The wife & I were watching the evening news. First, came a story about the escalating unemployment figures with a brief feature on one woman who's been trying to land a full-time job since 2005! Next, we were told about the Big 3 automakers and their plea for a $35 billion bailout. Even the UAW is getting in the act by dropping some of their current demands -- I'm sure they are realizing that small raises are better than no jobs.
On the heels of that story comes an auto dealer in Florida who says he's concerned about working families. To help jump start the economy in his locale, he says, he's offering two new pickup trucks for the price of one. What a deal!!
Of course, there's one itsy bitsy problem with this grand offer -- most WORKING families can't afford a NEW truck! It really doesn't matter if he throws in a second truck or a cruise to Club Med or groceries for one year. Since many working families are living month-to-month, it doesn't matter how enticing a deal such as this looks because you can't buy something when you don't have the money AND the banks aren't lending it.
And let's be brutally honest anyway. This 2 for 1 truck deal is not aimed at working families. No, the target is the upper class, those folks who may be hurting a tad, but not that much.
It's a lot like the various tax breaks and tax incentives that politicians like to chortle about. They will tell you they fought for and voted for such and such a bill because they're on the side of working families. Hey, if you buy a hybrid, we'll give you x number of dollars back. And who can afford the hybrids? It's not the working class!
Install solar panels on your roof and we'll throw money at you. Again, working families have enough trouble scraping together the money to fix a hole in the roof or to get a new composite roof laid. So, few of us will ever see a windfall from installing all those solar panels we can only afford in our dreams.
Where are our tax breaks?
On the heels of that story comes an auto dealer in Florida who says he's concerned about working families. To help jump start the economy in his locale, he says, he's offering two new pickup trucks for the price of one. What a deal!!
Of course, there's one itsy bitsy problem with this grand offer -- most WORKING families can't afford a NEW truck! It really doesn't matter if he throws in a second truck or a cruise to Club Med or groceries for one year. Since many working families are living month-to-month, it doesn't matter how enticing a deal such as this looks because you can't buy something when you don't have the money AND the banks aren't lending it.
And let's be brutally honest anyway. This 2 for 1 truck deal is not aimed at working families. No, the target is the upper class, those folks who may be hurting a tad, but not that much.
It's a lot like the various tax breaks and tax incentives that politicians like to chortle about. They will tell you they fought for and voted for such and such a bill because they're on the side of working families. Hey, if you buy a hybrid, we'll give you x number of dollars back. And who can afford the hybrids? It's not the working class!
Install solar panels on your roof and we'll throw money at you. Again, working families have enough trouble scraping together the money to fix a hole in the roof or to get a new composite roof laid. So, few of us will ever see a windfall from installing all those solar panels we can only afford in our dreams.
Where are our tax breaks?
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