The Taxpayer

The Taxpayer

That would be me.
Every year natural disasters strike hundreds of Americans, and cost them millions of dollars in assets. Their beach front homes are wiped out in torrential hurricanes. Their mountainside retreats are washed down the hills by rainstorms, or burned to a crisp by wildfires.
Not to worry. Even though their losses are great, and their insurance carriers have agreed not to cover them, because of the high risk involved in building where they build, they will be made whole. The Governor of their great state(s) will take a helicopter ride over the scene of the disaster, and weep. The President will ride with him, and be touched emotionally by the tragic property losses. They will declare the area a disaster, and it will qualify for federal funds under FEMA. Tax dollars will pour into the area. My tax dollar will pour into the area. It feels like welfare to me.
Occasionally a bank will make a bunch of bad loans to guys who already had too much money, and they will add the borrowed money to their assets and default on the loan. Those good folks whose deposits made the loans possible have reason to worry. They have theoretically lost a portion of their nest egg.
Not to worry. The President will wag his finger at the risky loan practices. The people with their million dollar savings are protected up to $100,000. , as long as they don't put the whole million in one place. They will get all of their money. It will be returned to them by the FDIC. the US treasury will print money, and tax dollars will back up the presses. My tax dollar will back up the presses. It feels like welfare to me.
Sometimes a company will agree to use an alternative fuel. They will get big tax breaks. Their tax dollars will not roll in, but they will use government services, and roads. My government services, and roads. It feels like welfare to me.
I see some folks that are down on their luck. They have no funds. The congress growls at them and calls them indigents. The President feels their pain, but has to cut their cash cow programs a little bit because of the floods, fires, and loan defaults, but they can get more food stamps, and pay less rent. This is welfare.
I can't get any, because I work everyday. If I had enough money for a down payment, I could buy a home, and that could be destroyed if I can afford one in the mountains, or along the beach. If I had some venture capital, I could get a loan from the bank, and default on it, or save some cash in the bank, that absorbs the default. But I can't get qualified for nothing. Not FEMA. Not FDIC. Not a Small Business Loan. Not Capital Gains tax reductions. Not food stamps or free cheese or milk for my corn flakes.
I'm thinking what has the government done for me lately?
They did go over to Bosnia and kick some butt for me, a few months ago. That was kind of entertaining, on TV, and now I know that my bombs work. (The ones I had. Gotta build some new ones, now) They do keep working on these freeways for me, and I sit on them everyday, and watch those guys moving the orange cones around for my convenience. Somehow it's just not enough. Perhaps I could have the cops come by and read my kids one of those fairy tales that they write in their reports, for a bedtime story, or rotate my tires. The fire department could come over and water the grass, for a brother, just to let me get some services for my tax dollar. Can I stop by the county surveyor's office from time to time and have a cup of coffee, out of my kitchenette, or catch a ride over to WPAFB, in Dayton, on one of my many fine military jets. It's going that way anyway.
I just want a little piece of that American Allotment Pie.