April Showers Bring????

Posted on 04/04/2024 by Grumpa Joe

I’m back from the walk I ended my last post with. I’m still cold, but at least dry. The embarassingly hilarious part of feeling cold was revealed when my Lovely, also complained. She is a cold human who comes from a cold country and enjoys living in the cold. I took her mild complaint as a sign that something was seriously wrong. I was right. I checked the thermostat and discovered that in my morning fog while adjusting the temperature upward, I had put the blasted thing into Aircon mode. Being an obedient artificially-intelligent device it responded accordingly. There was ice-cold air blasting from all of the vents. The expected 74 degrees was down to a chilly 69 and dropping fast.

This morning, I looked out my window and saw what I thought was rain coming in at a seventy-degree angle. It looked like rain, but it was snow, turning into sleet and eventually into rain as it slid in against the ground. April showers are supposed to bring May flowers, but we are still a long way from May. I don’t expect anything but daffodils to bloom.

I feel my body becoming weaker as my daily exercise consists of shuffling from one chair to another. Either I’m reading a book or pounding keys on my computer trying to finish my book. I came across an old note on my phone yesterday, made in October 2013. I started writing my book, Space Rod. There is nothing like taking a few breaks in the project. I think I may have overdone it a bit. I have promised myself that I won’t stop until it is complete.

I’m debating whether or not to waste another three dollars on a lottery ticket. The winning numbers will net one billion dollars. It is wishful thinking on my part, but the price increases due to inflation are draining my resources faster than I want them to. I don’t mind spending money, but prices on food, a somewhat essential necessity, are as high as ten times. I remember reading many years ago about inflation in Argentina rising to the point where a person needed a bushel basket of paper money to buy a loaf of bread. Somehow Argentina continues to exist, in spite of the pain it has imposed on its population.

The moral of that story is that, somehow, a body will continue to exist no matter how much prices rise.

It is time for me to change chairs.

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When Does Inflation Begin?

Posted on 02/02/2011 by Grumpa Joe

It is not necessary to remind you of what is going on in the super market these days.

Last week, Grandma Peggy and I stopped by the supermercado to pick up some basics. We walked out with a single small bag and sixty dollars less in our pockets. I needed gas, so we went to the BP for a fill up. The Death Star rarely takes more than twelve gallons, but that day it took twelve. The bill was forty dollars. Between a few groceries and a fill up we spent $100 bucks. That is enough to break the bank when you  are on a fixed income.  Seniors didn’t get a COLA adjustment this year because inflation is so low. Everyone knows that COLA is the acronym for Cost of Living Adjustment. Those of us depending on Social Security did not get that measely little adjustment, but our great Representatives and Senators gave themselves a very significant increase in salary. So significant in fact, that their increase was about forty percent of what we get for the year.

It seems to me that we pay these guys way too much to wreck our economy and society. They don’t listen to the voice of the people yet they think so highly of their effort to turn us into a socialist society they gave themselves a pay raise to flaunt it.

When I challenge my financial advisor about the need to put my 401K into vehicles that fight inflation, he argues that there is no inflation. Well what the heck is driving prices to go up? “It is the value of the dollar.”  Well how do we increase the value of the dollar? The government has to stop spending so much. But a weak dollar is good for the economy. Really? Yes, When the dollar is low, foreigners can buy more of our products with their money. A weak dollar is good for business.

Yep! A weak dollar is good for foreigners, and it shrinks the buying power of every American. That is another example of income redistribution. It makes a lot of sense doesn’t it? Have any of our illustrious representatives looked at the balance of trade lately?  I doubt it, they are too busy having their high paid staffs read the funny papers to them.

I can’t imagine how tough things will be when we begin to see inflation on top a shrinking dollar.

Write, call, e-mail your Congressman and  Senator and ask them to stop the insane spending. They are heading us right back into slavery a lot faster than it took to emancipate it.

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