Two percent (2%) doesn't seem like much. It's only two cents out of a dollar. But I sure noticed the difference in this years first paycheck compared to the last one of 2012. Thanks to our Clown Congressmen, the new fiscal cliff negotiations failed to protect the payroll tax cut. Everyone who works for a living will notice the difference to the tune of thousands of dollars a year in decreased wages. But I get why it happened, and it needs to. One of things that makes me feel better is that it's across the board.
But is it? Not really. The people who buy fancy birthday cakes from Publix with their EBT cards won't notice a decrease, because there isn't one. Government assistance in the form of food stamps doesn't get a two percent decrease. The We can always tell who uses EBT because DH watches to see who presses the second to bottom button on the payment screen at the store. It's the mommies with a bunch of children in tow - but they have the birthday cake and subs from the deli. Stuff we can't afford on our salary that is now two percent less.
One of my favorite bloggers, wrote about the shame of our society today - allowing the use of EBT cards for gambling, porn, liquor and other non food purchases. According to the Department of Agriculture, illegal food stamp use costs the public upward of $750 million a year. A report by the Government Accountability Institute last fall revealed that "few security measures are in place to monitor EBT card fraud. … Nationwide, the USDA has approximately 100 investigators policing over 200,000 authorized EBT retailers." In Florida, the report noted, 63 investigators carry the burden of policing more than three million EBT users. It seems that a law ought to be in place to prevent this. But wait - there is. But it's not effective until next year. WTF.
Seems to me this fiscal downturn in middle class household deserves some notice. I wonder how many of my service providers will offer a two percent price break because our household income just went down. Not one I bet.
