Systems

++ This is the longest time I have been in the United States on a continuous basis since the late 1970s. For  the last two years, I have been embroiled in fending off the Octopi of our private sector systems.

++In earlier years of the blog, I boasted that the younger generation will control the technology that will dominate their lives. Certainly in terms of creativity and learning, but commercially there are pitfalls ahead.

++I have been surrounded by people who have reacted their whole lives to the negatives of the public sector. But my experience has been the reverse.

++In the last two years I have had extensive dealings with the DMV,the IRS, Social Security, the local tax department, the Post Office. All have been superb in terms of service and finding the right answer to the problem at hand.

++Now we move to the private sector. Losing my blog yesterday sent me into a tizzy because frustrations over computer technology generally do. My son figured out the problem right away and Google to their credit figured it out after 4 e-mails getting more detailed into the problem. So congratulations, Google.

++But One thing you should know. There are no real Google humans you can talk to on IT problems. There are tons in the city where you live who will sell you stuff.

++ Take Verizon , my internet provider. My server had problems. The neighborhood Verizon store gave me two phone numbers to call. The second one responded right away and a new router arrived the following morning. Terrific.

++Then I receive an e-mail reprimanding me for phoning the number in question. Instead I was referred to another number, which I used last year which took one month to solve my internet problems.

++Now we go to the bank. A mysterious debit appeared on my account for $39.00. I questioned it. My concern is that hackers do little nibbles before they make the big score. 

++I was told it was my responsible to call the numbers of the two banks involved to determine the debit. I did call a Bank in Hawaii, who said they had no clue about the $39.and then Well Fargo who takes you down the rabbit hole of their organization into you vanish. No answer. I asked for a stop payment. I was told I couldn't and should open a new checking account.

++I went through this several years ago at the same bank where hackers rifled my account for thousands. So the bank knows the history---or do they? since the whole staff has been replaced.

++Needless to say the new two checking account solution only has confused all my finances.

++Then we have on-line banking. My bank hates me writing real checks. I refuse to pay bills by internet. The reason is that the creditor seeks use of your money before it is due. He earns income on your use of his/ her money so what's the hurry about getting it through on-line? 

++I am an economic primitive but the ease of on-line banking has allowed our local bank not to have Saturday hours. When Paul Volcker said the only thing banks have created is the ATM. He wasn't kidding. The ATMs are convenient but also have enabled bank operations to eliminate staffs and after hours banking, where people who work after 4:30 need to make other types of transactions.

++So we move on to health insurance companies. Since no one in my family is sick,this should be simple. I shudder to think if my wife and I even get sick, who is going to have to fight the insurance companies? I have one letter which I'm incline to ignore from a hospital for some routine tests. The letter requests I answer them who is the primary and who is the secondary insurer? The bill has been paid. How am I supposed to know when both policies were in effect? My sister actually has a personal assistant to badger these people because of her chronic illness. My gripe is why do I have to know what you are being paid for to know. And why do I waste my time learning it?

++Then there are other insurance companies. I once wrote I had 18 policies of all sorts of insurance. It turns out I was wrong. Hartford asked me to renew my insurance against terrorism. Who knew? What would such a policy pay for? And why do I have it? The answer was "You never know."

++But it does get worse. I receive every year a letter from a lawyer from one of the major health insurance companies requesting I fill out a questionnaire to prove whether any of the health bills paid were someone else's responsibility--i.e. a secondary or third party insurer.

++It is the sum total of these interactions with the Systems hat we have created, which are stifling and ruinous of a quality of life. You have to practice disciplines you spent years avoiding. Do I want to become an accountant at my late age? Because that's what I am.

++I am speaking of just interactions with the Systems when there are no calamities or emergencies. My son says I have a problem with failing to differentiate between the meaning of losing my blog, the $39 debit and more serious things. Perhaps but I feel like I am trapped in a spider's web with no escape.

++Service is only a term used in consumption. It doesn't apply to anything else. If there is a problem, the costumer is always wrong. Like Verizon blaming me because I actually found the right phone number that got a prompt response--that cut into their profit line. When I went without for two weeks,I still had to pay for service I didn't receive.

++Now we have a bill to privatize air traffic controllers. This must be  a plot to keep me a prisoner in the Systems. I can't even fly away.

++I am approaching Medicare age. So now we have a proposal from Boy Genius, Paul Ryan, to give people vouchers and have them pay an additional $6,500 per year. 

++Maybe the GOP's resistance to infrastructure makes sense. A bridge collapsed here in D.C. and cut off the metro. I'm encircled.

++But I am not a number, I am a Free Man. 

++At least my electrician came and fixed various problems with my lights. He said he would send a bill. How rare!