Mitt Romney, the bane of Sesame Street

@Cycloptichorn,

Whether you believe it or not - ask someone who is unemployed - we do have a slight problem with owing just a wee bit much. Doesn't it make sense to cut spending where ever you can. Don't you cut spending at home if say you owe too much and lose your job? Wouldn't you cut out things that are necessary - say cable?

I did not say anything about using money for other non-necessities as you are assuming - I said about using this money to feed people which I consider a necessity.

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@revelette,

Yes - but there are other means to obtain that money rather than using government money - advertising and selling products related to this. Bascially why is government spending on nice to haves - perhaps I can see this is a booming economy when you do not have a deficient, but the economic issues we have - we should consider nice to haves.

1 Reply

@sozobe,

I agree as I said - but even so enough small amounts can add up - think of it personally at home - coupon cutting (what $1 here and there isn't much); then maybe cut out $2.50 coffee a day - not much, but if you add all these small things up per year it does add up.

Simple common sense and things people do every day - shouldn't the government?

1 Reply

@DrewDad,

I was not making this a political arguement for one candidate vs other - just making a simple economic/common sense statement. Why pay for nice to haves - or if you want them fund it via advertising and/or selling products/donations.

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@Linkat,

Sure, and Obama has done a bunch of those. He's cut a lot of waste out of the government.

The question is, should PBS be one of those cuts? Is there nothing else that could be cut first?

I think the answer is "no." Especially in terms of the defense budget. (We only have to blow up the whole world once, we don't have to have the firepower to do it 300 times over.)

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

I was not making this a political arguement for one candidate vs other -

Then why did you step into the middle of a political discussion about candidates?

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

Whether you believe it or not - ask someone who is unemployed - we do have a slight problem with owing just a wee bit much. Doesn't it make sense to cut spending where ever you can. Don't you cut spending at home if say you owe too much and lose your job? Wouldn't you cut out things that are necessary - say cable?

That's a poor comparison to our national economy. I always hate these 'personal finances' comparisons, as they have nothing to do with the way our nation runs.

For no other reason than the fact that we can - and do - print more money when we need it.

If you're serious about cutting spending (and I do believe you are), you cut meaningful spending. You make a comparison to 'cable tv,' but what you are really talking about is a can of soda. Not one every day, one soda, period. That's how immaterial the PBS budget is to the federal deficit. Discussion of cutting it as a cost-savings measure cannot be taken seriously.

Those who are unemployed - why would I ask them a question about our national finances, as opposed to anyone else? They are no more affected by our budget deficits than I, employed person, am. You are conflating a couple of different ideas here, but they aren't really related at all.

Quote:

I did not say anything about using money for other non-necessities as you are assuming - I said about using this money to feed people which I consider a necessity.

Last time I checked, we spend quite a bit of money 'feeding people,' in the form of a variety of programs designed to do exactly that. The GOP wants to destroy those programs as well, and wouldn't approve an expansion of those programs even if you WERE to cut PBS funding. Funding for PBS doesn't crowd out funding for feeding the poor.

Cycloptichorn

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

Why pay for nice to haves

That's a separate discussion from "what to cut."

But while we're on the subject of cutting something, for a household making $60,000/year, .012% is a whopping $7.20/year.

CPB is as significant to the federal budget as one six pack of beer per year is to a household.

Way to balance the budget, Mitt.

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

You cut all any spending - what you are saying I don't like these comparsions is a cop out or an excuse to keep a program you would prefer to keep. I agree you need to make deep cuts, but when there is an economic issue - you look where ever you can.

Large businesses do this as well. Often times what you do is cut the things you can first that are quick and have little impact to the groups as a whole while you look at the bigger ticket items as those typically take more time. Referred to in business as "low hanging fruit" first as you can go ahead and do that quickly.

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@Linkat,

So... you cut the catsup and mustard packets, and pat yourself on the back for your cost-saving measures?

Way to go.

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@DrewDad,

and add that to all the other programs that are low hanging fruit - if it is quick and painless why not?

And the three people who watch antique roadshow could live not seeing that show.

1 Reply

@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

Often times what you do is cut the things you can first that are quick and have little impact to the groups as a whole

Right, but that's not PBS!

It has quite a bit of impact -- revelette had some good stats on another thread.

Cutting out one warplane out of (thousands?), that's more the low-hanging fruit.

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@Linkat,

mr Romney is an expert at picking the low hanging fruit.

and then chopping up the company into profitable bits and waste.

I'm afraid of being waste...

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@sozobe,

The thing is PBS can survive without government spending so why?

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

if it is quick and painless why not?

Painless?

I think you have no idea what PBS means to low-income people.

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@DrewDad,

it's one of three channels that I can get free here...

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@Linkat,

Quote:

You cut all any spending - what you are saying I don't like these comparsions is a cop out or an excuse to keep a program you would prefer to keep. I agree you need to make deep cuts, but when there is an economic issue - you look where ever you can.

Good point. Except when you take most of the possible solutions off the table.
Military will get more money. No one will pay more. The military has more in waste in one day then is spent on PBS for the year but you think PBS is the low hanging fruit?

The country isn't a business. You can't fire citizens and expect them to get citizenship somewhere else. You also can't bankrupt it and then walk away and start a new country while protected from being personally bankrupted by laws.

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@Linkat,

Linkat wrote:

You cut all any spending - what you are saying I don't like these comparsions is a cop out or an excuse to keep a program you would prefer to keep.

No, it's not. Household finances and national ones couldn't be more different, exactly for the reason I gave you: you can't print more money, the government can.

Quote:

I agree you need to make deep cuts, but when there is an economic issue - you look where ever you can.

It's useless to cut in areas where it won't make a difference, and it will actively hurt people to do so. But, yaknow, these are probably the smelly folks on public transportation who will get hurt the most, and we're all well aware of how much you disdain them.

Quote:

Large businesses do this as well. Often times what you do is cut the things you can first that are quick and have little impact to the groups as a whole while you look at the bigger ticket items as those typically take more time. Referred to in business as "low hanging fruit" first as you can go ahead and do that quickly.

Yes, I'm well aware of how corporate Groupthink works.

Cycloptichorn

1 Reply

@Cycloptichorn,

And what problems does printing more money make? Makes things worse - it is a short term solution to a long term problem -

And business either fail or make money no issue with deficients then.

1 Reply

@Linkat,

What do you mean by "survive"?

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Mitt Romney, the bane of Sesame Street

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