Current presidential candidates Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren are big on using the phrase. The freshman Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (AOC, to all) is big on it. New York City's mayor Bill de Blasio is perhaps the biggest of all on it. (At 6' 5' the mayor is tall, and is sometimes referred to as 'Big Bird' by those who do not particularly like him. So yes, he's big on things.)
Has anyone ever really looked at their cable bill? The ones from Verizon now are pretty easy to read. Each month, there is an additional array of charges, taxes, fees, whatever, that for me at least inflates the bill by $37.96. Want a breakdown? Easy.
- NY State and Local Sales Tax $6.24
- 911 Surcharge .35
- NY State and Local Tax Surcharges 5.14
- (The first item wasn't enough. The
- surcharge is greater than the tax)
- Federal Universal Fee 4.04
- Video Franchise Fee 6.17
- Regulatory Recovery Fee-Federal .06
- Regional Sports Network Fee 7.89
- (I questioned this one once,
- thinking maybe I'm missing out on a
- sports cable channel. No. It's some
- sort of community fee for local
- broadcasting. Perhaps to stream
- Little League games. How precious.)
- Fios TV Broadcast Fee 4.49
- FDV Administrative Charge
- (Too tired to ask what FDV is.) .99
- NY Municipal construction 2.49
- Surcharge
- (I guess I helped rebuild the
- Tappan Zee Bridge and paid for
- the change in signage to the
- Mario M. Cuomo bridge)
- Subtotal $37.96
The expense of the cable bill is a pet peeve of mine. When Hillary Clinton was a New York Senator I wrote to her about the fees. No answer.
Gas prices? Filled with tax underneath the pump price. When you buy gas outside your locality you realize there can be a wide price difference. Attributable to tax.
Sales tax. I think it's over 10% in Chicago, and a hair's breath under 9% in most parts of New York state, no matter where you are.
College education? Big story there amongst the candidates. Forgive the debt? Someone paid the bill, loaned the money, and now the strategy is to not allow them to collect? Someone's going to be mad.
There could have never been a time when there weren't people with more than others. "The rich get rich, and the poor get poorer." That phrase has been around a long time.
Campaign claptrap and folderol. Much easier solution than trying to give money to balance the scale. Income inequality?
I'd have a lot more money if things cost less.
College education? Big story there amongst the candidates. Forgive the debt? Someone paid the bill, loaned the money, and now the strategy is to not allow them to collect? Someone's going to be mad.
There could have never been a time when there weren't people with more than others. "The rich get rich, and the poor get poorer." That phrase has been around a long time.
Campaign claptrap and folderol. Much easier solution than trying to give money to balance the scale. Income inequality?
I'd have a lot more money if things cost less.
http://www.onofframp.blogspot.com
No comments:
Post a Comment