Shared sacrifices

I've been blessed to have some overtime come my way the past month.  I do very well when I work OT; time and a half at what I make is good money.  This payday, I worked two hours of overtime more than I worked the pay period before.  Tonight I looked at what will go in the bank tomorrow and I will get $6 less than the previous pay period.

If you haven't been paid yet this year, you'll see the same thing in your paycheck that I saw in mine tonight.  The 2% payroll tax holiday is over.  For me, it's an additional $100 a month, roughly in Social Security taxes.

I agree that holiday needed to stop.  The economy needed that boost of cash.  But now we gotta start getting our financial house in order in this country.  I gotta do my part, but that means an already tight belt just got a lot tighter.

It's not a gripe from me because I support having the rich pay more.  I can't ask them to do that without not wanting to do my part.  I want to collect my social security.  It's part of my retirement package.  I'm counting on it for my retirement because of the program I'm in for retirement.  So I don't mind paying my fair share.

But keep in mind, too that I'm headed into year #3, as many of you are as well, of no pay raise.

I'm curious to see three months down the road what effect the holiday being over has on the economy.  I honestly think you're going to see grocery prices come down.  They're going to have to.  Or a lot of us are going to be on a diet we didn't intend to be.

You're already seeing the effect of this at the pump.  When I was in Salt Lake, I paid $2.79 for gas at Chevron.  Up here in the great white north of Utah, it's $2.97.  Why is that?  Oh, that's for another time.  But listen, 2% of your take home pay gone, that's a chunk of money for everyone.  I know what I make and I know what that's going to do to me.  I also know what that's going to look like in households across America.

Don't be surprised if the economy takes a bit of a hit.


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