What if ifs and ands really were pots and pans?

Mike and I were talking this morning about the cloud of fear that has overtaken the senior generation in this country. Flavor of fear this week concerns price per gallon of gasoline.
I got to thinking back to the good old days when you could buy two gallons of gas for an hour's pay. Hey? Wait a minute. Aren't kids today earning more than 75 cents an hour?
My first car got twelve miles per gallon. Eighteen on the open road. (Freeways were rare in the golden days.) The only vehicles that did better were 'bugs' and nobody wanted one of them. So do the math. You get more miles for your dime today.
Not that there is anywhere to go. Back in the old days, we had places to go and things to do. Life was a highway. Now it's a shopping mall filled with clothes that only fit girls who are way too skinny. At least we can find comfort at the food court.
When the past looks more inviting than the present, it's very easy to start thinking 'what if?' What if the price of gasoline goes up? What if I can't find the only flavor of ice cream that I ever really liked? What if the government takes away my Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms? What if they set up death panels? What if social security goes broke?
I'd have to get a job. A dead end job that pays ten dollars an hour. Hmm.
Nancy Sherer