Shoving this here since Mr. 0X so rudely stole my ~econ spot... within like two hours of publishing... cut me some slack, sir. #1412912
On top of a mountain in Yosemite in September last year, with the nation’s fiscal troubles and the size of the federal government about as far from my thoughts as could be, I would suddenly be reminded of the deeply entrenched divides of American society and contemporary politics.
As my travel companion (a highly educated, woke, fairly average Californian in her 30s) and I approached the peak, we encountered an odd-looking man in a hat. He and his half-dozen collaborators were finding the optimal camera angles and comparing the sun-blistered vistas of the surrounding mountains to century-old drawings. Our new acquaintance turned out to be a filmmaker, until recently employed by PBS.
Our hat-wearing filmmaker and my friend looked at each other with quick, pained smiles and “hmm” that only two artsy, big-government types can, the words “tragedy” and “cultural decline” visible across their faces. And there we stood, lamenting in no uncertain terms the “destruction of America” that a sum — all $1 billion of it, spent by the federal government in about an hour — had needlessly brought to our attention. What’s a billion among friends, when the federal government dashes out seven thousand such billions every year?
Very much enjoyed writing that... I got all my fav things (minus bitcoin...): dig on insane wokies and stuck-up journos, rallying against oversized government, commenting on cultural decline. And nice lil sentences, and phrases like "political-media industrial complex, which idolizes all things public and taxpayer-funded."
There was a brief, shallow moment when proposing to cut government spending was cool: Elon Musk wielded the memetic chainsaw, a poor impersonation of Argentina’s Javier Milei, and Mr. Trump spoke of “tremendous waste” and “bad spending.” Of course, that impetus didn’t last too long. The total waste cut from the outsized federal government amounted to a rounding error, of which CPB might become the most lasting icon.
The funniest part to me is that these dummies don’t seem to realize that nothing about PBS or NPR even has to change, if they just pay a small subscription for it.
The truth is... all peoples who think the government, any government has the right to steal from one person and give it to another supports theft. They support violence. They can make all the claims that they are for helping the poor, those in need, promoting culture or national defense. As soon as it is NOT voluntary it is theft.
The only reason they don't feel bad about it is because it has been abstracted away from them. I have found that people just can't question certain things that the majority believe even if it is clearly wrong.
The argument goes, whatever that needs funding is vital. Weird how so many vital things around us exist because people voluntarily pay for them. They will say, well the poor would starve. Not if you and others like you voluntarily helped them. This is when the mask drops. They don't admit it but they are saying force is required because people are greedy and someone needs to make them pay.
Never mind all the grift that happens with tax money. Never mind the waste. Never mind the bitterness of the tax payer. The division making everything a political issue causes. Its the way its done.
Do people really want PBS? Yeah, many do. Do many people want USAID to exist? Yeah many do. If you really wanna make something rock solid and free of the risk of a Musk or Trump shutting it down. Make it private. Make it funded by individuals. Make it really democratic. If something is that important to you why would you ever want the state to run it.
The truth is, people haven't thought about this stuff deeply. They are just at the mercy of the systems of control. The old tired Internet meme is true. They are sheeple. Led to the slaughter. Pitted against their neighbors for no good reason that the desire of sociopaths to obtain power.
All the problems the state creates could be solved if we would lose this delusion. We are no where near that reality. Your neighbor is not your enemy. Your "Representative" likely is though.
There are two basic arguments to "taxation is theft".
People will come up with other things but they are just rewording of these two.
The first is silly to me. The second is admitting it is theft and just saying well... we have to do it.
My main opposition to taxes is actually that it is an antiquated idea that leads to conflict like all theft. Its mainly that I personally am being robbed. Most productive people are being robbed. The larger crime is what we are missing if we would reject this as a culture and embrace markets and personal responsibility.
Cutting off PBS and NPR was part of Contract with America, 1994, Newt Gingrich
If only they had gotten it done then
Nothing ever happens. This is my main problem with the "trust the plan" vibe.
I've been around. I've heard big promises. I will admit Trump has delivered on some things more than others but it's done more to prove to me how entrenched the deep state actually is than anything.
Most political figures don't even want to do anything. They just want to to appear like they are trying. They don't have to show results and if the results are bad it rarely comes back on them outside of an election which is really not a big deal.
If Trump or the powers end up doing good I'll be pleasantly surprised. I'm just highly skeptical
The freakout over Trump “gutting our institutions” would make you think he had gone further than rolling back the last few years of expansion.
The way they were talking when DOGE was a thing was that they would be shutting it down. Hows that going? Are stations closing around the US? Is PBS gonna go out of business? Or like every operation is it having to make adjustments.
I believe they are shutting down the Corporation for Public Broadcasting which is upstream of them.
I don’t know if the individual stations will be shut down or if they just have to stand on their own.
Oh really? Interesting. Well... many business shut down every day. No one in culture mourns them broadly. Yet, when something is government backed it is headline news and we are all suppose to be concerned and worried. Its so odd and telling.
Well, yeah. This is a threat to our Democracy (rule by Democrats), after all.
Every once and a while Trump will say something that sticks with me. A while back he said, in passing something about them calling themselves the Democratic party and not the Democrat party. Subtle but regardless of facts its interesting and makes sense to me.
Democracy is just a pretense to allow people to justify using force for things they want that others don't. Its a scam really.
I've been watching the new season of Fallout and a line from one of the corporate villains surprised me. It surprised me because usually popular culture doesn't touch this type of thing. Guy says something like the ultimate democracy, people buying our products. Its something I agree with but of course in this case its the bad guy and his company benefited from political favors I'm sure.
Free choice and trade is actually the real democracy. But as will all forms of it... its not always good because humans aren't good.
Since I neither trust Trump nor the Internet on this I'm not sure if he's right about Democrat vs. Democratic but I'm inclined to think he's right about the insinuation but wrong technically. Believe the actual name has been Democratic since the split with the Republicans.
Leech party is really what they should be called.
WHAT, PAY?!
WHAT ABOUT THE POOOR PEOPLE WHO CAN'T AFFORD IT YOU TWAT?!
Make it optional and send them a ribbon that tells everyone what an enlightened generous good person they are.