Death Notice from the Motor Vehicle Department

Government stupidity is rampant, not only in your food …

@ 10:34a.m./PT - The first rant today was just an example regarding food. Want another stupid example? A friend has become nearly homeless (birds of a feather, ya know), and is still struggling just to pay bills—never mind maintaining any type of credit score—he long ago, gave that up.

He’s over 60, worked in an industry devastated by the recession (I maintain it’s a depression) until he lost his business and his home. This upstanding, law-abiding, hardworking man now has only Social Security to support him—applied for early not because he wanted to, but because he had to—certainly not enough, as we all know.

His vehicle registration is four months overdue—his poor ol’ gas-guzzler won’t pass emissions, it’ll cost a thousand dollars or so for repairs that might make it pass, and he’s being hounded by the motor vehicles department.

The shocker, however, is the threatening notice he received from the state-run facility. Do you know that “Law enforcement may seize and impound vehicles found on highways, public lands or offstreet [sic] parking facilities, with expiration dates in excess of six months”?*

So—you’re trying desperately to find work, in a DEPRESSED economy NOT of your doing (another rant for another time), and because you don’t HAVE MONEY to register your vehicle—the one thing that can HELP you find work—you will be further penalized. If his vehicle is impounded, it is literally “stolen”—or perhaps a better word is extorted—because the cost to retrieve it will likely be higher than the old vehicle is worth.

Oh, and let’s not forget, HE HAS NO MONEY to bail it out of the junkyard jail. Ultimately, the state gets what money it might be worth, and he is left walking.

Even if my friend were to miraculously find a job, he wouldn’t be able to get there. For all this country spouts “public transportation”—for inner city residents it might work—for most, however, the amount of time spent getting from home to work on a bus, for instance, is prohibitive. And that doesn’t count trying to get groceries, to and from doctors, etc.

And do you think that’s the worst threat in their *“Notice of Delinquent Registration”? Ah, no … mull this over, “To prevent collection action by the Franchise Tax Board (FTB), you must respond to this notice immediately. FTB may garnish your wages, attach your bank account, attach real property you own, or seize and sell your real property.”

Excuse me??!! Exactly when did we give these idiots the right to collect vehicle registration fees in this extreme manner??!! We’re not criminals … we’re just broke! Or is that a crime these days? I know it’s the cause of a lot of crime.

Do they seriously think a threat will somehow scare money into someone’s bank account? What part of broke, no job, and nearly homeless do the so-called governments “for the people” not understand?

As my friend joked (because he has a great attitude in spite of the idiots who run our country), “I just tell them to call me ‘Turnip’—‘cause they won’t even get blood out of me, let alone, money. And at my age, I’ll be dead before they can collect.”

And that’s the way it is, today …

Cheers to you,