Where's my money?

[picklesuit]

So apparently my life is now directly affected by shitty government fiscal policy and it is starting to piss me off...

1. The Navy has stopped PCS moves until the 1st quarter of next year. While I will still get MY orders, my FE's/AWO's are in a pretty pissy mood. Several of them have had orders to go to their next command and now they are pulled and these guys get to sit around until October at the earliest. This is seriously fucking with the morale and motivation of my sailors. An AWO2 I had as an observer today has 1 sim left to be syllabus complete for the Non-Acoustic track. Now he gets to be a bounce-bitch for 5 MONTHS. How much shit is he really going to remember when he checks into his next command?

2. Squadrons are running out of money to fly their planes...(I know this happens more often than not, but it seems early this year) ...There was to be a good deal NAVEX to the far Northwest region of our great country. My FE was going to be on that flight and she was pretty excited about it. She had worked her ass off to get the NAVEX she wanted...that was it. Alaska...awesome scenery, big fish, bears, etc...now that flight is cancelled...why?! Because Whidbey has no money to fly a rescue bird up to Alaska if ours breaks down. They apparently hardly have enough money to train...

3. NASNI has a large training command contingent...a shit-ton of people going through for various places like SERE and the resident commands and some other FASO related training...This isn't a new problem, that base is always busy....for the last 5 years it has been damn near impossible to get a room on-base, in either the barracks or the Navy Lodg/BOQ/BEQ...so when one of my FE studs has orders to go there for 2 weeks of fun and amusement (SERE) they find out that not only is the Navy Lodge full, but so are the BOQ/BEQ/and the Barracks. And we aren't talking a small barracks, those of you who have been to NASNI know the 7-story monstrosity I speak of...so when asking about options, said FE stud has 2 options; stay in a hotel or stay at the barracks over on 32nd street (SWO-land)

But either way said stud is NOT, repeat NOT, going to get a rental car...they are going to have to TAKE A CAB across the Coronado bridge to make it to class by 0700 and get reimbursed later...how many E-3's do you know that can swing that?!........:icon_rage.......Luckily the FE chiefs take care of their own and this problem has been dealt with...but how fucking hard is it to build a new Barracks or enlarge the BEQ?! For christ sake we put up half the town of New Orleans for the last 5 years...can we not spare a dime for those who actually contribute something to society?!!


I am sick and fucking tired of our legislative and executive branch of government (past and present) wasting money on bullshit PR projects, bail-outs, welfare, and general poor execution of a shoddily constructed budget at the expense of my military and the soldiers/Marines/and sailors that serve in it...

When I was a dirty civilian I voted...I campaigned for those I believe in...I even donated money to my favorite candidate...I have lobbied the state legislature , had a sit-down talk with my governor about the ass-pain his decisions have inflicted on my classmates while I was in college, made a general ass of myself in the paper, and have had my very integrity publicly questioned for my actions while fighting for what I believe in...I gave up and joined the military because it was the only way I saw that I could actually make a fucking difference in this country.

Now this wonderful opportunity/privilege I have is being treated like some second-hand used car in the back yard that won't get the belts replaced and the oil changed until the overpriced landscaping job in the front yard gets finished...

I'm tired of waiting for the wheels to fall off of this machine...I don't know what I can do to change the way we get prioritized for funding...so all I have left is to vent to a bunch of people in the same situation as me and drink my PBR...

FML

Pickle

 

[Bevo16]

If you think it is bad now, wait until next year and the cold hard reality of the massive budget deficit begins to take it's toll on the economy.

I don't know what projection Obama is using in order to forecast the deficit, but I doubt if the projection assumes a 20% drop off in receipts. If this trend holds, I would expect Congress to rapidly find ways to increase taxes which would only hurt the economy even more. We'll see.
April is the governments biggest month for revenue intake (of course).

Now you can see why the deficit projections went up $89 billion in the last week. Actually, one might expect those projections to go up much more given how little money is being taken in relative to last year. To date, tax receipts are running 20% behind last year and getting worse.



Period Receipts [$ millions].............................................%MONTHLY
.....................................FY 2008................FY 2009......... CHANGE (from prior year)
October........................ 178,175...............164,847..............(7.4)%
November......................151,055 .............144,782..............(4.2%)
December......................276,982.............. 237,811............(14.1%)
January...........................255,217..............226,109............(11.4%)
February .......................105,723...............87,328..............(17.5%)
March ...........................178,816..............128,597.............(28.1%)
April ..............................403,751............. 236,232............(41.5%)
May...............................124,272.............. ?
June................................259,912............. ?
July.................................160,494............. ?
August ...........................157,016............. ?
September......................272,228............. ?
YTD (thru April)...........1,549,719..........1,225,706..........(20.1%)


It was PRIOR to these numbers that Obama's spending spree was going to put 42% of the federal budget in the red. You got it. .42 cents on every dollar is either borrowed or flat out printed money. How would that work in your household if you spent money like that?

There are some rose colored glasses predictions that we are starting to turn the corner in the economy, but there are no positive economic indicators right now. It must be bad when the economy lost 530,000 jobs last month and it was seen as GOOD news on wall street.

Who do you think is going to take the hit when tens of billions have to be found in the federal budget? It's not going to be the Michigan auto unions. Hell, GM's CEO and President Obama is paying the UAW 80% of their salaries to stay at home and not come to work.

The Link

That, my friend, is where you PCS money has gone. Instead of training, you are buying Michigan union votes for the democrats in 2012.

Hey, look on the bright side. These are the kind of cars we can expect to drive:

 

[USNMark]

I'm tired of waiting for the wheels to fall off of this machine...I don't know what I can do to change the way we get prioritized for funding...so all I have left is to vent to a bunch of people in the same situation as me and drink my PBR...

Well, someday wayyyyy down the road you could run for public office and lobby directly for the changes you have in mind. I'm thinking about the same, since talking and writing and informing the community and elected officials seems to have no effect. I feel like I shouldn't watch the wheels fall off the machine, I should apply for a job in the shop and start turning wrenches.

 

[Junkball]

For christ sake we put up half the town of New Orleans for the last 5 years...can we not spare a dime for those who actually contribute something to society?!!

Awesome!

 

[Brett327]

Guys, the pendulum swings both ways. Having gone from Bush to Clinton, back to Bush and now Obama, it all pretty much of evens out. When Clinton was in office, everyone thought it was the end of the world, but looking back at it now, it was pretty much par for the course. Like I always say, don't spend lots of energy worrying about stuff you can't control. People will make do with what's available - we always have. Would it be nice if we were in the midst of a Reagan era defense spending explosion? Sure, but we aren't, so just move forward.

Brett

 

[SkywardET]

Guys, the pendulum swings both ways. Having gone from Bush to Clinton, back to Bush and now Obama, it all pretty much of evens out. When Clinton was in office, everyone thought it was the end of the world, but looking back at it now, it was pretty much par for the course. Like I always say, don't spend lots of energy worrying about stuff you can't control. People will make do with what's available - we always have. Would it be nice if we were in the midst of a Reagan era defense spending explosion? Sure, but we aren't, so just move forward.

Brett

While I don't disagree with your points, I would like to point out that there is a potentially vast difference between the current President and former President Clinton economically. The latter was riding an exploding economy due to a technology sector bubble, while the former is riding the deflating of a real estate, finance, and insurance bubble with only a hope of an alternative energy bubble to ride on the horizon.

I am not too concerned, but three years from now when all this stuff matters again...

 

[A4sForever]

Welcome to Jimmy Carter's Navy .... now let's see how you-all handle it.

 

[Pugs]

Welcome to Jimmy Carter's Navy .... now let's see how you-all handle it.

Exactly. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Set the wayback machine to 1977 (waiting for bell bottoms to appear) . Before my time in the Nav (started AOCS in winter 86) but my DH's lived through it and it sucked then and will suck again. More commitments and less money.

The country wanted change. They have it. I'm sorry for you guys on AD that have to live through it (again). Just waiting for the announcement of "smart perdiem" again.

 

[KBayDog]

Welcome to Jimmy Carter's Navy .... now let's see how you-all handle it.

Grow a beard?

 

[Brett327]

Everyone wants to blame Obama for the recent FHP cuts, etc. We're still operating off of the budget from the previous administration, so let's not all be so quick to point fingers. We'll see how things are in 2-3 years.

Brett

 

[Bevo16]

Everyone wants to blame Obama for the recent FHP cuts, etc. We're still operating off of the budget from the previous administration, so let's not all be so quick to point fingers. We'll see how things are in 2-3 years.

Yes and no.

There are cuts and changes being made now in order to prepare for the real cuts that we have been told are going to be made.

The point that I was trying to make earler is that even those cuts are not going to be enough. This recession is not going to end any time soon. It is going to get much deeper and our economic system has already changed drastically. The Federal Government has virtual control over the entire banking system, the auto-makers, and they have a really keen eye on taking over health care as well. Production is down across the board and the snow ball is only starting to build. When it splatters on us, the small cuts that we are feeling now will be small by comparison.

 

[incubus852]

Everyone wants to blame Obama for the recent FHP cuts, etc. We're still operating off of the budget from the previous administration, so let's not all be so quick to point fingers. We'll see how things are in 2-3 years.

Brett

Futhermore, if you want to complain about budget problems, you should be looking towards congress. Obama can't do crap without the purse strings they control.

In addition, I don't think the issue has been lack of funds, it has been mismanagement of the funds we currently have. It's congressmen and senators being strung up by lobbyists for jobs and money for their specific hometowns and districts... They're selfish and corrupt. Look at the recent stir-up created by Gates wanting to take a second look at how we're spending the DOD budget. Immediately, congressmen and senators complained about how they wouldn't let it happen because it would cause hardship on "hard-working Americans." Certainly, none of us qualify as hard-working Americans.

Abolish congress?

 

[picklesuit]

My point(s) are not directed at any one politician at all. It is more pointed at the mindset that we neglect our military until we suddenly need them again and they are behind the power curve (Kasserine Pass anyone?) It is too popular to cut defense spending for pet projects and entitlement spending (I feel dirty just typing the word entitlement...like being born means you deserve txpayr dollars)

I know there are decisions above my head that affect the specific instances named in my OP...but they are symptom of the whole illness...

Pickle

 

[A4sForever]

Grow a beard?

Naaaaaaaaaah .... I said "Jimmy Carter's Navy" ... not Abraham Lincoln's ...

 

[xj220]

I knew you'd come around to posting a pic of yourself one of these days.