Here we are in June of 2008 and with the warming of weather some kind of relief would be felt other than the warmth. While we are not paying for heating the home many are looking at the cost of cooling it. A sigh can be heard in many areas as it will not be an exorbitant amount paid extra for heating oil to cool the home it is still an expenditure many are dreading with the rising cost of every thing else in our lives.

A tank of gasoline for a Hyundai, Santa Fe is over $40.00moving at an exhilarated pace towards $60.00 which most likely it will hit by July. A bag of groceries is costing the average person well over $20.00 for just one bag, which is hardly enough to keep one person fed for a week let alone an entire family. The average home is using more than $100.00 per month in electricity but for now that is about the only stable cost in our lives.

The rising costs are taking a toll on the average person daily and weekly. Trying to find new ways to cut your budget so that you can afford to get to work, put food on the table and/or pay for someone to care for your children is becoming an art form for many. We try to forgo those popsicles or cookies that are a treat now since they take a couple of dollars extra out of the budget that could be better served putting gas in the car so we can go to work.

Cutting corners, robbing Peter to pay Paul, squeezing the nickel, stretching a paycheck to make ends meet have all become so familiar to the average person today. The sad truth is that we are getting to the point were it is nearly impossible to cut corners, rob Peter to pay Paul, squeeze a nickel or stretch a paycheck, it snaps back at you and comes up far too short in making ends meet or even get close enough to touch. It is not poor planning in the budget that is causing all of this uproar but rather costs rising faster than paychecks can cover.

It is foreseeable that all too many will go without in order to scrape by but at what cost? In the heat of the summer people are going to either go without using air conditioning because they can not afford the bill when it comes in or they will be using it and worrying about how they will pay for what they used at a later date, thus putting them in a bad way later.

Truck drivers are selling cherished items just to be able to pay for that tank of diesel/gas just to make the cargo delivery, which in turn raises the cost to retailers and consumers which is becoming a vicious cycle. The effects are felt by all, not just those that operate vehicles.

It is not a trickle effect felt slowly but rather a raging torrent effect. People are rearranging to the point that their lives are in utter turmoil. There are more homes in foreclosure or on the brink of it than ever before.

Governments answer is the Stimulus check. Do they honestly think this is going to stimulate the economy enough? Take it from one in the trenches of every day life, it will not! Is there an answer to all of this? Is this not why we have a President? Is this not part of his worries, that his fellow Americans are in hard times and looking at worse times and he is throwing an exclusive wedding for his daughter.

I have always believed that we as citizens should back our President completely without question but at this point it is not something I am capable of doing at this time. He has the abilities to do more then send out a Stimulus check. We need some real help not just a band-aid.

If for one day, all of the truckers that deliver the cargo all over the country to retail and grocery stores just put their trucks in park and refused to buy gas perhaps that might send a message to more then just a few people! Oil companies are still showing profits not losses! Does this tell us something? It tells me that the rich get richer and the rest of us that were treading water and slipping under one by one will see more slip under with no relief from those that are supposed to be looking out for our best interest.

What is the true cost of oil? As I look around I see the true cost of oil every day. It is at the gas pumps, it is at the grocery store, it is in our homes, it is in the family trying to get by, it is in every wallet in America. I resent those out there taking the food off my table and out of my children’s mouth not only in my home but all across the country.