The budget deficit, utility rates and medical insurance is affecting everyone today. Milton Friedman, noble laureate, says, “We will probably face the problem of inflation”. Inflation at the gas pump is about 40% in the urban environment. Interest rates on housing are up 20% since we refinanced our homes at 5.125% and 4.5%. Milk is up 20%.
We went shopping yesterday at Costco for paper towels, toilet paper, and coffee. We saved 67% on the coffee, 108% on toilet paper of the same high quality and about 50% on paper towels. If we had purchased these items at QFC, Safeway, or some other supermarket we would not have enjoyed these savings. We did go to QFC for the items we purchase in small quantities.
We keep track of our purchases on Quicken and have for many years. The tale of the tape tells the story.
I am now the treasurer for the Alexandria Condominiums, when I was chairman and the only person on the board, I had all the lighting in all the common areas of the condominium changed to fluorescent. That cut our electric bill by nearly 50%, from $795/mo to $400/mo. The City of Seattle has an energy savings program that pays up to two thirds of the cost for the retrofit. It took only 3 years to pay back our share in reduced rates. Today, 5 years since then, our electric bill is $700/mo. Next spring I am going to shut off the natural gas at the meter for 6 months. We spend $250/mo just keeping the pilot lights on for fireplaces that nobody uses. I asked all the homeowners about this and have a consensus. . I expect the price of natural gas to rise quite a bit over the winter.
Next comes the hurricane season and Isabel refuses to weaken. Next weekend the hurricane will make landfall on the east coast and even if the force is reduced to 3 or 4, the damage will be in billions. (Rise and fall of the City of Mahagonny)
The politicians on the east coast have closed their eyes to the rest of the country. They see and know only that which is around them everyday and their only input is that of those same people. They seem to have the idea that the rest of the population is just ignorant and have no concept of that which is going on around the world. Everyday I spend at least 4 hours reading news, comments and views from many sources.
In September I will be attending the Belltown Community Council and hope to become a council member in the near future. I will be reporting to this weblog and my website what is happening in Belltown. The Belltown Community Council represents the highest concentration of people living in the state of Washington.
“People need to be engaged every day with their future, whether directly or through multiple representatives with whom they are in dialog to some degree, in order to create a better world. With the productivity of modern manufacturing and knowledge work to support leisure, eventually every human on the planet could have a hand in some aspect of the social investment in making a better world. With billions more people expected to be added to the global population this century, we had better come up with something constructive for all these people to do or we can expect the devil to make plenty of work for their idle hands.”
Change is coming. Let’s hope it’s not too late.
7:16:05 AM 
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