Hub-B: Thoughts that keep me up at night
This post is by my fantastic husband who truly fights for our family and works hard for us every day. Enjoy a peek into B's brain.
In my "free" time, and I use that word sarcastically, I often think of things that aren't right with the country, the world, etc. As you can imagine, there is no shortage of problems to focus on. The following are some of the issues that are beyond maddening, not only because they are stupid to begin with, but because no matter how hard I try I can't figure out a way to eliminate them:
1) Not having enough free time: On average, I work 60 hours a week, not counting my commute of at least another 5 hours a week, sometimes 7-8 hours of commuting. By the time I get home, I have less than 3 hours in which to eat, clean, attempt to relax, spend quality time with my wife and kitty, read something I am actually interested in, etc., before I need to go to sleep and start over again the next day. Suffice it to say, these measly 3 hours, and often less than that, leaving me wanting more time for me and less time for the rest of it.
Don't get me wrong, I am thankful I have a job (I know that was the first thought that came into your mind reading my gripe), but that's precisely the problem isn't it? We have been conditioned to think that way. At least you have a job. Nevermind that that's about all any of us have any more since the concept of free time and enjoying life has long been eliminated by the burdens of everyday life that we could all do without: taxes, debt, people we despise and wouldn't so much as speak to if we didn't work together, commuting, and all the rest of the crap we hate.
When did we go from a society in which any man could work from 9-5 while the wife stayed at home with the kids? A time when one income could easily support the entire family? A time when vacations were the norm and not the exception, when you could take a 2 week long vacation in the car going to visit the "World's Largest Toilet" or "The Longest Ball of Yarn" or whatever else was 30 miles off the beaten path and it didn't matter because that's how much time you had: plenty.
The thought of a vacation now is a joke. Vacation means working from some other place that isn't your office. Everyone needs to be on call 24/7, no matter what, just because some putz wants to know if you are committed enough to answer email at 2:00 AM on Christmas morning, because if you aren't there is someone else that is willing to do it for 1/2 of what you are making. And they always remind you of this fact.
Why are we allowing this to happen?!
2) The Legal System: I could write an entire encyclopedia about what's wrong with this, but here a just a few thoughts. Why is it that at any time anyone can sue anyone else, whether justly or unjustly, and force the innocent party to bankrupt themselves against a frivolous lawsuit. The United Kingdom has a system whereby "loser pays" in Civil Lawsuits. So if someone sues you and loses, they pay for your attorney fees. Sounds like a good idea doesn't it? Too bad the United States is run by attorneys who work on contingency and have no problem bankrupting innocent people so they can charge $500 an hour to write documents that are so confusing that that they make understanding advanced calculus look like a breeze. With all of that education, you can't write something in plain English?
Another thing I hate about the legal system is how, as long as you have enough money, you can basically indemnify yourself against anything. What common man has access to enough resources to set up LLC's, SPE (Single Purpose Entities), Living Trusts, Corporations, Limited Partnerships, ENOUGH!!! Get rid of this crap! What we have created is a system where no one is responsible for anything because "it wasn't me, your Honor, it was the Company that I owned, I controlled, I made the decisions for, but that was an LLC and the law says I'm not responsible since I paid a blood-sucking attorney $500 an hour to fill out a form and allow me to rob the common man". Really? This sounds like a great system. I'm sure the Founding Fathers would be really pleased with where we're at.
So what it boils down to: you and I can't afford these glorified wordsmiths to indemnify us against our responsibilities, but if you have money you can get away with any shady deal and walk away scott-free. You can only win, never lose. Sounds like something else: Government. They are there with their hands out when we have money, but never want to share in any of our loses. A-Holes!
3) Taxes: Roughly 50% of the citizens in this country don't pay a dime in taxes. They steal from the rest of us. Yes, that's what I said. They steal from the rest of us. I don't remember ever signing up to pay for other people to not work and have children when I have been responsible and waited until I could provide for a family? What do you call it when you are forced to work for someone else against your own wishes? Slavery. Yep. That awful thing that isn't supposed to happen any more. Well, I am a glorified slave. I work for more than a third of the year to pay taxes so other people can do what I want to do: not work but still get paid.
When I was growing up, my "teachers" all told us the same BS. That the Founding Fathers were wrong to only allow land owners the right to vote. It sounds reasonable enough. Why should only "rich" people get to vote. What about the poor? I'll tell you why they set the system up that way: it was to protect their hard earned wealth. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy." Despite who wrote this, it is true. Why should people who have no skin in the game be allowed to vote on what to do with our money?
It seems to me that one of two things should happen to right the system:
a) If you don't pay taxes, you don't have the right to vote; or
b) Each citizen (18 years and over) gets a minimum of 1 vote. However, for every $1,000
dollars in taxes you pay, you get an additional vote.
Imagine the fairness behind it all. The more money you pay the more control you have. Nah. I'm clearly wrong there. Fairness isn't fair to the working man. It is only fair to the ones that are too lazy produce.
One more large item on taxes. Do you realize that you can NEVER own property in this country, ever? What am I talking about? What happens when you pay off your mortgage? You own your house out-right, yes? No! You own the right to pay property taxes forever and ever. And the minute you decide you don't want to do that anymore, the government can put a lien on your house (another attorney-made idea) and foreclose you out to pay for the taxes. So at most you can permanently rent the property from the government. Sounds like China to me. Property rights were a key reason we fought the British for our "freedom", which has long been extinguished, and here we are again. No rights to own property. I think I'll go dig a hole in the common area and live in the mud and collect welfare checks from you hard working idiots.
4) National Debt: Really? I don't understand the concept. We the People owe someone else somewhere in the ball park of $15 trillion dollars? Sorry, I must have been asleep when we were handing out all the bars of gold, diamonds, oil, etc. What's that you say? You didn't get your either? Infrastructure in this country is rotting? We have sewers from the late 1800's that are still in use and made of wood? What? They've rotted out and it costs how much to replace?!
Yes siree-Bob. Not only is the government (notice I didn't say we since we didn't authorize it) in debt to a point where if this country spent zero dollars on anything but debt service it would take the better part of 10 years to repay it all, including interest payments, but we have nothing to show for it. I can't see anything that is either new, useful, easy to navigate (can you say DMV), helpful, anything that would cost $15 trillion. We supposedly only pay $2 trillion a year in taxes. Is that all? What do we get for that? I don't know of a single government program that I benefit from. I use Fed-Ex / UPS to mail items, I pay to drive on PRIVATE toll roads, I don't call the police ever, I am not on welfare, I don't get unemployment (even though I help pay for it), I don't collect Social Insecurity, I don't know why we are fighting wars without giving our troops the ability to actually fight without asking the enemy for permission first, I have my own private health-care, and I don't have children in public schools.
So what I'm saying is, what the hell could we possibly have spent $15 trillion on? Not just $15 trillion, but all the interest payments that go along with it. I can't think of a single thing that I have gotten out of "the system". What about you?
Today's conclusion: You are a slave that can be bankrupted by anyone at any time and can never own anything without fear of it being taken away. In fact, the only thing you can truly own the rights to is being permanently in debt. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. God Bless America!
In my "free" time, and I use that word sarcastically, I often think of things that aren't right with the country, the world, etc. As you can imagine, there is no shortage of problems to focus on. The following are some of the issues that are beyond maddening, not only because they are stupid to begin with, but because no matter how hard I try I can't figure out a way to eliminate them:
1) Not having enough free time: On average, I work 60 hours a week, not counting my commute of at least another 5 hours a week, sometimes 7-8 hours of commuting. By the time I get home, I have less than 3 hours in which to eat, clean, attempt to relax, spend quality time with my wife and kitty, read something I am actually interested in, etc., before I need to go to sleep and start over again the next day. Suffice it to say, these measly 3 hours, and often less than that, leaving me wanting more time for me and less time for the rest of it.
Don't get me wrong, I am thankful I have a job (I know that was the first thought that came into your mind reading my gripe), but that's precisely the problem isn't it? We have been conditioned to think that way. At least you have a job. Nevermind that that's about all any of us have any more since the concept of free time and enjoying life has long been eliminated by the burdens of everyday life that we could all do without: taxes, debt, people we despise and wouldn't so much as speak to if we didn't work together, commuting, and all the rest of the crap we hate.
When did we go from a society in which any man could work from 9-5 while the wife stayed at home with the kids? A time when one income could easily support the entire family? A time when vacations were the norm and not the exception, when you could take a 2 week long vacation in the car going to visit the "World's Largest Toilet" or "The Longest Ball of Yarn" or whatever else was 30 miles off the beaten path and it didn't matter because that's how much time you had: plenty.
The thought of a vacation now is a joke. Vacation means working from some other place that isn't your office. Everyone needs to be on call 24/7, no matter what, just because some putz wants to know if you are committed enough to answer email at 2:00 AM on Christmas morning, because if you aren't there is someone else that is willing to do it for 1/2 of what you are making. And they always remind you of this fact.
Why are we allowing this to happen?!
2) The Legal System: I could write an entire encyclopedia about what's wrong with this, but here a just a few thoughts. Why is it that at any time anyone can sue anyone else, whether justly or unjustly, and force the innocent party to bankrupt themselves against a frivolous lawsuit. The United Kingdom has a system whereby "loser pays" in Civil Lawsuits. So if someone sues you and loses, they pay for your attorney fees. Sounds like a good idea doesn't it? Too bad the United States is run by attorneys who work on contingency and have no problem bankrupting innocent people so they can charge $500 an hour to write documents that are so confusing that that they make understanding advanced calculus look like a breeze. With all of that education, you can't write something in plain English?
Another thing I hate about the legal system is how, as long as you have enough money, you can basically indemnify yourself against anything. What common man has access to enough resources to set up LLC's, SPE (Single Purpose Entities), Living Trusts, Corporations, Limited Partnerships, ENOUGH!!! Get rid of this crap! What we have created is a system where no one is responsible for anything because "it wasn't me, your Honor, it was the Company that I owned, I controlled, I made the decisions for, but that was an LLC and the law says I'm not responsible since I paid a blood-sucking attorney $500 an hour to fill out a form and allow me to rob the common man". Really? This sounds like a great system. I'm sure the Founding Fathers would be really pleased with where we're at.
So what it boils down to: you and I can't afford these glorified wordsmiths to indemnify us against our responsibilities, but if you have money you can get away with any shady deal and walk away scott-free. You can only win, never lose. Sounds like something else: Government. They are there with their hands out when we have money, but never want to share in any of our loses. A-Holes!
3) Taxes: Roughly 50% of the citizens in this country don't pay a dime in taxes. They steal from the rest of us. Yes, that's what I said. They steal from the rest of us. I don't remember ever signing up to pay for other people to not work and have children when I have been responsible and waited until I could provide for a family? What do you call it when you are forced to work for someone else against your own wishes? Slavery. Yep. That awful thing that isn't supposed to happen any more. Well, I am a glorified slave. I work for more than a third of the year to pay taxes so other people can do what I want to do: not work but still get paid.
When I was growing up, my "teachers" all told us the same BS. That the Founding Fathers were wrong to only allow land owners the right to vote. It sounds reasonable enough. Why should only "rich" people get to vote. What about the poor? I'll tell you why they set the system up that way: it was to protect their hard earned wealth. "A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the majority discovers it can vote itself largess out of the public treasury. After that, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits with the result the democracy collapses because of the loose fiscal policy ensuing, always to be followed by a dictatorship, then a monarchy." Despite who wrote this, it is true. Why should people who have no skin in the game be allowed to vote on what to do with our money?
It seems to me that one of two things should happen to right the system:
a) If you don't pay taxes, you don't have the right to vote; or
b) Each citizen (18 years and over) gets a minimum of 1 vote. However, for every $1,000
dollars in taxes you pay, you get an additional vote.
Imagine the fairness behind it all. The more money you pay the more control you have. Nah. I'm clearly wrong there. Fairness isn't fair to the working man. It is only fair to the ones that are too lazy produce.
One more large item on taxes. Do you realize that you can NEVER own property in this country, ever? What am I talking about? What happens when you pay off your mortgage? You own your house out-right, yes? No! You own the right to pay property taxes forever and ever. And the minute you decide you don't want to do that anymore, the government can put a lien on your house (another attorney-made idea) and foreclose you out to pay for the taxes. So at most you can permanently rent the property from the government. Sounds like China to me. Property rights were a key reason we fought the British for our "freedom", which has long been extinguished, and here we are again. No rights to own property. I think I'll go dig a hole in the common area and live in the mud and collect welfare checks from you hard working idiots.
4) National Debt: Really? I don't understand the concept. We the People owe someone else somewhere in the ball park of $15 trillion dollars? Sorry, I must have been asleep when we were handing out all the bars of gold, diamonds, oil, etc. What's that you say? You didn't get your either? Infrastructure in this country is rotting? We have sewers from the late 1800's that are still in use and made of wood? What? They've rotted out and it costs how much to replace?!
Yes siree-Bob. Not only is the government (notice I didn't say we since we didn't authorize it) in debt to a point where if this country spent zero dollars on anything but debt service it would take the better part of 10 years to repay it all, including interest payments, but we have nothing to show for it. I can't see anything that is either new, useful, easy to navigate (can you say DMV), helpful, anything that would cost $15 trillion. We supposedly only pay $2 trillion a year in taxes. Is that all? What do we get for that? I don't know of a single government program that I benefit from. I use Fed-Ex / UPS to mail items, I pay to drive on PRIVATE toll roads, I don't call the police ever, I am not on welfare, I don't get unemployment (even though I help pay for it), I don't collect Social Insecurity, I don't know why we are fighting wars without giving our troops the ability to actually fight without asking the enemy for permission first, I have my own private health-care, and I don't have children in public schools.
So what I'm saying is, what the hell could we possibly have spent $15 trillion on? Not just $15 trillion, but all the interest payments that go along with it. I can't think of a single thing that I have gotten out of "the system". What about you?
Today's conclusion: You are a slave that can be bankrupted by anyone at any time and can never own anything without fear of it being taken away. In fact, the only thing you can truly own the rights to is being permanently in debt. Makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. God Bless America!
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