[at-l] Re: PBS was THE ATC & Membership therein - a bit longish

[jbullar1 at twcny.rr.com (Jim Bullard)]

At 08:52 PM 6/4/2005 -0400, Carol Donaldson wrote:
>I'm gonna toss a log on this fire.  I agree that PBS is probably a great 
>waste of taxpayers money, but so are a LOT of other "government" 
>controlled agencies.  They start out with good intentions and then get 
>top-heavy with personnel.  No one can stop the train and before you know 
>it, the agency's only goal is to raise money to pay for all the 
>personnel.  The original reason for the organization or agency has been 
>diluted yet no one in Congress is willing to step up and say "we can 
>abolish this agency as it's original mandate was met in 1970 and there is 
>no longer a political or practical reason for its existence."

And I'm going to give you something to think about re: commercial 
broadcasting. Have you ever considered that nearly everything you buy has a 
"tax" on it that supports commercial TV and/or radio? All those products 
that get advertised have higher prices (a "private, non-governmental tax") 
that pays for the cost of the ads to convince people to buy the product? 
Have you ever considered that you pay that non-governmental tax whenever 
you buy the product even if you never watch/listen to the stations/programs 
they support? Have you ever thought about the tax break the companies get 
for the "business expense" of buying advertising, an expense they paid with 
dollars they took from *your* pocket without asking you? Something to think 
about when you wonder "why does this cost so much?".

At least when PBS asks for your money they are up front about it.