The Cult Of Rebates And Tax Cuts

That stupid, stupid, stupid asinine Christmas rebate back in 2005 is looking stupider and stupider now that the MTA is squawking about consecutive years of fare increases:

The subway fare is accelerating faster than a runaway express, as the MTA yesterday announced two fare hikes in the next 30 months.

Straphangers are due to get slammed by the pair of increases — totaling 13.4 percent by January 2011 — on the cost of tolls, commuter tickets and MetroCards, according to the MTA’s financial plan.

An 8 percent hike is slated for July 2009, and another 5 percent is due to be tacked on 18 months later. Added to the 3.85 percent hike enacted in March, the fare will have risen nearly 18 percent in 34 months.

“I don’t want to pay more money,” said Wendell Trupe, 49, of Harlem. “What are they doing with the money from the last fare hike? These damn people are out of their minds.”

The 8 percent increase, due to raise $202 million next year, is proposed to take effect six months earlier than originally planned. It is the first time riders have been hit with fare hikes in consecutive years since the early ’80s.

The MTA is also expecting to spring a 5 percent raise on the cost of MetroCards in January 2011 to bring in an additional $272 million that year.

“This is a function of where we are now,” said MTA executive director Elliot Sander. “The last thing we want do is to be up here right now asking for this.”

(And are we in for a similar shock after years of idiotic property tax rebates? Likely!)

The City Of Dirty Socks

Recession widens, detergent makers hardest hit:

Higher fuel and water prices mean the cost of a load of wash is spinning out of control for the city’s cash-strapped residents.

“We try to wash a lot of the clothing in the sink at home,” said Bianca Vaugean, 14, a Harlem ninth-grader who does all the laundry for her family of seven.

The family’s dishes had to share sink space after the price on the large washing machines at the 134th St. laundromat jumped from $3.25 to $5.25, she said.

City residents also report skipping washes and cramming the machines to get the most bang for their buck.

“I saw the price on the large dryer go up two dollars last week and I was shocked,” said Mary Ann Hart, 33, at a Bay Ridge laundromat at 79th St. and Third Ave. “I am going to have to stretch our usage from every week to every other week.”

Laundromats are taking a beating because of rising utility costs, said a trade expert.

“There isn’t another small business that has been hit as hard as the Laundromat,” said Brian Wallace, president of the Coin Laundry Association. “Costs are trickling down to the people in the poorer neighborhoods who can least afford it.”

During the last month, rates have been steadily bubbling up citywide — jumping as much as 40%.

How To Protect Consumers From Price Gouging . . .

If the milk price gouging law isn’t working, do the next best thing — raise the price ceiling. Problem solved:

The state-controlled price for a gallon of milk in New York City will rise to $4.37 next Tuesday, state regulators said, in the wake of rising fuel costs and diminishing corn supplies.

State agriculture authorities set the loose ceiling of milk prices, based on the cost of farm production. Individual stores can top the milk-price threshold — now at $3.93 a gallon — if they can show financial hardships, such as extraordinarily high wholesale, rent or delivery costs.

So in practice, the state-set threshold generally applies to the large supermarkets, while neighborhood bodegas tend to have higher prices, officials said.

Make Promises You Can’t Keep . . .

. . . you can always rescind them later:

The cash-strapped [MTA] will not launch a $60 million service improvement package because it doesn’t have the money, the Daily News has learned.

The Metropolitan Transportation Authority last year unveiled plans that included more frequent bus, subway and commuter trains to soften the blow of fare hikes. The program was to be launched in phases starting this summer — if the authority could afford it.

It can’t, sources said.

“A final decision won’t be made on the enhancements until we report June revenue numbers next week, but revenues would have to turn around significantly as we are already $80 million behind in real estate taxes alone,” MTA spokesman Jeremy Soffin said.

Um, Yeah

And more than once, too:

Caveat emptor: When you go into a drugstore in New York City, it’s best to check the expiration date of common over-the-counter medications, which can be expired even at large national chains, a survey by the state attorney general’s office has found.

The attorney general, Andrew M. Cuomo, said on Thursday that he sent his staff to 1,000 pharmacies across the state in March, April and May and found expired items — including milk, eggs, infant formula and common medications — at more than 250 stores across the state, including 50 in New York City.

Mr. Cuomo said at a news conference in Manhattan that the two worst offenders were Rite Aid and CVS, where investigators bought more than 600 items — though typically only one or two per store — that had expired. Many of the items were intended for children.

“Consumers deserve what they pay for,” Mr. Cuomo said.

(“Consumers deserve what they pay for” — what does that mean exactly?)