Things have not gotten better in 50-plus years

Dear editor:

When I got out of the Marine Corps in 1969, I cruised the strips for a couple of years in a built-up '57 Chevy, paying 38 cents a gallon for Richfield Boron, 106 octane right at the pumps.

Today, it costs me around four bucks per, but if you still drive REAL machinery like I do, 91 octane doesn't pass for "premium." So, I have to add octane boost to my older cars, a lead substitute to protect the valves from the heat from unleaded gas, and NOW have to use a product to protect my fuel systems from corrosion.

Thanks to Obama's obsession for Ethanol in his quest to put us all in electric cars, it's costing me more at the pumps than it should, but engine rebuilds are expensive.

I've always understood "inflation," and I even understand four bucks a gallon here in 2014, this isn't 1969 (although I sorely wish it was), but for four dollars a gallon, I feel I should still be entitled to that same 106 octane. One should still GET what one pays for. In 1969, just over $3,000 bought you nearly 20 feet of Impala, a nice healthy V-8, room for six ADULTS and enough trunk room for plenty of luggage and a full spare tire, (not some little donut). You could do most of the maintenance yourself if you preferred. Twenty-five years later it was probably still on the road. Today, $30,000 might get you, well, look for yourself.

In the '60s, most of us watched six or seven television channels for FREE using the old antenna. TODAY, my wife and I watch six or seven channels but have to pay for a HUNDRED channels to get it. That's like getting a 15-course breakfast when all you wanted was bacon and eggs, but that's the "only way it comes" so while you don't have to eat it all, you have to PAY for it all. It's a rip-off, and certainly not getting your money's worth. For a monthly cable or satellite bill, you shouldn't have to "surf" for half an hour to find something worth watching.

When I was a kid, if it was Saturday, and you had a dollar bill, ONE DOLLAR, you could get into your local movie theater for a matinee, TWO full-length movies with four or five cartoons in-between and enough change left over for a coke, popcorn and a nickel box of Milk Duds. ADDITIONALLY, mom and dad never had to be concerned about what their kids might be watching, either. Been to a theater LATELY?

In the '60s, we paid taxes for the government to keep our country running. Today our taxes have gone through the roof. You almost need to buy a permit to breathe, and today we're nearly $18 trillion in debt. Again, I don't mind paying taxes, but I DO mind when it's not used for US, which is most of the time now.

What bothers me the most is that HALF of this country doesn't seem to mind. We BORROW now, to continue giving it away. Would you run your own household like that? Probably not. A lot of that "other half" don't pay taxes anyway so they don't even have a dog in this fight. The rest of us all "owe these victims" an existence it seems.

But the bottom line HERE is that I shouldn't be paying the taxes I pay, and still have to be concerned about Homeland Security, and have to dodge potholes every time I drive anywhere.

"Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer" are definitely not getting their money's worth. Taxation without representation, alive and well.

I can remember paying 49 cents plus tax for a box of fifty .22 long rifle cartridges. TODAY, well, I guess we KNOW why arms and ammo are so high.

That '57 Chevy I mentioned? I still have and use some of the tools I had back then, because they weren't made in China or Taiwan. If I had a "consumer problem" with something, I didn't have to "press 1 for English," wait "on hold" for a half an hour, then find myself talking to someone in India (that you couldn't understand) to resolve the problem, and finally deal with HIS supervisor who can't speak English as well as the first guy could.

Worst of all, for ME anyway, is that I'm just a grumpy old white guy, and an American citizen to boot, which means I'm not even allowed to be "offended" by all of this! Just "stop whining and pay more taxes boy, we've got bums all over this world depending on you."

Lastly, that incident in Ferguson. Dunno. I wasn't there to see it for myself. Neither were YOU, and what Matthews or Hannity say, doesn't make it so, either.

Mike Bradbury