Wednesday, May 29, 2013

How Taxpayers are Being Ripped Off

By Murray Sabrin

In an op-ed Senator John McCain bemoans the fact that American cable and satellite subscribers are being ripped off, because they do not have the ability to cancel channels they do not watch…and for which they have to pay now.
The senator then cites how iTunes and Netflix are providing consumers with much more choices than the traditional entertainment suppliers.  So what is the problem?  The marketplace is rising to the occasion; newcomers are giving consumers the opportunity to pay for only what they want.
Rather than leaving the marketplace alone, Senator McCain is offering the Television Consumer Freedom Act, which will give the federal government a sledge hammer to force cable and satellite companies to provide more choices to consumers.
If we take Senator McCain’s principle at face value, then government—at all levels—is ripping off the American people to the tune of trillions of dollars every year.  The American people have to pay for undeclared wars, the military-industrial complex, corporate welfare, farm subsidies, social welfare programs, government schools, etc., they may not want.
So if Senator McCain is concerned about the American people getting ripped off, then he should immediately support individuals, families, business owners and corporations opting out.  People should not be coerced to pay for the welfare-warfare state, a system of massive death, destruction and income redistribution.
If the statists in both major political parties think the American people want big government, then they should abolish the income tax, property taxes, sales taxes, etc., and give the people the opportunity to pay voluntarily for all the government they want.  I would bet a that the American people would send very little of their hard earned money to the money pits known as federal, state and local governments.
Don’t hold your breath for Senator McCain to embrace free enterprise, limited government and a noninterventionist foreign policy.
 Dr. Murray Sabrin is Professor of Finance in the Anisfield School of Business at Ramapo College of New Jersey. The above originally appeared at MurraySabrin.com.

1 comment:

  1. Your argument is silly at best. The obvious difference is that we elect the people who continue to waste our money on the things you listed. If the general public would start carefully considering the character of the people running for office, to include looking closely at their background, instead of falling for the freebies that they promise, things might just start to improve. What we certainly don't need are more laws controlling private businesses, in this case cable and satellite companies.

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