Stop Wasting Taxpayer Money

[rbaker]

Regarding “Sen. Bond Encourages Support for Federal Legislation”
http://www.optiboard.com/forums/showthread.php?t=23615

Stop wasting taxpayer’s money. This is yet another attempt by special interest groups (us) to spend millions of hardworking taxpayer’s dollars to address a problem that other government welfare programs should have solved. Don’t throw good money after bad.

[Diane]

Do you think we, as eyecare professionals, should support legislation that would help children or not?

:confused:

Diane

[optigrrl]

Throwing away taxpayer monies is (imho) providing services for those who can help themselves. Not providing monies for those who cannot.

[HarryChiling]

Stop wasting taxpayer’s money. This is yet another attempt by special interest groups (us) to spend millions of hardworking taxpayer’s dollars to address a problem that other government welfare programs should have solved. Don’t throw good money after bad.

Of all the @ssinine bills that have been introduced and passed this year, this one gets you in a bunch. It is a good bill, yes it may benefit our industry, but it helps children as well.

[chip anderson]

You don't understand the prescriber's and lawyer's point of view. The money is there for the taking.
What do you think they still teach ethics or something?

Chip

[chip anderson]

Since I don't have access to the NewsRoom Forum.
We already have such programs and centers in the state. Of course they don't give the Rx to the patient, it's automaticly given to thier optical shop we don't know much about them other than they don't give out Rx's.

Chip

[rbaker]

Oh Diane . . . The children . . . The poor children.

You have to go a lot further than that to convince me that my money is being well spent by this and most other government welfare programs. I realize that most of us are on the receiving end of this Great Government Give-Away program but, is it really helping all the little children and their families by destroying their spirit.

When is enough? Since the Roosevelt (and Johnson's War on Poverty) era and we have spent billions healing, treating, feeding and housing “the poor little children” and each year the programs grow. The citizens who build and maintain our great economy end up being rewarded for their effort by paying taxes at an egregious rate. The middle class is feeling an ever increasing burden of taxes while those feeding at the public trough continue to demand more and more.

Isn’t Medicaid enough?

[HarryChiling]

Isn’t Medicaid enough?

NO

What's enough is a wa where we are spending ridiculous amounts of money for nothing, Marylands state house just recently voted themselves a slate roof and fireplaces in every office (and the reps had the nerve to say it was in humane to work in offices without fireplaces on the news), emminent domain, I could probably go on and on.

rbaker,
If someone has a legitamate need for these services then they should be available for them. Our government should do a better job of monitoring who recieves these services rather than as you suggest getting rid of such services.

[1968]

Isn’t Medicaid enough?

In my neck of the woods (county population of 250,000), our office has had to set harsh limits on the number of Medicaid patients that we see as every other optometric practice has stopped taking the insurance. What intrigues me is that the vast majority of ODs in the county are American Optometric Association members who have pledged: "I will place the treatment of those who seek my care above personal gain and strive to see that none shall lack for proper care." Perhaps this begs an interesting question: Should the AOA put their money where their mouth is and mandate that their members accept Medicaid patients?

If someone has a legitamate need for these services then they should be available for them.

Now, who was it who wrote: "From each according to his ability, to each according to his need"...? With that said, I think there is some debate as to whether "need" is a legitimate standard for determining a government's proper function in society... it just isn't happening among our elected representatives.

[Johns]

You're all missing the point!

This is a GOVERNMENT program.

I think it is serving the government quite well!!:hammer:



Children? Hmmm... if these welfare programs were any good, the problems would have been solved years ago.


I have an office in the inner city, so I deal with welfare daily:

Eight kids on welfare, professionally painted nails, $300 hairstyles, the latest cell phones with movies. Oh yeah, and the grandmother's raising the kids.
:finger::angry::finger::angry::finger::angry:

Yeah, we need another program, but it aint more welfare!

[chip anderson]

I think "from each according to his ability to each according to his need" Was John Smith in Jamestown settlement and later Karl Marx. The first being the only true communist state (oddly enough before communism) the latter the true father of what later passed as communism.
Of course I am not supprised that many in PA find this a good motto.

Chip

[Johns]

What I hear all the time is "It aint my fault my girl needs glasses!"


Again, so long as we offer to pick up the cost, many (I did not say all) of the recipients will find something else to buy, besides what is necessary.
Anything that they see as "necessary" such as food, shelter, and medical, automatically becomes an entitlement that others are expected to pay for.

[Fezz]

What I hear all the time is "It aint my fault my girl needs glasses!"


Again, so long as we offer to pick up the cost, many (I did not say all) of the recipients will find something else to buy, besides what is necessary.
Anything that they see as "necessary" such as food, shelter, and medical, automatically becomes an entitlement that others are expected to pay for.


Well said and true Johns!


I have no problem helping somebody who needs it. I have no problem making and giving glasses to those who are truly in need. But to see the shenanigans that go on make me puke. I am sickened by the ones that come in, as Johns noted, with the $300 hair sculpters, fancy painted manuicured nails, and cell phones. Its *funny* that they find the cashola for there WANTS...but never seem to have it for there NEEDS!

[chip anderson]

One could order that it is the parents fault. They decided to breed and the kid's genes are thiers.

Chip

[DragonLensmanWV]

One could order that it is the parents fault. They decided to breed and the kid's genes are thiers.

Chip

You should see it around here. There are some gene pools that need a lot of chlorine.:D

[Steve Machol]

You should see it around here. There are some gene pools that need a lot of chlorine.:D
Frankly, some people should not be allowed to swim in the gene pool.

[Andrew Weiss]

Wow. Where this discussion is going . . .

I know there are people who need help. I know there are people who abuse the system intended to give them help. I know that giving people things takes away their spirit of independence and their self-worth and creates a descending cycle.

But to get into this gene-pool stuff: Frankly, folks, it's a bit too close to the arguments that virtually eliminated the members of my extended family who weren't able to get out of Europe before 1938.

I understand your frustration, but please be aware of the implications of what you say.

[Steve Machol]

Actually my comment was in general and not specific to this program. Maybe it was bad judgment to post it. It was a misguided attempt to be funny.

For what it's worth, there is a LOT of wasteful spending of taxpayer money far in excess of that program, not the least of which is the misspent money for the Iraq War, which in my opinion is not only a total waste but is actually harming U.S. security and interests and has the added affect of forcing future taxpayers to pay for it.

Also where is the outrage over Corporate Welfare and giveaways? Why is a program that helps people more an object of scorn that a program that spends Billions of dollars making multi-national corporations richer and more powerful?

There are far more serious things than this one program I'm afraid.

[Andrew Weiss]

Thanks, Steve. I couldn't agree more.

[DragonLensmanWV]

Wow. Where this discussion is going . . .

I know there are people who need help. I know there are people who abuse the system intended to give them help. I know that giving people things takes away their spirit of independence and their self-worth and creates a descending cycle.

But to get into this gene-pool stuff: Frankly, folks, it's a bit too close to the arguments that virtually eliminated the members of my extended family who weren't able to get out of Europe before 1938.

I understand your frustration, but please be aware of the implications of what you say.


Sorry, Andrew, I can understand your sensitivity. Obviously, we're not promoting another Krystallnicht (sp), but we're just making generalized jokes about people with an "Uncle Dad".

[Andrew Weiss]

Thank you, Dragon. :cheers:

[HarryChiling]

Well said Steve, I agree that there are far better places to direct our focus than this one bill.

Andrew,
My great grandfather was beheaded by the Turks in the Armenian Genocide, I understand your sensitivity, but it was still a good joke. Out of respect sorry (cause I laughed when I read it).

[Steve Machol]

Here's 10 examples that people should be outraged over:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=4117683

And: It's not just a Hummer, it's a tax break (http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/104601_hummer17.shtml)

[Andrew Weiss]

Well said Steve, I agree that there are far better places to direct our focus than this one bill.

Andrew,
My great grandfather was beheaded by the Turks in the Armenian Genocide, I understand your sensitivity, but it was still a good joke. Out of respect sorry (cause I laughed when I read it).

I understand that, Harry. Especially the droll way that both Dragon and Steve worded it. I grinned too, and then it suddenly sunk in that underneath the humor there were assumptions about people, who's worthy and who isn't, that had that awful resonance. I felt it important to raise the issue.

BTW, I love your new avatar :D

[RA]

...someone's got the right idea

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070604/ap_on_re_us/vermont_secession

:cheers::):cheers::):cheers:

[rbaker]

Please do not criticize $500.00 nail jobs, Gucci hand bags and BMW’s. That’s the American Dream. This country is built on the promise that you can rise to whatever level of economic status that you desire. It is OK to be wealthy and have nice things.

The question is how do you acquire your wealth? Do you earn it through education, hard work and sound investing or do you work the welfare system for all its worth. I guess that it is the measure of the man, whichever route he chooses to follow.

Please also do not criticize a system that aids and assists those truly in need. That is a basic tradition of our Judeo/Christian heritage. But did you ever notice that most of the disabled are out there working for a living, having found the life of a lounge about quite detestable.

Unfortunately there are those among us who feel that the redistribution of wealth from those who earn it to those who chose to loaf is a laudable thing. It’s for all “the little children.”

[Steve Machol]

Please do not criticize $500.00 nail jobs, Gucci hand bags and BMW’s.
I'll certainly criticize these when they are paid for by American taxpayers, just as we paid a substantial portion of the cost of those Hummers as part of our Corporate Welfare System.

And I'm sure that you agree with me that this was an inexcusable abuse of tax dollars, right? ;)

[chip anderson]

Whatever happened to Wm. Fulmer's "Golden Fleece Awards"?

[gemstone]

...someone's got the right idea

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070604/ap_on_re_us/vermont_secession

:cheers::):cheers::):cheers:

Wasn't that scoundrel jeffords from Vt.

[Andrew Weiss]

Whatever happened to Wm. Fulmer's "Golden Fleece Awards"?

The guy who used to issue those awards, Senator William Proxmire, died in 2005.

[RA]

...jeffords?
:)

[gemstone]

Yes! He was the scoundrel!
http://archives.cnn.com/2001/ALLPOLITICS/05/24/jeffords.senate/

[RA]

You might like this site.

http://www.cagw.org/site/PageServer?pagename=reports_pigbook2006

:hammer:

[RA]

So the guy got a conscience ... so what???

:)

[gemstone]

Election fraud.

[RA]

Ahhh so while he switched parties he truly was a Republican at heart, you know, with the election fraud and all.
:)

[HarryChiling]

I'll certainly criticize these when they are paid for by American taxpayers, just as we paid a substantial portion of the cost of those Hummers as part of our Corporate Welfare System.


I would kiss you if you were a women.:)

[chip anderson]

Ahw, now Mississippi just got a contract for making mine proof vehicles. Don't kill the golden goose if it's our golden goose.

Chip