Merv's Politically Incorrect Audio Blog

Personally I think the government should at least give some form of cash incentive to verts to cover most of their medical bills. The amount of hate I keep hearing from the VA is higher than my head.

On other benefits, I don't mind the government proving special benefits for those who receive an honorable discharge. However, there need to be accountability for those benefits IMO. Where's the accountability when the VA fucks up left and right? At least locally they are building another VA location due to the high amounts of Verts perma-moving to FL.

While my perspective is not even close to perfect (and yes it does have flaws which I will admit), I believe health care should be a 10th amendment/states rights issue. I do believe health care from the federal government is unconstitutional due to it is not listed in the Constitution period. I hold a strong belief that Medicare and Social Security are unconstitutional as f**k, and I do not not believe the 16th Amendment allows for SS and Medicare Tax from my paychecks.

Now this is the part you and I will disagree 100%: I treat healthcare as a service with very little government intervention. Get government out of so much regulation that people don't have to spend years figuring out how to figure out a medical bill due to all these regulation. I say nuke the whole thing and start fresh and "Freer" market base. Would be interesting to get @crenca perspective on this since he is in the industry for the most part.

Depends if it is Constitutional or not. I personally believe that we should follow the Constitution as is. Not because we are assholes as a nation, but it is to prevent us from going off the mark and do stuff based on feelings IMO. Also, no one is stopping a state from doing their own thing. The issue at that point is who runs those states.

Yes, I know my perspective has flaws and I all admit it. But we need to do stuff base on how things are written. If we don't follow the rules, there goes everything.

Once again if local/state government want to have safety nets, it's on them. However, being in FL there is a big Anti-Social Net thinking here. Not because we are all assholes, but it is more of a good chunk of people came from states/cities that are expensive to live and high taxes to pay for these programs doesn't help someone who is able to work but can barely afford to keep their roof over their heads. I seen this over and over when more and more folks leaving the NYC area since some have enough of their tax money going to help people when they are barely making it. Sucks it does, but it gets to a boiling point when you take someone's wallet too much they are going to say f**k off you leech and work. And this is one reason why FL is growing and I keep seeing more CA/NY/NJ/IL tags.

Isn't your country kind of free marketish?

 

Yes. I have had a lot of exp with myself and other close people having problems with getting to a doctor at a reasonable time. (this relatively common, I heard its similar in UK) Imagine sitting with a f'ing broken ligament for 3 months. Overheard a doc talking with a patient who broke the ankle, 18 yo girl. Beacuse Estonians arent poor as f. ofc the person got some help - I imagine. People arent getting to the doc in time, thats the most common problem. Then there are these idiots who go to the doc every month for no reason, thats an other story. Only thing I have learned is that if you have money you are good, the system is not going to save you - wishful thinking.

On the positive side, we have world class neurosurgeons and docs who treat serious illnesses and so on, so not saying it is bad. Just saying that if you dont have a lot of money you might be in a bad place anyway (nonlife threathening chronic issues). You arent getting what you need when you need it.

 

I mean you have a consistent ideology, which I respect. All too often I see people who flip flop on a lot of things with no consistency. We can just agree to disagree on this topic. But certainly we agree that the VA needs to be improved or better options via private sector need to be offered.

Hey man I get that this might be how you feel about your life and your family, but a lot of people would not relate to this and it's not because they are weak or not as smart as you. Many of the patients I've encountered in medical school would have traded anything for more time with their children or even the chance just to say goodbye. Yes. We'll all die some day, but it's not like the suffering that happens on this earth is meaningless and inconsequential.

I mean look I guess we look at it differently. Alleviating suffering is my life's work. Giving people that little bit of extra quality of life in their final days is something that matters to me, but I get that it may seem silly to you.

 

"We'll all die some day, but it's not like the suffering that happens on this earth is meaningless and inconsequential."

It seems to me that you believe the meaning of suffering and death is that it is evil, or meaningless - something to be delayed and avoided "at all costs", and because our ancestors suffered and died a bit earlier on average them we do today, their lives/societies were fundamentaly inferior.

I honestly can't tell the difference between this position and mere sentiment.

 

Experience the real suck and realise when you have a home and some good people around you everything is great. I have learned that espesially nowadays I dont like being super critical of people or like hearing people semidepressively talking down someone because of some"real" strangesness or a short fall of personality or quirk. Most people are a little strange at times and are maybe better for it at times because of exp. I still love good comedy though.

Psychological part is probably living outside of self and not realising your body and exp is most important. Not being really one with shelf and giving your attention to "rent"....

 

This whole conversation reminds me a bit of an old Onion short...

Karl's happy as hell, and he ain't got shit! He could die tomorrow and he probably wouldn't mind. But nobody around him seems to understand him at all. Not that Karl minds... not as much as they seem to. It's as though he is totally oblivious to their fears. They must be thinking "Doesn't he know that he's going to die one day?"

I can actually relate to that guy a good bit. I can't pretend like I don't fear death, but at the same time, I've become aware that's mostly just ego talking. A big part of its job is keeping me alive. But in this world it often gets used against you. You learn to fear certain outcomes in life as though they themselves are death. Sometimes an existence you can't see yourself in is a worse fate than death. "My life is over." A simple life is nice, sometimes. Everyone wants to be special in their own worlds. But death is the great equalizer. There's some freedom in that. Or at least it makes you more prone to appreciate certain things... and worry less about others.

 

This describes becoming a real slave to the system but hey, "you" ordered it. I am thinking that I never want to be that guy. Only loan I can justify was my car leas that is a tool to go to work.

 

@purr1n don't remind me of work. When the rates are low, it becomes a refinancing/payoff loan with different lender party fuckfest.

The more that I work on servicing loans the more I don't really wannna own a home. There are great benefits of ownership, but I'm a lazy f**k. Lazy fucks shouldn't own homes period, because if you are too lazy to learn how to paint then you are an idiot.

 

In my family my grandparents generation were suspicious of debt, even when they had 30 years. My parents generation were largely oblivious, even disdainful of those who dared questioned it. I am tainted, in that I am halfway through a 15 year, though we don't do debt for anything else (CC's, etc.) and pay cash for cars, have real retirement savings and college funds for the kids, etc. I have to admit that my parents did not teach me any of this however...

 

I was becoming on the path of a money saving Yoda until I discovered SBAF.

But the reality is that I am having less self-control than I would like.

 

It is a Trap. Getting rich does not help either, you get comfortable spending more and there is always not that much free money.

 

The debts they keep are leverage, no? As good as cash to them. Better in some ways. They'd like to have as many people as possible owing them money for as long as possible. It suits them, they can, and people go for it like it's just the thing to do.

I've been thinking a lot about this very thing lately. Turned 30 this year... kinda looking at pictures of what my future might look like and where to line my ducks. And I gotta say, it's hard to picture a mortgage in there. My parents will be long retired before they ever pay theirs off. We just kinda laugh about how absurd that situations is.

The thought of it kinda gives me this sinking feeling that I can't fully explain. It's not like I can't do it. I could afford it now, in this area. For now... later is harder to say because of how things change when you're locked-in. I bet nobody who's ever lost big on a mortgage expected things to change for them like they did.

I just can't begin to explain how little I want that. I don't know if I even want a house. Unless I come up with some leverage to get around it, who knows? I may not. It would be nice to own a small one. But having no aspirations to push for starting a family, I feel like I have fewer reasons than a lot of the people who take those deals, because I just can't fathom it. But then, the thought of a family AND a mortgage is even harder for me to comprehend.

I'm not cut out for that stuff. I'm going to have to have a different plan, to get some more stability. It's hard to see a future in 30 years of debt imprisonment. I'd be paying for my house for the rest of my working life. Minimum!