Feds paying you to watch TV


According to the Federal government, you can't be trusted to make your own decisions
This is one of the worst cases of government pork this year.

Here's where the absurdities start piling up. The bipartisan party line is that many of these antenna folks are elderly ladies in nursing homes or people too poor to pay for digital TVs or basic cable. And since they need television in order to keep abreast of their democratic rights, e.g., to see political ads, Congress says that they must be given financial aid so they can rush out and buy a set-top converter box that will let them see the newfangled signals like the real digital homesteads do.

Never mind that an estimated price of a converter box by 2009--$50--is the cost of a few cigarette packs in New York or perhaps a bag of organic produce and some free-range chickens. And don't bother pointing out that Uncle Sam doesn't reimburse people when their TVs break, or when they must pay for cable because they can't receive a clear local signal. This is different, subsidy advocates insist. "This is the government making your TV go black and then paying only part of the costs for some of the people to make it work again," Gene Kimmelman of Consumers Union told the New York Times.

Forget about the cost, admittedly small in comparison to the Federal budget.

This is direct government intervention in the free market.

And if the metric system is any guide, this is a "solution" that will prolong and possibly prevent the changeover.

Not to mention that NO ONE will want to pay for converter boxes if they can have a free one.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Fri - December 23, 2005 at 05:06 AM  Tag


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