Anti-which-government?
I've been roaring lately about the idiocies of USA STRONG, with good reason.

Listened this morning to a local Repooflican radio talker, who was also roaring against the government in the usual Repoof style.

My roar and the Repoof roar are equally loud and equally futile, but the actual subjects are COMPLETELY SEPARATE AND DISJUNCT.

Repoofs will constantly bash the 'mechanical' parts of govts. IRS, IRS, IRS, IRS, IRS, IRS, Social Security, Medicare, Drivers License, Post Office. They never criticize FBI or Defense or CIA or Federal Reserve. They occasionally say mildly unpleasant things about the EPA Terrorist Army, but when in office the Repoofs expand the EPA Terrorist Army faster than the Dems do.

I've never had the slightest problem with those 'mechanical' parts. All of them have worked perfectly and smoothly and accurately, providing a reasonable amount of customer service when needed.

I pay my taxes. IRS sometimes finds errors. They refund or ask for payment depending on which way the error runs. No problem. All fair and friendly.

Lately I was comparing the performance of SS with the performance of Group Health. I've been using GHC health insurance for about 7 years now. My address and employment haven't changed during those years, but GHC has made 4 mysterious changes of program or format or something. Each time I've had to re-enroll from scratch, involving huge piles of paperwork and several months of confusion and uncertainty, with no indication that they remembered my previous enrollments. The recent switch from individual coverage to Medicare Advantage was the paperworkiest and confusedest of them all.

SS never gave me a single problem. I got my SS card 50 years ago and still have the same card in my wallet. Since then I've run through about 30 addresses and 15 jobs. SS kept up with all of those changes WITH NO EFFORT ON MY PART. When I hit 62, I used their website to 'turn on' SS payments. The process took a few minutes, no paperwork, no confusion. Since then the checks have been coming every month, automatically adjusted downward to compensate for my other income. When I turned 65 last month, Medicare clicked in WITH NO EFFORT ON MY PART.



SS has been doing the same near-perfect job for about 350 million Americans since 1936, making it look easy.

That's an unbelievably magnificent level of performance. [Sidenote: This article shows how SS was fanatically devoted to perfect sorting and filing from the start, always looking for the best coding methods and the best storage and recovery methods. As a former office manager and current programmer, I find it inspiring. Too bad the NON-GOVERNMENTAL contractors who run GHC and Romneycare weren't inspired by the same spirit of service.]

= = = = =


Conclusion: USA STRONG is an Alzheimers patient. The heart and lungs and kidneys are still pumping vigorously and properly, but his judgment is fucked. He's expertly driving the wrong way down the interstate at 120 MPH.

After feeding those organs for 50 years with my taxes, I appreciate the way they function on the output phase, and I hate the fucked judgment. Repoofs hate the functional parts and LOVE the Alzheimers part. More blood! More squash! USA STRONG! USA STRONG! USA STRONG!

Labels: STRONG!, Zero Problems

  ¶ 12:49 PM