Fare Hikes, Rising Fees, Shrinking Paycheck

The muse for today.....

It seems that everywhere I turn, fees, prices, and fares are going up. Yet at the same time paychecks are shrinking. Why is it okay for the local towns and state governments to institute 100% price increases? What ever happened to the reasonable price hikes, you know the kind that are linked to inflation?

I will give you an example, a permit in my town cost $35 last week, this week the price was raised to $75. Why is a more than 100% price increase necessary? The town's other sneaky increase was raising the blue book value of used cars so that the excise taxes could be raised. Here's another example, a 17 year old car with 185K miles was worth $950 last year, but this year the value went to $1800. Huh - another sneaky 100% price increase.

The turnpike tolls are another area, for example - let's say last week you paid $4 to use the tunnel, in just a few short weeks the price is scheduled to go to $7, nearly double. If you are a smoker perhaps you noticed the federal tax for cigarettes just about doubled a couple of weeks back. Then the banks are chiming in with hiked fees, most likely to pay those bonuses to the non performers. It's not bad enough that we as taxpayers are paying for the bailout, now the banks are hitting us again. Our state wants to double the gas tax to pay for out of control state spending. Gee, there's a surprise.

Let's not forget that the postage stamp is going up in price in a week. Another price increase that was based on the cost of fuel, but wait, didn't fuel prices go down, so logically shouldn't the price go down or stay the same?

At the grocery store things are no better. The sizes are shrinking! Have you noticed? I have. The prices are still going up or remaining the same. The box or package looks like the same size but the weights are saying otherwise. Why is it okay to push sneaky price increases on consumers? Our local big box warehouse store reduced the cookie package by 6 and still upped the price 30%. Wow, another sneaky price increase. Have we numbed ourselves to think that this is just the way it is?

Maybe some of you have actually gotten a pay raise so that you can pay for some of these new fee hikes and sneaky increases. I know we certainly haven't, as a matter of fact, we have a pay cut. In truth most of us are thankful to still have a job.

Good thing I won't be need a permit for anything this year, and that with a bit of creativity I can find ways to get where I want to go without using the turnpike. I can do without cookies, a sacrifice, but worth it to make a statement. Perhaps a few more payments on-line will help take the sting out of the postage budget. I know that a brand new car is out of the question, who can afford the excise taxes?

What is your biggest complaint on price and fare increases?