I'm pretty anti-anything-the-government-is-administering for a lot of reasons. I feel as though if the government is in charge of something it will be done in the most inefficient and incompetent way imaginable because the gubmet doesn't often concern themselves with staying inside of a budget or even controlling expenses in really any sort of capacity.
A large part of my overall business success is because I figured out how to get involved in government contracts and they always outsource these things because they don't have the capabilities to do it themselves. Even though I charge them a great deal over the amount that it costs me, it is still miles cheaper than it would be if the government were to attempt these projects on their own.
No wonder we are more than $30 trillion in debt.
I avoid government handouts and pay as little in taxes as I possibly can. I don't want what they have on offer. I just want to be left alone.
There was a time though that the feds come to my rescue and it was in a pretty dire situation indeed. When I was in college, the city that my university was located in was very badly flooded after two hurricanes dumped biblical amounts of rain on the coast of North Carolina and eventually all of the water management systems that were in place were overrun.
The water came up slowly, but there was no stopping it. I lived on the 2nd floor of an apartment complex and by the time it was all done, the water had gone halfway up the walls in my unit. The ones below were obviously completely underwater.
We were not there to witness this though because Martial Law was declared in the city, the military took over, and there was forced evacuation for a great deal of the city.
When we returned basically everything was destroyed and that which wasn't had been heavily looted.
FEMA stepped in and offered all sorts of aid to the people affected and this included new furniture, new apartments, new dishes, new everything really. All we had to do was go and provide and address that was affected and then we would get vouchers that we could go shopping with. It was up to us as far as what we were going to buy to some degree.
The problem was, there was no checks and balances as far as who they gave this aid to. Some of it was cash money too. I know a bunch of people that were joking about it at at the time about how they went in with several ID's, some of which were poorly made fake ID's that they had used in the past to drink underage, and they were able to get the vouchers multiple times as well as the cash. Many people who didn't even live in the affected areas were cashing in on this as well. There were stories about thousands of people that came into town from outside the city and took this free stuff as well.
I genuinely needed the stuff but I was surrounded by a ton of people that were just there to get this handout because the system of getting the funding to the people that actually deserved it wasn't in place at all. The FEMA reps that I spoke to were nice and all, but it was clear that they had no idea what the hell they were doing. They also didn't care if you stole from the system because it wasn't their money and while you will hear about FEMA running out of money in the news, they certainly didn't during this situation. There was always a bit more and if you have a system were there is "free stuff!" people are going to come and take advantage of it.
Next thing I know basically everyone in town has a brand new sofa and bed and the places that sell this stuff aren't going to report anyone double-dipping, they are making money off of this as well. Hell, they would probably encourage you to go back and get another voucher.
I remember this particular apartment area. It was called "Riverside" and it was pretty posh. All the frat boys lived there. I remember it well because my apartment (the new one, after the FEMA relief) was located just out of frame to the top of this picture. It was unaffected by the flood.
While my story of Hurricane Floyd and how it decimated the city of Greenville, North Carolina, is but a drop in the bucket as far as the lack of checks and balances in government are concerned. I don't know how much waste was accumulated during this event, but it was enough that it was very noticeable even in this relatively small community.
Now imagine how much waste there is across the entire country across every level and agency of government. The figure is staggering and the people who are in charge either don't care or don't have the tools necessary to do the job. There are also no punishments for being wrong so they just chug along.
I don't want the government in charge of anything other than what they absolutely must be in charge of such as protecting the sovereignty of the nation by way of the military. The rest of these programs are so filled with waste and corruption that if this system was in any private industry, said industry would fail.
