sawguard
03-11-2010, 06:45 PM
Gripe #1: The government of the state of Louisiana decides that in the name of "good government", they are going to help small(and large businesses). So they take tax dollars, paid by citizens and create not one, but several state sponsored organizations that in fact compete directly with private companies.
The pisser to me is that most of the tax dollar funded organizations: a) offer their services to the same general clientele that private organizations serve and b) offer those services free of charge. While private organizations have to charge for their services because they need to buy gas and beans and pay their state taxes, the government uses those same tax dollars to compete unethically against the very same people who support the government. Louisiana Fast Start, Manufacturer's Extension Partnership, The Small Business Development Centers, the Minority Business Development Centers, the Prison Enterprises....all of these government funded organizations compete directly with many privately owned Louisiana companies that provide the same or similar services. I call Bull shit.
Gripe # 2. Today, I get an email from the Small Business Development Center at SLU(see above reference), inviting me to a special program for entrepreneurs. The focus is on women entrepreneurs, but they solicit my "registration fee" and offer for me to pay for an exhibit space to offer my own consulting services to the participants registering for the program. So, I sign up and agree to pay my $35. So the majority of the participants may be women, they are entrepreneurs(my clients), and some of them need the services I offer, plus if a bunch of them will be in one place at the same time, great opportunity to network...which is the claimed purpose of the entire event.
So, 2 hours after I register, I get a call from the manager of one of the tax dollar supported organizations that competes directly with private organizations, UN-inviting me because the program is "for women."
Two questions... a) What would happen if there were a Men's conference and although women were sent invitations, women were not welcome and were in fact un-invited? Or what about a Chinese American seminar, or a Short Person's seminar that purposely excluded people NOT in the primary group, who paid their own registration fee and had a bonified reason to attend?
This is pure and total bullshit.
In the case of Gripe # 1..I get the whole idea of "government doing public good" and " you can't
serve one audience without offending another". Having the government compete with private industry, while using tax dollars is just really really wrong, especially in such a piss poor economy.
In Gripe# 2, how can a group of publicly funded organizations blatantly exclude and discriminate against any group simply because it might "freak out" the organizers. (Quote by manager of the sponsoring organization)
I am inviting comments and suggested courses of action. It's just a couple of cases of shit that I am sick of that forces stupid government ideas on the very people who support the government morons.
The pisser to me is that most of the tax dollar funded organizations: a) offer their services to the same general clientele that private organizations serve and b) offer those services free of charge. While private organizations have to charge for their services because they need to buy gas and beans and pay their state taxes, the government uses those same tax dollars to compete unethically against the very same people who support the government. Louisiana Fast Start, Manufacturer's Extension Partnership, The Small Business Development Centers, the Minority Business Development Centers, the Prison Enterprises....all of these government funded organizations compete directly with many privately owned Louisiana companies that provide the same or similar services. I call Bull shit.
Gripe # 2. Today, I get an email from the Small Business Development Center at SLU(see above reference), inviting me to a special program for entrepreneurs. The focus is on women entrepreneurs, but they solicit my "registration fee" and offer for me to pay for an exhibit space to offer my own consulting services to the participants registering for the program. So, I sign up and agree to pay my $35. So the majority of the participants may be women, they are entrepreneurs(my clients), and some of them need the services I offer, plus if a bunch of them will be in one place at the same time, great opportunity to network...which is the claimed purpose of the entire event.
So, 2 hours after I register, I get a call from the manager of one of the tax dollar supported organizations that competes directly with private organizations, UN-inviting me because the program is "for women."
Two questions... a) What would happen if there were a Men's conference and although women were sent invitations, women were not welcome and were in fact un-invited? Or what about a Chinese American seminar, or a Short Person's seminar that purposely excluded people NOT in the primary group, who paid their own registration fee and had a bonified reason to attend?
This is pure and total bullshit.
In the case of Gripe # 1..I get the whole idea of "government doing public good" and " you can't
serve one audience without offending another". Having the government compete with private industry, while using tax dollars is just really really wrong, especially in such a piss poor economy.
In Gripe# 2, how can a group of publicly funded organizations blatantly exclude and discriminate against any group simply because it might "freak out" the organizers. (Quote by manager of the sponsoring organization)
I am inviting comments and suggested courses of action. It's just a couple of cases of shit that I am sick of that forces stupid government ideas on the very people who support the government morons.