Cheap Ain’t Cheap No More

Life is so priceless that it becomes worthless to be honest in this world of wealth, power and lies. You can’t put a dollar value on facts. But you can’t buy anything without the price tag gouging guarantee of paying more for less with your meager dollars. It’s not like supply meets demand in this gimme market of public goods and services. It’s more for me and none for you. You get what you pay for, and if you’re a cheapskate, you’ll get what you paid for. There’s so much in the materialistic, consumer-driven economy that you never get what you really want or pay for. Two hamburgers with fries and a drink from a fast-food joint will cost you dearly. Thirty bucks.

You can forget about the deals, steep discounts and clearance sales. There are no deals happening down at the dollar store. Nothing costs one dollar for things that cost a few pennies. It’s the American way. Your buying power is weaker than your self-worth. Double everything on the hoagie of life. Extra everything on top. Cut out the go-between guy. Shave the middleman out of the equation. Buy direct. Order early. Cut costs on the bottom line. Save on the top side. It’s a cheesy knockoff, a good con, a nice rip-off. In the end everyone pays one way or another. If you can’t pay the freight, you must wait at the end of the line. I say a penny for your thoughts is selling yourself cheap.

Do you expect everything handed to you on a silver platter? Of course. Complete with plastic utensils and cups? It just looks tacky. This world owes us nothing. The wealthy look down their noses at the poor, as though coming from nothing is less valid than coming from something. Trust the beggars, not the bankers. You can say money makes the world go round, but the world doesn’t have a price. You can’t buy it. It’s a temporary fix. The Band-Aid on a slit throat. As we spin like a crazy yo-yo all around, up and down. Held by a taut string, a puppet moves. They must separate you from your wallet. In a cashless society of creditors and unpaid debt, you turn your empty pockets inside out. Scrape together a few bucks for the bare essentials, and the devil takes the cake, taking care of his business while bankrupting yours.

The poor suffer the indignity of having nothing but misery for their troubles. It is a sad affair of paupers and pretenders to the throne of the dollar. Everyone wants to be a big-ass winner. Win the prize, play the game, or be a loser. There’s no shortage of losers. As if money can solve everything, buy happiness, and make the sick well again. The root of all evil and the answer to every problem can’t buy a cheap ticket to the rigged game, leaving us to live in fear and despair. You know the rich-get-richer routine. And the poor? There’s more than one way to deal with the truth of adversity. The bigger, better, more bang for your buck mentality isn’t the same as living day to day and paycheck to paycheck without health benefits.

There must be a better way to make money and keep your health and dignity intact without losing your mind. It’s a tall order to keep the money machine running and the economy from going bankrupt. We need more money to pay for the debt that’ll never get paid. It’s a perpetual motion of sitting fat, high on the hog, reaping the benefits from the hard labor of others. Counting the silver and gold on the backs of the poor. Leaving scraps by the cell door. Hand-me-downs by the filthy rich buggers preaching sanctimonious nonsense about working hard and saving money. The dream’s a nightmare for everyone uninvited to the feast but must clean up the messy aftermath. It’s cheaper to die than live in a country that never cared about you.