~a column by Colleen O’Brien
Reconnoitering my current lifescape, I reflect on the many choices I do not have, starting , with #1, my gas and electric company, whose products and services are essential to modern life, and so we live with the monopolies and their regular price hikes or have no heat or AC in our homes.
#2, I like to complain about insurance companies who decide arbitrarily if and when they will pay off when disaster strikes, whether it be weather or health. Many people no longer carry insurance, partly because the monthly premiums are unaffordable, and often because they’ve learned the hard way that it’s a toss-up whether they’ll pay off anyway.
#3, I would like my food prices to be lower than my mortgage.
And I’d like more than four kinds of apples at the market. Did you know that at one time (according to Epicurious, a resource for home cooks), this country grew around 17,000 varieties of apples? Today, it’s down to 2,500 to 4,500, but not all over the country, not in big quantities and not all the time.
Congress probably will not be inquiring into our fewer and fewer apple varieties, but they could be in charge of scrutinizing utilities and insurance companies for the general population of the country, not the companies who take advantage of us whenever they can. P.S. Deal’s Orchard in Greene County will have Jonathans beginning mid-September. They also grow Haralson, Cortland, and Chieftain apples.
