By Connie Crowther

connie_crowther@msn.com

For months now, those of us who still read newspapers have had a steady diet of grim headlines about the economy and the state of the nation. The real-estate ads for home sales look more like used car ads, full of exclamation points and bold-faced deals. Now add to these bleak signs of bad times a slew of ads encouraging people to dump out their jewelry boxes and choose some of the higher-end items to sell and turn into cash.

On some side streets, sleazy firms post signs in their windows offering to give you an advance on next week’s paycheck, at a price: 100 percent (or more) interest. That, like the no-down-payment and balloon mortgages and some of the other hot deals of recent years, will land you in the poorhouse quicker than you can say “Boo.”

Government at every level is crying poor, and this time they really mean it. Specious tax cuts that invariably help only the ones who really don’t need help have earned the votes of citizens who blindly supported what they thought would be a windfall. The meager refund checks have come and gone, and now the news about cuts in services and jobs is doubling daily. You can’t have your tax cuts and full services as well. The voices of reason were drowned out in that recent ballot initiative, amid promises of big fat checks that are never as much as we expect them to be.  Then when the cuts are announced, those who supported the tax cuts cry the loudest about losing services. They have not yet connected the dots and are blaming everyone but themselves.

The statistics on home mortgage foreclosures, bankruptcies, job losses and business closures are truly flabbergasting. These are no small numbers. For Sale signs dot every street, every block, some with the dreaded word FORECLOSURE in boldly displayed. Gannets swoop down trying to pick up a bargain-basement deal as someone else’s life is going up in flames.

Many high-rolling CEOs of major corporations are in deep doo-doo as well now, as their boards are either trimming millions off their paychecks, at best, or giving them the boot, at worst. After all, if a bank extended really crazy-stupid mortgage deals a few years back and these are failing now, those bankers who made the offer must accept the responsibility for the default. Banks are getting more cash-poor and house-rich by the day. And, let’s face it, banks aren’t equipped or trained to deal with real property. Cash is their name and their game.

“Retirement package” is a big buzz-word now, as many larger companies offer aging, high-salaried employees a deal – say, six months’ or a year’s pay and maybe a year of health insurance – to get them to retire now. These packages are often very attractive to job-worn survivors who have taken up the slack for years now, as others accepted these packages before them – and were not replaced.

Many say that the biggest culprit is oil – not mandated tax cuts or abracadabra mortgage deals. With oil now priced at a record $130+ a barrel and $4+ a gallon with no end in sight to this escalation, this translates into big trouble for just about everybody. Rising fuel prices cause a wicked downward spiral into problems: 

These rising gasoline prices mean basically that everything is soon going to cost more. The price of food goes up, reflecting the cost of delivery. That’s why conservationists cry for us to “buy local.” Get used to paying $5 a gallon for milk and $6 a gallon for orange juice. Presumably, items that come from down the road rather than from another country or state will be priced less due to the proximity to their market.

We once blithely went about our business without checking our gas mileage. Now I can tell you that it costs me at least $20 to go 100 miles. That’s $40 round trip for a jaunt to the Keys for a scuba dive. And since the dive boats run on that costly fuel, the price of a dive has gone up dramatically at most places. Same story for the lunch we have after we dive and even the price of a t-shirt emblazoned with the name of the resort where we are diving. The only answer is to carpool.

“Going green” has come along just at the right time for all this, as we make an effort to conserve resources and cut back on costs in the face of depressing stories about global warming, and polar ice caps melting out from under the poor polar bears.

While some have taken to bicycles and mass transit, others continue to pump and pay. Some of us are curtailing vacation and travel plans, cutting back on eating out and preparing more meals at home. The next bold headlines will tell us about the resorts and restaurants that are closing because of a lack of business.

Now, on top of all this, we hear that Florida Power and Light is seeking a 16 percent increase and that city officials have canceled our Fourth of July celebration. Boo, hiss. As for the FPL increase, we must ask that the increase not be approved. As for the fireworks, surely there is a hero corporation out there somewhere who will step forth, pay for the event and the repair of expected damage to the precious Biltmore Golf Course.