Rising Prices...It's Begun!

For months now we've been hearing about rising prices in food, gas, and other essentials for our daily lives. One commentator on television said that it wouldn't be a bad idea to stock up the basement with extra cases of canned vegetables and other products that would not spoil over a prolonged period of time.

My youngest daughter, a teacher, wife and mother is celebrating her birthday this week end and as we set out on a little shopping excursion we were discussing job security and inflation.  She looked at me and said, "In other words, our salaries are decreasing, but our cost of living is on the rise."  That about covers it.

For dinner we met her husband and daughter at a chain steak house.  It was known for its reasonable prices and good tasting filling  food.  Our server announced that they had "new menus"!  New menus usually means that  new dishes have been added to the ordinary fare.  Tonight new menus clearly meant our selections have dwindled, and our prices have risen.

Earlier in the week, we two sisters discovered that prices had risen at some of the stores that we frequently patronize.  While Sister Two and her family visited us the price of gas rose twenty cents in less than two weeks' time.

The next time you shop or dine out, make it your business to compare today's prices to what they were three to six months ago.  This is just some more of that hope and change we were promised.  The change is obvious, our dollar just doesn't go as far.  The hope varies with individuals -- ours is that the current president is defeated in 2012 and that we are still in time to repair the damage that this administration had done to the entire county.

Sister One