The military uses these companies to handle benefits and other details involved in having an employee, thinking they would save money.(This didn't work. They ended paying the companies way too much over the salary and benefits cost. I couldn't believe how much my employer got for me!!

A perfect example of how public wealth flows upward and screws over working people. The company that had the benefits contract made a boatload of money. Their c-level executives made millions. Their peewee execs made hundreds of thousands... and you got screwed because the money ran out.

I would be willing to bet that whatever you were doing was adding more value to our national defense than any five of those overpaid, pompous f*ckt*rds mentioned above.

It is flat-out stupid to think that a private for-profit company can handle these things more cost-efficiently than a government agency can. Why add another layer of cost? Why not just have the military/DoD handle its own HR issues? I mean, really, a few more public servants is going to cost less than a whole new top-heavy corporate profit parasite sucking at the public teat.

This problem is epidemic throughout the DoD and throughout our country, actually. "Privatization" has resulted in higher -- not lower -- costs, in less -- not greater -- efficiency. Why? The reason is very simple:

1) It adds an un-needed layer of complexity (a new organization outside of the organization ultimately tasked with the work)
2) Pouring taxpayer dollars into profit-making enterprises instead of directly into the public interest is wrong and stupid on its face.

Anyway, I'm done pontificating. I just want to say one thing to you, personally:

...there is not much here except close-knit country families who are dependent on each other.

That's a tremendous asset. You're lucky to have those close community ties. Nurture that. Put your heads together. Work together. It will be OK in the end.

It is imperative that people take civic responsibility seriously and hold our leaders -- both government and private sector -- accountable in a serious way, i.e., with consequences.

You are correct that it is no accident that we find ourselves here, that poor decisions (or maybe just evil ones) made at the top of the "food chain" have put us in this situation. I happen to believe that we need a revolution of sorts. We're clearly not getting "change we can believe in" from the current power structure; we're getting more of the same with the occasional rhetorical bone thrown our way.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: It's not about right and left, it's about right and wrong. The Man keeps us divided, squabbling over minutiae. The margins of "acceptable debate" are kept artificially narrow.

Let me be perfectly blunt about what I mean:

1. There is no serious discussion of taxing the very richest Americans at a higher rate. Billionaires pay an effective rate of 15 percent since they make most of their money on capital gains, not productive labor. Obama pointed out the unfairness of that in his campaign... then hired the same crooks that set things up this way as his "economic advisors." We've seen a massive redistribution of wealth upward in the past 30 years, and it has brought us to where we are today. The economy prospers when the middle and working classes prosper. The middle working classes can't prosper when the rich take everything. It's that simple. Even so, this issue is off the table in favor of "austerity" (yeah, right).
2. There is no serious discussion of curtailing our out-of-control defense spending. We can all agree that we need a strong military, but do we need to spend as much as the rest of the world combined to have a strong military? Are we really getting our money's worth here? What, exactly, are we gaining for the $100 billion or so we're spending in Afghanistan this year? When was the last time the Department of Defense faced a serious audit? Do we really know where the $600 billion (not including the wars) defense budget is going? No. But this issue is off the table. Defense spending is sacrosanct even though we're supposedly in a period of "austerity."
3. There is no serious discussion surrounding the prosecution of serious white collar crimes. We know that we were lied into a war. We know that the UDHR was violated. We know that Wall Street crooks ran the economy into the ground and stole taxpayer money to bail themselves out. We know that high crimes were committed. Yet who are we prosecuting? Whistleblowers.

I could add about ten other issues to this list to demonstrate that the bounds of acceptable debate are constrained to a small area that favors the liars and crooks at the expense of the common people. So I agree with you that the deck is stacked and that we will never climb out of this depression until we stand up and assertively demand government by, of, and for the people.

Now to the area where I disagree with you somewhat.

We are each responsible for our own lives. Even in the best of times, the world throws curveballs and circumstances are never perfect. I hate hearing the "up by your bootstraps" crap too, even though I'm guilty of spouting it. But you know what? When shit gets really bad, all you have is hope. Let go of that and you go from shit to Jack shit. You play the hand you're dealt, not the hand you wish you were dealt.

Self-pity is self-defeating. There is no magical thinking involved with that postulate.

Self-confidence and can-do-it-ed-ness never hurt. No magical thinking there.

Plenty of people have experienced hell on earth -- we're talking war, famine, abuse, incredible poverty -- and came through it OK. That is a fact. I don't believe that it is "magical thinking" to adopt a positive attitude and believe that one will make it through, and I do believe that it serves nobody to tell them all the reasons that they can't succeed.

That said, yes, we need to take our civic duty seriously, unite, and bring about real change or life will be much harder than it needs to be for the vast majority of us.