The book, 1984, was scary as it presented a world dominated by a few with little other than gray despair and serious problems for anyone who tried to step outside said despair. Faced with all that 2013 might hold for us, it sounds like the powers that be would like us to be a soulless society under the thumb of a few.
While the government plays games with the financial cliff, I looked into what 2013 might mean for our ordinary family. With the end of the Bush Tax Cuts, we could face up to $4,000 more in taxes. We live in California and we already know the State Government will take as much as it can from our paychecks. Obamacare could cost up to $15,000 a year and if our employer doesn't offer it, we end up on the government exchange for mediocre medical assistance for the most part. We won't even think about the long lines or the fact that a panel could be the ones deciding if we are worth the medical effort. And they already have hired more IRS agents to help insure that we are all 'blessed' with government health care. The logical refrain should be 'if this new legislation is so wonderful for the American people, why are the government officials exempt from it. If government health care is the better option, why won't we end up with an actual choice? Why is it that one will not be able to pay for better care if they have the money and inclination to do so?
Not to let a tragedy go unused, the recent shootings have expedited cries, mostly from the White House, about gun control. Now, you have to muse over this . . . It supposedly takes intelligent people to become political players in the way this country is ruled. Do any of them research their agendas to see if it is an historically valid measure? Over and over it has been shown that the stricter the gun control the more crimes happen using guns. Gun control merely disarms the private citizen and give the criminals the upper hand. Why are the American politicians so arrogant as to think that they can make this work when it has yet to work?
Between the increased taxes and elevated costs for less medical attention in the long run, we still have unemployment. The president claims we all need a college education to get ahead in the world. Besides my own college graduates, I know of others who have yet to work in the fields they trained for and, consequently, earn a lot less than they need.
I have found that many people don't totally understand the process of borrowing for student loans. Yes, the government will gladly loan whatever a student wants/needs with just a signature on the line. It comes as a surprise to many that interest starts accruing the minute ink hits the paper. We knew this and were still shocked to see a hefty $4,000 plus added to the principal balance when the first post-graduation payments came due. We had carefully planned out the financing of our children's college education about four years ago. We didn't factor in the problems that have hit the financial market over the last four years. One of our children no longer lives in the United States as he was only able to find work overseas. The other two have yet to find jobs so we have taken on the loans to stop the six percent-plus interest rates from further ballooning the balance.
We are blessed to still have work and an income coming into the home. We are heading into what we would like to eventually be our retirement years yet my husband is planning on working past age seventy . . . because we have to!
We are facing a new year but with apprehension to what it will ultimately bring. We pray for our Christian Faiths which are being forced to support abortion and contraception which is against the precepts of many faiths. We worry about getting sick and who will determine whether we have a right to get well. Some even have started storing extra food in case a time comes when it isn't readily available. This is the stuff of fiction or nightmares yet the very politicians we voted to represent us, are only grandstanding for themselves. So, is our New Year actually 2013 or a come-to-life version of the book, 1984?
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