I bet I'm not the only one who has this dream of what Christmas should look like.
First, when you grow up in NY there should always be snow. How many songs say so? I'm dreaming of a White Christmas, chestnuts roasting on an open fire, jingle bells all the way, and baby it's cold outside. Then we'll all be home for Christmas, you can count on me and our days will be merry and bright. Granted that's somewhat of a dream Christmas given to us by magazines and department stores and we all certainly don't live where there is falling snow. But we should be able to have somewhat of dream for our families. What is it that our government keeps telling us about the "American Dream". Doesn't that include the holidays? 
President Bush on Monday tried to reassure an edgy public that the economy is "pretty good" despite the dreary mix of a failing housing market, a national credit crunch and surging energy costs.That's funny, I'm not seeing it. I have to say right up front that at the moment I don't work. When Michael was one I went back to work and held a job until 2000. That's almost twenty years. In that time we bought two houses, the boys grew up and moved out and Bruce changed jobs to one where he might have to move to take on new opportunities.
His new job took him into retail which has a more flexible schedule with more week days off than not. I always seemed to hold down a Monday through Friday job with the weekends off. We decided that we were no longer happy to be like those two ships passing in the night and did what we needed to do to make that not happen.
It's seven years later and a lot economically has changed. Once Bruce became a store manager his salary has increased only incrementally. As we aged our health care costs skyrocketed. Gasoline, maintenance and insurance on two cars is out of sight. Food and other service costs have risen along with gasoline prices and since we have settled down again our housing costs with mortgage payment and utilities have exploded.
Bush Claims ‘We Have Fabulous Health Care’ Compared To ‘Other Systems Around The World’
"I’m going to tell you something — we have fabulous health care in America, just so you know. I think it’s very important — before people start griping about the health care system here — and of course there’s always grounds for complaint — just to compare it with other systems around the world".
According to the article The Medical Money Pit, In 2002, the U.S. spent more on health care per person than other industrial countries like Britain, Canada, France, and Germany. But unlike those countries, which have universal health care systems, there are roughly 47 million Americans who lack health coverage.
Our family health care coverage has been excellent. We have always been employed with good companies that provided wonderful coverage. We were fortunate. We still pay quite a bit out of pocket for co-pays on doctor visits and medications. But nothing close to full price. What about our uninsured?
The Middle Class Squeeze highlights how Bush Administration and Congressional policies are failing middle-class Americans. Stagnating or declining real wages for workers, exploding health care and college costs, and record-high gas prices -- among other challenges -- are damaging most Americans' way of life. Meanwhile, the Bush Administration and Congress have passed trillion-dollar tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy, and have pushed a variety of policies that hurt workers and their families. Taken together, these developments are squeezing the middle class, and threatening most Americans' valued way of life.
* Only 31 percent of families who would be considered middle class by income are financially secure.
* One in four middle-class families are at high risk of slipping out of the middle class.
* Nearly four out of five families earning a middle-class income do not have sufficient assets to survive for just three months should their income source fluctuate or disappear.
* Twenty-one percent of middle-class families have less than $100 per week ($5,000 per year) remaining after meeting essential living expenses.
* In nearly one in four middle-class families, at least one family member lacks health insurance.
* More than half of middle-class families have no net financial assets whatsoever.
We all make choices..how many children did we have, did we over spend on the credit cards, and should we work another job to help out. It's just as important to me how the government is making it's choices. I made my choices, I'm not whining or complaining. I'm just stating some tough facts. We've done it before, come up short at Christmas and again we'll try harder next year. It won't be the first time for this family that Christmas has come in January.
