Once again, another shovel-full of dirt has been thrown in the face of senior citizens and those of us who are trying to eke out a living principally from Social Security.
Now we are told that any available swine flu vaccine is reserved for those under 65 “at risk.” I suppose this means that us old-timers can just go off and die if we are unlucky enough to get the flu. Considering everything else that has been done to us recently, we might as well.
First was the announcement that there would be no cost-of-living increases for two years in our measly Social Security checks which are eroded every year by the increase in Medicare premiums and deductibles, not to mention increases in our supplemental Medicare and drug coverages of which the so-called drug coverage is not worth a toot anyway, considering the exorbitant co-pays and monthly premiums.
Then there was the tacking on of approximately $250 this year, and probably next year, on our annual ad valorem tax bills, thanks to our Sonny state Republican administration’s refusal to extend our homestead exemption regardless of the value of our property.
Then there is the Federal Reserve Board cutting interest rates to almost zero, which has decimated what little interest we received on our little savings accounts, which together with Social Security is all that most of us have to live on. All that has been done is to prop up the stock market and enrich the thieving banks and credit card companies.
So it’s no longer any fun to be a senior citizen, if it ever was. As someone once remarked, “Old age ain’t for sissies!”
Wallace Rhodes
South Lewis Street, LaGrange
As to economic woes, it ain't just us, times are truly bad for nearly all.
Hey, we can handle it, and we've been around long enough to know it WILL get better.