Money in January
Ah, the beginning of a new year. And new rates. After a month of people spending mostly what they don't have, January appears with higher rates in everything from electricity to bus rides. Except this year. Since general elections were last month, and there still looms the danger of a second election round if a government is not formed, rates have actually gone down this January 1st.
Of course, most of that downward movement is so slight as to be almost negligible. But it does make for happy headlines. The electricity bill is going down 0.7% and the butane distributed in rural areas 0.6%. The turnpikes are also mostly going down around 0.6%. Buses, subways, and trains are not changing. They're expensive enough already. One trip on the subway in Madrid already costs €1.50 for up to five stations, with a maximum of €2.00 for nine stations or more.
Some more good news is for those who work in the public sector. Their salaries are going up 1%! Wow! And those who earn minimum wage are also going to be richer, by another 1%. They're going to have a hard time figuring out how to spend the extra five euros now that their monthly wage has gone up to €655.08. And the pensioners, many of whom help to support their out-of-work children and grandchildren, are seeing their pensions go up 0.25%. That's really going to help put food on the table. And then there's the great majority of people whose salaries haven't risen in the past five years. And who have gradually lost so much buying power that the teeny drop in rates won't affect them one way or the other.
As always, there are those that will hail these changes in rates and salaries. But those will be the ones who don't have to survive with those salaries nor care overmuch about how many lights have been left on. The rest of us will welcome the few cents we will save while we wait for the rates to go through the roof later this year. Because up they will go. Prices tend to act like balloons filled with helium and head for the wide open skies. And while salaries have come down and stayed down, they won't go up much further than they already have this January. They tend to follow the law of gravity and fall down to the ground. There's a lot of inertia to be overcome when raising salaries.
January rate changes this year have reversed trends, but the poor stay poor and the rich don't care.
Of course, most of that downward movement is so slight as to be almost negligible. But it does make for happy headlines. The electricity bill is going down 0.7% and the butane distributed in rural areas 0.6%. The turnpikes are also mostly going down around 0.6%. Buses, subways, and trains are not changing. They're expensive enough already. One trip on the subway in Madrid already costs €1.50 for up to five stations, with a maximum of €2.00 for nine stations or more.
Some more good news is for those who work in the public sector. Their salaries are going up 1%! Wow! And those who earn minimum wage are also going to be richer, by another 1%. They're going to have a hard time figuring out how to spend the extra five euros now that their monthly wage has gone up to €655.08. And the pensioners, many of whom help to support their out-of-work children and grandchildren, are seeing their pensions go up 0.25%. That's really going to help put food on the table. And then there's the great majority of people whose salaries haven't risen in the past five years. And who have gradually lost so much buying power that the teeny drop in rates won't affect them one way or the other.
As always, there are those that will hail these changes in rates and salaries. But those will be the ones who don't have to survive with those salaries nor care overmuch about how many lights have been left on. The rest of us will welcome the few cents we will save while we wait for the rates to go through the roof later this year. Because up they will go. Prices tend to act like balloons filled with helium and head for the wide open skies. And while salaries have come down and stayed down, they won't go up much further than they already have this January. They tend to follow the law of gravity and fall down to the ground. There's a lot of inertia to be overcome when raising salaries.
January rate changes this year have reversed trends, but the poor stay poor and the rich don't care.
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