Massachusetts Bill Set to Subsidize Newspaper Subscriptions

Paying people to buy fuel efficient Fords is good and Energy Star dryers is good, paying ‘em to buy the local rag is bad.

I don’t know, its not like the execs of the companies that benefit from any government program aren’t donors and aren’t involved in some kind of lobbyist patronage, its a little rich to draw the line at the potential corruption of the Podunk Press

 

I'm not drawing that line. I think government subsidization of business is bad.

 

Why?

 

I’ll draw that line.

Better a newspaper not exist at all than be subsidized by and beholden to a government.

I refuse to believe further explanation is necessary as to why it’s different than cars or farming.

 

I understand your argument. (Although I think it ignores decades of historical entanglements between the government and the press.)

I'm asking for his.

 

Because government is bad at deciding which companies or industries are deserving of subsidization. Because it promotes favoritism or outright corruption. Because it misallocates resources.

 

Favoritism and corruption exist irrespective of government.

And some of the greatest successes in American history - the railroads, the Homestead Act, the TVA, etc. ad inf. - were undertaken by the government.

 

Where should we be allocating our resources? What are the priorities?

 

If that's so, why is it justification for the government to to it? Especially when it has the most power?

 

Graft and corruption and ineptitude exist everywhere - even the private sector.

But it's not a justification for the government to do anything. Nor, however, are those things automatic disqualifiers against government doing anything.

The better argument in this specific case is on 1st Amendment grounds.

 

Check the Legal Notices section of any paper. To an extent, governments have been subsidizing newspapers through the purchase of such advertisements since forever. They've tried to use it to influence the press since forever, too.