199 | A Grumpy Vet and “Handouts”

The government (and paying taxes!) make for a good scapegoat when we're financially frustrated or feeling particularly Scrooge-y.

This story from a former US Senator captures an example of the frustration too well not to share...

"A veteran returning from the Korean War went to college on the GI Bill, bought his house with an FHA loan, saw his kids born in a VA Hospital, started a business with an SBA loan, got electricity from the TVA and water from a project funded by the EPA, his children participated in the school lunch program and made it through college courtesy of government-guaranteed student loans, his parents retired to a farm on their Social Security getting electricity from the REA and the soil tested by the USDA. When the father became ill, his life was saved by a drug developed by the NIH. The family was saved from financial ruin by Medicare, and then one day, this veteran wrote his congressman an angry letter complaining about paying taxes for all those welfare programs created for ungrateful people."

Don't be that guy.

The modern-day version would be happily receiving stimulus checks and PPP Loans, enjoying FDIC insurance on your bank accounts, being amazed by a National Park, travelling on an interstate, and plenty of other things.

And then bemoaning the fact that you must pay taxes or that someone you don't know receives some benefit that you don't.

Writing out a list of all the ways that the government (and paying taxes!) - literally - changes your life, might remind us that there's a good chance the benefits outweigh the cost.