Time for the idea of public broadcasting to end?

As financial supporter of OPB and CPR as well as a devout NPR listener, I'm coming around to the idea that I can live with commercials or up my support.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB100...6176663789314074.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEADTop

I don't really give two shits about the left-leaning bias of public broadcasting; I enjoy many of those shows. I just don't think we can afford the luxury of public broadcasting when its original idea--reaching the entire country--has been achieved.

What's wrong with the idea of being a 100% privately-supported non-profit?

 

Would this make a significant financial impact on the deficit, or would Congress be better served to work on actual tax reform like closing loopholes for corporations to get out of paying taxes?

 

Isn't it possible to do both? I think anywhere we can save money, we should endeavor to do so.

 

I'm not by nature a nationalistic person. But there are a few things I'm always really impressed by when I think of the US government. The ability to put a man on the moon and robots on Mars, the ability to deliver a fuck-ton of mail to 300 million people, the sheer massive scale of our interstate traffic system.... I don't put public radio and tv in that caliber in terms of sheer achievement, but in terms of bang-for-buck it's right up there.

I'm happy paying my taxes to support it. I'm happy having our government forcing you to pay your taxes for it too. It does a great job of informing our country, which does benefit even non-listeners. A more informed society is a richer one.

If its costs were somehow in line with, say, farm subsidies or the latest jet fighter, I'd feel differently. But changing it seems mostly like a change for the sake of small government ideological consistency. That's not enough of a reason in my book.

 

The problem is that it's not all of your money, nor is it all of mine. $0.41 of every dollar is borrowed money. We may like PBS, but we shouldn't borrow to fund it. We have to look in every nook and crannie to find money to reduce our deficit and our debt. I don't think ending the subsidies to the CPB is unreasonable. And I'm willing to double my contribution to OPB and CPR to help fund them if it goes down that path. I would hope all others who enjoy the programming provided would make the same pledge.

 

Seems like another political move to me. Right going after it because liberal bias and because funded by government. Almost in same way they are going after unions. Anything that can weaken the less.

Truth of the matter is we can't afford anything, including defense or whatever, because we are in a huge deficit. But cutting this makes no difference. Stop worrying about the little bull shit and start doing your damn job and make the big cuts to everything... especially defense and foreign aid.

 

++ indeed. Cut public broadcasting, but make sure you cut other crap that is gobbling up a ton of money. Maybe we need to stop spending billions on Iraq & Israel as well. Where is that money coming from? We may very well need to raise taxes to get the money to pay for the debt. It's silly to think our 13 trillion + deficit is really going to be fixed by getting rid of public broadcasting. If $0.41 of every dollar is a borrowed money, that means we have a government that is 41% too big. Let's slash ALL programs 41% & see where we end up. Killing Wisconsin public unions & defunding public broadcasting, is that all people can come up with? Really?

@maxiep, what kind of tax hike would you be willing to accept after the cuts are determined to not be enough? If you don't want to take a tax increase, then line out your budget that solves the 41% overspending.

 

It's a two stage process. The government is like a supertanker; it takes a while to stop or turn around.

Stage One: Cut costs to the bone. Dump the Department of Education, the Department of Energy and make the Department of Agriculture a non-cabinet position. Sell government properties. Eliminate Federal subsidies to farmers.

Simplify the tax system, both for corporations and for individuals. A flat rate or a mildly progressive rate works. Get rid of the capital gains tax and the estate tax. Adhere to the concept of money being taxed once. That should allow us to largely eliminate the IRS. Getting rid of loopholes goes a long way to getting rid of crony capitalism.

The goal is to decrease the size and scope of government (expenses) while increasing GDP (revenue). You have to do both to tackle the deficit and the debt.

Stage Two: Address entitlements. Get rid of the prescription drug subsidy. Raise the retirement age to five years less than the average life span. Allow for health care savings accounts. Raise deductibles for Medicare. Means test for Social Security and Medicare.

Revamp the military. We have more Admirals than we do warships. That's ridiculous. Define our mission and focus on what kind of military we need to fulfill it. Sell off or close bases that don't make sense anymore. We can't be concerned if cities die because they don't have a base nearby. Re-evaluate our bases in other countries. Start charging countries like South Korea and Saudi Arabia for defending them.

Get rid of baseline budgeting. Provide incentives for government workers to save money (allow them to keep a percentage of the money they save for a program; give managers a bonus based on the money they return to the government from their budget). Outlaw public worker unions. I couldn't care less if a Federal employee makes a $750,000 bonus if they save the taxpayers $75,000,000. You want great employees? Incentivize them.

Come up with a 50 year plan to pay off our debt. Create a separate "debt tax" that goes specifically to paying off the debt. When the debt is paid off, the tax goes away. Any surplus in the budget goes directly to paying off the debt.

Enact a balanced-budget amendment with an exception of wartime.

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That's a start. It's a rough outline. The bottom line is that the Federal Government has gotten too big and is trying to do too much. States should take over many of these responsibilities, if they wish. If they don't, then it goes unfulfilled. People can vote with their feet.

 

No, it isn't.

There is so much work to be done on real money pits that even 1 minute spent considering small potatoes like this deliberate time-wasting diversion from the far-right lessens our slim chance of cutting anything meaningful.

And I assume by "left-leaning bias" you mean factual truths, supported by science and personal observation as opposed to lies and fairy tales made up by corporate sponsors.

Public Broadcasting was created to ensure the people would have access to the truth since our media industry is not designed to, nor does it desire to, provide it.

 

Cutting public broadcasting does nothing whatsoever to solve the budget dilemma. its not even .01% of the budget. This is just a shot over the bow in the culture wars.

If the GOP were actually serious about cutting the deficit, they would talk about things like cuts to Medicare, raising the SS age, defense cuts, and raising taxes.

But this? This is just a dog and pony show, as usual.

 

Does reducing the deficit even .01% not still reducing the deficit?

If I ever ran a shortfall with my personal budget, I would cut everything that's not a necessity.

 

We should cut all government and have everything run by corporations. They can make all the laws, decide who will be appointed....I mean elected, and I am sure they will always favor public safety over profits.

 

Is Public Broadcasting filling a role not already done by privately funded television? If CPB were defunded completely, would it disappear?

 

I think what maris is ranting about, is that the republicans can say "Hey look we cut X dollars! You, the public don't deal with money on this scale, so it sounds like a lot! Thus we don't need to cut the stuff we stuff our pockets with."

 

I Love NPR, but they do select certain stories to talk about that liberals are more interested in. When they get into areas that the Right supports they still tell the truth as well (or at least both sides).

 

Every dollar counts.

 

So you'd still fund healthcare, personally speaking. Pretty much everyone agrees the human body needs health care.

And of course food, water and air that are safe enough to eat, drink and breathe. Again, needed. Structurally sound shelter? Yep. A little monthly SS stipend tucked away with the government for retirement so you won't be a burden on your fellow posters? I sure hope so. Basic education for your children so they can become productive members of society? Most parents would feel that necessary. A mode of transportation either public or private depending on your needs and location of job...highways, bridges, railways, paths?

Now here's the spot where it get's awkward. You've stayed within your personal budget (1st person I ever heard say that) and suddenly there's a knock on the door. It's your neighbor Biff who lost his job awhile back and then his house and his kids are hungry and he needs to borrow $20 for some basic foodstuffs, Krusteaz, Mac 'n cheese just to get by for a week til his new job starts. Biff's a good guy, he's been a good neighbor, but you know you may not see that $20 again due to the economy being bad all over and Biff's lost what he had.

I give him the twenty if it's me. Karma holds a value beyond monetary measurement.

PBS falls under the education heading, and is probably the best teacher available to many children and adults in a country ready to gut it's public educational system rather than find the stones to say no to the military-industrial complex..

Maybe it is the future of education. PBS certainly imparts knowledge to Americans more efficiently than our public schools do, $ per student. Maybe we should keep the kids home where it's safe and they can go to TV school in the living room.