Cost of Living

       Alone and Elderly

If you prick us do we not bleed? If you tickle us do we not laugh? If you poison us do we not die? William Shakespeare's Merchant of Venice

Have you been to the grocery store yet this week? While we're hearing the news of the GOP's latest submission concerning the Fiscal Cliff, it costs us the farm to live day-to-day. My timing is always just perfect, so I got the news of GOP's latest proposal to cut cost of living adjustments for Social Security beneficiaries, just as I returned from a trip to the supermarket.

My grocery shopping trip was eye-popping! The cheery weekly brochure and ubiquitous sale tags did not fulfill their promise. Everything, from the coffee creamer, formerly $2.49, on sale this week for $3.49, seemed to have gone up a dollar.  Some familiar products have, simply, shrunk by a third or a fourth and are priced the same.

It is a wondrous place the grocery store, many new products, some of them better and healthier ... albeit incrementally pricey. Gluten free products galore, marketed, if one can believe the medical statistics, to to the 1% of the population who must have them, priced for the 1%, who can afford them (not necessarily the same people.) Meanwhile we use every strategy in the book, from coupons to the weekly brochure, to sticking with a list, never shopping, while hungry.

So ... in a time of (already) record lows in cost of living increases, here comes the GOP, to save the day. Here's a link to the Social Security Administration's figures for years, from 1975 to 2013:  http://www.ssa.gov/cola/automatic-cola.htm



Of course cuts to Social Security affect women (not to mention ethnic minorities and the disabled) disproportionately, because our earnings have been lower than those of men doing the same jobs. Many have pursued careers in fields dominated by women and earned less, as a result. My friends, many of whom were teachers or nurses, are in this group. Consider, too,the job of wife and mother many held without compensation, for most, if not all, our peak earning years.

What is it the GOP so despises about American elders? -Have we not contributed to the strength and substance of a nation? Are we not still doing so, in volunteer capacities and, for that matter, in jobs to which many have had to return?  I am hard-pressed to understand, but, say I were to accept my role as a drain on the system. Then how do I justify my children and grandchildren or local charities backing me up, when I fail financially. The sacrifices are real. Somebody else loses, when I fail.

Will Shakespeare spoke of revenge in the Merchant of Venice -- that's not happenin', but, every senior citizen in this country should be outraged. Our families should be screaming, right along with us! I like a non-profit, Bread for the World, which has stood up to Republican legislators, who insist churches should see to it impoverished people in their communities be fed.