It Is Cold!!!

Welcome to the new Ice Age! Just in case you have missed winter because you have been in a warmer climate, such as the Arctic circle for instance,those of us here in New England have been getting hammered with one snow storm after another. We are so buried in snow, that trying to get out of the driveway, to go anywhere, takes massive intestinal fortitude,skill and no small amount of craziness, along with a point man to step into the road to see if anyone is coming. Not saying it's deep or anything, but the tops of trees are starting to look like bushes and I have had some offers to rent out my snowbanks by various ski resorts.

The piece of this weather that has seems to have gotten lost in all the snow drifts is the extreme cold. It has been deadly cold across a major portion of the country, so bad in fact that Yale had to cancel, wait for it, their annual global warming protest. This post isn't about that but I have to say perhaps summer might be a better time.....

O yes back to the cold. I mention the extreme cold because, from a personal perspective, I am cold. Scratch that, my whole family is cold. Our apartment is just shy of being a freezer with uninsulated floors and leaky windows. It is so cold that we considered putting water down on the floor to freeze so we could just skate from one room to the next, saving time and allowing us some easy exercise. I am exaggerating a little but not by much.

It is however a fact that in order to stay warm we are having to wear extra clothes and shoes on our feet even while indoors because of the cold and because of the costs to heat. We have to keep it down around 62 or less during the day and turn it just above freezing so that pipes don't burst at night. We are not alone.

I talked with a friend yesterday who told me that she has to keep her temp down around 60 otherwise her heating cost would be as much as her rent and another who can't afford to heat at all so she's piling on the blankets to stay warm. This is insane.

For those of us living on fixed incomes this has been a tough winter. Imagine my joyful delight when I opened up my latest heating bill to find that it had increased by 75%. Not because we are using that much more but because they are charging us 75 percent more! Not only was that such blessed news, but then came the bonus, it is going to continue to go up for the foreseeable future. What joy! Now, not only do I get to be cold, but I get to pay a lot more for the pleasure!

Now I understand that companies need to make a profit, after all whats the point in going into business if you can't make any money at it, but a 75% increase and counting? I also understand the law of supply and demand. Right now there is a lot of demand for fuel, however,as a nation, we are not dealing with a lack of supply.

Most of the time I tend to lean towards the conservative end of the aisle when it comes to politics ( I know that comes as a complete shock) but this is one of those time where I have to reach over to the Liberal/Socialist aisle and even to my conservative brethren and suggest that we have to fix this.

There is no reason that in this country anyone should have to be cold in the winter because of price gouging and greed. Maybe I'm wrong and that's not whats happening, but if we are not lacking in fuel, and nothing else has changed, outside of it being colder, how else am I supposed to see this? Just a simple minded question.