On trusting the government.
Let me come right out and say this, this is an anti-government rant from a Republican. In fact, now halfway through my government class, I'm beginning to think I'm actually Libertarian. Feel free to disagree, or skip entirely.
On November 2nd, 2004, broke and out of ideas, I joined the Coast Guard. They said "Money for college! Job training! We'll take anyone!" I couldn't pass it up. However, I know that you get what you pay for, and that any sort of "easy money" was going to have it's drawbacks. In this case, working for the government has certain strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, you basically can't get fired. On the other hand, they basically don't fire anyone, no matter how lazy they are, or how many mistakes they make. The words "lowest bidder" come to mind. Knowing that these were going to be the people paying me, I did my best to budget accordingly.
I applied to get paid by the Montgomery GI bill in late July. I received confirmation in mid August that I had been accepted and was in the system. The school took me off of their "you haven't paid us" list, and I thought all was well.
Well, it's now nearing November, and I haven't actually been paid yet. Their letter in August said "four weeks". The telephone message said "Six weeks." the guy who finally answered after two days of calling said "two more weeks". It's been seven, and now the answer is "eight weeks". Now, 'six to eight weeks' is a fairly standard big business/government response. But the reason for all of this?
"We are receiving an unprecedented number of claims." The Democrats pushed a bill through that changed the MGI bill, updating it to be reasonable for what living costs are today. In itself, a good thing. It's a 75% increase in benefits. 30 grand more, for where I'm going to school. 30 GRAND. And they didn't expect that more people would be trying to go back to college. In a horrible economy.
For three months now, I've been living off of what I saved. I had to move, pay first and last month's rent, buy supplies, books, food, and pay bills with...savings. I asked the representative from the Veteran's office today what they could do about the fact that I'm flat broke. He said I could go to the regional office and they could give me an advance check. Which is great, 'cause I can really afford to take a day off of school for a three hour drive to the big city.
*zen*
I'll be fine. I saved twenty grand, knowing that I was going to get screwed. I put ten of it in a CD that comes due next month, just in time to pay my credit card bills, and in the absolute worst case, I'll be able to fund myself through spring semester. But what about everyone else? What about the poor shmucks who thought "we'll give you money for all of your college expenses" meant that "we'll give you money before it's too late"? Is this what it's like living at the mercy of the government?
What happens when the government takes over the health care system?
"We're getting more sick people than we thought we'd get, there's going to be a three month wait on your heart surgery." Or
"Man, the health care system was really screwed up, we're going to need another year to get doctors in place", or
"Now that we've fixed it more people who were sick but weren't bothering to go to the doctor are coming forward? How strange."
Or "we can't perform your neck surgery here, but if you just go to the main office in San Diego we'll get it done there"?
And before you say 'there are already doctors in place', this system was already in place too. They've managed to find a two month delay in a process that was already running. I understand that there are many problems with our health care system, but I shudder to think what new ones the government will be able to find.
I look at this like a goldfish. The government has asked for a puppy, in the form of taking over health care. Their parents (me) want to see if they can take care of a goldfish (in the form of veteran's college benefits), keep it fed and keep the tank cleaned, before trusting it with something bigger. And right now, the goldfish is starving. "But Lecoto, student veterans are a tiny percentage of the population! A tiny government office tucked under the military!"
Not that Obama should have to care about minorities. They shouldn't be his concern when he has a country to run.
Yeah, I went there.
On November 2nd, 2004, broke and out of ideas, I joined the Coast Guard. They said "Money for college! Job training! We'll take anyone!" I couldn't pass it up. However, I know that you get what you pay for, and that any sort of "easy money" was going to have it's drawbacks. In this case, working for the government has certain strengths and weaknesses. On one hand, you basically can't get fired. On the other hand, they basically don't fire anyone, no matter how lazy they are, or how many mistakes they make. The words "lowest bidder" come to mind. Knowing that these were going to be the people paying me, I did my best to budget accordingly.
I applied to get paid by the Montgomery GI bill in late July. I received confirmation in mid August that I had been accepted and was in the system. The school took me off of their "you haven't paid us" list, and I thought all was well.
Well, it's now nearing November, and I haven't actually been paid yet. Their letter in August said "four weeks". The telephone message said "Six weeks." the guy who finally answered after two days of calling said "two more weeks". It's been seven, and now the answer is "eight weeks". Now, 'six to eight weeks' is a fairly standard big business/government response. But the reason for all of this?
"We are receiving an unprecedented number of claims." The Democrats pushed a bill through that changed the MGI bill, updating it to be reasonable for what living costs are today. In itself, a good thing. It's a 75% increase in benefits. 30 grand more, for where I'm going to school. 30 GRAND. And they didn't expect that more people would be trying to go back to college. In a horrible economy.
For three months now, I've been living off of what I saved. I had to move, pay first and last month's rent, buy supplies, books, food, and pay bills with...savings. I asked the representative from the Veteran's office today what they could do about the fact that I'm flat broke. He said I could go to the regional office and they could give me an advance check. Which is great, 'cause I can really afford to take a day off of school for a three hour drive to the big city.
*zen*
I'll be fine. I saved twenty grand, knowing that I was going to get screwed. I put ten of it in a CD that comes due next month, just in time to pay my credit card bills, and in the absolute worst case, I'll be able to fund myself through spring semester. But what about everyone else? What about the poor shmucks who thought "we'll give you money for all of your college expenses" meant that "we'll give you money before it's too late"? Is this what it's like living at the mercy of the government?
What happens when the government takes over the health care system?
"We're getting more sick people than we thought we'd get, there's going to be a three month wait on your heart surgery." Or
"Man, the health care system was really screwed up, we're going to need another year to get doctors in place", or
"Now that we've fixed it more people who were sick but weren't bothering to go to the doctor are coming forward? How strange."
Or "we can't perform your neck surgery here, but if you just go to the main office in San Diego we'll get it done there"?
And before you say 'there are already doctors in place', this system was already in place too. They've managed to find a two month delay in a process that was already running. I understand that there are many problems with our health care system, but I shudder to think what new ones the government will be able to find.
I look at this like a goldfish. The government has asked for a puppy, in the form of taking over health care. Their parents (me) want to see if they can take care of a goldfish (in the form of veteran's college benefits), keep it fed and keep the tank cleaned, before trusting it with something bigger. And right now, the goldfish is starving. "But Lecoto, student veterans are a tiny percentage of the population! A tiny government office tucked under the military!"
Not that Obama should have to care about minorities. They shouldn't be his concern when he has a country to run.
Yeah, I went there.