Ho-Chunk Nation Employee: Fill & Download for Free

See, this is precisely why I get on Quora to discuss the Native issues. There tends to be so many misconceptions or half-truths when it comes to Native Americans.I don’t think this is necessarily willful misrepresentation, but there is a heavy reliance on stereotypes. And the larger context is harder to arrive at when you are just doing a cursory Google search and getting snippets of information. In that case, you might come up with stories or statistics that show Native as living in dysfunctional poverty or rolling in money. And the latter stereotype either assumes it is some “special rights”( to run casinos with no oversight or regulation) or it is ”government money” and benefits given to Native Americans…just for being Native.Even the question itself has this built-in, or inherent, flaw – the assumption that there are financial benefits associated with being Native American.There are very few differences in “benefits” that a tribal member might receive as compared to a non-Native American US citizen. This is to say that all social welfare programs are pretty much the same. There are poverty or income thresholds and financial need requirements. The larger programs are run through FEDERAL grants, whether on the state or tribal level. This often includes a grantee match requirement. In other words, the feds might pay 80%…and the grantee has to pay 20% of the total operations cost. And in other cases, states and tribes might augment their social welfare programs with either state or tribal hard dollars (non-federal). If this grant money was not diverted to tribes to operate various programs, then the state would be required to serve these tribal members, who are still considered state residents. So, there is no funding difference or service population on the macro level.The other area that is often stereotyped is financial aid for college. There is a singular federal funding stream for Native Americans in this regard – the BIA Higher Education Grant - and it still has a financial needs threshold like any other assistance program. And it is really no different than the Pell grant that ALL American citizens might receive (if they qualify). Yet, nobody says that the US gives “free college” to White people, or all American citizens. But, they might readily assume that is the case with Natives. And of course, when tribes pay for scholarships for their own citizens, it gets stereotyped that there is “free money” going around, yet again. The reality is it is just tribes choosing to invest in its people. That is still our way. When the financial situation wasn't as good, tribal nations couldn't do this. Now that tribal business ventures are generating profit, this is important to us...and so we establish scholarship programs. This is actually a traditional cultural value…brought into the 21st century.The other area that is misunderstood has to do with health care. The Indian Health Service does provide health care services on Native lands, but it is now often compacted with tribes (“638” compacts)… where tribes operate various grants and programs directly. Tribes also pony up substantial sums to cover cost of health care for tribal members, or build facilities. IHS funding is not enough to cover the health care costs in Indian Country. In fact, most tribal hospitals operate like any other medical facility, serving non-Natives as well. They will bill standard medical insurance, and tribal members that have their own insurance are not usually seen at IHS facilities.However, in this regard, IHS is a legacy of the federal trust responsibility that was assumed when tribes ceded territory in exchange for various terms in treaties. Meanwhile, there are federal dollars spent on community health grants for states, and few people know about this or think of it as states or White people (or American citizens) getting “benefits.”Alright, now for biggest misconception about Natives - money from “the government” or casinos.Notice in another answer these elements were brought up specifically:“Aside from autonomy to live and govern their own nation inside of the United States and whatever additional benefits they may receive from state and local governments, I viewed an astonishing documentary that outlines the lives of Native American teenagers in Wisconsin that upon graduation receive $200,000.00 upon high school graduation.That much? Yes, it's entirely true. From who?”Let me go point by point here, because I think this is a good illustration of the general perception that is quite prevalent (and again, I’m not picking here…I don’t think that there was any negative intent). It is just based on a quick search and perhaps confirmation bias, if anything.First, there are no benefits ever given to tribal members on the state or local level that would not be available to state residents in general. Any of these services would be provided to a tribal member that went into a state office directly and was receiving this assistance as a state resident. In fact, I know of no case or scenario where there would be a regular transfer of money from local jurisdictions to tribal governments. That would be so extremely rare, as to be aberrational. And states also do not support tribal programs in the manner being presented here.Additionally, this might be assuming that money is given to Natives (e.g. when turning 18) in some kind of direct fashion, and that is comes from “the government” somehow. This is not true at all.Tribes operate their own business ventures, which can include casinos. States can operate their own gaming operations at their discretion, just like tribes. This is because there is no prohibition at the federal level. Each tribe and state decides their own position. It is entirely at their discretion. So, there is no “special right” involved. Currently there are 566 federally recognized tribal nations. Out of these, about 40% operate some form of gaming operations. This could be from the smallest bingo hall, up to Las Vegas-style casinos. Tribal gaming falls under federal regulation protocols, and part of the requirement to operate a casino is to negotiate with the state and come up with a compact agreement.What is that for, you might ask?Well, it normally sets the percentage or amount the tribe has to give directly to the state, based on net casino profits. This is in lieu of federal taxes and costs of mitigation or “impact” to the state (for loss of tax revenue or supposed stress on state infrastructure). Yet, do you think the state ever has to pay tribes in reverse order? No. Of course not.So, take the case of Ho-Chunk, who were highlighted here (e.g. see the video link). This tribe has about 6500 members. Prior to the mid-90s…they were mostly living in poverty. As the casino built up, they shared a larger percentage of the profits within the tribal populations. These are called “per capita” payments. It is really nothing more than a dividend check….and it will fluctuate with the revenue of the tribe's business ventures. As the tribe’s casino became more profitable, the sums of money being disbursed continued to rise. Currently, the annual per capita amounts stand at about $12,000. Children will receive payments to a trust fund, which accrues until they are 18. At that point, they can get this lump sum. However, nobody seems to understand that per caps are no different than the Alaska Permanent Fund that AK residents receive each year. It isn’t “free money.” It is from investment and a profit sharing system.Out of about 200+ tribes engaging in gaming, only about two dozen have per capita payments, and only a small number are extremely large. Ho-Chunk of WI just happens to be one of this small minority or wealthy tribes. They do not represent ALL Native Americans.To put this all into perspective, consider these facts:The Ho-Chunk tribe in WI has to give the state about $30 million dollars annually. Sometimes it is more; sometimes it is less. This is based on 6.5% of total casino revenues that must be given to the state as required by the state-tribal compact agreement. At the same time, about 30% of the casinos employees are non-Natives. So, it stimulates the state and local economy directly. Yet, nobody think of Native GIVING money to American citizens. Why is that? Or, consider that the tribe has given just under $100 million dollars to local organizations in the past 15+ years. This averages $6+ million, annually.The most interesting thing I’ve noticed over the years, and observing differences between groups and populations…is that White people tend to have more inter-generational or accumulated wealth in families that is then passed along in various ways. Either this is inheritance or gifts/assistance, or real property that gets passed along. This is very rare in Native families, for the most part. So, when White people talk about “benefits” of being Native, or point to a few tribes giving out per capita…it really makes me shake my head sometimes. I’ve seen so many White Americans get “benefits” just for being from a financially privilege people. And while we focus on about 20 tribes with per caps and a handful with very high payouts, we don’t talk about White American status as being related to “benefits”…yet, this is indeed the population with the highest level of trust funds, or prevalence of inheritances or family cash assistance….based on per capita, of course.Consider the nature of this story about Ho-Chunk "18 money"...and how they focused on the jealousy of non-Natives in the community, or the fast cash that was blown by these immature kids that just couldn't handle it (and did they focus on those that were successful with their money? No, of course not that doesn't make for good journalism in the modern era). Ironically, these kids represent the babies that were born in the first few years that per capitas were even disbursed or invested in trust funds. Out of a total tribal population of about 6500+, how many turn 18 in any given year? Low single digit percentage, right? This maybe represents 100+ young adults per year...from a community that overcame poverty, to now...in the very first few years of some economic wealth. We have have to make sure we see how those Natives blow their money, right?Why is there no profile on White trust fund kids...and an similar assumption that this is what "benefits" White Americans have?Yet...look at modern American culture represented in this video, White people in the neighboring community are "scathing" when Indians get some money, as if it is there business anyway.Their ancestors were also scathing that Indians held land and weren't "doing anything with it" ...just hunting and gathering. And even doing that traditional activity was irritating to them.Wisconsin Walleye WarSome things have very deep cultural legacies indeed.

Hell NO !!!!!Indians are becoming dumber by the second !!!And I am ashamed to see that happening every second !!!I will start off with an example that I was part of the discussion and that made me rip my own throats with my bare hands !!!!After this example any other example and instances that I will be posting might be irrelevant as this particular example kills the question !!!!1 May 2017:I was in the smoking zone of my office and few of the colleagues where there having smoke with me. One of the guy who is younger around 23 years old, came in to join and he sat down on the ground. ( its paved) He sat down with folded legs as we sit in asaana position and started to smoke. Then after a few drags, he said:Yaar, kitne din ho aye aise baith ke? ( its been so long since I sat like this on ground?)Aise baith ke khaana bhi nahi khaaya kitne saalo se ? ( haven't had food sitting like this as well since so many years)Immediately another lady colleague jumped in with her answers:In Hyderabad there is a restaurant where you can go and sit like this and eat !!! There are no chairs there, you know !!! Its awesome !!!I could see the glow in her while she gave that horrendous answer !!The guy started asking the location, the process and stuffI intervened as I was getting pissed to the core now, I said :Abbey apne ghar main kha na? Neechey mat/chatai main baith ke khane ke liye you need to go to a restaurant???? Is that what you are saying and thinking about???( I said sit down in your home and eat? All you need is a nice mat that we all have at home and eat food by sitting on floor? Why the fuck you want to go to restaurant and eat food by sitting down)they both turned on me !!!They were like, nahi, thats cool restaurant, we get nice food, nice ambiance and before they could jump on some other shit !!!I simply said, Might be !!! But for the simplest of the thing and need that is siting down on floor with legs crossed, which we have been doing since ages in INDIA, You want me to go to a Restaurant that charges a bomb to enjoy that sitting on ground experience ??????Is that what you have got in your head? Cant you simple sit down in your own home and eat????I left that place immediately !!!Did you see where we are going towards? Did you even thing to what level the minds of Indians have been exploited/ramified/modulated? Did you see what commercialism and consumerism from Western Companies have turned Indian into?Did you realize how Indian companies have copied the same mantra from Western companies to extort money out of us in name of practices and services that are bare bone that we had/have that as negligible things in our history and now we have to pay for it !!!Since the time Internet/IT companies and its influx hit India, we have seen a common trend as mentioned below: ( need not be in order but its there for sure and rising exponentially )High salaried employeesMaterialistic life to own everything that others flauntNeed or no need, but I need to have it as he too has itThe more the better, Even more even betterEMI EMI EMI EMI EMIHigher working hours = Higher paycheck = Fucked up health ( who cares)Divorce Rate rising exponentiallyStress, bad Relationships, Bad Family ties on Full RISENo Compassion, No emotionsBUY BUY BUY BUY BUY even MORECompare yourselves with others and burn in that heated comparison till you winHuman Values Less to Nil when compared to Monetary ValuesThe List will go on and on…. but let me summarize itIndia is nothing but a GIANT MARKET for the western or Eastern Nations !!!No one gives a Shit about our well being or our health or our safety, But we are only a huge potential market as our Middle class strengths with its high purchase power over the years have made them realize that We are getting DUMBER by the hour so lets Choke/shove our products in INDIA and make them BUY !!!Another Example:We all know that Indians now are mostly Middle class and this is the biggest chunk now and me being a middle class too so I can relate this to at least 95% of the Middle class audience:We have been taught since childhood by default the value of money, value of Food, how not to waste anything, how not to overspend, how to be polite and respectful and all…But now, the same Middle Class does the dual job of being hypocrites and showing off and being exactly the reverse what our values actually are !!!We are now blindly copying western world and dont even think for a second how they are misleading/cheating and minting money out of us in plain sight but we take that as an compliment and think that we doing a great job by spending shit load of money in Fast Food restaurants where the food is neither healthy nor valued for its price !!!We are simply Blinded by the concept of showing off that we would want to have that ridiculously priced Branded Dress that we deep down inside know is not that worth, but still we would have it just to be part of the mob !!Again the examples are there in abundance, but I guess you all know what I am trying to say !!!Yes, We are getting more paid !!!And thats not the sign of Intelligence or smartnessSaving More, being yourself, appreciating your culture values, helping your nation, your neighbors and caring for others makes you one !!!All we doing is here is just being a MARKET For them and being another brick in the wall where every one !!! each one of is simply unaware of our surroundings but just want to be part of the mob !!!All the MNC’s have realized this long back and they are cashing on it big time on our Dumbness and eager to look alike or eager to show off or eager to spend our newly made money !!!Another Example :Last week I went to Airtel office to port my number from Docomo to Airtel as I wasn't getting docomo signals at my new office.In that Airtel office, I saw a Lady, with her 2 kids and his husband discussing about ther huge Post Paid bills with the Airtel Executive.My Porting was done and since I had heard there conversation, I stood there for another 25 minutes to find out whats going on and later I came out to talk to that Lady once she was done.She was educated, humble her 2 kids each had 2 smartphones, so all in all you can say a “well aware,educated,smart,middle class family”The moment they were out, I called her and said: Do you know hindi ( I talk in Hindi only unless there is a need to use english)She said Yes, I told her that I heard her issues and I would like to aske her somethingHer issue: She was using Postpaid of plan 299 per month and she was geting bills for 2500/- every month !!!I laughed, I was sad and felt so sorry for the entire episodeI asked, What is your major use of the phone !!!She said: STD only as her husband stays out of stateI said then why are you paying a bomb every month?I said, right behind the place where you were standing, there was a huge board with offers and information on the packages available. In Airtel, there is 349// per month with UL STD and Local ( FUP is there but still cheaper than 2.5k in postpaid)I asked her to get converted to prepaid, send a letter and get converted to prepaid, or else port the same number to other carrier !!! Its that simple !!She was SHOCKED !! and Guess her next Question !! Which made me shocked even more !!!SHE : Ayyo, then why didn't the Airtel Guy Tell me all this ??? he explained and convinced me to get the 499/- Per month plan and I took it !!!I wont say what I did further, but did you understand where I am coming from?I ended the conversation by saying feed your kids with almonds and Cashew with the Money you will save instead of paying these Companies !!!! 2.5K a month !!!Thats a fucking joke !!! If Technology is getting cheaper then this has to be a joke !!!Indians are getting Dumber by the second !!She was an educated Lady and she was not at all aware what and why is she paying so much money and how can she save it. People have lost common sense which used to be there a decade ago and all we have now is :Show off, stupidity, Aping western people and its culture and worse think all that is cool or its the way its supposed to be !!!Think about million others that include illiterate, young and rich, young and poor and so on !!!!Another Cheapest Example: Which You all will related every single day !!Most of the times, we go to buy anything from any store or shop in India, I see people around me like this:They will pick up an item that is branded or packed ( basically anything that has a name and price on it) And Will ask the dumbest question:Bhaiyaa Kitne ka hai ??? ( Brother how much is it for ?)WHY !!! Are you educated enough to check the MRP and pay the written amount? Why the FUCK you have to ask?And I see this habit by everyone !!! Baring the illiterate and rural people who cant read English, everyone will ask the same question !!!And the shopkeepers know this, They will quote the price after they judge the customer !!! Every time !!!This happens in almost all places specially when it comes to eatery or places where they sell stuff that doesn't have the price list or menu !!!Zillions other examples !!! But Not todayWhy I gave examples related to Money ???Because money is the one of the most important factor today for anyone and people will try to be smarter/better only when it comes to money, or I should say that when it comes to money, our true self comes out and we become a little more aware, more awakened or mature, rest all topics like politics country religion and others takes a back seat !!!But with the examples you can see, even with the topic of Money we are so so so getting dumber so I need not talk about any other topic or instance !!!Read my points and instances and check for your selves the moment you go out and you will see !!!How and why the gap between the poor and rich is getting wider !!! with and enormous rate !!!Because Indians are indeed getting Dumber !!!We are in a vicious cycle where we EARN BUY SPEND EARN and thats what has made us redundant to logic and common sense !!Companies are making us to BUY BUY BUY and get a feeling that unless we BUY or have that particular item, our lives are shit and worthless and Indians are great to Buy that concept !!!I will end up this with the classiest of the Lines that we all see everyday now !!!BUY MORE TO SAVE MORE !!!!If you cant figure out the Kill in the above line, then :)

She was luckyThe falklands war helped her !!! She neglected the British overseas territories , she wanted them to pay their way. So not many troops in the falklands , easy for Argentina to invade. Then bingo bango , they are the best thing since slice bread.North sea oil helped her. She essentially closed down large chunks of UK manufacturing. She wanted a high value pound to get rid of inflation. This sucked in imports and screwed domestic manufacturers. But because we had North sea oil , she just about got away with it.She sold the family silver to have a party.Selling off council houses was a great wheeze !!! Suddenly people , who were not used to feeling rich , felt , hey , I have made it. Wonderful. However her lack of investment in affordable housing gave us generation rent.Selling off BT and other state owned assets , made people a few bob , and using the proceeds to fund tax cuts , is great in the short term. But now we have a state that collects about 35% of GDP in TAX , but spends 40% of GDP and that is before we fund all the old people we have.She made it possible to get rich in the UK.The process , whereby big firms where encouraged to out source work to contractors was great for small business people. In the old days firms did things in house. PAYE made this expensive , having an army of self employed contractors was cheaper.However , this leads to having governments that are basically broke. But ho hay , in the short term , this looks good and generates a feel good factor. Indeed , even my good self , who is best described as a Rich Branson failed , managed to have 63 people on the pay role at one time.But in the long term , it creates a nation of haves and have nots.She reformed the housing market.Generation rent , could not have happened if Maggie had not encouraged private land lords. This enabled the UK to suck in labour like not tomorrow. The population of the UK has gone up by 12 million in 40 years. Nearly all of this is immigrant fuelled population growth and nearly every immigrant starts life in the UK in a rented house.The UK is the 5th biggest economy in the world. The economy is bigger than it has ever been , and the reforms MRS T put in place enabled that to happens. However in the long term , we got low wages at the bottom , generation rent and BREXIT.So I guess the party can now be viewed as over !!!She made things happen !!!!Lets not be all negative about MRS T , she like the rest of us , was a mixture of good and bad. However her intentions were basically good , she was not in any way corrupt. She did not do things to make herself rich. She did what she believed to right.Some of the reforms , like the BIG BANG in the city , have worked far better than any one would have expected. She to a large extent , throw all the cards in the air , then waited to see where they landed. The UK managed to move from being a manufacturing country to a service based one.She was stabbed in the back before she could lose an election.It is always a mistake to think you can keep on winning elections. The mistakes MRS T made were beginning to catch up with her. The POLL tax was hated. One million people became criminals. My dad had to pay the tax for several of his employees to stop them going to prison.MTS T would have lost. She was not corrupt , but some of the people who worked for her were decidedly dodgy. Her luck ran out and in Blair the labour party had a leader who could win.I think she left a bit of a toxic legacy , the capitalism she encouraged , was basically casino capitalism. It was not based on making things , it was just based on getting rich. However , would those changes have happened anyway ?? interesting question .She had North sea oil , and it was used to fund a party. Now it has run out the country finds we can not make PPE , we can not make vaccines , the nuclear plants that provide 20% of our electricity are going to close soon , and they have not been replaced. Then COVID comes and kicks us where it hurts , so , we are now finding we need solutions to the problems that MRS T created.But perhaps that is life. MRS T solved some problems - like the miners. But in doing so , created new ones !!! I think that is very much , how human history works. At the time I loathed the women. Now I mellow , she was human like the rest of us , but she was also a VERY remarkable women - and she never did lose an election !!!