The ugly truth about America's spending

[Chris0nllyn]

I keep seeing all of the freak out articles and posts. As far as I can see theres not a whole lot I take major issue with. If people feel so STRONGLY that we need to fund the arts, then they are free to give money straight to PBS. Isnt it funded by viewers like you? I saw MANY people freak out about meals on wheels funding being cut...but that makes up like a whopping 3% of their total funding. The world is NOT going to end because some programs have grant and gov funding cut. If I had less money taken in taxes from myself and my husband every year, I would sure like to invest some of that money in causes I care about...

Next time someone brings up that stupid ####, refer them to this article:

Last year, Sesame Workshop had $121.6 million in revenues. Of that, $49.6 million came in distribution fees and royalties and $36.6 million in licensing of toys, games, clothing, food and such. In 2014, only 4% of its revenue came from government grants.

Despite being a taxpayer-supported nonprofit, Sesame Workshop pays its top executives fabulously well.

According to IRS tax filings — the most recent of which covers 2014 — then-president and CEO Melvin Ming was paid more than $586,000 in salary and benefits in the nine months before retiring, which included a $37,500 bonus and $18,700 in benefits. The year before that, Ming cleared $672,391 in salary, bonuses and benefits.

That's five times the average pay for CEOs at nonprofits, according to Charity Navigator. (It's twice as much as the CEO of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting was paid that year.

What's more, Sesame Street isn't even technically a PBS show any more. In 2015, it signed a five-year deal with HBO, which gets exclusive rights to air new episodes for nine months on its premium cable network, after which the programs can be shown on PBS stations. The deal let Sesame Workshop create twice as many episodes as it could on PBS, as well as spinoff programming.

Only about 15% of PBS' budget comes from the taxpayer-funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Most of its revenue comes from support by individuals, corporate underwriters and private grants, as well as state and local government support.

When the Washington Post looked into PBS' financing a few years ago, it concluded that "if Congress took this funding away, PBS would likely survive, though perhaps diminished."

Would a "diminished" PBS matter, in an era of 500-channel cable TV services, Netflix and YouTube?

Still, defenders of taxpayer funding for public broadcasting say the amount of money involved — $445 million a year — is a flyspeck in a $4 trillion federal budget.

This explains why no government programs ever get cut. Either federal programs are too big, and benefit too many people to be cut. Or they are too small to bother cutting, even though taxpayer money isn't needed.

http://www.investors.com/politics/commentary/big-bird-is-rich-so-why-does-he-need-taxpayer-money/

 

[GURPS]

Anytime my 93 year old grandmother (may she rest in peace) was ever admitted to the hospital, they would run every ridiculous test on her they could think of. She did not want any of this, but it was a money maker.

Doctors / Hospitals also do this to stave off Malpractice lawsuits ....



Granny died, from [insert cause of death] , why did you not test for ABC123 - XYZ

 

[Larry Gude]

Doctors / Hospitals also do this to stave off Malpractice lawsuits ....



Granny died, from [insert cause of death] , why did you not test for ABC123 - XYZ

That is only a small part of it. The reality is that there are a LOT of mouths to feed in the medical/industrial complex and, because it is so well positioned in terms of dollars it commands via monopolistic regulation and organization, it is not only a giant piggy bank for political interests, it is a well protected one. When granny is dying, a LOT of people need their piece of her end to stay in business and feed the system.