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RE: Its bigger than just TV
By Suntan on 1/27/2009 11:04:57 AM , Rating: 3
Once again let me remind you that it's not your tax money paying for this,

You talk as if you don’t understand the concept of pooling funds. Money spent by the government is money spent by the government.

You remind me of my sister’s white trash in-laws that wasted a couple of hundred dollars on renting a convertible for a vacation and thought it was alright because “they used their own money for it” even though they are in dept for thousands of dollars to my sister and her husband…

It is acceptable to think like this, because it was the plan all along. Where have you been to not know this?

If you are saying it was the plan all along to continuously let people off the hook for being lazy and irresponsible, I guess we haven’t read the same documents that our country is founded on.


RE: Its bigger than just TV
By MandrakeQ on 1/27/2009 12:48:45 PM , Rating: 1
The U.S. has been in debt for over 50 years. Maybe you should have complained earlier.

RE: Its bigger than just TV
By joex444 on 1/27/2009 8:15:01 PM , Rating: 2
Actually the US has always been in debt with the lone exception of one President -- Andrew Jackson. Every other time we've been in debt. Funny thing about the "debt" though... every time we come up with a federal budget and then exceed it, the overrun goes towards the national debt. This actually amounts to a substantial amount. So, yes, the national debt may be 1.6 trillion or so, but this isn't what we owe China. We owe a lot of it to ourselves (I doubt we'll pay it).

I think this delayed switch is the dumbest thing we could possibly do with respect to DTV. First, the 6.5 million households thing is an old figure -- it was being touted a few weeks back. Second, we've been telling people for months the switch is Feb 17th and you should go get a coupon if you don't have cable or satellite and you have an old TV. They even demonstrate this by showing us pictures of 1950s style cabinet TVs with the furniture look to them, the rounded screens which are of course B&W as well as elderly viewers. Could they make it any more obvious who needs these things?

All this delay is going to do is to let the procrastinators know that they have until June to get done what they should've done by now. This is not a motivation to go out and buy these boxes. Second they may be confused that their TV still works Feb 18th and figure they have a built in digital tuner so they don't need a box. Wait until June 12th and all hell breaks lose. Finally, after June 12th can you still get coupons? I mean, a lot of people are going to end up thinking they were all set because the transition was in Feb and their TV still works. Couple these people with the procrastinators who still won't have their damn box yet and you have a large influx of needy box customers who are simply puzzled and feel cheated or betrayed.

BTW, TV does carry important information. Think about how useful a radio would have been in WWII. That's like what a TV is now. Sure you have the Internet, but that's only available to about 50% of the population (somehow I doubt our ISP bills would go down by 50% when the other half of the country signs up), and while there is still the radio that is used only when the power goes out or your car doesn't have a CD player. Ultimately the broadcast stations are the link between society and your average citizen, especially the poor and elderly. Try explaining to your son why these people deserve less than everyone else.

RE: Its bigger than just TV
By Alexstarfire on 1/28/2009 3:43:20 AM , Rating: 2
Lol, $1.6 trillion. That's quite a conservative estimate on your part I believe. The national debt is over $10 trillion.

RE: Its bigger than just TV
By mindless1 on 1/27/2009 10:37:05 PM , Rating: 2
Wrong! There would be no income from sale of analog bandwidth, if there were not this minor concession in place to make it happen.

Fact is, if anything this whole program will have saved you and other taxpayers money, while also allowing new services.

Think of it a different way. You sell a widget. To make this widget you have to buy a part for it. The part costs $3, but the widget sells for $40. Once you have the part, you have almost no labor at all. It's nearly the best business model possible.

PS - this doesn't have squat to do with your sister's in-laws. This is a clear-cut case of the conditions upon which it would be possible to free up the airwaves for auction. You really should spend the time to educate yourself on the specifics if you doubt this.

RE: Its bigger than just TV
By Suntan on 1/28/2009 11:17:43 AM , Rating: 2
You really should spend some time reviewing grade school math.

A widget that costs $3 to make and sells for $40 is still not as profitable as a widget that costs $2 to make and still sells for $40.

You talk as if you've only ever received money from the governement and never had to pay money to it. Carry on being a drag on society.


RE: Its bigger than just TV
By mindless1 on 1/29/2009 11:06:13 PM , Rating: 2
You still lack basic comprehension of the issue, which was that those who would have done without, have a coupon. It was "spend $3 per widget or quit, $2 isn't gonna get the widget built".

You are a fool to think I, or anyone else who is employed, only ever received, and could possibly receive more than they'd paid. There are so many projects the government is involved in that I completely disagree with, that even though the argument about taxes was a non-starter, you are still terribly wrong.

I'll tell you what, let's start by itemizing every single thing that you benefit from and then argue that you should do without those things for your tax dollars. How about roads, military defense, things that preserve the function of the society in which you earn money that seems so precious to you that it blinds you from reality even after having your hand held while it was explained again (because apparently for some people, Google searching can't find this basic information?).


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