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Approximately 50,000 US Coast Guard retirees are due to miss their February 1 check if the shutdown continues. But then, why should anyone care about this if it doesn't affect them personally? No big deal; all they did was serve their country and if they have to go without their pensions for a few months so that political points can be scored, so be it.
What a self centered society we have become.
Nobody in the goverment cares about me missing a check...or two....or 26. Health insurance. Why should I care about them? At least they have a job.
Wrong. Govt should not be a jobs program. If the program has more cost than benefit, it should be eliminated permanently with a permanent overall Reduction in Force.
You do realize that the benefit isn't just based on dollar benefits? IRS workers make sure that revenue is fully reported and that you didn't overpay or underpay your taxes. DoD inspectors like my mother was, inspect items sent overseas to make sure they work for our troops instead of taking a contractor's word for it. TSA removed a patchwork of private and public security firms at airports who didn't do their job on 09/11/2001.
Also I would argue many contribute a little bit more to the economy considering private sector wages. For security TSA is fairly even with security pay I have in my private sector security job. Also if they cannot afford ends meet, how would they be able to earn enough to retrain? See the issue here?
Wrong. Govt should not be a jobs program. If the program has more cost than benefit, it should be eliminated permanently with a permanent overall Reduction in Force.
Lol, how, prey-do-tell, does your response prove my post “wrong”?
Some random persons anecdote doesn’t represent the entirety of reality; there’s no argument to be had, it’s through and faulty logic.
So you’re fine with eliminating DHS, Border Patrol and the Coast Guard?
Well, if it don't get fixed by next month I cannot re-certify for food stamps and will not receive food stamps. If I am not getting food stamps then I don't have the phone service anymore, so I will no longer be able to communicate with my doctor's offices including my specialists. I get internet for $5/month instead of $90 (which is what internet goes for around here) because I am on food stamps, so they will jack up my internet for the month I am cut off, which I couldn't pay, so then it'll go against my credit for the next seven years. I don't have to re-certify the internet discount eligibility until June or July, so as long as they don't go rechecking because they know food stamps are cut off for everyone then maybe I'll have a few months leeway. If they do start booting everyone because they know the food stamps are cut off then I'm just screwed.
I have stockpiled cans of soup and vegetables, bags of rice, and lots of cereal that the stores clearanced off couple years ago that hasn't staled yet. So, I am unique to my neighbors in that I try to plan ahead as much as possible. Eventually, that will run out, but I will be in better shape than the others living in this building as far as that goes.
I have more pressing issues anyway. They are trying to kick me off disability because my father lied to SSA and claimed I was committing fraud in retaliation because I wouldn't give him control over my money and have it go to his bank account. SSA dispatched the AG's office to investigate me and they started the investigation with the intent of proving me guilty instead of seeing whether I was guilty or not. There was no evidence of guilt, since I am not guilty, so they altered and twisted what medical reports were saying to try and make it look like I wasn't even sick and even turned my doctors against me somehow to where my doctors started treating me like a criminal and wouldn't treat me anymore. I nearly died because of this. I ended up having to replace all of my doctors. I have even been diagnosed with ailments the prior doctors missed because they were too busy with the government's agenda.
The government even tried to make it look like I wasn't even going to the doctor for one of my health problems in attempt to make it look like nothing was wrong with me. I have proof of all of this and when I go to my court hearing next month I have to hope the judge I get is impartial and intelligent enough to see the truth. If I get one of these tea party types that think everyone with health problems should "suck it up" and that no one should get disability then I have no chance. If I get a judge that has already made up his mind that I'm a fraud and who doesn't look at the real medical records instead of the twisted ones the AG's office created then I have no chance. If I get a judge that doesn't look at all the evidence I accumulated poking holes and discrediting the fraud report then I don't have a chance. I don't have much confidence in the legal system after all I have been through.
If I lose this appeal then I am dead anyway, because no employer has ever wanted to keep me after seeing all of my health problems. It has already been proven that I am unemployable. I even get turned down for volunteer jobs for not being the right "fit" but if I'm not on disability then even health care requirements for Medicaid require me to have at least a 20 hr/week volunteer job. So, I'd be required to do something that was already proven years ago to be impossible. So, I would be cut off Medicaid and not be able to see my primary doctor or my five specialists anymore. I would not be able to have any of my medical treatment, including chemotherapy. I would not even be eligible for my apartment anymore because you have to be elderly or disabled to live here, so I would be rendered permanently homeless. Some people are not blessed with good parents, and I am one of those people. Some people God blessed with parents who would do anything to take care of their children, while people like me are cursed with parents who sabotage even ways for their children to stay alive. God never blessed me with people that loved me, a job, good health, or any other basic thing. I have been sick my whole life. God never healed me. Instead, I have got worse. If I lose in court next month, I will either die slow and painful in the streets after being cut off medical treatment and kicked out of my apartment or I can end it early. I am fully aware that I am fighting to stay alive right now.
I may not live long enough to see what happens if the shut down continues for many months. I got bigger problems at the moment.
Did you read the the question that the OP is asking in the poll?
They asked how much it affects ME.
So that's how I answered.......Bud.
I wasn’t responding to the OP, I was responding to your statement that “the government is uselessâ€, which was solely predicated upon your anecdote. My point remains.
I'll "speak" for the small remote town I lived in for 16 years where I still have close friends. The largest employer is a federal land management office. Almost all of the staff is furloughed. The few who are working are not being paid. The local grocery store, hardware store, local private utilities, and only restaurant are all feeling the pinch from loss of business. They are not re-stocking goods, shortening hours. Restaurant cut the menu and reduced hours. Shorter hours means letting part time employees go. Residents who can go out of town to shop compounding the pinch. Utility bills are not being paid or paid in full.
This town survives on seasonal tourist business and squeaks through the rest of the year. This is the time of year that federal office recruits and hires seasonal workers. None are being hired. Landlords have no new tenants for empty units. Local businesses that provide services to the federal office have no orders. Recreational outfitting services have no contracts for the upcoming season, so they can't commit to reservations or take the deposits that fund their start up prep.
If you want a great lesson in civics or economics go live in a small town.
Last edited by Parnassia; 01-21-2019 at 04:30 PM..
Ditto, as I also am a Mitt Net Maker, not a Net Taker from the govt.
If the House passes a suitable CR with billions in wall funding, I would be ok with benevolently seeing the govt reopen, hoping we look to right size it via a RIF very soon.
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