Cost of Living

One of themes that I have noticed being mentioned a great deal on the news programs is the cost of living and the devastating effects it is having on those of lower means. I saw this reported on three different news programs in the past four days. I had trouble finding news articles that outlined the same points, but I took some notes on the programs I saw and will base the post on those notes. One of the things I will mention, gas prices, was taken from a ProJo article I read yesterday.

The Providence Journal reported yesterday that gas prices hit an all time high in Rhode Island with the average price being $3.48. This price is staggering, especially considering that I can remember a time when gas was under a dollar. With the price of gas at such a high level, it is only one contributor to an increasing problem of the sky-rocketing price of living. It is not a mistake that in America our cost of living is rising and our percentage of those categorized as living in poverty simultaneously increases. Gas prices are only one part of the picture. The price of education is increasing out of control. In order to attend Providence College this year we had to pay about $30,000 in tuition and roughly $1o,000 for room and board if we lived at school. These numbers are extraordinary. Even for an instate education at University of Rhode Island the tuition for last year was $7,000, only a fraction of our own tuition, but still a large amount of money for a person living in poverty. The problem of education is also exacerbated by the fact that lower education is vastly unequal based on neighborhood. The school systems in lower income neighborhoods are often inadequate and provide little opportunity for advancement, academic or otherwise. Clearly, the cost of private schools is out of the question for these families, so they have no choice accept to send their children to these inadequate schools.

Along with gas and education the cost of social services and programs is also on the rise. The costs of health-care, insurance, and social services are all either too expensive or too difficult to obtain for those without proper means. The heath-care crisis is one that we are all aware of, and the situation is an economic one. If health-care is going to be so pricey, wages need to increase, otherwise, families are going to continue to go on without health-care, living in fear of health problems. If a family is forced to choose between groceries for a week or health-care, they will choose the groceries, and we can't blame them for that.

The cost of housing is another crisis at the moment. The cost of renting an apartment is incredibly expensive, and the cost of buying one's own home is even more difficult. It is nearly impossible to rent or buy with only one income, making the situation of single parents that much more difficult. Of course the only apartments that are available for a reasonable cost are those in poor, rundown neighborhoods, causing the cycle of problems that I alluded to above. Once a family is forced into these neighborhoods their problems are doubled due to poor education, poor neighborhood efficacy, and lack of social resources and services.

The cycle of poverty is one that is almost impossible for many families to overcome. This cycle is exacerbated by the steadily rising costs of living which encompasses a variety of factors including gas price, social services, health-care, and cost of housing. This is not even including the steady inflation that causes the increase of prices of everything, including food, clothing, and the like. As inflation takes place, minimum wage does not make the proper adjustments to keep up with it. Therefore, everything costs more but people continue to make the same amount of money. America is one of the richest countries in the world, we need to learn how equalize this wealth and give all people the the same opportunities for success.