Because the taxpayers own the airwaves. ..
well....I really would disagree with this --
they don't own the airwaves - but as always, they attempt to control them for taxation purposes mainly .....although there's other issues such as maintaining order in broadcasting and reserving certain channels for air traffic control, military, etc..
but I can broadcast certain things (walkie talkie, microwaves) and don't need govt. permission...so clearly they don't own the airwaves - they just lay claim to controlling certain aspects of the airwaves...
In many countries this power is horrifically abused so that ONLY the government is allowed to say what they want on any "airwave" - so I sure hope we never see that here..
BUT the real issue is that you are saying the government owns and controls the broadcast "airwaves" therefore they
should give money to certain outlets...
but that's like saying the government also owns all the roads and waterways and they should give funding to some people of their choosing to drive cars and operate boats.
I just think this kind of arbitrary hand-outs have been constantly abused and used for the benefit of political gains and as Da Coach said - where will it ever end...?
why do we need a mommy state to buy
free cell phones for people, give them
government funded broadcasting,
HUNDRED-MILLION-dollar loans and incentives to get their business started only to have them fail and the $$ completely disappear with nobody in the government even apparently interested whose pocket it went into... and
literally give them lots and lots of handouts of every kind - all funded by the ever-decreasing portion of society who actually DOES work and provide for themselves.
Personally I am tired of all levels of government literally taking half of everything people earn and generate only to run an inefficient system where huge hunks of taxpayer money is given to someone else arbitrarily because someone thinks the wealth needs to be re-distributed to those who CAN work but choose not to and instead take a handout.
Here's consider this -- if all the money in the entire USA was taken from it's rightful owner & gathered in the nation's greatest "REDISTRIBUTION" effort...
...then thrown into a giant barrel and divided up so that every US resident got an EQUAL share....how much do you think each would get and what would eventually happen?
Sociologists and experts have studied this precise scenario for eons and here's what they all pretty much agree on...
-first - it is believed the USA contains about $50 trillion in total wealth - not all of which is liquid or divisible - for example - if you attempted to divide up the Statue of Liberty - it would greatly reduce it's value.
BUT -- for argument sake let's divide up what we can...and thus every US resident would get about $150,000....so here's what would happen...
Those with expertise and skills wouldn't just sit on or live off their "$150K nest egg" - they'd stash it or invest it and then go right to work and earn lots more..
In no time, those who were previously successful like Mitt Romney or Bill Gates or even just business owners, profesisonals, and other hard workers - would be doing well again or even vastly wealthy again in just a couple years......
-Meanwhile those who don't work or who expect someone else to provide for them - would likely burn through their $150K in only a few years - we've seen precisely this scenario many times when people win lotteries or luck into big fortunes....
http://bradleyfans.com/vb/showpost.php?p=255667&postcount=5
Thus within just 3-4 years after the ULTIMATE REDISTRIBUTION - everything would pretty much be right back the way it was........
winners will win and ....well you get the picture......