Another Freezing Cold Day

Wow it's so cold here. I think it was 14* this morning at 8am. It actually did get up to about 34* towards the middle of the day and now tonight the temperature is dropping again. The worst part is that they announced a Stage 2 burn ban this morning and that means no wood stove burning. So this evening my furnace has been running almost non-stop. If we'd get a little wind it would clear the air~so a breeze is on my Christmas Wish list tonight.

I got my notice from the Social Security Administration yesterday. If you're on SS and haven't received yours as yet~it's on it's way. One good thing is that the Medicare medical insurance benefit will not increase in 2010. But the part of this notice that blows my mind is the following;

"By law, Social Security benefits increase automatically to keep pace with inflation. When there is a period of no inflation, the law does not permit an increase in benefits. Based on the Consumer Price Index (CPI) published by the Department of Labor, there was no rise in the cost of living during the past year, so your benefit will remain the same in 2010. The CPI is the federal government's official measure used to calculate cost-of-living increases."

Is there anyone out there (besides the Department of Labor) that thinks the cost of living has not risen in the last year? My word, all you have to do is go to the grocery store, or the department store and look around. Even the Goodwill has raised their prices in the last year. My space rent went up $16 a month in October and anyone who's living in an apartment gets yearly rent increases. Homeowners have their property taxes go up. Here in the state of Washington our sales tax increased to 9.3% this past year. And all my medical supplement insurance co-pays are going up in 2010, that includes office visits and prescription co-pays.

It blows my mind that the government is giving the bail outs on the backs of America's senior citizens. We are paying for the greed and lavish life styles of big-wig CEO's.

I'm really angry about this. I know there are dear senior citizens living on a lot less than I am. I wonder how some of them will be able to make it.