Disabled veterans are grossly undercompensated
Our disabled veterans are grossly undercompensated. The consequences for all of us could be dire.
In FY2023 a totally disabled veteran with no dependents is compensated at the ridiculous rate of $43,463.40 dollars annually. The National Average Wage Index (NAWI) for 2021 was $60,575.07 dollars per annum and the median income for 2021 was $70,784. The per capita GDP in 2021 was $69,288 dollars, among the highest in the world. This rate of compensation to disabled veterans is deliberate and cruel.
They have been asking various administrations and Congresses for fair compensation since the end of WWI in November 1918. That was 104 years ago. Where is it? In my opinion, the basic reason for their gross under compensation situation is because they are only compensated for projected loss of wages due to their disabilities. They are not compensated for their low quality of life. This is done to keep taxation low for the wealthy elites. So what it comes down to is this: the groups that had their assets and overseas business interests protected the most by our now broken former troops pay essentially nothing to support them in their brokenness. That is not very American is it?
I ask you to pass legislation this year to compensate them fairly, especially the totally and permanently disabled among them who should be compensated at least at the level of the NAWI.
This is now a national security problem.
Once there is full realization among our youth that serious injury or illness in the armed forces almost guarantees a lifetime of near poverty as a disabled veteran the armed forces will collapse rather quickly. In fact, this is already starting to happen. Enlistments are sparse.
Be warned.
Misty Oliveira
Kona
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Laws are created to
keep the public safe
Concerning Michelle Melendez’s Dec. 28 letter citing Levana Lomma and her “God given right to travel as a healthy American without restrictions…” and Levana Lomma avoiding the airport quarantine. If I wish to drive my car as a healthy American without restriction, I still have to get a driver’s license, and if I make too many infractions, I will end up in jail. Why? Such laws are set up for the general public safety to try and keep as many innocent people alive as possible. Which is how come the airports set up COVID quarantine rules during the COVID pandemic. Perhaps the governor did not declare a state of emergency over the COVID pandemic, and then set up the airport quarantine situation, but from my perspective, it sure seemed like an emergency for the entire world, and by Levana Lomma deciding to not quarantine she was risking the lives of others, including the ones she loves. The preventative measures, such as quarantine, that the states and the federal government put in place to keep the numbers of COVID deaths down helped a lot, but in reality, with over 1.1 million Americans dead from COVID, there is an argument that the government did not do nearly enough.
Carl Merner
Holualoa
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