Attach Strings To Everyone Taking Taxpayer Money, Not Just Corporations
by Bob GalePresident Obama has done something I heartily agree with. He’s telling companies that if they take government handout money – er, bailout money (a.k.a. our tax dollars) — there are things they can’t spend it on. For example, he’s set limits on executive pay, with a high end of $500,000, along with severe limits on perks. He’s attached strings to the money.
This, to me, is a basic principle of civilized life: “If you want something from me, I get to make the rules.” I’ve heard this ever since I started getting an allowance from my father. Its variation is stated simply, “beggars can’t be choosers.”
If you want a paying job from me, you have to show up at work at the time I decide, and do what I require for the amount of time I choose. In return for that, I will pay you a sum which I’ve decided is what the job is worth. In addition, I have the right to set other rules, such as “employees have to wear shirts and can’t wear flip-flops.” If you don’t like my rules, then don’t take my job or the money that goes with it. No worries, I’ll get somebody else.
If you want to borrow money from me to buy a house or a car or an appliance on time, I get to decide your payments, your payment schedule and your penalties for not paying. If you don’t like my rules, don’t take my money.
That’s the way life works.
So President Obama gets my props for attaching strings to these government handouts.
But I think we need to expand this principle so that it applies to EVERYONE who is taking tax dollars, not just big companies.
Do you want Food Stamps so that you’ll have enough to eat? Then I say there should be certain things you can’t use them for, such as junk food. No potato chips, no frozen pizza, no soda, no popcorn. You’ve got to be thrifty with them. No steaks. No crab or lobster or shrimp – those items are way too expensive. I say you have to buy the generic brand of macaroni instead of expensive imported pasta. In fact, maybe you should only be able to use food stamps for red beans and rice. After all, millions of people all over the world survive on red beans and rice, day in and day out. It’s cheap and nutritious enough to keep you going. You don’t like those rules? Then don’t take food stamps.
Do you want government money so that you can live? Well, there should be strings attached. You don’t get to go out to eat any more. No more concerts, no more going to the movies, no more going to paid sporting events. And no more booze or cigarettes – not on my dime. Get rid of the cable TV. You can live a perfectly good life without cable. In fact, you can live a perfectly good life without TV. Ever hear of the Public Library? Lots of great entertainment available – free. Have you got a fancy cell phone with an expensive plan? Sorry, you don’t need that either. Sure, you need a phone, but get the cheap one, with the prepaid minutes. If you need clothes, you’ll be shopping in the secondhand stores. Learn to sew so you can patch the holes in those pants. No more air conditioning. If it’s hot, sweat it out, just like billions of people do all over the world. And in the winter? The thermostat doesn’t go higher than 60. Too cold for you? Wear a coat. What’s that, you say — all of these restrictions are an affront to your dignity? Sorry, pal, I’ll pay to help you live because you’re having a rough time right now, but if you’re taking MY money and not doing anything to earn it, you don’t have any dignity. “Beggars can’t be choosers.”
President Obama thinks every American should have government paid healthcare. I strongly disagree, but if we go there, I think there should be some serious strings attached. Let’s start with these: If you smoke, you’re not eligible. If you drink, you’re not eligible. If you’re overweight, you’re not eligible. There should be dietary restrictions. No junk food. Lose the salt. No more cheese. Eat those seven servings of vegetables and fruits. And no more sitting around on your butt watching TV — you’ve got to exercise regularly and get preventative checkups. After all, there is no reason why my fellow taxpayers and I should subsidize any of your bad habits that will lead to increased medical costs down the road. We want you to be healthy so you don’t incur those medical costs. What’s that, you say – I’m taking away your freedom to live as you choose? No, I’m only taking your freedom IF you take my money. However, if you live independently of government money, then you have complete freedom to eat, drink, smoke, sleep and spend YOUR money the way you choose.
If we’re going to apply this basic “strings attached” principle to white collar executives – as we should — I can only hope that President Obama will apply this principle to ALL who receive my tax dollars.
Email this to a friend | Print |
Share on Facebook
| Tweet this
| 
Follow Us on Twitter
Subscribe via RSS
Tips & Feedback
50 Comments
Ah, Bob, I see what you did there.
The truth is though that liberal government is only concerned with solidifying their next election. How many votes will they lose by taking the rights away of ‘evil’ corporations? Very few. Everyone knows that anyone who has any sense of business and economics votes conservative.
On the other hand, if they dared to try to force social responsibility on their target voters (the poor, the uneducated, the hippies, the Hollywood types, the moveon.orgers) the outrage would be palpable.
No, the answer is always going to be to try to appear to be the zealot, fighting against insurmountable odds against those evil, wealthy business owners. It will always guarantee their “damn the man” vote.
Politicians, living off my tax payments, should have to take a vow of celibacy.
I AGREE!!! I have a friend that fancies herself an “eco-fashion designer.” With this label comes the belief that she has to spend her days designing and sewing; if she waited tables to pay her bills she would be a waitress, not a designer. Problem is, no one buys her stuff so it’s not something that she can make an actual living at. So despite the fact that she is buying a house (which really should be condemned – it’s not fit for human habitation), she has her kids on free lunches at school, they are all 3 on government funded medical care and she receives aid for families with dependent children (cash money for those of you not familiar with the welfare system) AND food stamps. She ONLY buys organic food!! And refuses to shop at Wal-Mart because it’s “too commercial.” Organic food is expensive! Wal-Mart is virtually THE cheapest place in the country to shop! On top of that, she spends all her weekends out at clubs, drinking and smoking…I mean “networking.” The Government (that’s you and me, folks!) pays for her live her “dream” while asking no responsibility or accountabiility for her stewardship of the funds!
Aaaaaaand you went one step too far. I’m with on the executive compensation limits. But I REALLY don’t want the government dictating to someone what they can eat, what they can watch, how they need to live their life.
I think your point is if your on public assistance, you should get bossed around. It’s a great incentive to get people OFF welfare.
But it’s not very American to let your government run your life. Even if you do need help. I’ve never been on welfare, but I’ve been unemployed, and taken unemployment compensation for the few weeks or months it took me to find new work. The government didn’t tell me how I should spend the money I got. It trusted me to be an adult and spend my money wisely.
That’s what I’d prefer, a government that treats it’s citizens like adults, not like mindless drones who must have others make it’s decisions for them. That’s way to European an idea for my liking.
I know you’re saying these draconian rules would only be invoked if I take ‘your’ tax money. But it’s not just YOUR tax money. It’s mine too. I pay taxes. And I’d appreciate being treated like a taxpayer, not like a criminal.
My $.02
Why is anyone surprised that government money comes with strings? If you’re formerly all male military academy accepts lunch subsidies from Uncle Sam, then you now have to accept girl cadets. If you run a children’s character building organization and don’t wish to have openly gay scout masters, then you won’t get federal funds and can’t use federal facilities. If you have “free health care” then you’d better not be overweight or smoke or the bet’s off.
That’s the whole point of taking money from local people, passing it to the central government and then “giving” it back to the locals. Strings are attached, control is exerted.
Why should the biggest handout in history be any different?
Great post but could I add one thing. If the government passes legislation the hinders a company from applying good faith practices, like credit score’s, employment history and Income, would be able to keep their normal golden parachutes and the said government that was responsible would have a cap in pay and benefits equal to the percentage of loss what would be imposed on a company that was at total fault. The Reason I say this because if the liberal and green movement stick their nose into buisnesses, with new regulations that tell them who to loan too, or how to build a product. Then those people should be held Accountable
Pam L’s comment was great. I have a friend who works for a California agency that administers SSDI (federal Social Security “disability”). A single mother who has about 6 kids applied for an additional $200 per month in benefits for her NEWBORN, claiming he had “ADHD” (attention deficit / hyperactivity disorder). When asked: “How can you tell that your newborn has ADHD?”, she responded: “Well, my other kids have it, so he has it, too!”
HERE’S MY IDEA: You want government money? Show up and do something for 40 hours a week like the rest of us. There are plenty of streets that need sweeping, and other worthwhile things that need to be done. We could — and should — have the cleanest cities in the world.
[...] TANSTAAFL: There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch Jump to Comments Attach Strings To Everyone Taking Taxpayer Money, Not Just Corporations by Bob Gale [...]
OMG! You want people to be RESPONSIBLE for their actions? I can’t believe you actually said that out loud…. Hollywood is NOT going to be happy with you.
In CA, cigarettes and booze are not allowed on food stamps, and I would hate to be the weight police! However I would LOVE to be the fraud police. How many Billions would that save the country.
O is a gubment employee (P.S. – So am I), in gubment housing. He has it hot enough “to raise orchids”, in spite of telling us to lower our energy consumption. Great Example O, keep setting the bar.
I do think he did get something right here though, but I wonder if it was out of doing the right thing, or out of public outrage. I am not sure, and I am honestly way to cynical.
I agree wholeheartedly Bob.
And incidentally, “Back to the Future” is the greatest screenplay ever!
And we know for a fact that they have no problem attaching strings already — assuming you’re praying to a power higher than POTUS.
You have accurately, inadvertently articulated why government “help” leads to tyranny. The fact is this happens all the time. The federal government takes money from citizens and redistributes it back to them with strings attached. And the more desperate, paranoid or power hungry our officials at the top become, the more they will control our lives.
How about mandatory Twitter accounts with hourly uploads for all citizens? That would be a good start.
Enjoyed the article Bob. The following are facts about persons defined as “poor” by the Census Bureau, taken from various government reports. These people are on welfare or receive some form of government assistance:
46% own their own homes
76% have air-conditioning
97% have a color tv
more than 50% have 2 or more tvs
78% have a VCR or DVD player
73% own microwave ovens
Tax dollars at work!
The real answer is that politicians shouldn’t be bailing out the investors and creditors of insolvent banks any more than they should be taking private property without compensation and giving it to the people who vote for them. No money changes hands, no rules necessary.
Excellent. Thank you.
Hello, Bob-
Interesting column, but I think you’ve overlooked a few problems and misunderstand a few concepts.
As a taxpayer, you do not get to make the rules. When your pay your income taxes, for example, there is no form in which you dictate how that money is distributed. That money is distributed across a number of government programs, some of which you may support, others you oppose. Some of these programs benefit you, others do not. You can, of course, lobby to shut down undesirable programs, and you can vote for politicians likely to see things your way. But that’s about it.
While I doubt the majority of citizens using food stamps are chomping on lobster and imported pasta in club seats at Yankee Stadium, it is politically and morally bankrupt to force millions of people to subsist on red beans and rice. How do you enforce that, without bigger government? How do politicians quell the massive outrage a policy like this would provoke? How do you explain to private food companies that you support a government that will effectively shut off billions of dollars in potential profits? How do you convince a government to turn away from Big Food lobbyists, who contribute hundreds of millions of dollars a year to campaigns across the nation, to ensure that how food is produced in the US changes not a whit? It’s an unrealistic, dumb idea, so why bother bringing it up?
And while I suppose it would make you feel great to know that you taxes no longer fund air conditioning, heat waves in recent years both in the US and Europe have killed thousands without access to a cool environment. After one of those, you can say bye-bye to the politicians who supported that idea. And, you can expect even bigger government intervention “to make sure this never happens again,” which of course, will necessitate tax hikes. So far, both of your ideas have swollen the federal government massively, causing the need for more taxes. Thanks, Bob Gale!
As for healthcare, President Obama does not believe that every American should have access to government-paid healthcare. He does believe that every American should have access to healthcare. He is planning on accomplishing this in several ways. First, is allocating funds for adoption of health IT, which will streamline our fractured system, improve efficiencies and encourage patients to take a more active role in their healthcare. Likewise, many employer-based insurance systems are including incentives and disincentives in their programs. For example, many companies are funding smoking cessation and nutritional programs for their employees. Employers and the healthcare industry also are working together to proliferate the spread of electronic personal health records, giving the consumer access and control to their health information. Obama, as far as I understand, is not going with a single-payer plan, which would be impossible. Instead, he will likely take an approach that builds on the fractured system we already have. With true healthcare reform, you will have coverage for everyone, and the technology and incentives capable of helping patients meet their health goals. This way is much cheaper and much more enduring that your call for sending out the Cheese Police.
The only problem with this kind of thinking is that while it would force people that take handouts to suffer a bit for them, you set up a situation where you can be forced to take government money and thus be forced to surrender your rights.
At what point does living under protection of the police become “accepting government largess”?
If you use a public defender should you sacrifice your rights?
If you get laid off and take unemployment?
We’ve seen some examples of this (for example, you live in Section 8 housing, you have no 2nd Amendment rights). Making people less free is not a good thing.
I’d rather see all government handouts done away with first.
God help us when government is paying for health care and by extension “owns” our bodies.
SHAME-on you BOB, these are my tax dollars too, they should be given away to the people who don’t want to work as freely as to those who cant…..so belly up to the bar folks let me fill your glass.
President Obama thinks every American should have government paid healthcare. I strongly disagree, but if we go there, I think there should be some serious strings attached. Let’s start with these: If you smoke, you’re not eligible. If you drink, you’re not eligible. If you’re overweight, you’re not eligible.>> Sez Bob.
Dan adds – not only that, but Der State needs a few good informants to report on those who are morbidly obese but claim to be unemployed to to the cutbacks in the fashion modeling industry.
Why isn’t that a part of Die Stimulus?
Do you know how many jobs that would create? (no, you don’t because you’re not Paul Krugman)
The informants, their handlers, the political commissariat, the troikas of judges-slash-executioners, the GULag guards, etc. and that’s only a partial count.
When the economy is in recession, America needs a great leap forward into the great beyond.
Hail to the Chief!
Und … Heil, Der neue Führer!
[...] Attach Strings To Everyone Taking Taxpayer Money, Not Just Corporations [...]
Mr. Gale,
I absolutely agree with you! While we are at it, I believe that we should limit the pay that professional athletes receive. Haven’t most sports teams received some kind of public funding. We can also require government employees to be more efficient with their personal expenditures, after all, they do receive government money. There is no end to it…re-education camps, here we come!
When foodstamps were new (at least around here), they could only be used at special “government” stores that only carried good, solid food; beans, rice, cheese (sorry), powdered milk, etc… It was only later that some well meaning (?) government entity turned them into what they are now.
But that’s the way it is with almost every government program, they start out all nice and well-meaning and evolve into, well…foodstamps. Because people are more willing to vote for you if you give them steak money instead of beans money.
And for the record…. I firmly believe that one of the motivations of those pushing for government run health-care is to allow them to then place lifestyle restrictions on all who enroll and then make enrollment mandatory, thereby controlling everyone.
Just as heath care costs have been used as an excuse for seatbelt, smoking and trans-fat laws in different states; if the government gets absolute control of health care it will use it as a reason to make more laws telling us what to do and how to do it.
I think drug testing should be the number one requirement for ANY government aid.
Let’s not forget promiscuity! Think of the money that could be saved on health care through the government-enforced practice of monogamy.
Yeah, that’s gonna happen. But, as long as we’re putting strings on things…
Karen-
TANF is not food stamps. TANF is welfare, or more specifically the replacement for AFDC. (Aid for families with dependent children)
Presently, the only restriction on food stamps that I am aware of is that they cannot be used to buy prepared foods. (anything ready to eat)
I don’t know about other states, but here in WA, there is a pizza chain “Papa Murphy’s” that makes ready-to-bake pizzas and advertises that they accept food stamps.
I used to work as a care-provider for developmentally disabled adults and did plenty of grocery shopping for them with their food stamps (now, in WA, a plastic card) and I didn’t run into a single restriction. Packed food, raw food, soda, chips, candy, TV dinners, etc…
I think booze is off-limits, but I never tried to buy it.
I agree. You ask for a government bailout, you ask the government to run your life. Pure and simple. By the Way, aren’t the Hollywood studios in on the bailout? Any studio that gets bailout money ought to be limited to paying any actor, producer, or director a maximum of $500,000.00 per movie.
That’s going to happen.
I have an easier solution…
Why doesn’t the government NOT loan money out and not invest in private enterprises, and we all just go our merry way?
If people want to get a handout from Uncle Sam, then yes, there definitely should be restrictions on what should be purchased, etc. (even though I hate the system as it stands). My Mom’s on Medicare and SS and she shops at WalMart and second hand stores; that some wench is buying ORGANIC on food stamps (aka my tax dollars), so she can pursue her little ‘dream’ of sustainable fashion or whatever bollucks she has in mind infuriates me. Our dream is to live a Jeffersonian life, have lots of cats and farm a huge vegetable plot; when do we get to start living that life instead of paying for everyone else’s little ‘dream’ through our sweat?
I’m tired of paying for other people’s medical insurance, living costs, college, etc., (I never even got the finish my degree) while being demonised for working hard and having some success in life. Really is demotivating… why work if the government thinks someone needs the fruits of your labours worse than you? If ever there was a hot button for me…
MS, it’s not your or government’s job to dictate morality to ME. Really. Where’s the tipping point, when someone’s disincentive to work and choice to live on the government dole inconveniences me, the taxpayer? Do you know that more than 95% of all households living in ‘poverty’ have a colour television, and over 50% have more than one? Do you know what poverty means in the rest of the world? It means open sewers, malnutrition, high infant mortality rates and rampant disease. It doesn’t mean one TV per household and owning your own 3 bedroom home (46% of people living in poverty, according to the Census bureau, live in such a home. You can check out the fact here: http://www.heritage.org/Research/Welfare/bg1713.cfm ). There is virtually no difference between the nutrition of a poor child and a middle class child; what both consume, on average, exceeds recommended nutrition intake levels, and poor children eat more meat than higher income children. We all need to appreciate not only how successful America is, but how it enables a standard of living for nearly everyone living here that is the envy of the rest of the world.
Healthcare has problems because of restrictions and intervention. Government is fat, inefficient and wasteful, and you think it will ‘fix’ healthcare? The only thing that will make healthcare better is a more open and competitive environment, not some high paid bureaucrats 3000 miles away pushing pencils around on a desk, nor some politicians pontificating in the Senate and quickly passing unwieldy regulations so they can make their tee time at the Congressional golf course.
MS, EVERYONE has access to health care. If you’re in a car accident and taken to a trauma centre, you don’t get turned away if there isn’t an insurance card in your wallet. There are pay as you go dentists, providers and public clinics (even chains of clinics) for minor things (I’ve had to use them multiple times myself; they’re fine). I just had a friend lose a battle to cancer, after 4 million dollars in treatment costs total. Some his insurance picked up, some was waived, but they were still on the hook for about 700k. Did the hospital stop treatment, knowing that his family would have trouble paying (they lost their house even)? No. He had great treatment at NY Presbyterian and then at a rehab centre after his leg was amputated. It’s fallacious to claim that Americans don’t have access to health care. For goodness sakes, most major metropolitan cities have taxpayer subsidised clinics for the poor! Things need to be kept local, in communities, as much as possible.
If Obama doesn’t want ‘government paid healthcare’ but then you say at the end of everything all people WILL have healthcare, how will that be accomplished unless the taxpayer ends up footing the bill for everyone else, hmm? Or are you okay with that? Personally, I find the more people have given to them without any strings or requirements, the less they appreciate it; it appears to be one of the great laws of humanity.
The scores of children living in abject squalor in America is a myth; that’s not to say there aren’t cases of it, or that natural disasters don’t exacerbate conditions for people who are poor. However, there aren’t tens of millions of children and families on the verge of such pitiable conditions that government needs to repossess my funds and throw it at them. This ‘myth’ of the ‘millions without insurance or healthcare’ is concocted by politicians out of whole cloth in order to wrest control of your life from YOU. Politics is about two things; money and control. Politicians are always implying how life would be so much more UNFAIR without their intercessions; that government is the great arbiter, fair and just, and you need to trust it. You shouldn’t; government is only concerned with its own self-propagation, which is why our Founding Fathers tried to limits its scope.
Do you want government to tell you whether or not you’ll get a treatment for a disease? That’s what is happening in England, right now. Be careful what you wish for; will you really get something that is better than what we have right now?
I always remember a number of years ago, while I was waiting in a supermarket checkout line in Hamilton, Ohio. In front of me was this gi-normously obese blonde-haired woman of about 25. She was buying two 2 litre bottles of orange soda pop, a bag of Doritos and a box of white powdered donuts. She paid with food stamps.
The idea of restricting food stamps to staples has been proposed before, but of course the Food and Grocery Industry lobbies in opposition to that concept. Now it should be a matter of health care cost control, if we’re going to have poor uninsured people, they should at least be forced to have a proper diet.
I also remember well, an evening in Cincinnati, back in 1987, visiting a friend of mine. He was a 6′4″ 220lbs pot-head who had dreams of being a musician, and was happy to be on the dole, so he could spend his days sleeping and his nights getting high and playing his guitar. We were standing in his kitchen, and he pulled out a 5lbs. block of American Cheese and a plastic baggy filled with a few pounds of thinly sliced roast beef. He made a huge sandwich for himself and between bites, he said to me, “I’ve never understood why anyone would work for a living, when he can eat free roast beef sandwiches.” His meal had been provided by the Cincinnati Free Store, where the poor could go to receive free groceries.
Now, certainly there are many people who are ill, mentally disturbed, displaced, or just plain unlucky and beaten down. We need a social service net for them. But the abuses are overwhelming.
Let’s see, if the media is using stuff from the government, like the frequencies regulated by the FCC, then how about setting a $500,000 limit on how much ABC, NBC, and CBS can spend on the nightly newscasters.
I mean, are we going to say it takes more talent to read the news off of a tele prompter than be the top executive for, say, Citigroup or Bank of America?
Better yet: Leave the cap at $500,000, but apply it to universities and hospitals that take federal dollars — they burn far more money than AIG. No more million-dollar coaching jobs, no more university presidents with million-dollar salaries, either. Oh, wait. Obama’s wife made over $300,000 as a p.r. flack for a Chicago hospital, and his brother-in-law makes big bucks as a college coach. Never mind!
[...] Hollywood. I stumbled upon an entry today by Bob Gale to the political blog Big Hollywood. Big Hollywood Blog Archive Attach Strings To Everyone Taking Taxpayer Money, Not Just Corporations I’m not posting this to discuss the topic of the article, but just to point you towards something [...]
If the President’s going after CEOs, he needs to go after athletes and actors next…
Limit their salaries to 500K a year, too…after all, they do even less for their money…and employ far fewer people…than CEOs.
Did you know that Congress just raised their petty cash fund by an additional $93,000 per year per congressman. The yearly rate before said raise was approx. 1.3 mil to 1.6 mil for each person in Congress. This money is spent to help their constituents. What? This is “spending” money, pocket change. Can we do anything about it? Absolutely not! Of course, they will respond with “well, that amount of money is less than half a percent of the total budget or some other bs. I want some accountability, or as BO would say transparency. Show me the money… or what the heck you spent it on.
Kelly said:
“Let’s not forget promiscuity! Think of the money that could be saved on health care through the government-enforced practice of monogamy.
Yeah, that’s gonna happen. But, as long as we’re putting strings on things…”
You are close, but not thinking like a lib.
Nancy Pelosi said that birth control funding (read abortion support) in the latest stimulus package would actually SAVE the government money because there wouild be fewer welfare babies (my term, not hers) born as a result!
…hey, let’s not forget all the taxpayer $$ going to the UN and other 3rd world countries. How about the internal organizations that are committed to destroying this country like the ACLU, MESA, and other groups.
My biggest problem with some of this is how do you define the parameters? For example: the overweight thing. I’ll fully fess up to being overweight now. However, when I was younger I was constantly told I was too fat and needed to drop some weight because the Body Mass Indexes calculated out that my body measurements said I was fat. This was when I could pass my Civil Air Patrol Squadron’s SAR PT qualifications (20 miles, no stopping, full pack -which for me was a normal pack + 1/2 a stokes basket + ELT receiver and 2 batteries). I jogged it without stopping, just slowing down to a walk for a 1/2 a mile every 2 miles. Can’t do that if you’re obese.
My Army recruiter was kinda the same way. He was like 5′7″ and 200 lbs, but none of it was fat. His BMI said he should be kicked for being a tubbo, so he was always having to go in to the medical stations to prove he wasn’t.
That’s kinda the curse of guys like him and me, who are built a bit like gorillas. No matter what we do, all the medical measurements for obesity say we’re fat. And I know beureucrats well enough to just deny someone needed help outright because the paper says they’re fat, even if the guy is standing in front of them and looks like Schwartzenegger in his prime.
This is a good piece pointing out what a strange road we have started down. All of the sudden, it is “evil” to have worked so hard that you make tons of money and fly “evil” corporate jets! Nonsense! The only leaving on the corporate jet is capitalism if this keeps up!
http://conservativeamerican.org/political-humor/capitalism-takes-corporate-jet-out-of-town/
What a great article! I couldn’t agree with the author more. It makes me sick to see the things that people are able to spend my tax money on, saving their own money for cigarettes and beer.
HOWEVER, herein lies the real danger of socialism. Socialism sounds like a great idea, but there’s no free lunch. It may sound nice to have the government wipe your butt, but in the end, they choose the toilet paper… and how many times a day you can stool… etc.
The trade off for socialism is a loss of individual liberty. Get ready to see it chipped away like never before.
I want caps on the amount of money these bloodsucking criminal congresscritters can make AFTER they leave their cushy legislative jobs! Talk about taking government money – they take a salary, benefits, perks, and then go lobby and make millions!
GROWLTIGER , you stole my mantra and I thank you for now I know that I am not the ONLY one
Representation without Taxation is not fair to those of us that pay the bills. I am growing more convinced that on should be a “real” property owner before one can vote, I think removing that was the beginning of the end of a free America because it allows the underclass to be bought with bobbles and shiny things.
In response to Pam L from Feb 5, 2009 I have this to say…..
You do not know the 98% percent of the people you are referring to, but I believe your lack of compassion is despicable. Not every claimant is trying to screw the system (I highly doubt it’s 98% of them) and some of us that have had to deal with OWCP and their, sometimes, incompetent, claims examiners have major frustration with not being able to get treatment in order to become a productive member of society again.
I am no welfare queen and due to the US Postal Service not thinking of the safety of their employees I was injured due to sheer laziness by our maintenance staff. If they could’ve salted and sanded our employee parking lot maybe I wouldn’t be in the predicament I am in now, but I made every attempt to get well and get back to work. OWCP, however, delayed and ignored requests that would have surely helped me. Now my employing agency has chosen not to accomadate my limitations set by my Dr after getting as well as they felt I could get. It certainly isn’t for lack of trying and after OWCP dropped me I even used my own money to persue further treatment hoping to return to a job I loved.
With all that said, I am no welfare queen and I know this because I am now working for less than half of what I made with the US Post Office, but it’s the best I can do for now (at least its a job and I’m not sitting around hoping for the money ferrie to show up) with my Drs limitations. I am taking courses to learn a completely new set of skills after doing the same thing for 17 years that will hopefully make me more employable and might help me make a bit more money-on my own dime, no less.
Before you judge us all you might want to rethink your statistics. Some of us are hard workers and when we were injured truly wanted to go back to work. OWCP made it hard for me. I live in rural Alaska and was told numerous times that where I live ha definete bearing on decisions by OWCP because of the expense of travel to good doctors that could help me more so than what we have here. I was told this by more than one federal attorney that turned down my case due to this problem while I was trying to get myself some help. Some of us really do want to get back to work ASAP, but we can’t if you aren’t willing to help us. Go figure!!
With all that said
I think this is a very good article and I completely agree with it. Oh, don’t forget – no buying or leasing Escalades and “blinging” them out on our dime either. Purchase a used, reliable vehicle with good fuel economy to get you from point A to point B.
Pam L. I am one of those injured postal employees, I am not a cheat nor am I a liar or thief, If I were I believe I would qualify for a job next to you! What I am is crippled because an idiot like you decided to play God with my life for a bonus check, now I am a Handicap, And I must thank the Government for my constant pain. Oh by the way I was considered the best clerk we had, extremely dedicated and worked in extreme pain, but I lost my job while fighting for a surgery to save my life it took 2 years. I know the game, deny,deny and lie! I have to ask how do you sleep at night? and remember your day will come when you have to answer to the guy upstairs, I will keep my integrity that you sold off when you played God with others health. I will pray for you.
Pam L.
Walk in our shoes then run your mouth! Hope you never get hurt on the job, you might be on vacation like the rest of us. retired medical postal employee , and still on OWCP- by the way to get a medical retirement it has to be approved!! YOU CAN'T JUST TRY TO TAKE A VACATION!!
Thank You! Pam L , should have her position reavaulated since she is obviously biased against Postal workers. We are probably the hardest working Government employees.
Pam, I am one of those that felt a pop, it ended up being 3 ruptures that literally crippled me, For nearly 18 months I was in agonizing pain, mri.'s don't lie but some ce's do, I think it's disgusting and you should have your position looked into for putting such a biased opinion on the web during your work hours. I had a life I loved my job and sitting at home crying all night because I couldn't sleep wasnt my idea of fun, SHAME ON YOU FOR POSTING YOUR LIES!!!!!!!!!
[...] For instance, why could they not keep their health care if they left the welfare rolls? Big Hollywood
I don't no where you get your statistics Pam L. but you have a hell of a nerve. I am a Postal worker and have been injured to the point that my whole life has been affected. There isn't a day I don't have pain. I gave 100% on my job and still would if they let me. I worked with the pain till the NRP program ousted me and you at OWCP denied me. Now I may loose the little I have because a CE like you (mentally unstable in my opinion) decide to sit at a desk and judge. You must hate your job–step down I'll happily work it. Have you ever heard the saying "There but for the sake of God goes I". How can you sleep at night.
In 2005, Feb. 11th- Pam, I had an Attempt of Murder on my Life-while I was at work, (in Security @ the Umatilla Army Chemical Depot)! I now am on OWCP-which I can not tell you the level of Hell OWCP has introduced me to! I am a 14 yr. Female Veteran, who was a Arial Medical Support Personnel for the US Army-NOT NOW! OWCP expressed to me for over 4.5 years that they were paying me all they possibly could-which was a loss of Drill pay, and such-they expressed that they were sorry, I wasn't able to eat well. BY the way-I am purchasing my home-which is actually cheaper than renting! But, I bought my house month's before the Commander of this Depot Terminated/Reinstated the acknowledged "Safety Risk"-which proved to be right! OH sorry-I got a bit off track, while ONLY having my House payment, Car payment-which had been purchased while living the "American Dream"-Working! I was "Given" as OWCP likes to put it 1562. am month, my bills only to keep my Home, Car, and lights on….1599.00 I made payment arrangement-which is beyond Embarrassing as Hell! OWCP after I followed the Directive-Judgment of the Federal Court and wanted my entire case Reviewed by the SECRETARY OF LABOR, found suddenly that they had been in ERROR. I had been not paid correctly for 4.5 years, and was also eligible for SSI, of which I was told I could have NO OTHER FINANCIAL HELP! Come to my House all 852 square feet of it for Dinner! By the way even knowing that Michele Holloman parked on my 96 lb chest with a Four Door Dodge Ram-Work Truck-for over a full minute, after bashing in my Skull- (four Major Skull Fractures/ three Facial Fractures/ forehead & Right Eye Lid Torn off, and all the Ribs on the Right side broken into pieces, and Permanent Nerve Damage….Holloman received 56,000.$ from OWCP due to, (??????) !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! OWCP is a Devils Work Shop!
You must be logged in to post a comment.