February 27, 2005
NEW EUROPE
A
warm welcome for President Bush in Slovakia.
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February 18, 2005
SOCIALISM
Good to go's jerk comment here made me think of something else. We do "depend upon [the government] for everything." The military is socialist system. Health care is free, housing is free, most services are free. And that's the worst part about being with the Army. Health care is free, so there are long lines at the doctor and forget about making a dental or eye appointment. Housing is free, so if you turn down the house they offer you, they take you off the list for 90 days. And services are free, so when we moved here, our flight was delayed for six hours and they put us on a plane with no overhead compartments that didn't have enough fuel to make it across the Atlantic. The movers also forgot to ship our belongings until after we arrived here (and the Army also forgot to pay us for two and a half months).
But all of this stuff is free, so you can't complain. Often the people who provide these services don't have much job pride or customer-oriented goals either, because what are you gonna do, take your business elsewhere? I live a socialist lifestyle, and it ain't pretty.
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Sarah,
I grinned when I read this. It is true, we get what we pay for. Older military folks recognize that sometimes things don't go well in the military, especially after moving throughout the world so many times. My wife is an Air Force brat, and they frequently lived in what her Mom called a "D-U-M-P, Dump" for many years in several duty stations. She lived with me in 10 different locations in 21 yrs, and even cried when I brought her to the D-U-M-P we lived in while I served in our nation's capital.
But we forget that we get what we pay for, and in the case of soldiers moving around, the military doesn't pay much. The job goes to the lowest bidder on almost everything. We frequently joke that even the ammunition we use, and the weapons we wield, were provided by the lowest bidder. Lucky for us the military really, really cares whether they work or not.
The only consolation, sometimes, is that we pay an awful lot for a plane or a tank or a ship. And those things bring us to the fight, and bring us home to the love and affection you, our wives, provide us when the fight is over because they work so well. It is you, the wives, who have to live with the neglect and cheapness of the military life, because America will pay for the things we need to fight, but she won't pay well for the things we need to live.
You have my sympathy and my respect, but not my pity. You are too tough and honorable for that. And for what it is worth, when all this is over, it will have been worth it, whether you do it for 4 years or 40 years.
Bless you, dear.
Subsunk
Posted by: Subsunk at February 18, 2005 02:06 PM (YMrHN)
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Its only communism when you get these things simply for being a citizen of the country. Your husband signed an employment contract with the government. That's capitalism! Whether or not you signed a fair contract, is a whole different ballgame!
Posted by: Tanker Schreiber at February 18, 2005 02:31 PM (sdM4+)
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I think the salient point is that g2g's "jerk comment" (Sarah, you're a saint to be that generous in your description) suggested that they're getting a good deal/free ride, where the reality is that almost anybody out there could live a better life elsewhere -- military service is a *sacrifice*, not a joyride. I'm sure Canada has plenty of space for asshats like good to go.
Posted by: James at February 18, 2005 02:51 PM (QvU5o)
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The first thing my husband said on IM when I showed him that comment was "I provide a service to my government and I get a salary. Government workers are not the same thing as getting government entitlements." Sometimes his salary seems generous (when we think of the tax-free benefits) and sometimes it seems stingy (he makes $4/hr in Iraq), but it's a *salary*. It's not welfare.
Thanks for your eloquent comment, Subsunk. I appreciate your respect, and I don't need any pity. I love my life just the way it is.
Posted by: Sarah at February 19, 2005 02:06 AM (/35cK)
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"The military is soc1alist system."
I noticed that, too. In the Army, I said it once to a buddy who must have grown up in an old-school 'better dead than red' household and boy did he get pissed. But yeah, the military is about the closest thing we have in our society to the soc1alist worker's paradise. So, I can't understand why self-proclaimed soc1alists (who mostly live the lifestyles of privileged, pampered capitalists) hate the military so much.
Posted by: Eric at February 19, 2005 06:45 PM (uLAqP)
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February 17, 2005
RESPONSIBILITY
I just noticed
this comment by PAC tonight and I wanted to address it. It's a very normal point of view for a European to have, the same point of view I've found in most of my European friends. It is, I believe, the biggest dividing factor between Americans and Europeans and the source of our value differences.
It's also related to Bill Whittle's social vs. individual responsibility.
When I was a senior in high school, I was trying to decide whether I should go to a public or private school. I really wanted to attend this small private school I had chosen, so my dad decided it was time for a lesson in economics. He knew I wanted to be a teacher, so he made me figure out how much of an average teacher salary would go towards paying off $50,000 in student loans. He asked me if it would be worth going to this school to pay perhaps half of my monthly income towards loans. I agreed that it would not and decided to go to the public school. Only once I had started school did my father say that if I had believed that it would have been worth $50,000 of my own money, he would've helped me go to the private school. But since it wasn't worth my own money, it must not have been that important to me.
That's an awesome lesson that my father taught me, one that I personally think applies to my American worldview. You spend your own money far more frugally than you do your father's, and certainly far more frugally than you do the government's. People are simply more responsible when they have more responsibility to take care of themselves. We saw that with today's link about sharing: you end up with more Hershey Kisses if you're in charge of your own.
The biggest difference between Americans and Europeans is responsibility. In the US you're individually responsible for far more (and not nearly enough, in my opinion) than you are in Europe. I was responsible for paying for my own college, so I chose wisely and finished quickly. In many European countries, you can take as long as you want to get your degree; it's someone else's Hershey Kisses. I wish we were in charge of our own Social Security in the US, because I could do a much better job of managing it than the government can, to where I could pay for both medicine and travel. Me, myself, paying for it, not the government.
When my husband and I met with a financial advisor, he asked us how much money we wanted to set aside for our children's college funds. We slowly looked at each other, looked back at the advisor, and sheepishly asked if "nothing" was an acceptable answer. We both paid for our own college educations -- he through ROTC, I through academic scholarships -- and we expect our children to do the same. I don't plan to pay for my own child's college; there's no way I would want to pay taxes to make it free for everyone. I don't even like thinking about the tax dollars that fund the Pell grant.
PAC's opinion is completely understandable, given his background, but completely incomprehensible given mine. I can respect that he feels that way, but I certainly don't want my government emulating Europe in that manner.
MORE TO GROK:
Response to good to go above.
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I saved money for my kids' college from the time they were born. Ended up with more than enough for a public college, and enough that most private colleges were within reach, if wanted badly enough. Both initially wanted private (or expensive, out-of-state public) - but I forced them to make a financial value judgement. By making the money 'theirs' I hoped to make them spend it as if it was 'theirs' One chose private, but with big scholarship, and maintained the grades to keep the scholarship and graduated on time - so there was money left over for the first year of law school. The other (your 'double') is in in-state public, so there will be money left over for other opportunities. One such is a summer school program in Innsbruck this year - I'll tell her if she gets in trouble she should pretend she is you.
Posted by: Glenmore at February 17, 2005 10:50 PM (+IHgL)
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The funny thing Sara is that you claim the mantle of personal responsibilty while living off taxpayer money. Both you and your husband will never have earned an honest nickel until you go out into the real world and get a job and pay the taxes that supports teachers and soldiers.
You are not really in a position to criticize others for asking for health insurance from their government when you depend upon it for everything.
Posted by: good to go at February 18, 2005 03:03 AM (fLlQ8)
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Soldiers may depend on the government for 'everything', but the government (and we) likewise depend on the soldiers for everything. It is a contract willingly entered by both parties. I believe, given the costs paid these days by our soldiers, that we the people are getting quite a bargain in this contract.
Posted by: Glenmore at February 18, 2005 08:30 AM (loaB2)
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Excuse me? My husband and I most certainly do pay taxes (except during deployment), so you can hardly say we don't contribute. And anyone else who wants to join the military is more than able to make the same money and benefits my husband and I do.
How dare you say we've never earned an honest nickel? Screw you.
Posted by: Sarah at February 18, 2005 08:54 AM (qdVAy)
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So,
good to go doesn't know what he's talking about. A soldier and his family do pay taxes. As an officer, the exact same percentage of my pay went to the IRS as my pay does now in civilian life. I have lived on both sides of the military/civilian divide. And the difference is ----- in the military you wear a cheaper suit, you work longer for less pay than the civilian, and you get little thanks until the shooting starts.
The upside is that the military folks aren't afraid to make a decision which could cost them their job. In my commercial life, my bosses frequently abdicate responsibility for decisions to lower levels and then fire those people when their judgment proves to be wrong.
Lots more freedom and time as a civilian. If they paid me time and a half for the hours I was at work in the Navy, they would be paying me until I was 90. The service my shipmates and fellow soldiers provide has few parallels anywhere in the world. We prevent butchers from cutting our people's heads off with impunity. Find that service in the civilian world and see how much it costs you. Then tell me who earns the more honest nickel.
As for health insurance, those who want to live forever on the cheapest health premiums will get the life they deserve, --- a long life of miserable existence because everything they earned is going towards their life support. I have helped my mother take care of several really old and senile relatives. It is more expensive than living and working a job till you die. My advice to "good to go" is to live well, die young and leave a good looking corpse.
Subsunk
Posted by: Subsunk at February 18, 2005 02:24 PM (YMrHN)
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GRrrrrr.... Good to go is really off the mark. How long have you lived under the gun so to speak? How many jobs do you hold? How ridiculous. I wonder if he/she would say that in person. Judging from some of the stuff you have had to hear in person, they probably would. But would they do it in a roomful of your friends? and defenders? I think not. Good to go indeed. Good to stay away please.
Posted by: Ruth H at February 18, 2005 08:15 PM (h08Dy)
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good to go is an ass-wipe. ive had the not so pleasent opportunaty to meet several here in my home state. ive heard people actually say that they "hope the soldiers in iraq get what they deserve". shit like that revolts me. i hear france is accepting applications for village idiots. good to go seems to have it in the bag.
Posted by: liz at February 18, 2005 08:58 PM (iq+aH)
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Yes Sarah, I understand that social democracy vs individual selfishness (or, to be more kind, "individual responsibility") is a big divide between Europeans and Americans (or at least the 51% of Americans who vote GOP). And I understand that you are more responsible with your own money than other people's money. But it's sad that in a country which says is superior to Europe, people have to risk their lifes (i.e., enroll at ROTC) just to pay for their education. It is sad that hard labor workers (McDonalds, construction, etc) have to die if they get sick. Do they die or live in poverty and abject conditions forever because they are not responsible or because they are not middle class and don't have a loving father explaining them the economics of university tuition? Do you really believe the US system is about personal responsibility for the poor? It seems to me more about screwing those who born poor and never (or rarely) giving then any opportunity to raise up. I am not saying give them all "the Hershey's Kisses" in the world... but at least give them some so that they can survive and move on to better things. If they are preocupied with surviving they will never have time do discuss economics, meet with financial advisors, contribute to a better America... it's okay to disagree with Europeans like me just don't forget that in our own country 49% agree with European social democracy.
Posted by: PAC at February 19, 2005 06:03 PM (2HGdB)
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PAC,
I'm 42, a former Navy Nuke Submarine Officer educated through ROTC, been civilian for 13 years, have a daughter soon to be in college. My wife worked at McDonalds as a kid, I didn't work for anyplace quite so classy. Is it hard work - NO! Anyone from 15-90 can work at McDonalds, sorry. In a free market economy we reward people based on the level of skill the job requires. McDonalds – 1 day of training.
ROTC gave me the chance to get the college education from the start that my father got through years of night school. ROTC is far from a tragedy, unless you believe the military useless. The military is underpaid for what it does, that is why it is called the “Service”
Wish I could refer you to the exact date, but in a NEWSWEEK article about 6 years ago a woman wrote in to say her Doctoral Thesis was going to be on how Welfare helps lift people out of poverty and should be expanded. It helped her after her husband left. Instead, what she found is that people with "Middle class" values who wound up on welfare worked hard to get off as quick as possible, but there was a definite core, the majority in fact, that don't want more than what welfare provides and are content to sit and collect. This bears out the experience of a couple of family members who worked in offices handing out government money.
Before my daughter started high school they got all the parents together and talked about how one of the things they wanted to teach the students was good decision making. My father taught me that what I made of my life was my decision. However, my brother-in-law has passed his donÂ’t graduate high-school do drugs mentality to his son. He also has no savings, cheats on his disabled wife who he leaves alone, etc. Frankly, I donÂ’t like my taxes taking care of dirt bags who DECIDED to be dirt bags. I heard a psychiatrist once say that you canÂ’t always change how you feel, but you can CHOOSE how you act.
People are sinners, not saints. If we were saints, sharing would work. WeÂ’re not, so itÂ’s personal responsibility. Does is suck, yes it does sometimes. ThatÂ’s life, deal with it.
PS, if I havenÂ’t convinced you and we should share more, please send your share of my daughterÂ’s college tuition. IÂ’ll place it in her college account.
Posted by: Xopher at February 20, 2005 06:38 PM (doKQq)
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February 13, 2005
MACDO
Amritas mentions the French nickname for McDonald's:
MacDo. Once when I was in France, my friends and I were walking to the McDonald's, laughing and talking to each other in the parking lot. A man pushing a baby stroller passed us and began yelling at us to speak French or go home. "This is France, we speak French here!" We were dumbfounded, and as he walked away, we noted how ironic it was that he had just walked out of the biggest symbol of American soft power -- where he had likely uttered the words
un Big Mac et un Sprite s'il vous plait -- and he had the nerve to tell us not to speak English. Can you imagine that same scenario in the US: going to a Mexican restaurant and yelling at patrons not to speak Spanish?
Ahh, the French.
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MacDonald's? Non, non! C'est ne pas francais! Je voudrais une Whopper avec la works!
Posted by: Francis W. Porretto at February 13, 2005 08:03 AM (MzH7h)
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Ahh, the ever tolerant and open-minded French. How we all aspire to the standards they've set...
Posted by: James at February 13, 2005 04:38 PM (fmHaY)
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Hopefully you told "Jean Claude" or whatever his name was to be thqankful for the freedom your husbands predacessors provided and please shut the F up.
Posted by: cptham at February 14, 2005 02:11 PM (NMK3S)
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With a name like McDonald's, shouldn't everybody be speaking Gaelic there?
Posted by: annika at February 14, 2005 03:55 PM (zAOEU)
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Should have told him that if wasn't for the English speaking he'd be speaking German.
By the way, did anyone ever tell the guys manning the Maginot Line that the Germans went in by the side door.
Posted by: David at February 14, 2005 04:53 PM (lvRBT)
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February 12, 2005
SINECURE
Amritas pointed me towards
John Ray's response to an article about how much better Europe is.
Hud has an interesting post on Europe's stagnant economy. Both of them made me think about my friends' jobs.
Some jobs here on post are German contract jobs, and the only two Americans I know who have these jobs are my friends who work for the quartermaster here. When soldiers have TA-50 that needs to be laundered, they bring it to my friends. My friends sort it, tag it, and bag it for when the laundry trucks come. They don't actually launder anything; they are just the middle men for the operation. Some days they're quite busy, especially at the end of a deployment. Other days they see very few customers. If no one is coming in, they can do whatever they want: homework, quilting, knitting, watching DVDs, hanging out with Sarah.
Remember, they're employed by the Germans. For this job that a monkey could do, they get paid 10 Euros an hour (which is $13 right now). They work only 20 hours per week each but get six weeks of paid vacation plus Kindergeld (the child allowance the German government gives you just for having a child). They know that they have it good; if they did this same job in the States, no doubt it would be minimum wage ($5.15 per hour, not $13), and there would be no benefits since it's just a part-time job.
I'm glad that my friends have such a great job, but I simply can't understand it. How can the Germans afford to pay them so much for a sinecure? They make more than I did teaching English for the college! I think part of Europe's problem is that they pay way too much for jobs that require no skill. I don't know how they'll continue to give lavish benefits to the monkey jobs.
(No offense, girls: you know I'd love to get paid to knit.)
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Hee hee. No offense taken. But I often wonder the same thing...How long will they be able to afford paying such high wages for jobs that anyone can do?
Posted by: Erin at February 12, 2005 04:53 AM (ilI3X)
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FWIW, I work in Texas in the computing industry. Nothing you described seems much different from what I see day to day at various companies I work with. In my experience, the more you are paid in Corporate America the less productive you become, and there are inevitably a ton of useless chair-warmers in most larger enterprises.
Posted by: VOT at February 12, 2005 06:56 PM (sWOH9)
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VOT,
I often hear/see those kinds of comments and I always wonder why if that's true, the person saying it isn't busy doing nothing so they, too, can make a lot of money.
Certainly there are those who rise via political acumen rather than skill, but if what you say is true, most companies would collapse in on themselves.
Posted by: Bunny Slippers at February 15, 2005 05:00 PM (0sEOJ)
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As an European living in America, what I don't understand is why some Americans can even think or suggest that people who perform low-level jobs should not get benefits like child allowance,paid vacations, high-quality health care, etc...Those are precisely the people who need the most help from the government! Are these low-level workers just suppose to starve their children, let their children loose without day care and exposed to drugs, never have a vacation or rest in their life?? I guess so according to some Americans who don't care that many of their inner cities are just like or worse than 3rd world cities. The view that if you are a high level worker in a good corporation then you and only you should have benefits like good health care insurance is not only ridiculous/greedy/selfish but also crimimal and unChristian. That is why America has a minority of the richest people in the world (forbes 400), but 45 million people without even health insurance or the most basic needs that every European takes for granted (free university education, surgery, etc). As for the European economy being stagnant, then how come the currency even in litte European countries like Portugal, Luxembourg, or Greece (the Euro) is 30% higher than the dollar? And how come my mother - a retired teacher in Europe - can have fun and travel the world based on her social security monthly alone, while here Social Security is barely enough to pay for basic medication?? America is a great country but has much to learn from Europe instead of insisting that it is the best at everything!
Posted by: PAC at February 16, 2005 12:19 PM (LKlsp)
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