pippin;480551 Wrote: > How true. We had this before, I don't want to judge on the US, but we > just got a new, conservative government here in Germany and it's amazing > at which pace they can throw all the money out of the window the > socialists had to work so hard for seven years to save...
the fact of the matter is that neither conservatives nor socialists are any good at saving money or constraining gov't budgets to live within their means and revenue, but having said that, philosophically speaking here in america anyway, the right believes in lower taxes and lower spending, while the left believes in the opposite. it should be pointed out that a constitutional amendment to force balanced budgets was proposed by the right, and shot down by the left, (again, here in the USA) pippin;480551 Wrote: > Always the same issue: Conservatives talk responsibility, socialists do > it, so sad... not here. the left is never, NEVER, responsible. the right is only better by comparison, but not by much. pippin;480551 Wrote: > To be fair, they look like they throw money out of the window with just > a little slower pace than the last gvnmt, which had the socialists and > the conservatives teamed up, that's always the worst ones... > > But that's all off topic. On topic, a little outside view that will > also not be helpful: > 1. I like NPR radio, it's the only talk radio out of the US I listen to > from time to time and deem worthwhile, a lot of US media, from an > outside view, look very, well, let's call it locally focussed. we govern at the local level more than the EU, and we generate enough news on our own to not really be interested in what germany or thailand is up to. in other words, we have enough on our plate. if you like npr, great, listen. just don't ask me to pay for it. pippin;480551 Wrote: > 2. We here in Germany have big, publicly funded stations and quite > frankly, they are a bloated mess. The good thing is, you don't pay for > them through the general tax bill but through dedicated (mandatory) > fees, so you see how much you pay but still it's a big mess. They have > _some_ good informational programming and some quality stuff (none of > the private broadcasting media in Germany have _any_ quality programming > except sports) but the public radios run even more commercials than the > private ones and most of the TV money is spent on either cheap copies of > talk shows, really, really, bad shows and, worst of all, sports. > I have nothing against sports, I watch a lot of it, bt it's the one > area where also private networks in Germany excel and for my life I will > _never_ understand why I need to be forced to pay 10$ a month for > something that I could just as well get for free, and there IS a private > business case for the Olympics and the German Bundesliga, you can tell > from the prices at which the public TV has to outbid the private one... at least pretty much everyone has agreed on the waste and inefficieny of the public media model. i simply detest being forced to pay for npr/pbs. how is that democratic? its truly insane. anything gov't subsidized is always inefficient, and worse it often has the opposite effect. meaning that why would the private sector even TRY to fill a void or need when you can't win competing with the gov't? pippin;480551 Wrote: > So, it's always so complicated... I would love to spend my tax money on > tax financing some decent information - which I don't believe you really > have a valid business case for, I tend to see the US media as a proof of > that. I feel dramatically uninformed or desinformed, at least through > TV, whenever I'm there. > And then there's all this stuff like niche programming and also > promotion of new concepts, experiments and things. > I would really like to pay for these, but fact is, the bulk of it is > for crap and things I could just as well get for free... you're free to your opinion, but frankly you're not an american and you're far far left, certainly to any normal american. i'm not saying that to denigrate you, not at all... i'm just saying that when you say "there's no decent info available via private sector" [paraphrased] i don't think you're a trustworthy impartial judge b/c your view is so skewed. what always amazes me about the people who support tax dollars for whatever media, or information, or what have you, is that they are SO committed to it as an idea, ....that is, as long as its "info" they AGREE with. if npr/pbs had sean hannity and rush on, somehow i think the left would be in the streets! i mean, this is the issue, is it not? you're all for it as an idea, "public media" unless it offends your sensibilities. bill moyers, terry gross, etc... these are people i'm sure YOU think have "decent ideas" and offer "decent info." i disagree. now, thats fine and truly very american. whats unamerican about it is making me pay for it. i keep repeating myself on this, but its worth it: the beef isn't with the programming or the views expressed, i don't care what they are, or which way they lean, or what they say! the beef is with FORCING me, and all taxpayers, to fund the enterprise. its just truly ridiculous given the age we live in and the fiscal reality all around us. even if i agreed with the general thrust of the political parts, which i rarely do, i STILL would object to taxing anyone for it! pbs/npr is an anachronism and i don't see how anyone can argue that it should get anyones money by gunpoint, (which is what taxation is, you have NO choice). -- MrSinatra www.lion-radio.org using: sb2 & sbc (my home) / sbr (parent's home) - sbs 7.4.2b - win xp pro sp3 ie8 - p4(ht) 3.2ghz / 2gig ram - 1tb wd usb2 raid1 - d-link dir-655 - 35k mp3 ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MrSinatra's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2336 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=70539 _______________________________________________ squeezenetwork mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/mailman/listinfo/squeezenetwork
