Is that why the NCR money in new Vegas is so damn useless?
Yes.
Don't you read the loading screen lore bits? They shed light on some of the more obscure facts about the western wasteland territories. I don't mean to be mean but if after playing New Vegas you failed to piece these things together then maybe Fallout 3 is indeed designed for your speed.
Fallout 3 is a baby's first Fallout. Even more than the actual first Fallout. Fallout 1 dealt with serious issues like tribalism vs civilization (Shady Sands vs The Khans) and Religion vs Commercialism (The Unity Church vs The Hub's Merchant Interests) but it did this in low-key ways so you could follow your own path and side with whoever you wanted. You can side with the Master for crying out loud and get an actual ending.
Fallout 3 just has the themes of Fallout and the aesthetic. I appreciate this but that's why it's baby's first Fallout. Fallout 2 still remains the deepest and most intricately designed with how politics and ideologies affect civilization and how the common folk are affected by what the people in power decide. That's really what the main focus of Fallout 2 is; the Enclave decide to destroy humanity and take control, the NCR decide to abuse power to annex cities, the mob family decides to get a whole town addicted to a super drug to get rich - so on and so on.
New Vegas deals with the acceptance that the old world is dead and that mobong forward to something new is best for all and that those who look backwards are doomed to repeat past mistakes. I describe Fallout New Vegas with this verse; "Say not thou, what is
the cause that the former days were better than these? For thou dost not inquire wisely concerning this." -Ecclesiastes 7:10
Fallout 3 has no central theme and neither does Fallout 4. I can give 3 a pass it being a new IP for Bethesda but 4 gets lynched with no mercy (it's also not very fun).
If you played New Vegas with the same eyes you played Fallout 3 then you're doing it wrong and that's why you're such a fanboy. Yes, that is what you are. The sooner ypu accept it the sooner you can grow out of it.