

I commend you on your cut-backs. It's too bad people weren't thinking about doing that 5 or 10 years ago.

__________________
"If you analyze it I believe the very heart and soul of conservatism is libertarianism. The basis of conservatism is a desire for less government interference or less centralized authority or more individual freedom and this is a pretty general description also of what libertarianism is."

-Ronald Reagan

For most earners, the government considers them to be earning too much and will refuse any help whatsoever. That goes for food pantries and religious out-reach programs.

__________________
Luminous Beings Are We.

Makes you feel pretty helpless, doesn't it? Individually we may be able to do some things that limit the pain but as a whole, there is not much we can do but ride with it. I see Americans changing their life styles in the coming years, as we have not seen in the last 100 years.

If you sit and angonize over it, you become a bundle of helplessness. I am trying not to. The last time I felt as helpless was when gw bush was pounding his drums for war again Saddam. There was very little I could do then either.

__________________
Why do people gravitate to extremes? What makes the left attractive to some and the right attractive to others? From the middle you can see both sides well.

If you're looking for ways to get government assistance, it's time to do away with the beer completely. You don't need it. If you refuse, then you're simply not as bad off as you'd like people to believe, and just need to reset your priorities.

True! Most broke people I know just can't handle their spendings.

Just venting a little is all..

Lot of good replies to this..and all worthy.

Just up here in this shack..Beer makes everything so much easier it seems...Hahahaha..

Just was in poor spirits due to alot of crap thrown my way..Not just me per say..But up here in a small town where groceries,gas..and what business is here cators to the tourist etc.

I rented a house in town almost a couple years back,and your average sized house here uses about 1100 galons of heating oil..(no natural gas here).

With the price of that..Your average renter/owner would spend over 5000.00-6000.00 a winter to heat there home...It's horrible for renters & owners alike.

I'm lucky I use wood for my heat..

As far as the beer goes..It helps to numb the senses..No pun intended..

Not personaly gona go sign up for government assistance,but would not feel bad if the need arose.

I guess my point is..(tonight) that making cut-backs is gona be a thing for all of us...

Those who don't drink beer..will have to give up there pop & candybars as well...(smile).

I suppose having a town with a population of 2000..or less..Those people feel the brunt first when it comes to buying any kind of goods...aka the cost of living etc.

Some sins will have to be given up...that's for sure.

Congradulation on kicking the smoking...High Five..

Just avoiding the traps of sugar in itself will save a bundle...That goes for beer & smokes too.

Good job..

Good Thread, and oh so true!

So I ask you all this:

What do you think will be the first things to go?

Go out of business,,,,,,,,,, or things lower/middle income familes give up if this economy continues?

Will they give up cigs and booze?

Going out to eat?

Travel?



Will every kid age 10 and up still have a cell phone? Internet access? i-pods and Wii?


What do you think this country will be like in 3 years?

__________________
Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities.
~Voltaire

americans are a spoiled nation as a whole......we all go without very little.....

the problem is we belive we have a right to cheap ....everything.....

__________________
"I would rather live my life as if there is a God and die to find out there isn't, than live my life as if there isn't and die to find out there is." ~ Albert Camus

Well 1/2 my income don't go for beer...

Most people have/spend amounts compared a beer habit on things like candy,pop,movie rentals..and buying fast food etc...

The funds will have to go to a bag of spuds..and pasta noodles etc.

That goes to your fast food junkies...but I'm being a little hard on them,because even going to the grocery store..aint cheep these days.

Where I live..we don't have HUGE groceries like Cub Foods..Rainbows..and Super One Foods etc..No Wall Marts etc...

So where I live..is considerably different from alot of you.It's rural America feeling this first...And we do have room for a small garden in the back etc..

Maybe instead of using beer..I could of used go generic on your soda pop,and goods from the grocery?...(smile)

As far as if one has a spot for a garden...Maybe it's time to learn.?

It's no rocket science that if a person has a 15 X 15 spot...that it could produce a shit load of tomatos..a few meals of green beans etc..Border it with onions etc.

If this is comming down to penny pinching..then every penny counts.

Your average home here where I live..uses 1100 gallons of heating oil a year...I have not checked what your average home here would be on assistance...but if it was 200 gallons..That would be a 1000.00 savings.That can make,or break a person...Especialy if a family is living pay-check..to pay check...Because I feel now the cost of living for a family..HAS INCREASED by 1000.00 this year?...Make sense?????...(smile)

I agree with relocating 100%...Geting a farm this spring...Chickens..acres to grow etc...Gona beg..borrow..and steal to make it possible..(figure of speech)..

It's out of our control....

To make more money will help...but that don't fit the senario of your average JOE in this country...

Cut backs is one..and making changes in one life to adapt to the times.

Good reply...just worried a bit for alot of folks.