The Truth About Memorial Day

Memorial Day. It's the day we honor the military men and women that died while fighting for our country. Not to be confused with Veterans Day, the day we celebrate all veterans.

Many people know that I have a lot of strong political views, but now is not the time for political grandstanding. The one thing that Americans should always do, no matter your political beliefs, is honor those that have died while serving. I'm a proponent of peace, but still, I respect veterans.

This is the message that I want to convey on this Memorial Day. Barack Obama, and our elected representatives do not get to celebrate this day. Fuck them. Not when hundreds of veterans commit suicide every year. Not when thousands of veterans are struggling with PTSD, and other health issues that are going untreated, because lets be honest, America is a country that is quick to send our young men and women into war zones, but we don't take care of them once they return home.

Not when we live in a country that has programs like the Wounded Warrior, which should be entirely unnecessary. You fight for our country, you should have your needs met for the rest of your life. Why would we need a non-profit to build wheelchair ramps for veterans with no legs? Why wouldn't our country take care of those things? Not to mention the fact that the Wounded Warrior project recently underwent changes in leadership, because those at the top were mishandling money. Yes, we live in a country were people are so ate up by greed, that they will misappropriate money donated for disabled veterans.

Lets take it one step further, can we really claim to support our troops, when we keep electing leaders that send them into wars based on lies, and profit? I mean, maybe if you voted for George W. Bush, you should write a heartfelt apology to all the troops that have served in Afghanistan, and Iraq. Hell, Barack Obama is no better. He promised to end those wars, yet I keep hearing the news that more of our service members are getting killed.

Ok. Fuck it. Let's go all of the way. If you vote for Hillary, or Donald Trump, you're not allowed to talk about how much you support our servicemen and women. Your words are hollow, because you keep electing the same fucking people, that make more dead, and wounded veterans.

All I'm really asking, is take a look at what's going on around us. Before you post that meme on Facebook about supporting our troops, think about who you voted for, and how they've treated our veterans. Think about who you plan to vote for in November, and ask yourself if that candidate really cares about our military men and women.

The Car Crash Blues

Let me tell you a story, just a little story, a scary little story, a nightmare of a story. I call it the car crash blues.

Let's say there's this guy named Dan. Dan has a good union job, but he's made his share of poor decisions. Or as Dan's friend Matt says, "well thought out bad decisions." Dan pays a lot of child support. I mean A LOT of child support. On top of that, he's made some bad choices in the financial arena, some of them dating to several years ago. Some of those decisions were made out of desperation. But no matter now. Dan has a good union job, and he almost never takes a day off, and he almost always works all of the available overtime. Nevertheless, Dan takes a second job, a part time job, in attempts to accelerate the repair of his financial state.

A little over three years ago, Dan buys a used car. But because Dan's credit is bad, like horribly bad, like Rent a Center needs 5 verifiable references bad, Dan's car loan comes with a hefty interest rate, and a GPS locater that disables the ignition if Dan doesn't make his car payment. But Dan has this good union job, and he works a lot of overtime, and he's never, not even once, late on his car payment.

Then one day, let's say last Wednesday, Dan gets in an accident. A guy backs out of his driveway without looking, and Dan swerves, but can't avoid hitting him, and he smacks the rear bumper of the guy's car. The air bag in Dan's car doesn't even deploy, but the right front fender is banged up pretty good, and there's some fluids leaking. The guy that backed out of the driveway without looking gets a traffic citation, and he makes an insurance report with his car insurance company, and that company approves the insurance claim, and Dan gets a rental car.

So, the guy's insurance company, let's call them Progressive, just a little ole insurance company with an annual revenue stream of 17 billion fucking dollars, has Dan's car towed to their local inspection center, and they call Dan and inform him that his car is a total loss.

So Dan calls the lender that he has a loan with, and let's just for the sake of the story say that Dan still owes $5000 on said loan. No biggie, right? I mean an insurance company with an annual revenue stream of 17 billion fucking dollars will take care of Dan, right? I mean, this all happened due to no fault of Dan's. Dan was just driving down the fucking road one day, when bam! There was a car in front of him.

So Progressive offers Dan $4000 for his car. Dan does his homework, and learns that this offer is negotiable, and Dan is a fierce negotiator when necessary. So five phone calls later, three emails, and a reasonable amount of swearing that the progressive insurance adjuster says he doesn't appreciate, Dan and Progressive settle for having his loan paid off. Win for the little guy right?

Dan gets pre-approved for a loan by Chrysler Capital, a subsidiary of the auto manufacturer that employs Dan. Dan's credit is a lot better than it was 3 years ago, but its still pretty dinged up, and considered poor. Still yet, Dan takes his pre-approval to a local Chrysler dealership, and he's looking to buy a two year old Chrysler that will keep the car payment within Dan's budget. Dan really wants a brand new Cherokee, because that's what he builds, and he likes them a lot, but a car payment on a brand new Cherokee is out of Dan's budget, and Dan is learning, after many, many mistakes, to be more responsible.

So Dan gets a new 5 year loan. Everybody is happy right?

Progressive settles for 5k, and raises the rates of the guy that was cited for not looking both ways when he backed from his driveway. They'll probably have 18 billion fucking dollars in revenue this  year.

Dan's old lender gets their loan paid off 15 months early. They're happy.

Dan's new lender, a subsidiary of his employer, gets a new loan with a moderate interest rate.

A local Chrysler dealer sells a used car.

Chrysler benefits because used car sales help current new car sales.

Dan's insurance company benefits because Dan decides to add on a special insurance called "gap insurance," just in case something happens and Dan's car isn't worth as much as he owes.

You know who doesn't come out ahead in this story? The guy who's working two jobs in an effort to get ahead. He spent $12,000 over the last 3 years, for a car that he'll never own now, and he now has a new loan worth an initial $14,000, but probably closer to $20,000 if he somehow manages to pay it off before the car gets crashed, or falls apart. In 5 years, he'll probably need a newer car again, and the cycle repeats itself.

Banks. Insurance companies. Car dealers. The city that issued a traffic citation. An auto manufacturer. They all conspire to suck a little more life out of the working man. And they get to keep doing it because they own our fucking politicians, and the American people are too dense to realize they're being sucked dry by 17 billion fucking dollar insurance companies.

Dan thanks you for doing your part, by sticking your head in the sand, and hoping it doesn't happen to you.

The Car Crash Blues, motherfucker, The Car Crash Blues.