Gee. What's the matter with government?

There follows a ten-page, single-space mess of governise. Neither of us had a clue about what it was talking about except threats like "THE IRS MAY CONFISCATE 50% OF YOUR ACCOUNT" and "PENALTIES FOR NOT MAKING MINIMUM REQUIRED DEDUCTIONS MAY ACCRUE."

After 10 minutes on the phone screaming at an apparently hard-of-hearing phone robot ("I'm sorry. I didn't understand you. Please say or enter your social security number again"), I got to talk to an actual person. She told us to ignore the letter since my wife is still working.

Magnify this event by several hundred million and you begin to see the problem with DC, Mssrs. Boehner and McConnell. But you already knew, didn't you?

It's not so great with business either.

Yesterday I was paying my company's Verizon bill. I really don't pay much attention to these bills. My previous payment was not credited and there was a five dollar charge for non-payment. I also noticed that I was being charged for "Message Rate Service." (I thought Message Rate went out in the 50s.)

So I called the "If you have questions about your bill" number.

No I don't want to habla espaniol or whatever.

So I have to punch in my phone number. (Like they couldn't tell what it was with their caller ID?) Then I had to answer a frustrating number of robotic audio questions until I finally gave up and just kept hitting zero and the pound sign until I was told to hang on for a live person.

The live person asked me for my phone number. Well, WTF, did I punch it in for in the first place? Then he asks me a series of stupider and stupider questions "for security." (I was calling from the f*#(&#g number on the bill and had long since passed the Mother's Maiden Name test.)

Finally he confirms that they did get my payment. But when I ask him what the "Message Rate Service" charge was for, he was completely floored. I asked if he could have a brochure with an explanation mailed to me. That wasn't possible. BUT I could look at their website and he would help. After several missteps ("No. I don't see that on the page you directed me to.") I finally got to a page with a picture of a geezer in a wheelchair with a nurse assisting him.

This is what Verizon thinks of their small business customers.

I gave up and sent them a check.

ML/NJ

“In 1887 Alexander Tyler, a Scottish history professor at the
University of Edinburgh , had this to say about the fall of the
Athenian Republic some 2,000 years prior: “A democracy is always
Temporary in nature; it simply cannot exist as a permanent
Form of government. A democracy will continue to exist up until
The time that voters discover that they can vote themselves generous
Gifts from the public treasury. From that moment on, the majority
Always votes for the candidates who promise the most benefits from
The public treasury, with the result that every democracy will finally
Collapse over loose fiscal policy, (which is) always followed by a
Dictatorship.”
“The average age of the world’s greatest civilizations from the
Beginning of history, has been about 200 years. During those 200
Years, these nations always progressed through the following sequence:
From bondage to spiritual faith;
From spiritual faith to great courage;
From courage to liberty;
From liberty to abundance;
From abundance to complacency;
From complacency to apathy;
From apathy to dependence;
From dependence back into bondage.”
The Obituary follows:
“ United States of America “, Born 1776, Died 2016
It doesn’t hurt to read this several times.
Professor Joseph Olson of Hamline University School of Law in
St. Paul, Minnesota, points out some interesting facts concerning
The last Presidential election:
Number of States won by: Obama: 19 Romney: 29
Square miles of land won by: Obama: 580,000 Romney: 2,427,000
Population of counties won by: Obama: 127 million Romney: 143 million
Murder rate per 100,000 residents in counties won by:
Obama: 13.2 Romney: 2.1
Professor Olson adds: “In aggregate, the map of the territory
Romney won was mostly the land owned by the taxpaying citizens of the country.
Obama territory mostly encompassed those citizens living in low
Income tenements and living off various forms of government
Welfare...”
Olson believes the United States is now somewhere between the
“complacency and apathy” phase of Professor Tyler’s definition of
Democracy, with some forty percent of the nation’s population
Already having reached the “governmental dependency” phase..
If Congress grants amnesty and citizenship to twenty million
Criminal invaders called illegal’s - and they vote - then we can say
Goodbye to the USA in fewer than five years.”

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