Community issues
Housing needs are not being met by $300,000 condominiums, $550,000 small homes and $1,300 to $3,500 apartment rentals, when working-class people and retirees on average Social Security checks (less than $25,000 per year) cannot afford these costs. To purchase a home in New Hampshire, the latest information indicates you need to earn $150,000 a year. Only the top of the middle class have the earning power, or those who retired with a deep nest egg.
Health care is in our for-profit system, whether you are covered by your company’s plan or paying for supplemental healthcare and prescription coverage on top of Medicare. As a retiree, it is expensive. Everyone needs healthcare coverage and our system is not set up for all of us to have it. Funding for our public schools is being shortchanged with federal and state mandated rules, less state funding to towns and cities and towns increasing property taxes for shortfalls. All the money taken out of the funding is sent to private schools, charter schools and homeschooling choices. Our school systems are laden with layers of administration, teachers taken from classrooms as department heads, and substitutes hired to do teachers’ jobs.
The rising cost of living has been strapped to our backs, and we can look at the government in Washington, D.C., and the rising coffers of corporate America and the rich while the economy strangles us. Changes need to be made, and they won’t happen unless we, the people, take action by electing new leaders. The economy hurts us in housing, healthcare, schools, childcare and transportation, and we cannot change that hurt by ourselves. Those drafting plans in Concord need to be mindful of which bills they pass, as we need new bills that look out for the good of New Hampshire citizens.