Getting It Right- Sock It To Me! Sock It To Me! Sock It To Me!

September 27, 2007

By: Sid Riley

"The poor, honest, hard working, common laborer, tax payer doesn’t have a chance in today’s greedy world".
That "sock it to me" phrase from the popular Rowan and Martin’s Laugh In television show of the 1960’s often made me laugh as it was usually followed by some funny slapstick humor. However, the "sock it to me" of today is not funny at all.
Year after year the common man who is struggling to survive by living a frugal existence from paycheck to paycheck, and still continually sees his family’s standard of living decline as the "systems" that operate within our grand society steadily "socks it to him". I am talking about those unfortunates that are working for hourly wages at some small business, or as a farm laborer, or a small business owner trying to squeeze out a profit amidst the continual onslaught of over regulation from the bureaucracy, continual growth in costs of essentials, and perhaps the presence of government invited foreign competition. I am also talking of the poor retiree that is trying to survive on social security and perhaps a small meaningless pension. These people are suffering, and the "socking it to them" continues.
During next year, 2008, it appears that it is going to be worse than normal for the struggling class in Jackson County.
"2008 SOCK IT TO ME #1" – Our beloved local electric monopoly , Florida Public Utilities, has announced that it will increase the cost of electricity to it’s customers by around 40%! This means that little old widow living on social security will have another $600 or more taken from her and put into this company’s pocket during 2008. If your bill is current averaging around $200 per month, then they will reduce your disposable income next year by almost $1,000.00!
The Florida Public Service Commission is supposed to regulate the utilities to assure that they do not use their monopolistic advantage to abuse the common citizen. That agency appears to be useless, and in reality represents another unnecessary, expensive bureaucracy. FPU operates under a franchise contract granted to the company by the county commissioners. When that contract expires with the county, we should all remember well their behavior.
"2008 SOCK IT TO ME #2" – It is that time of year again. The county, the school system, every county municipality, and every taxing agency, are all in the process of preparing their 2008 budgets. The air is filled with "smoke and mirrors" as they present their terrible "needs", or attempt to show how cost effectively they are managing their functions.
The county commissioners have stated that they "rolled back" the millage, and the new budget is essentially the same as last year’s. At first I accepted that, being blinded by the big puff of smoke that filled the air as they made that statement. However, later the air cleared and I decided to check what had happened in the 2008 property assessments that will create the tax roll for next year.
It appears that the tax rolls are swelling by a whopping $122,489,000 due to increased assessments in Jackson County! This means that the same millage as last year will actually pull approximately an additional $1,679,000 out of the pockets of this county’s property owners next year. This is a 9% increase in taxes when they are claiming they held things constant. On a personal note, they are taking another $500 out of my bleeding pocket this year for their herd of "crats" from higher apprasials on my humble holdings.
"2008 SOCK IT TO ME #3" – The full impact of the clever work of our astute crew of politicians in dear ole Washington D.C., about ten years ago is having more and more negative impact on our fragile economy. This is that group of lemming headed politicians, both democratic and republican, that jumped on the bandwagons of the moment entitled "global economy", "free trade", "favored nation trading status for China", "NAFTA", and the "GATT Trade Treaty". Most of these international"deals" were made during the Clinton administration, but both parties supported the concept.
It takes about ten years for the effect of programs that involve major shifts in the structure of our economy to surface. It takes time for companies to close plants in the US, locate alternate sources of their products in foreign nations, and to begin to develop the necessary skills and volume needed at that new site. Well, that process is completed in most instances, and what used to be made here is now being made in China.
Fabrics, apparel, toys, steel, automobiles, appliances, electronics, pharmaceuticals, call centers, furniture, and thousands of other light industry, labor intensive products are now being made off shore instead of within our nation. Most of these jobs have gone to Asia. We now realize that in many instances we made a bad deal and "gave away the farm". We demanded little in return for opening our markets to these manufacturing companies, and now realize that it was not a level playing field there for our products. The recently passed future increases in our minimum wage level will only cause what few plants are left here to also leave.
In a few instances gains were realized, some new industries emerged and grew due to international trade. Our new pellet plant is an example. Also, high tech, scientific jobs have increased. But again, the common man is the ultimate victim of these actions. Not everyone can become a computer operator, scientist, or can operate high tech equipment. The only industries that are available for these people is low paying service industry jobs, or the ever expanding government, or welfare.
As a result of the dramatic "imbalance of trade" created by these politically initiated changes in our economy, we see that much more of our currency is flowing out of the country to buy these foreign made products (instead of paying factory workers here), while relatively small amounts of foreign capital comes back in return.
This situation is causing the dollar’s value to fall on the international money exchange market. At this time, the dollar is at an all time low in international value, being on par with the Canadian dollar, and at its lowest value against the Euro. This means that it takes more of our dollars to buy a barrel of oil on the international market than previously, since the purchasing power of the dollar has diminished. As a result, the cost of gas is steadily increased as the dollar falls in value. The poor, common man again suffers most since a larger portion of his income has to go for gasoline. He is getting it "socked to him" at the pump! Look for this to worsen in 2008 and ensuing years.
The common man is a victim. The only weapon he has available as a tool of resistance against these types of attacks is his vote. That vote is only effective if it is cast as part of a meaningful "block" of votes directed and unified as a defined cause or desire of the public. 2008 is an election year!
At the federal level, the state level, and at the local level we must ban together and attempt to identify those candidates that will really work to change the concepts, programs, and philosophies that are promoting these attacks on the pocket book of those that can least afford it. We can ban together and in some cases, "Sock It To Them"! If you are willing to participate and organize in 2008, you will be "Getting It Right".