A Smokers Debt

HEN I get out of debt! I say that all the time, and Ive done it a few times and I guess I have been like so many others and tried to have more than I deserve! I get angry when I think about things like this-

An Internet friend is trying to quit smoking. A hard thing to do, a very powerful addictive drug to break away from. Nicotine is more addictive than heroin yet its legal? That always blows my mind. Well this friend of mine is not a rich woman, she has a disabled husband, and although she has not said so he has a respiratory disease that could be related to smoking. So they have his disability income and she runs a small shop in a flea market.

She has a very active blog she enjoys keeping up and she loves photography and so she uses her computer for most of her fun activities...and now its giving her problems. She has made the decision to try and quit smoking, kick her own habit, to save money!...How much money can she save...Check this out! TWO HUNDRED DOLLARS A MONTH...

Now let me just be the devil here and point out how so many Americans complain that the medication they are prescribed can cost as much as $200 a month...And yet there are some of those very same Americans purchasing cigarettes and they say nothing about how much it costs...let alone the costs of health care to try and offset the damage done to their lungs costing consumers trillions of dollars!

I know smokers make all kinds of excuses for their destructive behavior...they say things like,
"It's my body, I can do what I want."
"Everyone has some vice, this is mine."
"It's my business not yours."
There are many more, but the truth is they are hurting themselves and they are part of the driving force in rising health care costs to the Medicare and Medicaid system. Billions and Trillions of dollars! The reason I can say all this is Im an X-smoker!

If it were up to me, I would Ban smoking---NOW before you go writing me letters, lets just think about it. Its only legal because it brings money into the system by way of taxes and jobs..but it takes out just as much in health problems and costs to individuals and health care organizations. People say its not harming anyone---but it is--smoking causes cancer adds to heart disease, causes lung disease, birth defects, and second hand smoke can cause problems for non smokers! People use money that could be earmarked for other uses in their budgets for cigarettes! It is costing most smokers about $3000 a year to pay for their habit! Imagine if that $3,000 was put into general circulation, groceries, movies, clothing stores, books, games, computers...the list is endless, in fact that's the price of an individual retirement account! Its a credit card debt paid off!

The CEO of RJ Reynolds Tobacco Co's salary for 2008 was ---
$1, 190, 350 dollars, and a bonus of $4, 243...

Wow...someone was blowing a lot of smoke!--so my friend spends $200 a month for the cheap cigarettes, thats $2400 a year, she could put that in a money market account and when she retires in 10 years she would have a nest egg of $24,000 dollars+ interest!