Living Cost

Bad news everyone: Living cost in the world is getting expensive, especially to citizens of Jakarta who could only spare a very little amount of dime to survive, me likewise. The fact is, within one week time I was choked up by news which does not support any whim of living happily ever after, thus this note only contains a bunch of complains and so if you are expecting a piece of writing that is intelligent and entertaining to be read, then I am afraid this would be a disappointment. Soon after getting a job, most people would make plans on how their life would look like in the future and so I do. I plan to be promoted after two or three years of employment period, then get a raise and start considering of personal relationship. But now, the plan is utterly ruined since costs are getting steeper and there will only be literally one cent left to spare. Now, allow me to explain why.   

You see, the government recently introduced two incredible ideas to make an end-of-year celebration. Obviously I don’t understand what has possessed people in the government that they could come up with such ideas. In fact I don’t exactly know what “the government” is, probably like a circus show or something rather, so please excuse myself for not going to law school. Anyway, the first idea is that cars with black license plate are no longer allowed to be refueled with subsidized unleaded fuel starting January 2011, which in the language of Homo sapiens means that private cars must be refueled only with more expensive petrol. It really is a love and hate decision as you could spot several good and negative points. The government says that it would do better on the environment; allowing mosquitoes around my house to live longer. They say it would save 500,000 kilolitres of fuel if the rule is applied within Jakarta and satellite cities area, but again they say a lot of things. Even so, it sounds great although at a cost of damaging my wallet, which could have been severe. Solution? Two-wheeler is untouched by this rule, but I won’t recommend that, because I have one and if you or anyone else get one too, then the road would be clogged up and I can’t go anywhere. Instead, I would suggest you to use public transport, but if you don’t want to, you could register your car as a taxi, because public transport is the only form of automobile other than motorcycle that is unaffected by this rule. Good eh? Save more money, though with a tad unbearable and foul odor by strangers who sit in your car.
  

"Wouldn’t it be an insult to common-sense if I ever consider registering myself as the owner of Mars?"

Instead of registering your car as a cab, another solution to save more money is to cut down on food. Some people might find this idea stupid, me for instance. But as a freshman in early career steps, there are priorities and sacrifices need to be made, and so this is how the idea comes handy and acceptable. The best solution is obviously cook by yourself, but if you don’t have time to do it, you surely then will eat out and it immediately leads to a problem. In hard times like this, I am afraid some places are an irrelevant luxury which should be wisely avoided. Café? Forget it. Restaurant? Drop it. Delicatessen? Only in your dream. Solution? Small-time vendors like Padang canteen or Warung Tegal (warteg) would be best. Tragically, the government is also imposing new tax to these types of establishment, 10% for vendors which make an annual income beyond 60 million IDR. I work out that sum of money is equally about 167.000 IDR per day, which is not a lot and I reckon that is just about selling 30 plates of regular meal in average. Not much to my surprise, pretty much all Padang canteen or Warteg will be exposed to taxation, because selling 30 plates in a day doesn’t sound like beyond-belief. So, if your new year resolution happens to be eating in a Padang canteen that is non-tax collected, you should find one that tastes awful, because that is the only reason they can’t sell more than 30 plates a day.

Truth be told, none of those stories really makes the cut for today’s worry. I was actually very concerned with news coming from Europe, which has been all over the internet and it really is a rather disturbing squabble. It was about a middle-aged Spanish woman who recently registered the sun at a local notary public to make a legal claim of her ownership. Exactly. The Sun, that giant fire ball thing floating about the space. The worst bit is, she wants to charge everyone who uses it and it is very likely that I am included. Of course, anyone might get fishy about where the money would go and so she explained. She said that that she would give half of the proceeds to the Spanish government and 20% to the nation’s pension fund. She would dedicate another 10% to research, another 10% to ending world hunger — and would keep the remaining 10% herself. Also, much to your surprise, the Spanish lady was not suddenly on a whim to claim ownership to the Sun, she took the step after reading about an American man who had registered himself as the owner of the Moon. Immediately after reading the article, I couldn’t help but feeling stupid and hollow, knowing that I didn’t have to go to the university, work my ass off to get a degree, then get a job to pay for fuel or meal tax in a Padang canteen. I could just imitate what the Spanish woman had done, I just need to hire several financial consultants and accountants to handle people paying their monthly “Sun bill”. It did sound utterly stupid but it doesn’t against the law. Seriously, while I was looking for support article to this news, I learned that there is an international agreement that no country may claim ownership to stars or planets, but there has been no rule which regulate about individual ownership. But then, wouldn’t it be an insult to common-sense if I ever consider registering myself as the owner of Mars? Until the next posting, enjoy!