Rant #3,142: Check It Out

Happy May 31.

This month is almost over, and it cannot come too soon for myself and my family.

My wife is still recuperating from the work accident she had earlier this month, and while she is getting better every day, there remain lingering effects from her fall, and while she is better, she is also feeling these effects every day.

Looking at our country, even though we are told that we are not in a recession—and have been told that so many times that I do believe that we are actually in one—for the first time since the beginning of the pandemic, I had to cross my money threshold in my checking account to pay one last bill of the month.

It is the first time I have been below that threshold I have set for myself in three years, and I am not too happy about it, but with prices still going haywire, I crossed the comfort level I set for myself this morning when I wrote a check helping to pay our car insurance bill.

I remember those days right before the pandemic hit so vividly, and they are still affecting me.

I had lost my job, and we weren’t yet into the pandemic phase of our lives yet,

I wasn’t bringing any money into the house due to a glitch that had existed—unbeknownst to me--for more than a quarter of a century, I had an open case with the New York State Labor Department that was never closed out as they moved over electronically.

So the state would not accept my unemployment status, and thus, not until late in the year was that resolved, and it was only resolved because someone in Albany felt he needed to do the right thing to help me, and although it took several weeks, he did just that.

Without his help, I would not have gotten one red cent from unemployment due to their own negligence.

I was literally 20 minutes away from getting a lawyer and suing the state Labor Department for lots more than they actually owed me.

And then we also have the leeches at a clinic I was going to for a minor injury that I sustained to my leg.

They thought they would get away with fleecing me for more money during my therapy by charging me per item and per exercise that I did during physical therapy, and then extending the therapy beyond what I actually needed to get more money out of me.

When I discovered what they were doing, they knew I would sue them—and win—because of their practices—which I checked with other people and places and no one had ever heard of—and they settled with me before I could sue them, and yes, they would have had to pay a lot more to me than what they actually owed me if I had placed the case and won.

So anyway, before all of this happened in my favor, I actually went down to $5 in my checking account.

I had no money coming in at all for the first several weeks that I was unemployed because of others’ stupidity, and I paid every bill that I could during this period, and after several weeks of nothing, I actually got down to barely anything in my account.

Don’t ask me how I did it, but I did it, and some places let me pay in increments, which definitely helped, but it went down to $5 … and then these things happened, and I vowed to never let it happen again.

And later, without any hopes for getting a full-time or even a part-time job during the pandemic, I had to file for Social Security retirement, which I did, and I was quickly approved for that.

And as I built up my savings account again, I got contacted out of the blue from the freelance job I have had for nearly three years now, and boy, it has really helped.

But today, the final day of this month, I went below the threshold that I set for myself in my checking account, and I am not too happy about it.

I have my savings, I have some other accounts, so I am far from destitute, but I knew this day was coming, what with prices out of sight—like those for groceries and gas==it happened today … and I would not be surprised if it happens again.

With posturing politicians unsure about the recently agreed upon debt limit—demonstrating once and for all that they do not represent their constituents, but only their own agendas, and that goes for both sides of the aisle—how am I, and millions of others who depend on government programs like Social Security and SNAP—food stamps—going to be able to maintain their lifestyles and pay their bills if this thing isn’t approved?

I have never seen so much posturing in my life, where some politicians absolutely do not understand what the word “compromise” means … where you don’t get all that you want, but you get enough to make the deal a real and viable one.

I cannot believe that these elected officials—who get a good salary and many perks, too—literally cannot see the forest for the trees, and cannot understand how a “No” vote on this measure will hurt their constituents, those they have sworn to serve.

If this thing does not go through, my own personal threshold in my checking account will be the least thing I will have to worry about.