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Edited on Wed Sep-07-05 08:04 PM by Divernan
Just two examples of the impact of increased oil prices. Bob Schieffer on CBS News tonight reported a projected 71 % increase in the price of natural gas used by many people to heat their homes. My carpenter told me that roofing shingles (in BIG demand to repair hurricane damage), which are made of tar - an oil product - were going up 40%. The heating costs for many past winters have been so high that many retired people had to choose between food or prescription meds and heat. Every winter there are stories around the nation of elderly people found frozen to death in their homes. But SEVENTY PERCENT!?!?! Along with the increased costs of gasoline, and the increased cost of everything which has to be shipped - like all the food we buy - people will be rightly furious.
I suggest if you have elderly neighbors, or elderly parents living on their own, that you make sure they are not turning their thermostats down so low they put their health at risk. Talk to them directly about it and help them to apply for LIHEAP funds. There are never enough of these to go around (even though they are income based), so have them get applications in early. Also, perhaps arrange to have your parents' gas company bills sent directly to you so you can keep an eye on usage and make sure they are actually heating their homes warm enough and don't get shut off if they fall behind in their bills. The utility companies used to be barred by law from disconnecting electricity or gas until April of each year, on the theory that by then people would not freeze to death. But they bribed/lobbied in Pennsylvania to get that changed - although they describe it as an action they took to keep deadbeats from ducking out on their bills and forcing other customers to make up the difference.
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