This is a tough one. The FCC will be voting today on loosening the ownership restrictions for some radio and television station owners. Proponents say it will be good for business. Opponents say it will limit the diversity of voices you hear on radio and television.
I have long believed that the sole role of the FCC should be to protect the property rights of broadcasters. That is, to make sure that one broadcaster does not infringe on another broadcaster's right to their frequency and coverage area; much the same way government protects the property rights of landowners.
I do not buy into this "the public owns the airwaves" nonsense. This cute little phrase serves as nothing less than a convenient excuse for government control of the primary means of dissemination of information in the United States. (At least before the Internet).
But .. that's not the way it is, is it? The FCC decides how many radio and television stations a community can have, and who can own them. Broadcasters love this, and why not? They're using the government to limit competition! Don't you think auto dealers would love it if the government stepped in and limited the number of dealership any community could have?
This brings us to deregulation. Since the FCC artificially limits the numbers of radio and television stations in a particular community, is it then a good idea for the FCC to make it easier for a few large operators to control these markets by controlling more and more of the radio and TV outlets?
Just asking questions here ...
Why not just open broadcasting to full competition – grant full First Amendment coverage to broadcasting – and stand back?
AND HERE'S ANOTHER INTERESTING FCC PROPOSAL
This hasn't made the news to any great extent, but there's another proposal before the FCC this week. If any owner of a cluster of radio stations in one particular market decided he wanted to sell those stations he would have to make that sale in one of two ways: He could either sell the stations to individual buyers, or, if he wanted to sell them as a group, he would have to sell them to a minority or a female purchaser.
TAX CREDITS EXCLUDE THOUSANDS!
I've included links to two pieces below. One is a column by the leftist editorial page editor of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Cynthia Tucker. The other a story from the Orlando Sentinel. Both decry the fact that some people on the low-income side of the scale won't be benefiting from the recently passed tax cut bill.
Here's one thing that Cynthia Tucker didn't tell you, though it was mentioned in the Sentinel article. For the most part these people who aren't participating in the tax cut DON'T PAY INCOME TAXES!
It's a tax cut bill, not a welfare bill. The purpose of the bill was to allow people who work to keep more of the money they earn ... not to take it from them and just give it to someone else.
Another thing ... and I've said this many times before. Don't whine and moan to me about "minimum-wage families." You have to be an incredible dunce to be limited to earning the minimum wage in this country. Now ... here is a basic truth for you to mull over. If you are incapable of earning more than the minimum wage than you should not have children. You should not have children because you simply cannot afford to raise them. You should not have children because it is irresponsible for you to do so.
The question is not why these low-income parents aren't getting government income redistribution checks. The question is why these low-income earners are parents in the first place.
THE HIDEOUSLY EXPENSIVE ATLANTA GOVERNMENT SCHOOLS
Last week I shared some numbers with you about the runaway spending in the City of Atlanta government schools. It would seem that they may qualify as the most expensive government schools of any major city!
John Sherman of the Fulton County Taxpayers Association did some studious research which compared spending in Atlanta schools with eleven other major inner-city school systems having large minority enrollments.
Overall expenses .. Atlanta was 63.5% higher than the average.
Support services ... 69.1% higher than the average.
Instructional services ... 66.4% above the average
Salaries and benefits ... 59.6 higher than the average.
For the most part these Atlanta schools produce graduates who are qualified for little more than government jobs ... if that.
Now ... for the interesting stuff:
There was a budget hearing last Thursday for Atlanta government schools. John Sherman was there. Board Member Katy Pattillo told Sherman"Your comparisons are not fair; you should compare Atlanta to Chicago." So, Sherman did. He found that, according to the same study, Public Education Finances, published by the U.S. Dept. of Commerce, Chicago's Overall Expense Per Student is $7,374, compared to Atlanta's $10,993! In addition, the cost of living differential of Chicago compared to Atlanta is 47%, i.e., it costs 47% more to live in Chicago as in Atlanta. Sorry Katy.
Then we had Emmett Johnson step forward. He's the president of the Atlanta School Board. Johnson told Sherman "You really should compare Atlanta to the school districts in the Council of the Great City Schools." The CGCS is a coalition of 60 of the nation's largest urban government school systems. So ... Sherman did. He went to the Council's web site (www.cgcs.org/pdfs/statistical-information.pdf) and found that the average cost per student is $6,789 compared to Atlanta's $10,993.
Emmett Johnson seems to be enamored of the Council of the Great City Schools. Well, if he could find a way to keep Atlanta's cost per student in line with the average of the Council of the Great City Schools, the Atlanta taxpayers would be saving $245 million annually!The inescapable bottom line here is that the Atlanta government schools are wasting money ... huge amounts of money. The Atlanta city government has a decades-long reputation for having too many government workers and a larger bureaucracy than the average ... so at least the schools come by it honestly.
Let's see if you'll believe this: The people on the State Department's list of known foreign terrorists are not included on the database used by dealers to check someone's eligibility to buy a gun. Go figure. http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32860
Did Hillary Clinton write that new book of hers? The general assumption in literary circles is that she did not. She got the $8 million advance .. and pays some myrmidons God know what paltry sum to write the book for her. By the way, the publisher will never get that $8mil back. http://www.townhall.com/columnists/wfbuckley/wfb20030602.shtml
What is the image of black America? Today the biggest image problem for blacks in America comes from the so-called "hip hop culture" ... the rap industry. http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110003560
Sometimes I think we get robbed of some really good television over here on this side of the pond. In the Netherlands there is a TV show encouraging young girls to enter the world of legal prostitution by enrolling in the Amsterdam "Hanky Panky School." http://wnd.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=32859
If this Islamic female wins her case in Florida there's going to be a new standard in the country ... Muslim women will not have to show their face for identification, even for a government-issued document such as a driver's license. Passports next? Is this really smart policy at a time when so many Islamic nut-cases want to kill Americans? http://www.townhall.com/columnists/dianawest/dw20030602.shtml
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