Money, Money, Money...

Three things impinged on my consciousness today, three things about Money, with a capital M. First, on Radio 4 this morning, news that MEPs are abusing their positions and taking money for nothing: apparently they have a (wait for it) £130,000 staffing allowance, per year, and some of them are pocketing this money and not employing anyone!! How can this be? Corruption. Next came a discussion on the fact that Supermarkets are selling strong lager at 22p a can (Tesco's), mostly to underage drinkers, and that's actually cheaper than a bottle of water (not that underage drinkers would want a bottle of water, unless it's to wash down a few Es!). The discussion was about how tricky it would be for them to put up the price to stop these young people buying cheap alcohol. Of course, they could do that, but the unspoken point was, if they did that, then the sales would simply go to another supermarket! Corruption. Finally, the announcement that British Gas profits went up by 500% this year! They made a profit of £596 million!! (Oops, only £96 million last year.) While we, the consumers, were paying hugely inflated prices for our energy, just to keep warm. Corruption. How can any of the above be justified in any caring society? Or, forgive me, am I being naive? Greed, pure greed, is what seems to motivate those in any position of power. And a complete lack of any sense of responsibility to anyone (except possibly their Shareholders). Government, Big Companies, Ex-Utilities - they're all out for the largest possible slice of the cake. It seems to me that we don't have a sick Economy, only a sick Society. There are plenty of people out there making fortunes on the back of the "dodgy" Economy. We, you and me, the people who live and die and work and pay (and, incidentally, vote), we get the crumbs and we pay through the nose for those. It makes me want to spit at the lot of them...

Actually, after that, I had a lovely day. I drove over to Dorking to see Daughter and Grandson (stopping on the way to pay £1.08 per litre for my diesel)and arrived to see Grandson riding around on his bike with two little friends. Then we went into Dorking for some lunch and a potter around the shops. My new haircut was very much admired, and I did feel better. But I look at my Daughter, and I look at Grandson, and I wonder how on earth they will survive in this greedy, grasping society. It's no wonder people get left behind, drop out, or get tripped up in the Rat Race. Who wants to be a rat, anyway?

I think I'll call it a day. Hopefully, the world will look a better place tomorrow.