MTA STRIKES AGAIN...AREN'T ALL VAMPIRES BLOODSUCKERS?

By Joliet Jake

 Well, well, well...That is mighty White of the MTA to hit us the loyal rider/commuter over the heads with yet another fare hike for an undermined service.
I have heard it said that "you cannot get blood from a stone", but as of late it seems that attempts have yielded blood and continue to do so. In a time with no jobs, unemployment limitations, and big budget cutbacks, the almighty Metropolitan Transit Authority still sees fit to bleed the public for more dough, socking it to us once again. Where will people draw the line? When will they decide that enough is enough? Just how much longer will it be until the level of crime reaches unbearable heights? These are all questions of pertinence to the common man who does not have his own SUV-mounted personal driver and therefore has to deal with and live amongst the residual collateral damage resulting from the blatant MTA and government price gouging of an already-withering public. Withering in the sense that the average blue collar worker is living check to check, putting them one paycheck away from being broke and going belly-up. Bearing their infamously blood thirsty capitalistic fangs, the MTA just steamrolls ahead right to another fare hike. 
In my most recent experience, my only the choice was to stand and wait for trains and hope they come on time so I can get where I have to go for work. The flip side of this has gone unnoticed for some reason, but is real none the less: when services are cut, you have to get up even earlier in the morning, losing more sleep and setting the stage for weakening and poor health conditions for such individuals. So, not only are we paying more, we are receiving less service, losing precious sleep to compensate for the cuts in service lines. Just how much more does the MTA want? The answer, ALL OF IT!!!!!

That's right, now imagine the MTA holding YOU up by your Achilles heel (how appropriate) shaking all of the pennies and lint from your pockets and filling their already bulging bellies and wallets. If you do not believe me just strike up some small talk with a rider and they will tell you. It is on the tip of every one's tongue, but no one will do anything. Such as stage a mass MTA boycott for as long as it takes for them to realize that hikes are unfair plain and simple and (in the words of Twisted Sister) "We're not gonna take it anymore!" With three fare increases in the last 3 years, and service slashes (it has gone beyond cuts), they have rendered the victim passenger helpless with only the option to wait for the eventual metro while bleeding from the jugular and carotid arteries. As long as the riders continue to pay without protest, so shall the bludgeoning continue until we have nothing left but to sleep on the very trains like so many unfortunate few; but of course then they would order all police personnel to ticket those very people in order to ensure profit at all angles.
Ever since this economic downturn (or rather planned destruction) took hold of this nation, The MTA, along with other agencies, have just terrorized the public with astronomical inflation and price swelling. It's all just one BIG MONEY GRAB!!!! Every corporation, every sector of government, they are all penny pinching and hording as much liquid wealth as they can to allocate amongst the upper "Cream?" of their Blood Soaked Empires of greed. With the public already crying and having long since thrown in the towel, the punches just keep coming. Demanding more and more from our already thinned and still thinning pockets, bank accounts, safes, and whatever else. Like beaten wives or girlfriends, the public just do not have the wherewithal to raise a single voice or commit to an all out boycott of the Transit Authority for even a day or half a day. It is a sad, tired, shame to witness such defeat without any effort made to conquer the odds.

   Everyday as I ride the trains I see the very hardworking fabric upon which this nation was built with sullen sadness in there eyes. They...We all suffer at that hands of a gangster controlled corporate-ocracy.There is no longer a question of when will it be too late. It is already too late. We may as well just hand over our wallets, banks, safes etc to the MTA and the like who continue to bleed us out of all of our nickels. It seems like just yesterday that the MTA was all the rave about billion dollar surpluses and the likes; Dare I ask what happened to the so called overflow of liquid assets? Dare anybody ask? I wish it worked like for us and our paychecks. I wish were able to just continue making more and more and more demands and just continue to bleed the increases out of our employers. And VOILA!, magic cash just appears from our employers.

   It will now cost $29.00 for a weekly unlimited pass, and an ear ringing slap of $104 for a monthly pass. On my budget, I will not be buying anymore monthly passes for some time. I mean between the Rent just being to Damned High and the rising cost of...EVERYTHING, you just can't catch a break or get ahead in any way, shape or fashion. Forget about savings if you do not make a six figure salary in this god-forsaken land and city called New York. It used to be the city that never sleeps for its night life. Now it is the city that never sleeps for the fact that with all the metro cuts and service slashes, one does not have the time or luxury to sleep unless of course you've got that SUV-mounted personal driver I mentioned earlier.

   Something here clearly has to give. Either we continue to be bled out by our corporate serial killers who include the MTA, or we make a voice to be heard. Remember, even when aggravated one can make a peaceful movement maintaining order still getting the desired attention. If we could ever sensibly organize they would have left us not choice but to peaceably decline use of the metro system...