On Wed, May 22, 2013 at 07:09:09PM +1000, Aryan Ameri wrote:
I have zero interest in any argument about whether ABC/SBS are left or right. Frankly, I don't care. They can be outright Fascist or Communist and I still wouldn't care.
The ABC and SBS produce nothing that is of interest to me.
The Womens' Hospital does nothing for me. abolish it and sell off the land cheap to a developer to build expensive inner-city apartments. same for the Childrens' Hospital. I'm likely to die before i ever need a nursing home, so get rid of them too. the trouble with anarcho-capitalist (or "libertarian" as americans misuse the term) arguments like yours is that they're the product of selfish pricks with a shrug fetish. governments exist for a lot more then just protecting the property and privileges of the ruling classes - otherwise WTF should we tolerate them? there have been several successful revolutions to prove that point...but Atlas can pout and sulk all he likes and not achieve a thing. OTOH, I could do without government subsidy of logging companies that cost far more every year than the industry is actually worth - both in timber, in exports and in jobs. it would be much cheaper to directly employ the logging workers to look after the forests than subsidise logging companies to destroy them. or the hundreds of millions of dollars in electricity and other subsidies to the Alcoa aluminium smelter. That's also a net loss to victoria and to australia - costs us far more than it's worth. a negative return or a lack of return is acceptable for a non-profit exercise like the ABC but completely unacceptable for ventures that are supposed to make a profit. the grand prix is another huge loss for Victoria every year (and an annoyingly loud and irritating one that brings drunk and other dangerous drivers from all over the world) if cost cutting is necessary, there's far lower hanging fruit than the ABC. start with the corporate welfare before cutting useful services. craig -- craig sanders <cas@taz.net.au> BOFH excuse #67: descramble code needed from software company