I don’t know if this is just me or if more of you feel the same way, but I’m finding it very difficult to be sure what news reports I can believe. I feel I’m left to believe what I feel is the truth, but determining what’s true and what’s not is becoming a very blurry line.
Some time back around February, the United States became involved in a war with Iran. I won’t say it was unnecessary because many of our leaders have tried and tried to get Iran to agree to not pursue nuclear weapons – all to no avail. Or if there was an agreement of sorts, the reports I’ve read tell me Iran never kept their word.
President Trump decided enough was enough, and the United States and Israel joined forces to destroy nuclear, military, and leadership targets.
It didn’t take too long before Iran blocked passage of ships through the Strait of Hormuz, which apparently cut the supply of crude oil to many nations – including our own. It also didn’t take long for the oil companies in the United States to raise the price of gasoline – more than a dollar a gallon. The price remained high for quite a while.
Not too long ago, our President announced there was a tentative agreement Iran was going along with, and that the Strait of Hormuz would reopen and the price of gasoline would be dropping. Not long after, the President expressed his concern that the price we pay at the pump wasn’t going down as fast as he thought it should. I haven’t heard any suggested solutions, so we’re still paying inflated prices. I guess we just keep waiting.
Another price I’m hoping to see fall some is the per-pound cost of meat. Not just beef, all meats. I don’t know how stores are selling enough meat at the current cost per pound.
The cost of nearly everything has risen enough that many of us – especially those on a fixed income – are stuck making choices we don’t want to make to stay within a budget.
Since I depend on Social Security to help pay most of my bills, I find it interesting that the annual increase in the checks I receive is most often less than three percent, which hasn’t been anywhere near enough to cover the increased costs of everything needed to live. Again, I’m not sure of anything happening that might change the rising costs, so while we wait, I’ll just have to adjust and hope for the best.
Have A Good Week!
