If you’re counting on the government to solve your problems, you’ll be waiting a long time.
I’ve become acutely aware of this phenomenon over the past 20 years. By the time the government acknowledges that a problem exists, people have been living with it for years (or decades). Then, if the government creates a solution, it won’t begin to be implemented for several more years. By the time the solution or program is fully operational, many people who needed it no longer will because:
- They gave up waiting long ago and solved the problem themselves.
- They died.
- They moved away.
- They found a way to live without it (eg. healthcare, insurance, affordable homes)
After Hurricane Irma hit my city in Florida, the government contracted with removal services to remove trees, construction materials and other debris that we were instructed to pile up on the swales beside the roads.
That took more than 6 months. And it was a “mild” Cat 1 storm.
When prescription drug costs for seniors has skyrocketed beyond affordability, many seniors on fixed income simply had to do without medicine. President Bush eventually pushed through the Medicare Part D prescription drug plan to help. By that time, millions of seniors has suffered, worsened or died without having access to affordable medicine. Many other went bankrupt.
As a nation, the US is facing unaffordable housing issues, exorbitant higher education costs, lack of affordable healthcare, drug addictions and overdose crises, homelessness, homeowners insurance hikes, income inequality and numerous other problems.
I’m not waiting for the government to solve anything for me. If a solution ever comes, I’ll accept it. But in the meantime, I have to figure out a way to live with or without one that I provide myself.
Unfortunately, regardless of your own circumstances, so do you.