Greed, Greed, Greed

How rich is rich enough? Obviously, the sky's the limit, based on my observations. Look at how the price of gas keeps going up; look at how much it cost after Katrina...yet the oil companies' profits are bigger than ever, which tells me that those price hikes were not necessary. That is, unless you're part of Big Oil, and to you, poverty means having to cut back to only two European vacations this year and firing one of your gardeners...

Now, turn to wood pellets. Last year, we installed a wood pellet stove in the house to reduce our heating costs (we have electric baseboard heat). Pellets were $4 a bag. Now, all of a sudden, wood pellets are difficult to come by, and the prices? Try up to $7 per bag! There is no way you can convince me that so many people went out and bought pellet stoves that it created a shortage of pellets. They're made from sawdust, for pete's sake! It's just another opportunity to treat us like sheep. You don't feel sorry for a sheep when it's fleeced, do you? Well, neither do "they".

With fuel prices increasing the way they are, the cost of all consumer goods has to go up in order to cover the increased cost of shipping. And that includes "shipping" yourself to work, if you live in a rural area with no mass transit, as I do. ( Of course, I haven't worked since September, so I'm saving some there. I still have to get to all my doctors, though.)

Prices are up, sales are down, and I won't get a raise this year. Fuck.