| Do you want to know how YOUR hard earned | | | | where the money is coming from it is still wasteful |
| dollars the government uses is being spent? These | | | | spending and your money is involved with these |
| are facts that I see with my own eyes every day. I | | | | payments in one way or another. |
| am not jealous and that is not the purpose of this | | | | The point of this article is to tell you that homes and |
| article. I am a retired Marine and I choose to live in | | | | apartments here are being built like wildfire, The |
| Okinawa, Japan where I spent most of my military | | | | reason for all of this construction is to provide |
| career. | | | | housing for American Servicemen. There are many |
| My retirement pay doesn't go very far with our dollar | | | | absolutely beautiful dwellings in great scenic locations. |
| floundering around 89 to 90 yen to the dollar. A | | | | The problem that I see is similar Japanese homes |
| comfortable and fair rate would be 110-115 yen to | | | | that may rent for $1500.00-2000.00 to Japanese |
| the dollar. (See link below) Believe me those few yen | | | | people are being rented by you the American |
| to the dollar make a huge difference. It's the | | | | taxpayer for rates of $3000.00-5000.00a month. |
| difference where $10,000 could buy you 1,100,000 or | | | | If that isn't an outrage to you and your money, then |
| 890,000. It may even appear that the trade | | | | I guess not too much would surprise you. The local |
| imbalance looks better or worse depending on whose | | | | home owners are able to pay their $600,000+ |
| perspective we look at it. On paper it probably does | | | | mortgages off in five to seven years, which as some |
| look like the imbalance may look better. It's still an | | | | of you may know is when the a large portion of the |
| imbalance in products. These comments are still not | | | | military here in Okinawa will mostly be re-deployed to |
| what this report concerns. | | | | Guam. The owners will be able to lower the rents to |
| Here in Okinawa the military personnel are | | | | where locals will be able to afford a reasonable rate. |
| compensated for being in a foreign country and living | | | | The homes are so overpriced that very few of the |
| on the local economy by receiving extra pay for cost | | | | local residents could or would live in them. |
| of living allowance. Even stateside they receive some | | | | I am not trying to upset any military personnel with |
| extra COLA depending on the local economy and the | | | | this report, however there need to be limits to some |
| cost of living in that part of the country. That's great | | | | of the wasteful spending. The local home owners are |
| and not a problem whatsoever. When you get into | | | | not charging that kind of money. The government or |
| foreign relations and one military in another's country | | | | governments are giving the military, and especially |
| it becomes blurry to the uninformed on which | | | | Department of Defense school teachers that kind of |
| country is paying for what. Some people believe the | | | | money for housing allowances. |
| Japanese taxpayers are paying for the US military | | | | There are worse things happening all around us. This |
| here and others think the US taxpayers are paying | | | | one has me upset and I see it with my own eyes, |
| big money. For this article it doesn't really matter | | | | so I decided to report it to you. |