Re: What doesnt hoover about America???
poverty line is meaningless, as a 3rd clas petty officer with a wife and 5 year old with all my pay and llowances my pay as about 14K a year. still better than most.
took me right at a year to go from e-1 to e-4 and just under 3 years of USN to make e-5. difference between us in the top 10 percent that got advanced and the lower 90 percent was motivation.
in the navy when you take a rating exam for advancement everyone takes the exam for their rate on the same day. if the navy has 5 slots avalible for advancement that year thats all that get advanced out of every sailor taking that exam.
as an FC I was not competeing against dummies and I knew it.
so I studied, studied, read and read somemore.
areas I had difficulties with or did not like I concentrated on.
first e-5 exam I took I passed and mised promotion by .04 points. next one I took I was in the top 3% of every 3rd class FC going for promotion to 2nd class FC.
so basically what I did was go from e-1 rocket scientest to being paid as an e-5 dummy in just under 3 years.
took some effort on my part as until I joined the navy I had no intrest in electronics nor had a clue what a fire Controlman was or did.
when I was retired I decided to go back to working with outboards and decided to be the best I could be, took a while and a lot of hard work and more schools paid out of pocket than I care to think of.
I have one credit card,no car payments(I drive old junk) nohouse payments,paid it off early, and no other bils other than my monthly utilities.
took a lot of hard work and for 5 years I worked two jobs. one for me and one for another marina.
now I work 25 hours or so a week and may retire soon to pursue another endevour.
however I recall no one in the past 30 years or so handing me anything. when I am contracting I bill 45/hr and when on my time its 75/hr and if ya wanna bump to the head of the line or the boat fixed on a weekend its 150/hr.
I usually keep a 4-6 week witing list and hand off jobs to others on a weekly basis.
its rare I grease propshafts and change gearlube anymore.
I personnally never made any colledge only about 8 years or so of technical schools, all of which were paid by me or the USN.
and yes your military pay is taxable income as is medical retirement pay.
folks in the US that cry poverty should actually travel to a place that ACTUALLY has poverty.
according to the CIA factbook the average pay in venezuela is about 4000 USD per year.
food,clothing and staples such as car parts,cooking utensils and such is way more expensive here.
fishing tackle,if you can find it, is outrageous. a shimano 200 curado will set ya back about 450 USD here. if they actually have one in the country.
working city water sytems or sewage system are mostly non-existant.
most evey one here buys water by the tank load and feeds it by gravity or boost pump to the faucets.
no such thing as traffic cops nor rules. if your robbed and call the police odds are they will steal whats left.
and this area is considered rich by most latin american standards.
ya wanna paramedic? aint none. ya wanna ambulance ride? pay in advance or show your insurance card from the ambulance company. ya wanna air ambulance? wait seated with a cushion.
ya want medical care from an actual trained competent dr? best have cash or credit even though its less than a 3rd of the cost in the states for drs with as much skill and training.
so what do I like about the US? most everything.
its a wonderful place even with some of the elected idiots. nice thing about our elected idiots is most dont try to change our constitution and most leave sooner or later.
or legal system actually works,eventually, or water and sewage systems work mostly, or transportation system works mostly.
in the US anyone that wants a job can get it, anyone that wants job training can get it and get it for free.
in the US if you dont like one job there are 20 more to replace it with.
but only if you apply YOURSELF and dont wait by the corner for a CEO to hand it to you.
we have in the US more free information than any 6 countries on the planet.
all ya have to do is go READ,
seems everyone wants to be taught but no one seems to wish to train themselves.
ya want on the net here in venezuela? you pay and pay by the min in a lot of places. ya want on the net in the US? its free at most libraries and schools. ya wnna night course at the local high school? its either free or at such low cost to be laughable.
couple of 12 packs a month.
no where else is it as good if you apply yourself.
wish I could teach that to my kids.
not that I have not tried but they want it all and now.
