This afternoon, I spoke with an old friend during a down moment. Her mom, retired, was buying her dad's prescription drugs on a credit card. The balance on the card was $8,000, all from prescription drug bills. Sometimes, my friend picks up the tab for her mom's prescriptions. If my friend did not pick up the tab, her mom would not get her prescriptions. My friend and her husband have good jobs. They work hard, and they save. But, it is getting harder and harder for them and their family to make ends meet. Bill Shuster and the rest of the Robber Baron ideologues just don't get it.
My friend and her husband had saved up a nice little sum for their oldest son's college fund. Then Enron and other companies tanked. They lost over 75% of their savings. The son still went to college but that meant loans. So much for George W. Bush's "ownership society." Thankfully, he graduated one step ahead of the current budget. Bill Shuster and the rest of the Robber Barons while cutting taxes for the wealthiest Americans also cut student loan funding thus tripling the cost of borrowing money for college. Thanks guys. Glad to see you working for regular people. I don't have the heart to ask about their plans for their youngest son. He'll graduate from high school next spring.
Lately, my friend had their oil tank filled for winter heating. The bill was over $800. They've never spent over $500 for a tank before, and they will have to have the tank refilled at some point this winter. There went the vacation fund. Some people in this area are filling their tanks with 5 gallon buckets at a time because they can't afford to have the heating oil company to come out and fill their tank. That Energy Policy Act of 2005 and the War on Iraq really made things better for us. Didn't it?
Seniors putting prescription drugs on credit cards. Seniors paying for prescriptions rather than food. Seniors taking in borders to make ends meet because some company sold their pension plans out from under them. Is this America? The Robber Baron ideology that is currently in political fashion wears no clothes. It is time to get back to things that made this country great. We can't be a great country if great numbers of us are barely surviving. We need people that are going to fight for working people and retirees. That is why I am running for Congress. Join me.
http://www.tonybarr2006.com