Begging to be Heard

Dear United States Government (and I mean everyone involved in it),

    After going through my monthly mental budget process, I decided to do something that I hate doing, should not have done, but unfortunately I did it anyway. You see, I looked at the amount of interest I paid the last year on my student loans. Then I went one depressing step further and decided to look at how my monthly payments were applied. If you really want to feel like you are drowning with no way out, I suggest you experience this once in your lifetime.

   Now, it is not that my loans are not manageable, they are. Furthermore, I have always paid them without complaint really, because they are my loans and I took them out knowing how much I would pay them back. However, the older I get the more upsetting it is since this problem never gets better. You see, looking at it opens a whole other can of worms of an array of situations that while not necessarily making the problem worse, never helps. I will start with my personal background. If my husband died, I would be screwed. I do not make enough in my 2 jobs to pay a mortgage or rent, buy myself insurance, pay my car payment or student loans. We are lucky so far (and I really do the sign of the cross as I say this bc my husband works in the corporate world. A world increasingly harsh, inconsistent, lacking a certain humaneness in decision making, and ever bowing to overly demanding shareholders....when I hear the world lay-off I almost start hyperventilating. Thanks to your inability to keep any sort of rational aura in regards to our economy.) The main reason I do not get to contribute much financially to my marriage is that I am paid a fairly low wage. About as much as an airport fast food worker in Seattle to be exact. It is hard, it is embarrassing, but I don't mind my job. I get to do so many more things than the average specialized worker in America who only has one skill (not that being able to do what I do is valued). Anyways, back to the point. Part of the reason I never get a raise is that every year the taxes, unemployment insurance, workers compensation insurance, licensing fees, and God really anything having to do with bureaucratic nothingness costs goes up. Here is the cruel ironic part of it, and you are fooling yourself if you think I am crazy. It does not matter who is in office, Republican or Democratic, you are all unfriendly to micro-business. I have seen very successful "small" business with hundreds of workers get tax breaks and loans from the government for little to no other reason than campaign contributions or agreeing to do something they had already planned on doing. All the while I have to fight with the State of WI or City of Milwaukee just to be able to do business, be in business, and all the while trying to deal with all the other aspect of the job. All the while you, our fair Government, sits there an schmoozes with your donors who have zero connection to reality, not to mention self-awareness. Kill me if I ever become a white angry overly-rich man in an unshapely business suit. Jeez, we can't do better than that for influence?

  One a scale of 10-1, one being the lowest, ten the highest, I give you government a 3. Here is a quick rundown of why I am 100% certain you are all failing the American people, from President Obama, to Mitch McConnell, Nancy Pelosi to Scott Walker, and even those of you running for office. You do nothing to fix problems. You can't do anything to fix problem because you have let politicization and partisanship get sorely out of hand. You people could and would turn a freaking paper cut into a polarizing political debate. The paper cut me because conservatives do not care about index fingers. No, the paper is a democrat because it wanted to cute off my middle finger to make it the same size as the rest of my fingers! (Yeah if it sounds stupid, it is supposed to, because it sounds like you people) Not to mention you have not solved any problem of anything for anybody. I have seen my 2 year old niece and nephew settle a dispute more diplomatically than you ever even attempt. I also would not want to discount how horrible whatever convoluted solutions you propose to certain problems that actually end up existing. Why can't I get a lower rate on my student loans again? What is the rate at which the federal government borrows money, wait....no what was in 2009 and 2003? How come my car loan and mortgage loans rates added up do not even come close to my student loan rate? How come I have to pay the city of Milwaukee a fee for another redundant license? How come the State of WI is hell bent on creating new problems on a daily basis making doing business sooooo hard?

   The ultimate questions, is why can't we do this better? All our politicians care about are their stupid pet issues. In our government there seems to be about as much intellectual curiosity as the Kardashian household. I dare one of you to actually come up with some sort of solution to a real issue faced by this country. I know President Obama and the democrats cares about really really poor people and really really rich people. I know most Republicans care about really really really really rich people and those who are religious and really old. I know Libertarians only care about themselves. Can someone actually step forward that cares about us who are in-between? People who wake up every morning and go to work. Pay their bills on time, all the while praying disaster does not strike this week, month or year. People who pay their taxes and are not asking for much. People who deserve a place at the table because even though we are  not the richest or the poorest, we still are the one driving the economy for better or worse and it is scary. It is scary because we are driving a car with no brakes, seat belts or laws of the road, and when we crash I hope all the blame is placed squarely on your obstinate shoulders with your deaf ears.

   I will wish for a change, but as I read in an article today, you can't fix stupid.

Always,
Your Favorite Millennial Redundant Taxpayer-

PS, There are about a gazillion more things to be scared about that gay people getting married and women taking birth control....How bout we focus on something that actually posses a threat other than a who is getting a nuva-ring and who isn't-