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My Personal Struggle with OPM Addiction: A Cautionary Tale
Opium is my pet name for OPM – Other People’s Money. I know that it’s addictive and dangerous. I have personal friends whose lives have spiraled out of control after just trying a little bit of it. It seems harmless enough in small doses, but their experience has led me to do my very best to avoid experimenting even with recreational use of this powerful substance. But recently, I have fallen off the wagon. I share my story, hoping to help others. My name is Dr. Bastiat, and I am addicted to OPM.
I live in a very nice house on a golf course in a gated community in Hilton Head. A few months ago, we found a leak in our roof. My neighbor down the street had just replaced his roof. His estimate was $13,000, but during the repair, they found some problems with flashing and sheeting, and it ended up costing nearly $15,000. My house is a little bigger, so I was thinking of numbers close to $20,000. That would be a setback, but not enough of one to lead me to get hooked on OPM. At least, you wouldn’t think so, would you? But hear my story, dear reader, so that you do not suffer the same fate as me.
The roofer shows up, and he finds the leak. There’s a 5×5-foot area of bad shingles, plus some flashing that would need to be replaced. He figured $2,000 – maybe $3,000 if they found some other problems when they got into it. I mentioned that my neighbor got a whole new roof for five times that amount, and he just shrugged.
So he goes to my HOA. Our gated community has very restrictive rules – our mailboxes all match, and I recently got a letter from them pointing out that I needed more mulch around my landscaping. No kidding. Our neighborhood looks very nice. But the HOA rules supreme.
So he goes to my HOA and tells the lady that he needed to replace a 5×5-foot section of shingles on my roof. The lady there asked if he could match them. He said no, they don’t make that shingle anymore. And even if they did, the roof is 14 years old, and has faded some, and they wouldn’t match anyway. But he showed her samples he had found that were very, very close. He pointed out that the repair was in a valley of the roof, facing away from the road, and the new shingles were so close in color, that no one would ever notice the difference. Easy repair, and it’ll look great.
She said, “No.”
He said, “I have to fix this. His roof is leaking.”
She said “No.”
He said, “I need that in writing.”
So he comes to me with a letter stating that he was not permitted to repair my roof. I said some bad words, and he says, “Relax – the game is just beginning. Watch this.”
So he sends that letter to my home insurance company. They had already approved the $3,000 repair. He explained to the insurance company that he was not permitted to do the repair they had approved, and that the only way that he could repair this leak, and have all the shingles match, would be to replace the entire roof. Which would cost $70,000.
The insurance company approved it. They had to fix the leak.
The HOA approved it. The shingles all match, and it didn’t cost them anything.
My roofer approved it. He drives a Shelby Mustang.
My wife approved it. She got a new roof, and it didn’t cost her anything.
And here I sit, rocking back and forth in the dark, struggling with my addiction to OPM. You just can’t imagine the horror until you’ve been there yourself.
But I’ll bet that you have been there yourself, haven’t you? Don’t try to act holier than thou with me – I know you’ve dabbled in the pleasures of this drug yourself, correct? Be truthful. Maybe a little harmless experimentation in college, like a Pell Grant or something? No big deal, right? In fact, it was kind of nice, wasn’t it?
Right. I knew it. So don’t judge me.
Plus, this was just a little relapse. A long weekend, if you will.
I can quit anytime I want.
In fact, I quit now. I’ve had enough. That was it. Never again. I really mean it this time. You’ll see.
Oh, boy…
It’s just that OPM is, um… so, well, so wonderful. There. I said it. It’s wonderful. It really is.
But I don’t want any more. Nope. Not me.
The politicians continue to run for office promising more and more OPM for the masses.
And they win, and they hand out the OPM. Not just to those who really need it — they hand it out to everybody. The people are happy and content, and re-elect the politicians. And we don’t criticize, because now we’re all on the take. And after all, just a little is harmless, right? Maybe just a little more. Why not?
And the politicians keep handing it out — it doesn’t cost them anything.
And they keep getting re-elected. And on and on we go.
It’s mostly harmless, right? Why not?
Oh boy…
This is going to be difficult to stop.
My name is Dr. Bastiat, and I’m addicted to OPM.
Published in General
There may be a formula. But I don’t know what it is.
And I suspect it’s more complicated than a mathematical formula.
Well, maybe formula is too fixed. Is it understandable and predictable to a logical mind?
I think you’d have to understand people, not math.
So finance is not really a numbers game?
I know nothing of the world of finance. But I would presume that it would not be a numbers game. If it were, we could predict the stock market. But we can’t predict the stock market, because we can’t predict the behavior of people. People are irrational and unpredictable, and that is how they manage their money.
But again, I don’t claim to understand the world of finance. Don’t listen to me.
I wish this was all of what causes the financial chaos. I think there is enough collusion between government, corporations, and Wall Street to make the study of finance about as firm as say ‘Women’s Studies”.
This is why HOA’s are among my least favorite entities on earth.
You had one other choice of course. You could have sued them, and if the matter had gone before the right type of judge, justice might have been done. But you would have had to pay the lawyer you hired out of pocket and not through OPM. And who knows how much that would have cost?
If you won a suit against the HOA, then maybe they would have had to pay your legal bill. But they would have turned around and socked your household and those of all your neighbors with the legal cost, divided by the number of households.
So in the end, the neighbors might not care for you anymore.
Do not get me started on HOAs.….
https://www.facebook.com/405459013236094/photos/414374239011238/
I am. Hehe . . .
But you’d get rid of those guilt feelings.
Wait a minute, you don’t have any because you’re addicted . . .
Hey, do-gooders gotta do good.
When we bought our house – a log home built in 1803, I called our insurance agent who had handled the insurance for our tract house 30 years or so earlier. I could hear him on the phone typing on a computer going through a form:
He: Is it frame or brick?
Me : its is log.
long delay…..
He: OK, is it pre-war?
Me: Which war?
long delay …
After more of this, it wound up that since the roof was new and the HVAC was also new, it was considered a new home for insurance purposes!
This is exactly what you need to do @drbastiat. If your insurance company paid 70 Grand for a new roof, and it’s not slate or clay tile, you must live in a 20,000 square foot house or larger. So be nice to your butler and be ready for a sock it to ya moment at your next renewal. And that issue can be solved by getting new quotes. A former insurance company of mine raised my premium by nearly 50% after they paid $11k for a new roof. I ended up with a different company, the same coverage, for less than I paid originally with the former company. But why am I certain that you already know all of this?
You’re right, it’s just an asphalt shingle roof. And my house is large but not that big – around 4,300 sq ft. So that’s not it. When he told me that my roof would cost $70,000 I asked the roofer if my house was structurally strong enough to support a roof made of solid 24k gold. He didn’t laugh.
And you’re also correct that I have a new insurance company already lined up. They offered a lower premium, because my house now has a new roof. We’ll see what my current insurance company does – I’ll stick with them if I can. But I’m ready to leave if necessary.
For some perceptive, my house was built something before 1878. It has its original roof; slate.
Administrative costs.
It seems to be just the opposite of health insurance. Ever seen a hospital bill? “What’s this? Forty dollars for an aspirin?!!!?” Of course the insurance doesn’t pay $40. They pay 50 cents. But if you’re stupid enough to be paying with your own money you are going to get soaked.
Eve if the Administrative costs were zero, (which they can never be) we need to remember the 67,000 dollars that were allocated inefficiently as the original Bastiat explains.
Have you ever witnessed the anger of the good shopkeeper, James Goodfellow, when his careless son has happened to break a pane of glass? If you have been present at such a scene, you will most assuredly bear witness to the fact that every one of the spectators, were there even thirty of them, by common consent apparently, offered the unfortunate owner this invariable consolation – “It is an ill wind that blows nobody good. Everybody must live, and what would become of the glaziers if panes of glass were never broken?”
Now, this form of condolence contains an entire theory, which it will be well to show up in this simple case, seeing that it is precisely the same as that which, unhappily, regulates the greater part of our economical institutions.
Suppose it cost six francs to repair the damage, and you say that the accident brings six francs to the glazier’s trade – that it encourages that trade to the amount of six francs – I grant it; I have not a word to say against it; you reason justly. The glazier comes, performs his task, receives his six francs, rubs his hands, and, in his heart, blesses the careless child. All this is that which is seen.
But if, on the other hand, you come to the conclusion, as is too often the case, that it is a good thing to break windows, that it causes money to circulate, and that the encouragement of industry in general will be the result of it, you will oblige me to call out, “Stop there! Your theory is confined to that which is seen; it takes no account of that which is not seen.”
It is not seen that as our shopkeeper has spent six francs upon one thing, he cannot spend them upon another. It is not seen that if he had not had a window to replace, he would, perhaps, have replaced his old shoes, or added another book to his library. In short, he would have employed his six francs in some way, which this accident has prevented.[1]
No doubt the roofer is blessing the careless HOA in his heart and I cannot blame him. For but for the grace of a different career choice go I.
The $67,000 could have gone to something much more important than replacing decent roofing tiles.
The Ring represents addiction to power- the worst of all addictions. Heroin addiction can destroy individuals, break families and deeply hurt communities. But addiction to power can wreck entire countries. George Washington would have been able to toss the ring into Mount Doom but few others have that virtue.
If we take all forms of insurance and apply what we see here, add healthcare and education costs that get loaded with unimaginable levels of administrative costs we have a good start on a vision of how bad are the matters we are examining with respect to the field of finances.
Anyone drawing Social Security is living on OPM. Regardless of whether they “earned” it and are “entitled” to it. It is still OPM.
Were Social Security means tested it wouldn’t be so bad. What the welfare state does is that it ropes everybody into OPM. A social safety net has some OPM but it doesn’t encourage a lifestyle of OPM.
Absolutely brilliant, Dr. B.
There are still two forms of retirement from federal civilian employment, CSRS and FERS. I have the view that the CSRS was overly generous and exhibits some of the characteristics of the Social Security System. Of course, since it’s part of the employment agreement between the government and the employee makes it difficult to attack. The government retirement part of FERS is a little less so but only because the employee covers more through private pension contributions and participating in social security. Maybe it’s not much of an improvement. Many large cities and some states have serious deficiencies in pension plans so I guess there must be strong political influences in play when government pay and pension systems are formulated. There’s much use of OPM here.
It really looks as if the Communists Democrats want to take us to a place where all the money belongs to government and government will distribute it.
No You didn’t. Regardless of the decision of the HOA, You had an agreement with Yer insurance company (in the private sector) and They paid on that agreement. Comparing the bill They paid for the roof with the total amount You’ve paid for insurance, if Their bill is more it’s called profit. Profit is technically “other people’s money,” but not in the sense Yer trying to portray Here.
“Other People’s Money” would be government funds that You didn’t pay into or charity.
Edit to add: at most You got a new roof at a discount.
I pay taxes. I pay into government funds.
There’s no such thing as government money. Only money that has been taken from my friends and fellow citizens. Taxes are not voluntary, making the government version of this shell game much more dangerous.
I didn’t say You didn’t. Read again.
No shiite.
I’m stating that You got a “free roof” if You didn’t pay any insurance bills or pay taxes.
I would have reacted as you did, @drbastiat. I don’t like waste regardless of who ultimately pays, because in the end we all pay when prices go up. It also seems wrong to rip up a lot of good roof for 5 sq feet of bad roof. So I believe we should resist these impulses. My story:
I had a hot water leak in the closet that resulted in some mold on the walls and a section of carpet that got soaked. I called in the carpet guy who does flood repair. He said I could either dry out and then clean the rug in the closet, or I could go through my insurance who would replace the carpet in my entire condo and the wall in my closet for free because I had mold on a small section of wall. Or, I said, he could dry the carpet and I would clean the wall with a $1.99 bottle of bleach. He looked very disappointed but I slept soundly at night.
I had a National Merit Scholarship. Does that count?
I asked the same question about my boob job.