| Sky high gas prices are to the point that many people are having to now decide whether its worth it to drive to their jobs or just give them up and get on welfare!?Oil bigwigs are raking in the profits by the billions while the American people are losing homes, jobs and now worrying how they are going to feed not only themselves, but their children and grandchildren.My husband's job was secure......so we thought.?Ever since the gas prices began rising at astronomical rates,?the company he works for has been losing money.?The company my husband works for builds trucks.?With the ever increasing gas prices and the ever increasing billion dollar profits being made by oil companies,?fewer companies are buying trucks.?Now truckers are protesting...and by all means, who can blame them.....which has placed my husband's job in jeopardy.?By June,?he may not even have a job since the company has sent in paperwork to lay off over 1500 employees.?Unfortunately, even though my husband has been with this company for ten years,?he falls within that 1500 number.?We are worried, of course!?We have alot at stake to lose if he loses his job.As do the others who will be losing theirs.?At least my children are grown...but many who work for this company have small children and huge mortgages to pay.?Thankfully,?I am prior military and receive medical assistance through the VA...even though the quality of patient care is less than impressive,?at least I have it available for getting my required medications and doctor visits.?But what about others who don't have reliable health coverage?When diesel costing over ?$4 a gallon in the United States, it does more than force truckers to slow down: it also makes them angry and its also putting?them out of a job.?Truckers are?So angry, in fact, that there has been talk of a nationwide strike today to protest the high price of diesel fuel.So far, protests have been sporadic, with around 100 truckers "rallying on the steps of the Pennsylvania Capitol asking lawmakers to cut state taxes on their fuel, and nationwide there are others calling for a day of boycott to emphasize their plight."???As the dollar value plummets, the oil prices continue to rise.?From what I understand,?if the fed continues making rate cuts,?the dollar will continue to decline in value and the oil prices will continue to rise.?I've never been a very political person and I've always stayed out of political arguments.....but as of late,?I've watched everything I can regarding politics and what is going on causing our issues with the rising oil prices.Should we place a cap on how much profits oil companies are allowed to make or should they just be allowed to live like fat cats off of the sweat, blood and tears of the American people??On one hand, oil companies do not believe their billion dollar profits are wrongly being made.??They can say that they are allowed to make as much money as available.......and indeed they are right.?If we cap their profits,?then this would have to apply to every company in America.??As a dog breeder,?for years I've been blamed of "living off of my dogs" and of making profits from selling dogs.?The mounds of ridiculous postings go on forever inside of dog forums with complaints from people who don't understand that if you raise dogs for breeding, that you HAVE to sell them for enough money to pay for not only the care of the puppies...but the care of the other dogs involved with breeding.?A breeder can never really sell their dogs for what it actually costs or they would never sell them.?So many people do not realize that even if you were to go on the low end and say that it costs $7 a day to raise and care for the dogs and pups and you times that by just 30 days,?the breeder has invested $210.?(that doesn't even pay the breeder for the hours they spend per day caring for the pups and dogs.)?If we were to say even at minimum wage, that the breeder works 8 hours a day,?seven days a week (there is no such thing as only five days a week with live animals.), now you can add in (and I'll use $6 an hour because I honestly don't know what minimum wages are) $6 an hour for 8 hours a day, seven days a week, for just the breeder's deserved pay alone...that comes to $336 for just seven days of work. |
| seven days a week (there is no such thing as only five days a week with live animals.), now you can add in (and I'll use $6 an hour because I honestly don't know what minimum wages are) $6 an hour for 8 hours a day, seven days a week, for just the breeder's deserved pay alone...that comes to $336 for just seven days of work.Now we'll times that for a month....and we get $1344.?Pups can't leave until they are at least 2 months of age...so that $420 in expenses for the dog and $2688?for the?wages of the breeder.?How many people do you suppose will pay ?$3108 for a puppy that this breeder would need to get back in order to be adequately paid??That's just assuming on the low end that it costs $7 a day to care for a puppy or dog because it actually costs more when you start adding in all the other items required for caring of the animals.?In order to make a tiny profit,?the breeder would have to charge more!?So then you have your fanatics who say...well, the puppy is no longer 2 months of age....so, why can't you sell it for less??The last time I did math,??I recall the longer you spend money on something....the higher the costs involved.??For one year alone if we were to assume the costs are just $7 a day.......per dog....just for one dog alone, the expenses would be $2520 for an entire year.?The breeder's wage should be $16,128 which is below the poverty line if we were to consider the breeder being paid $6 an hour.?That's BEFORE taxes are taken out and that's BEFORE paying out the true costs for the upkeep of their animals.?There are utilities to consider...there are water bills....there are fuel bills...there are other essentials that must be considered like repairs and maintenence.?And yes, my friend,?the cost of oil affects the breeder too.?It is imperative that a breeder make a profit of some kind in order to keep their business going.?To date,?I have always been in the negative financially because of the high costs involved with caring for my animals ?and that?constant negative....along with my health?crisis is causing me to end what I love doing the most and that is working with my animals.??Of all the jobs?I've ever had,?my animals?have been the most rewarding.?I can no longer justify?working for free when it is costing me an arm and a leg to keep my business going.???People don't want to ship animals if the prices of airfare begin to rise.?People don't want to drive out of state to buy an animal if the oil prices force them to look closer to where they live.?People don't even want to consider buying a dog or a cat if they are now being forced to choose paying for gas to get to work or paying higher prices for food to feed their families.??When the truckers strike,?it affects everyone...and everything you do.??Our country is in a flux right now and there is no end in sight.??The huge oil prices are affecting us all.?The government has no business stock piling anything, including oil....or do they???The government is a business and since there are no caps on how much profits any company can make,?they are free to stock pile on whatever they want.?I think this is just a sign of worse things coming down the road.?We should all be stockpiling on many things including food and necessities.?Those from over seas are cashing in on the weak american dollar.?They are zapping up homes that are in forclosure and right now,?the rich are taking advantage of those less fortunate by making huge purchases because they can get items now for a better price.But then again,?I remember when I was in Germany and the "mark" had declined in value.?We took advantage of the weak "mark" and enjoyed taking many vacations and other trips we normally would have not been able to afford.?So,?it is natural to assume that when the dollars or marks (now called euro dollars or Euros) are low....people are going to take advantage of this and spend like crazy.?So what do you do???Those who are not rich are worried about the economy and by all means,?there is much to worry about. |
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