Going Up, Up, Up

The old saying, 'What goes up must come down' is just about right for everything to do with gravity but for the cost of living it is:  'What goes up, keeps on going up.' 
Once again it's the end of the financial year and the average Australian citizen is being slugged with increases in utility, transport fees and reduced funding for many charities and community groups.  This doesn't appear to be balanced with an offset somewhere.  People are being made redundant and fear has gripped our community.  No one seems safe.  Not the worker, nor the retiree or pensioners.   Seniors are being informed they will lose their senior supplements which provide concessions on numerous utility bills, council rates and transport costs.  The information is confusing with some reports saying it will only affect people with the Commonwealth Seniors Health Card and not the aged/disability pension.  Other accounts are covering pensioners in general.
I know the community is living in fear when my regular breakfast routine was interrupted with much banging, hammering and drilling.  It sounded like a barrage of tool men on my roof.  As I slid open my back door with my full washing basket wedged firmly under my arm I witnessed two quite delightful workmen fixing solar panels on my neighbour's roof.   We are half way up a hill and the neighbour's roof is our not so pleasant view from our patio.  Now we have a row of five shiny black solar panels glaring at us.  I quickly get my brain into gear and work out how much it will cost to add a wooden fence (complete with weeping flowering plants) to change our view.  My budget is already blown so I ditch the idea and convince myself I will get used to their intrusion. 
I know things are bad when my neighbour pays out money. When we were confronted with the 2YK bug on the eve of 1999 he bought himself a water tank and filled it with tap water.  He was convinced life as we know it would abruptly end and our taps would run dry.  Come the first morning of 2000 I confidently turned on my tap and was rewarded with flowing water! Hurray!
My neighbour (he is a good neighbour, never noisy or nosy) is coming up to retirement age and I know he is concerned about his supplements.  He has waited all his life to get a discount on his rates.  What he might lose on his rates he will win on his electricity bill.   I rarely hear his air conditioner in the summer and his electricity bill is often paid with lose change.  He is either  running scared or very smart to invest in solar panels.