Not So Bad?

There's not one of us that did not experience a childhood trauma with an observer telling us that it wasn't all that bad. My goblins were hypodermic needles and dentists. And, as I squirmed and howled, my mother would admonish me with, "Oh, come on, it doesn't hurt that much." Excuse me? I'm the one with a needle in my ass or a drill in my mouth so don't try to tell me what it feels like!

But now we're all grown up and beyond such input, aren't we? If only that were true. Today we hear statistics that tell us things cost about as much as they used to and we're in pretty good shape. According to the statisticians, perhaps, but how do you feel about it?

We've got numbers galore extolling low inflation and a reasonably flat consumer price index (CPI). The problem is that you and I both know that our dollars simply are not going as far today. The current behemoth is the price of gasoline. That should come as no surprise since we are a mobile society. As fuel costs go up, our direct financial loss is readily apparent, but other costs go up accordingly because most anything we buy depends upon some sort of transportation. Food prices go up, too, along with just about everything else. Does it matter what the experts are telling us when we're looking for ways to conserve our cash between pay days? Some would call this the higher cost of living which is much harder to quantify than CPI's or inflation rates.

No, the cost of living depends, first of all, on how one defines living. Does it include cigarettes? Or liquor? Or Starbucks? We each have our list of things that we consider essential in our daily lives and the list gets longer as our cash flow increases. That cash flow, though, has stemmed a bit, so the list is getting shorter, but each list is different.

How about a new number that better reflects the daily challenge in making ends meet? Let's call it the "Cost of Essential Service". You're right in seeing that "essential" is a relative term, but I'd bet there are a few things that appear on everyone's personal list. Food, for example. Or housing. And, of course, fuel. These three areas strike me as universal despite the particular menu or address or vehicle.

Each part of the country has its own costs of essential service and these differences need to be factored into the final number. Median home prices and rental rates along with other averaging would create a fairer representation of these costs. Now we have a number that we can use to compare our current location with others. And now we have an answer for those that tell us it's not that bad.

While someone is working on this new number, can someone else tell me what's so shocking about oil executives pleading poverty to Congress? Who wants to pay more tax? And, since employment is such a hot topic these days, what better argument than loss of tax breaks will result in loss of jobs? Remember when restaurant and bar owners warned of impending doom if non-smoking legislation were to pass? No, I'd say oil companies ponying up a bit more to Uncle Sam won't cost anyone a job, but it's a scary thought and that's why they're planting it in our minds.

Meanwhile, Obama is re-thinking drilling opportunities in Alaska and "incentives" to oil companies so they might actually drill on lands where they already possess leases. The proceeds from new drilling won't show up at our gas pumps for decades and "incentives" should eerily similar to tax breaks. Oh, what a politician won't do for better poll numbers.

Enough of financial wonks and the like tut-tutting us about how good we really have it. You know and I know that times are tougher and our dollars don't go nearly as far. Perhaps this essential living index might better illustrate the true state of our financial well-being. It surely couldn't hurt and who'd notice yet another number in the sea of statistics?