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Bill: An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies
Details
Submitted by[?]: Tuesday Is Coming
Status[?]: defeated
Votes: This is an ordinary bill. It requires more yes votes than no votes. This bill will not pass any sooner than the deadline.
Voting deadline: February 2114
Description[?]:
| The government shall no longer fund or subsidize media outlets, through direct payments or indirect tax relief. Radio, television, and printed literature shall be deregulated and requred to stand on it's own, without government funding. |
Proposals
Article 1
Proposal[?] to change Radio stations.
Old value:: The government subsidises a national radio station for educational and informational purposes; other private non-subsidised radio stations are allowed.
Current: The government subsidises independent non-profit-making cooperatives for educational and informational purposes; other private non-subsidised radio stations are allowed.
Proposed: All radio stations are private.
Article 2
Proposal[?] to change Television stations.
Old value:: The government subsidises a national TV station for educational and informational purposes; other private non-subsidised TV stations are allowed.
Current: The government subsidises independent non-profit-making cooperatives for educational and informational purposes; other private non-subsidised TV stations are allowed.
Proposed: All television media are private.
Article 3
Proposal[?] to change The government's policy towards the funding of libraries.
Old value:: The national government provides local governments with funding to operate libraries.
Current: Funding and operation of libraries is left entirely to local governments.
Proposed: Books may only be obtained through private dealers.
Debate
These messages have been posted to debate on this bill:
| Date | 19:03:50, September 17, 2005 CET | From | Royal Conservative Party | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | I am opposed to all three, especially the third. How can we claim to be a meritocracy if we limit the access that the poor have to books? What about students with fairly low incomes as it is? |
| Date | 21:34:04, September 17, 2005 CET | From |  Tuesday Is Coming | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | Does their poverty entitle them to the money of another? |
| Date | 17:49:49, September 18, 2005 CET | From | Cooperative Commonwealth Federation | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | Privatizing books? It's an appalling suggestion, and we can only second the comments of the Conservatives. |
| Date | 21:49:33, September 18, 2005 CET | From | Tuesday Is Coming | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | So poverty does present a valid claim upon the property of another? That's what is appalling |
| Date | 23:34:20, September 18, 2005 CET | From | Cooperative Commonwealth Federation | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | Wealth confers the right to deny others knowledge? To take books out of the public realm, where everyone can access them, and allow only the rich to read books? Books should be the collective property of all the people of Lodamun, not a select few. |
| Date | 00:37:24, September 19, 2005 CET | From | Tuesday Is Coming | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | Nothing is being taken from anyone by this bill. The current state involves taking the books or funding for them from some, in order to give it to others who simply dont have a valid moral claim on it. Books are not particularly expensive, and schooling is still provided for all citizens. |
| Date | 21:33:28, September 19, 2005 CET | From | Royal Conservative Party | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | "Books are not particularly expensive" ((OOC: indeed? Most hardbacks, especially university course books) can cost between £20 to £30, which is roughly $36 to $52. For those on low incomes, this is a very large sum.)) |
| Date | 21:45:03, September 19, 2005 CET | From | Tuesday Is Coming | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | Most paperbacks cost much less, I can get a decent paperback for $7-$10(USD), hardbacks usually run between $20-$25. This still doesnt answer the fundamental question, does one person have an obligation to pay for a service for another? Schools are already funded, private/subscription book services and libraries are permitted. No one is being denied anything, except for people who wish to control what happens with their own money. |
| Date | 23:42:35, September 19, 2005 CET | From | Cooperative Commonwealth Federation | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | How are libraries permitted? The bill says books may only be made available through private dealers. In effect, libraries (free, public book providers, funded at public expense) will be outlawed. Say i'm a Lodamun citizen. If i want to read 100 books (not uncommon among library-goers), i have to enter a competitive market and pay hundreds of dollars, even in the unlikely event that all these books are available as mass-market paperbacks (which a good scholarly book almost never is). If i am not wealthy, i can't access this knowledge. In effect, information and knowledge are commodified, making knowledge a function of wealth. The rich get smarter, the poor are denied access to books. Society as a whole suffers, and stratifies even more, entrenching a less egalitarian system. The MEANS for poor people to get out of poverty, access to information, is made less available to them. A libertarian proposal becomes a method to defend wealth, increase inequality, and make liberty less available throughout the country. Ends are subverted to means. You might say, it's the fountainhead of disaster. |
| Date | 03:14:24, September 20, 2005 CET | From | Chorus of Amyst | To | Debating the An End To Corporate Welfare II-Abolishing Media Subsidies |
| Message | The Chorus of Amyst fully supports the first two proposals, but we are unwilling to allow for decay of library systems, for many of the points raised by both RCP and GA. At that, we shall likely abstain from this voting procedure, and hope for a secondary bill with either the first two proposals if this bill fails, or with the third proposal altered if this bill passes. |
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Voting
| Vote | Seats | ||||||
| yes |
Total Seats: 46 | ||||||
| no |
Total Seats: 217 | ||||||
| abstain |
Total Seats: 37 |
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