Dear Editor,

Assumption is a terrible disease it places you in situations you never dreamed of coming face to face with. I always say be prepared, but sometimes you end up lapsing and a just this one lapse can bring you a situation where turning back is not an option; you must find away over the barrier, literally.

Recently I found my self staring at the barrier of the toll plaza on the Portmore highway but I could not get across. My travelling partner and I had assumed one of us had the cash to pay. When we realised there was no cash between us we quickly pulled over and began searching, you named it we searched it until we only had $100. With no other option, we proceeded to reason with the toll operator who insisted that we would have to leave the car, and one of us would locate an ATM and return before we could drive across. Lucky for us an elderly man behind signalled to us that he would pay and that is how we made our 'escape to freedom'.

With no obvious change in the economy signalling the end if the "band belly" era, I like many Jamaicans will certainly suffocate with this increase. It is already difficult to find money to buy gasoline and service our vehicles, now we will have to budget more for toll.

Everything cannot be rising except income. People make sacrifices so that their family can live comfortably, yet food prices, electricity bills, and the crime rate continues to rise. How much more do you think the consumers will be able to bear.

We will soon have an economy of hopeless, angry and unhappy people.