Rant: 3,112: Say Say Say

Passover is over for 2023—it ended at sunset last night—and I am happy to report that I came out of it in one piece.

Did I have “matzoh stomach?”

Yes I did, and I had it off and on throughout the eight-day celebration, including to close out the holiday yesterday, where my love of matzoh really got to me the worst that it has in some time.

But I got through it, the matzoh has been put away for another year, and really, other than that, everything about the holiday was good this year.

Then we have this exciting interview which I am still transcribing, which is taking away any time I have to relax this week.

I do believe that this interview—coupled with my heightened matzoh intake—doomed me this week, but while the matzoh has been put away for another year, this interview might last for a long, long time.

I am way past 10,000 words, still have about a half hour of it to transcribe—which doesn’t seem like a lot, but think about how much you can say even in a minute’s worth of time, and then you can see that I am really at third base with this thing, looking to get to home plate really soon, but I do not know if today is the day that I can finally put this thing to rest.

And while I am at it, a clarification is needed about what I said the other day about Social Security income being taxed twice.

When you ready to get Social Security, you are asked how much tax you want taken out of your monthly payments, I think from 7 percent up to double digits percentage-wise.

I don’t exactly remember the numbers, but I can tell you that for many months, I took out the highest percentage, which really left me with little per month.

So I then had it adjusted to a lower percentage, and that is the genesis of where my “Social Security being taxed twice” comment came from.

What is done during tax time is that whatever you pay via taxes every month is adjusted when you pay your yearly taxes, and they are adjusted to reflect what you should be paying each month, not what you have chosen to pay.

So, just say if you pay, let’s say 10 percent each month, and you should be paying 12 percent each month, your taxes will be adjusted to reflect the fact that during tax time, you have to pay what the government says you should be paying as far as taxes are concerned, so the difference has to made up.

But the question remains this: why are taxes taken out of your Social Security payment to begin with?

Ask Joe Biden this, because while he says that he is doing everything he can do to help seniors, he was the one, years back as a senator, who spearheaded the legislation to have Social Security payments taxed, and on top of that, since he has been in office, prices on everything have gone into the stratosphere … how does that help seniors who are being what I believe to be overly taxed on their benefit for steady work performance over the decades, which is Social Security?

Not only that, but if you use Medicare as your health source, you have to pay extra to get fuller coverage than what Parts A and B provide you alone, so please explain to me how this is helping seniors to eek out their lives when they are supposed to be enjoying the benefits that they have earned and take it easy a bit as they play out their lives?

It has gotten to the point that I, personally, won’t vote for either the Democratic or Republican candidate for president, as I have said I wouldn’t, but I hope the winner is the one whose presence as commander in chief brings prices down to something reasonable.

The winner’s other policies almost don’t matter to me, I want to see lower prices when I do my food shopping and get gas.

I filled up my car with gas on Tuesday, and what I paid was bad enough, but then, 24 hours later on Wednesday, I noticed that gas went up 10 cents from what I paid.

I feel this is all a ruse to get Americans to buy electric cars, the latest marketing ploy by the government and auto makers to fleece us even more than we are already being taken for.

Electric cars are more expensive to purchase, and remember, you need to charge them up to full capacity each time you run low, or like any battery, the car will not work correctly without a full charge, and the battery will degrade quicker without a full charge.

These cars are also more expensive to repair, and about their helping the environment by not using gas … what a load of malarkey we are being fed, because like other batteries, how do you dispose of the car battery safely and without harming the environment?

The answer is that you can’t.

And then we have the lack of convenience … how do you charge the car up if you live in an inner city or in an apartment building?

Do you hang a wire out of your window to charge the car up … good luck if you live on a top floor of a building. Even Rapunzel’s locks aren’t that long.

Yes, charging stations are being built, but it might take 100 years to create enough charging stations to service the general population … and there is nothing more convenient than filling up your car with gas, no matter what it costs.

Me, I have a 2014 Kia Optima, and can’t afford another car now or in the future … but when the time comes that I do need a new car, I will certainly go the gas route.

And that is all I have to say today.

Have a great weekend, and I will speak to you again on Monday.

Let me get back to this transcription.

Keep me in your prayers this weekend.