[Callahan]

Every government program is "vital." That's why we can never eliminate anything. We'll just keep on our merry, bankrupt way and tax the "rich" for the money we need.

[pollywog]

Every government program is "vital." That's why we can never eliminate anything. We'll just keep on our merry, bankrupt way and tax the "rich" for the money we need.

I can tell you have never had experience with a autistic child or adult.The wear on a marriage, family and then trickle down effect into the community is staggering.!!

[Numbers Guy]

Every government program is "vital." That's why we can never eliminate anything. We'll just keep on our merry, bankrupt way and tax the "rich" for the money we need.

Another way to save a significant amount of money with these programs is to means test them and have the users pay for them on a sliding scale. The greater the income, the greater the user contribution. That doesn't save the full amount, but it's much more difficult for someone to argue that people with decent incomes shouldn't pay for a portion (or all, if they're making a large income) of respite and other services. And those families who can't afford respite services are still fully covered.

[ambrose]

Yup. For every program, there's a committed interest group that genuinely feel that the spending is "vital"... That's how this budget mess got created in the first place.

[GeronL]

We should cut bureaucrats. We could cut welfare in half without cutting welfare 'benefits'.

[GeronL]

I understand that only about 20% of welfare dollars actually makes it to the poor.

[anonymous86]

Yes, I agree with that point. I personally have Asperger's Syndrome, a form of autism. I have also worked with autistic children, so I have a soft spot for them. However, I understand that free lunches don't exist, and that we can have those services privately (at lower cost and higher quality). Services aren't truly essential, because as self-governed people, we have the responsibility and right to find and cover our own services (which can be done at low cost if we let each private service have its own system).

[tinacart]

"Every government program is "vital." That's why we can never eliminate anything. We'll just keep on our merry, bankrupt way and tax the "rich" for the money we need."

I agree with you 100%! When I vote, I just go down the list and look at whether it will raise my tax - I don't care WHAT it's for, even if it's to help my dear ol' mum, or law enforcement, or my grandchildren, etc. However, if we'd EVER, EVER stop wasting so much money and stop helping other countries out to the point we do, we could help everyone in our country that has a need. But, that will never happen - we know that. So, it's a Catch-22. We are all pitted against one another...