You want to fix this country or make it better?

[seasalt101]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
ok did u put into effect that inflation has gone up about that much as well yeh im making 50 percent more then i did in 2001 but i was able to pay my bills much easier in 2001, and 80 percent of 5 bucks an hout is 9 bucks big deal
reeffreak what kind of work do you do? if you can get a cdl (commercial drivers liscense) i can get you a job pulling down at least 1500 a week you have to be free to travel, clean drivers liscense, you are gone 3 weeks and home for 1 week, you can take family with you since schools out, if no kids you can take gf/wife with you on tours interested? if you are pm me although i do not know how to use this feature yet jenny can figure it out for me...tobin

 

[seasalt101]

by the way you can live anywhere in the country for this job you get paid hourly, milage, perdiem and it is not truck driving although you do have to drive a truck to a location from a yard usually less than a hundred miles...tobin

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by seasalt101
reeffreak what kind of work do you do? if you can get a cdl (commercial drivers liscense) i can get you a job pulling down at least 1500 a week you have to be free to travel, clean drivers liscense, you are gone 3 weeks and home for 1 week, you can take family with you since schools out, if no kids you can take gf/wife with you on tours interested? if you are pm me although i do not know how to use this feature yet jenny can figure it out for me...tobin
oh the 5 bucks an hour thing i was talking about the poor people in america not me lol. im a manager for the city i work in maeing good money but it does seem harder these days to make ends meet

 

[seasalt101]

good glad to hear that but it shows you there are good jobs available if people are willing to look i am not an educated man and when i was working i was making over 100000k a year and now i can't wait to get back to it...tobin

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
ok did u put into effect that inflation has gone up about that much as well yeh im making 50 percent more then i did in 2001 but i was able to pay my bills much easier in 2001, and 80 percent of 5 bucks an hout is 9 bucks big deal

With the exception of Gas....Inflation since 1999 has only gone up 9%.
Try again. It isn't that due to bills going up people are having a hard time making ends meet, it is because they keep acquiring more bills due to purchases and increasing their lifestyle. The average household has a minimum of 3 Televisions in this country. If you are struggling to make ends meet yet still afford 3 Televisions...something is wrong.
This may not be your case, but this is the average norm in the U.S. More and More people are getting credit and extending themselves beyond their means (so the can have the 30,000 dollar car). This is what is accounting for most of the "bills" people are having a hard time paying. The essential needs in life have only gone up 9%.

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by Darthtang AW
With the exception of Gas....Inflation since 1999 has only gone up 9%.
Try again. It isn't that due to bills going up people are having a hard time making ends meet, it is because they keep acquiring more bills due to purchases and increasing their lifestyle. The average household has a minimum of 3 Televisions in this country. If you are struggling to make ends meet yet still afford 3 Televisions...something is wrong.
This may not be your case, but this is the average norm in the U.S. More and More people are getting credit and extending themselves beyond their means (so the can have the 30,000 dollar car). This is what is accounting for most of the "bills" people are having a hard time paying. The essential needs in life have only gone up 9%.
u know what i have no credit card debt and never had any , me and my wife made good money last year . i dont know where u live but my electric bill whent up 20 percent, food 50 percent and so on dont tell me that its only 9 percent i dont buy it for a minute. i have 1 regular tv that cost me 200 bucks. hant been on a vacation in 5 years . i think the problem is here in Illinois 40 miles from the city of chicago u cant buy a house for under 300000
my taxes are 8000 a year , so what i have to sell my house now and get an apartment. im tellin ya its much harderr now then it was in 2001, and we are very frugal

 

[darthtang aw]

Food 50%? So you are spending 6 dollars on a gallon of milk? A #2 at Mcdonalds is now costing you 6.75? Three frozen Pizza )Tombstone brand) Is costing you 20 dollars? Where the hell do you live. I provide facts, I think you are pulling numbers out of your head that you thought up. Electric is tied into gas...so that accomodates my comment with gas going up. Your rent/

[hr]
didn't go up more than 9% did it? Your car maintenance hasn't gone up more than 9%....Neither has food. 10 years ago I could buy 3 frozen tombstone pizzas for 9 bucks. Now I can buy 3 for 10.....How is that a 50% price increase?

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
u know what i have no credit card debt and never had any , me and my wife made good money last year . i dont know where u live but my electric bill whent up 20 percent, food 50 percent and so on dont tell me that its only 9 percent i dont buy it for a minute. i have 1 regular tv that cost me 200 bucks. hant been on a vacation in 5 years . i think the problem is here in Illinois 40 miles from the city of chicago u cant buy a house for under 300000
my taxes are 8000 a year , so what i have to sell my house now and get an apartment. im tellin ya its much harderr now then it was in 2001, and we are very frugal

Your house taxes are 8000 a year? If that is the case you have a local state Tax issue...NOT inflation.

 

[jmick]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
u know what i have no credit card debt and never had any , me and my wife made good money last year . i dont know where u live but my electric bill whent up 20 percent, food 50 percent and so on dont tell me that its only 9 percent i dont buy it for a minute. i have 1 regular tv that cost me 200 bucks. hant been on a vacation in 5 years . i think the problem is here in Illinois 40 miles from the city of chicago u cant buy a house for under 300000
my taxes are 8000 a year , so what i have to sell my house now and get an apartment. im tellin ya its much harderr now then it was in 2001, and we are very frugal
I know your pain. My wife and I have been thinking about getting into a bigger place here in the western burbs for about 6 months (the little ones are growing and we will need more room) and for a 4 bedroom 2 bath you are looking at a mininum of 350k to $500k. Also, if you move further out west where the homes are booming due to lower prices you have to worry about major taxes to deal with the growing infastructure. I have no idea how people who make minimum wage or near minimum wage get by. I think the working poor (people who are not classified as poor but are borderline) are a growing segment of the population. If you stop and think what the average american owes in dept, it's sickening.

 

[darthtang aw]

Most Tax increases here are covered in Bond issue the public votes on. The latests was a bond to increase more funding for public schools (even though the last three bonds have not even been touched or slated for spending yet) and it would increase everyone's property tax. They put these bond issue on the ballot, the average citizen doesn't read the whole thing and thinks it is just more money for schools. Sine New Mexico is trying to get out of the bottom ten in education everyone votes for it. Thus increasing their own property tax and adding another bill to themselves. These types of bills are what I am talking about...People have a hard time making ends meet because they don't pay attention and increase how much the governments can take from you. However inflation still is not the cause of their debt and having a hard time making ends meet. The 80% increase to wages of the poor just proves the poor aren't getting poorer...Illinois is typically a Democrat city/state .....I would blame the taxation on them that are keeping people poor...yet The dems keep winning in those states.

 

[jmick]

I have no problem paying higher than average property taxes if that money goes to the schools, as a parent with 2 little ones I want the best for my kids and I am willing to pay for that. Another problem we have here is the growth in some areas and the amount of infastructure that needs to be built to keep up with the mass of people...you need schools, road, hospitals, police, fire, ect and that money has to come from somewhere. Also, our government in IL has had some fiscal issues and we are all paying for that. What kills me is the cig tax, boats in moats, lotto, ect and I wonder where in the hell is this money going? Again, I have no idea how lower middle class and the working poor get by today.

 

[windmill]

That reminds me of a boaters tax.
Boaters could get rebates or reimbursement from the government on all fuel purchased for their boat. It's supposed to compensate them for not putting wear and tear on paved roads. That's kind of a goofy reason if you think about it - trailered boats use the road, and most weigh more than the average SUV. Beyond that though, they are giving a tax break to people who make way more money than the average joe. Statistically speaking, most trailered boats belong to people who make more than $100k a year. I'm trying to figure out why those people deserve ANY tax break. I'm not even going to go off on how stupid it is to give these tax breaks to people who own $800k boats and pay $1,000 to fill it up and go play on the weekend.

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by Jmick
I have no problem paying higher than average property taxes if that money goes to the schools, as a parent with 2 little ones I want the best for my kids and I am willing to pay for that. Another problem we have here is the growth in some areas and the amount of infastructure that needs to be built to keep up with the mass of people...you need schools, road, hospitals, police, fire, ect and that money has to come from somewhere. Also, our government in IL has had some fiscal issues and we are all paying for that. What kills me is the cig tax, boats in moats, lotto, ect and I wonder where in the hell is this money going? Again, I have no idea how lower middle class and the working poor get by today.

That is the problem with a lot of taxes. For instance the case here with the BOND for more money for schools sounded good at first...Then I looked into and found out the previous bonds haven't even been touched yet, so was wondering why more money is needed when the first previous bonds still haven't even been divided up to where they will go in the schools. Then on top of the property taxes would go up roughly 30%. Ok, This is for one bond? a permanent property tax increase of that much? Doesn't seem right when we still have money to stick in schools. Later came to find out all the ADMINSTRATIVE people from APS got a 30-40% salary increase after the Bond issue passed....Gee wonder where my money is going now......
With all the taxes that are paid out you would think things are better...but in reality a lot of taxes end up going to wage increases for city employees (which are union and automaticallly get a raise regardless of performance) or city officials...

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by Darthtang AW
Food 50%? So you are spending 6 dollars on a gallon of milk? A #2 at Mcdonalds is now costing you 6.75? Three frozen Pizza )Tombstone brand) Is costing you 20 dollars? Where the hell do you live. I provide facts, I think you are pulling numbers out of your head that you thought up. Electric is tied into gas...so that accomodates my comment with gas going up. Your rent/

[hr]
didn't go up more than 9% did it? Your car maintenance hasn't gone up more than 9%....Neither has food. 10 years ago I could buy 3 frozen tombstone pizzas for 9 bucks. Now I can buy 3 for 10.....How is that a 50% price increase?
im providing u with facts milk was 2 dollars a gallon now its 3 thats 50 percent do u know your math. only people in ILL will know what im saying comed gave us a 20 percent increase this year alone everything hear is going threw the roof are 130000 dollars a year is almost worthless now. my wife is pregnant with our second child now and she had to quite her job , so there goes 40 grand theres no way we can survive on 90 a year, were already up to sell her car to save us on some money its only a camri not like its a bmw we do not live high on the hog

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by Jmick
I know your pain. My wife and I have been thinking about getting into a bigger place here in the western burbs for about 6 months (the little ones are growing and we will need more room) and for a 4 bedroom 2 bath you are looking at a mininum of 350k to $500k. Also, if you move further out west where the homes are booming due to lower prices you have to worry about major taxes to deal with the growing infastructure. I have no idea how people who make minimum wage or near minimum wage get by. I think the working poor (people who are not classified as poor but are borderline) are a growing segment of the population. If you stop and think what the average american owes in dept, it's sickening.
were trying to find a smaller place but realestate is stagenent right now my neibor put the house up 3 weeks ago at 400000 and she has not had one person look at it. she will have to go down to 320 and loose a butt load of money, thats why we cant downsize right now

 

[jmick]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
im providing u with facts milk was 2 dollars a gallon now its 3 thats 50 percent do u know your math. only people in ILL will know what im saying comed gave us a 20 percent increase this year alone everything hear is going threw the roof are 130000 dollars a year is almost worthless now. my wife is pregnant with our second child now and she had to quite her job , so there goes 40 grand theres no way we can survive on 90 a year, were already up to sell her car to save us on some money its only a camri not like its a bmw we do not live high on the hog

The Com-Ed rate hike was not nice and I think our cable is way overpriced, tolls are expensive, gas is high, I think our local grocery stores are high, restaurants are high and so are many other things. I feel for you man, I have no idea how people who have combined annual incomes of less then $80k a year are able to do it. Like you said, even at $130k a year it can be hard...have no idea how people who have combined incomes in the 40k-60k range make it.

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
im providing u with facts milk was 2 dollars a gallon now its 3 thats 50 percent do u know your math. only people in ILL will know what im saying comed gave us a 20 percent increase this year alone everything hear is going threw the roof are 130000 dollars a year is almost worthless now. my wife is pregnant with our second child now and she had to quite her job , so there goes 40 grand theres no way we can survive on 90 a year, were already up to sell her car to save us on some money its only a camri not like its a bmw we do not live high on the hog
Ok, I will agree with milk...But that is one product. Look at pepsi...In 2001 a bottle of pepsi cost 1.15...now it cost 1.25..... Red meat depending on the cut was 1.48....now it is 1.75....this is not 50% inflation.
Spaghetti Noodles used to be 1.00 now they ar 1.15.
Sauce .99 now 1.10

 

[reefreak29]

Originally Posted by Darthtang AW
Ok, I will agree with milk...But that is one product. Look at pepsi...In 2001 a bottle of pepsi cost 1.15...now it cost 1.25..... Red meat depending on the cut was 1.48....now it is 1.75....this is not 50% inflation.
Spaghetti Noodles used to be 1.00 now they ar 1.15.
Sauce .99 now 1.10
i dont know where u live and im not lieing to you . my wife buys the same darn things every week are food bill is 100 dollars a week last 2 weeks it was 150 . we didnt stock up on condimants either . i dont get it . what do u think about the realastate right now do u think it will turn around

 

[darthtang aw]

Originally Posted by reefreak29
i dont know where u live and im not lieing to you . my wife buys the same darn things every week are food bill is 100 dollars a week last 2 weeks it was 150 . we didnt stock up on condimants either . i dont get it . what do u think about the realastate right now do u think it will turn around
Real estate will turn around...It will take about a year though...we had a big housing boom across the country and lots of houses were built...so there are houses available everywhere for the most part. Once the number of houses available dwindle down it will boom again.
Granted all my numbers are average across the united states so this may be the disparagement from Illinois to other cities. Milk on avergae in January 95 cost 2.50 per gallon. In jan 06 it was at 3.00 dollars this is the national avergae and all I can go off of. Illinois may be higher and other areas lower...I would suspect the price of milk is cheapest in Wisconsin Just like the price of gas is cheaper in Texas.

 

[jovial]

Originally Posted by Jmick
As a parent I agree 100%! When I was a kid and I did something I should not have done I would get spanked and for the most part I didn't do the same thing twice.
I agree, when I screwed up my old man taught Newtons 3rd law very quickly.