Wednesday, October 2, 2013

RL....the US Shut down.

I spent the past two nights laying in bed wondering just how my life is going to turn out. I don't talk much about my real life because I just don't feel the need to. But, now I have to vent somewhere and this seems like a good outlet. I've been watching the news the past few days, which honestly isn't something I like to do. I like staying in my lil sheltered world of keeping the bad stuff out in the real world....well away. Now, it's pounding on my front door so I don't get this option. So let me start at the beginning. Those of you that do know me, my SL partner Marcus is my real life partner as well. He has poured blood, sweat and tears for this country. He has gone on at least 6 if not more deployments to Afghanistan. His stents at the bare bare minimum were 3-4 months. He is not active duty, he is in the Air National Guard. So, the way they do things in his shop is they take volunteers first, then assign later if no volunteers have stepped up. He has missed out on holidays, birthdays and watching our children grow up. When he re-lists he doesn't get the bonus, he doesn't get a lot of the benefits that an active duty person gets, yet still is expected to act as if he is one. He still has to go to war...he still has to do a lot of things. Ok, that's a whole other rant I don't want to get into so anyways back to the shut down. Yesterday he was told to go home, get your uniform on and come back, so he did. He was gone for a few hours then came home. He is not to report to work, there is no guard weekend. There is no health insurance, there is no PAY CHECK....we are a single family income. I don't work, I have MS and narcolepsy. I can't collect disability cause I can still walk, talk and function like a normal person. So, where does that leave us? I've tried hard since May to find a job, I have. I've had four interviews, all of which felt like pulling teeth just to hear anything back from. Literally pulling teeth. It was that painful. I guess I might be a touch old school, but you would think a phone call in a few days to say hi, we've chosen another candidate that was a bit more qualified than you. Would be a polite thing to do, but instead it's voice mail after voice mail calling to check then finally they call back. Again that's a whole other rant I definitely want to avoid. Back to the real reason of this blog. The media is stating that "the military will still get paid" WRONG! You need to specify what part of the military is still getting paid...Guard isn't getting paid...so to say that the "military" is still getting paid is a load of crock. They cancelled guard weekends, they sent home the civil service members telling them not to report to work until called into work. Now, on a single family income this is devastating news. So, not only is he not getting money for his job, but he's not gonna get paid for the "Weekend warrior" part either. I lose my medical benefits, so that means I can't get my medication for my MS, I can't get my medical for my narcolepsy. I have no health insurance. I could sign up for the ACA, but that doesn't start til January 1, 2014. So, again how does that help? This is just how it effects me, but what about the small businesses that depend on the income from those said workers? I figure there's about 80,000 workers in Alaska alone that were laid off with this shut down. Let's say hypothetically that they spend 10 dollars, 5 days a week for breakfast/lunch. (That is a low ball figure, considering Alaska is a bit more expensive than the rest of the states but we'll stick with this nice round number.) Now, I'm no economist, I'm just a simple house wife. $10.00 x 80,000 = $800,000 ...that's a day that businesses would lose. $800,000 x 5 = $40,000,000...that's a week that businesses would lose. So, again, how is this not gonna effect everyone? So what if you don't visit a national park or zoo. It's still going to effect you. We're lucky, we have the dividend to help cover some lost income. Thank god for that. But, not everyone will have that. Here's my thought to you congress and senate.... both parties, no one is immune. Both are largely at fault for this. We elected you into your seat to do a job. In the past 18 months you have not done your said job. Now, if that was a job anywhere else guess what you'd get fired. But, hey that's cool, your seat is secure right? You don't have to worry about how much money you have til next pay check. You don't have to worry if you get sick or are sick where you're going to get the money to go to the doctor. You don't have to worry about much of anything. You're set for life. There will come a time, where this isn't going to be the case. You will not have your seat anymore. And the way things are looking the American public will see to it you don't get much of anything you have anymore. You weren't elected to make the rules bend just for you. You weren't elected to line your pockets with oodles of money, awesome medical insurance and free travel. Nope, you were elected because you made it clear you wanted to HELP the public. SO PROVE ME WRONG...do your job, do what we elected you to do. This selfish me me me attitude needs to change. I have one thing left to say GROW UP AND ACT LIKE ADULTS!

1 comment:

  1. http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/07/05/many-mps-set-to-receive-lucrative-pensions-topping-100000-a-year-for-life/
    You need to run for office up in Canada and their average lifespan is 90 years. Of course it is they have everything they need including first in line for medical services.

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