Renewal!

I tend not to blog about things that stress me out. I kind of go quiet, and yes it's been a "quiet" couple of months.

Last year, as you may recall, the IND back-dated my pasje (residency permit) to 9 January. They're good for one year, so that would be the renewal date as well.

So one expects to receive from the IND, about three months before the expiration of one's pasje, a letter with renewal instructions. Didn't come. So I called the IND, and they very nonchalantly said, "It happens." So instead, I downloaded the renewal forms from the web, printed, filled out, included the documents that the form instructions asked for to the best of my ability, and sent it off.

Part of "to the best of my ability" is that the form requests a copy of your balance sheet and profit/loss sheets from the previous year (because my permit relies on the fact that I'm here under the Dutch-American Friendship Treaty, which allows Americans to come set up businesses in NL). The previous year would be the year that ends 8 days before my pasje expires. No problem, I use accounting software that can spit out such documents in 2 minutes. The problem arises where the IND wants those documents checked by an independent expert. Ever try to find an accountant who can check over your books yesterday? It's a challenge.

The other part of "to the best of my ability" is that you do not want to drop things on a civil servant's desk a week before they're required to do something about it. Rushing a civil servant usually goes badly. I think that's true in any country. That meant I was trying to produce a balance sheet and profit/loss for a year that wasn't even over, so that I could get it to them at least a month before it was required. Ever try to find an accountant who can check over your books that aren't even closed... yesterday and at the end of the tax year? Again, a challenge.

I ended up creating an year-to-date balance sheet and sending it in around the second week of December. Mind you, Christmas season starts 5 December here, followed by First and Second Christmas, then Old Year's Day and New Year's Day... a whole lot of partying going on. (A whole lot of civil servants on vacation.)

So I got a letter back from IND in early February that I needed to submit the balance sheet and profit/loss, checked by an expert, and that they needed that in two weeks. (Recall that my pasje expired 9 January.) So simultaneous with the searching for an accountant who could check the books was a call to IND for an extension. They granted that, an extra two weeks. That helped dramatically. It also helped that I finally persuaded my friend to call for me. I'd had one accountant (friend of a friend) who decided he didn't have the time. Then another accountant I had a phone conversation with agreed to do it, said he would email me a list of documents that he needed, and then decided he didn't have the time to do it. I emailed a local office and got zero response.

The Dutch speak English, and are very friendly to you in person when you speak English. But over the phone or in email, you must explain that you are American, and even then there's hesitancy. As much as the world has mixed feelings about Americans, the wariness actually stems from the massive scam attempts that people from an English-speaking African country seem to engage in here as a full-time business. So having my Dutch-fluent friend make some phone calls cleared the path to a very nice person from an administratie kantoor (administration office: it's not an accountant, which is an educational title, but it still works--the equivalent of a bookkeeper in the US.) coming over, going through my info on the computer with me and promising to produce my statements in a few days. And he did, and they were lovely and bound in a nice book, and he gave me two copies so I could send one to the IND, and all for less than 100 euro.

Got everything sent in and paid the fee, which is now billed separately by the accounting office instead of passing through the IND but is also lower than it used to be--375 euro vs the old 800 euro--and waited.

And waited.

And... yeah, more of that.

Now, last year, when the person at the IND made her decision to approve my pasje, as you may recall, she sent a lovely letter telling me to wait patiently for the other letter that would tell me when I could come pick up my pasje. This time they skipped that step, which is annoying because it meant there was extra waiting and my friend saying, "Still nothing from the IND?" and other such fun-ness.

But, finally, a letter: "Come pick up your pasje whenever you like."

It's just that simple.

Fireworks!

Obviously part of the problem!

OMG the Dutch spent €70 million on fireworks! Apparently, some people see that, along with burned fingers and injured eyeballs, as a problem. They want to ban private fireworks.

So let's do the math:

• Suppose every gemeente in NL produced one 30-minute fireworks show (a big step down from the hours-long communal display we enjoyed last night).
• There are 418 gemeente in NL. Source
• A non-professional show easily runs £100 per minute. Source
• Incorporating music, computer coordination and larger shells can increase the cost to around $2000 per minute. Source
• The city of Melbourne spent $2 million on its fireworks show. Source

So let's assume the gemeente gets a good deal on music, and call it  €1500 per minute, or €45000 for a single half-hour show. This is an extremely conservative estimate, but it still works out to nearly €19 million out of the government's pocket.

Last night's festivities cost insurance companies €11 euros.

These calculations don't even take into account the fact that for every gemeente-produced, centralized show, every single resident required to travel more than walking distance to see it increases the likelihood of driving-under-the-influence accidents at the cost of many, priceless lives.

And how's it working, where there are centralized shows and bans on fireworks?

Amsterdam:

• Burglars took advantage of the outdoor festivities with at least 50 reported break-ins in Amsterdam alone. Source
• In Amsterdam, 123 people were picked up, mainly for vandalism and public drunkenness. Source

Rotterdam:

• Turned people away from its fireworks display due to over-crowding. Source

Assen still has citizen fireworks. I observed lots of drunkenness, lots of noise, lots of fun... within one block of the house. Neighborhood bonds were reinforced; there was laughter and gossip and visiting each other until 3am. We did have to sweep up this morning. This is me on a firework high:

Don't trade some property damage for increased criminalization, increased driving-under-the-influence, and decreased enjoyment of the neighborhood.

This link will let you see a few seconds of our neighborhood festivities. 

Happy New Year. Gelukkig Nieuwjaar. Keep your paws off my party. :)

Really Though?

Someone I love described a quote from dear old Abe as "everything" that the "greater man believed in." Of course not being able to let that go, I posted another of Abe's quotes, which didn't contradict the first, but certainly undercut the way it was being used. Vague? Maybe. Because neither quote is the point.

The point, rather, is that this person I love responded by posting the following:

You run to another country and still feel you have the right to say what happens in your homeland. Sooner or later those of us who are actually contributing can sit on their keesters will say enough is enough.

So why did I "run to another country"? Well let's examine that.

I worked well over a decade in social services. My employer paid for my health insurance, to the tune of over $600 a month out of the employer's pocket. When speculative real estate crashed the economy, counties cut services to abused children. The non-profit company I worked for, which provided services to abused children, was forced to cut their programs.

I have a wide variety of skills, so I became self-employed. That turned out to be a great choice for me, as over a decade of trauma had left its mark. That mark, however, in addition to health problems I've had since infancy, require that I have routine health care. As an ordinary responsible person, I applied for health insurance to cover that health care. I was turned down on the basis of "pre-existing conditions." No, "OK well we can insure you but it will cost xxx." Nope. Just, "You're not eligible for coverage."

So what are my choices?

• I could pay for my routine care out of pocket. Except that I couldn't do that without earning at least $200,000 a year. 
• I could use emergency room care as basic care. A lot of people do this. Even if you can't pay, they can't actually turn you away, leaving myself and other taxpayers with the extravagently high bill.
• I could just slowly (or quickly in the "right" circumstance) die.
• I could explore my other options.

My other options, because I have a very dear friend in NL, included moving to Holland. I was able to enroll in and begin paying for health insurance even before I had my residence permit. My health insurance costs less than 100E a month. I get excellent, full care, with a strong emphasis on preventative care. Because everyone in the country has insurance, because the general health (and exercise) conditions in the country surpass those in the US, and because the emphasis is strongly on preventative care, the numbers work out and the company is able to make a profit even with my pre-existing conditions and potentially (not actual but potential) high care costs at such a low premium.

So I moved here for completely selfish reasons. Plus there are a zillion things I love about the society, but all that aside....

The US Government still considers me a part of the country. I have the right to vote, and the duty to pay EXACTLY the same taxes I did when I lived in the US. OK not exactly, I escape state taxes, but I could have done that by moving to Nevada, for heaven's sake. So anyway....

If the US government says that I have the same fiscal duty now that I had when I lived in the US...

When did I lose my right to comment on US society?