Cable TV, The Hidden Tax

It isn't one that the government imposed.

Reposted From: January 11, 2012

According to NPR: "ESPN now collects an average of $4.69 for every cable home –– four times more than any other network. Throw in the various other ESPN channels, plus other sports networks, like that new NBC Sports, that your cable provider makes you pay for, and there's $8 for sports on your monthly bill. Or, as the CEO of Liberty Media describes it, "a tax on every American household."If there's one thing worse then being forced to pay the government, it is being forced to pay corporations.

You wonder why TV is lousy?

It's because networks get paid even when sponsors aren't buying what their selling. Each network owns several cable channels. It's a package deal. Cable company's are forced to take them all or none. In our area that would mean losing channels 3, 6, 29, 17 and 10 out of Philly.

Take for example NBC/Universal (GE). They own the Weather Channel, CNBC, MSNBC, SyFy, USA, A&E, Lifetime, History, Bravo, Telmundo, ShopNBC, NBC10 Philadelphia to list a few.

ABC-- Disney Channel, ABC 6 Philadelphia, ESPN, Soap, Lifetime, Family channel to name but a few.

In years past if no one watched a lousy program on one of their channels, they didn't attract sponsors. Today they don't have to. They're being paid either way. Don't blame the cable companies for not selling à la carte. If there is a blame to be placed, put it on the U.S. government that allows network owners to do this to consumers.

If federal regulations would require networks to sell à la carte, I'm certain TV quality would improve. Even if we only had half the channels that now exist.

TV makes money because..
(a) They have great programs?
OR
(b) Great lobbyists?

Yeah, like that's even a question!

Companies Don't Have To Bring Money Back From Overseas

Repost

It really makes me wonder how Americans are so easily duped. Who cares about corporate taxes. If rates are higher-- no problem. It's all quite simple really.

Suppose a American company's separately registered foreign subsidiary leaves a billion dollars overseas. It's American counterpart needs five hundred million dollars here in the states. All they have to do to bring it here is borrow the money from themselves in that country. There are several advantages (besides being able to move money home tax free).

First is why bother with seeking bank approvals. Their foreign enterprise is able to loan it to themselves at lower rates then banks domestically could regardless the risk. Thus shareholders are benefited by below market rates. Secondly repayment of the loan's interest (to themselves) enables them to deduct this from their taxes here in the United States. If taxes go up all they need to is increase the interest rate they charge themselves. This scheme works whether a company has many shareholders or is wholly owned by a wealthy individual. Thus there is a incentive to continue leaving some of their loot in other countries.

The only reason any company might move their money back here is if the tax rates become higher overseas. What happens in the future remains to be seen. Some countries have already responded by lowering their corporate taxes to match ours. I wouldn't expect a huge surge suddenly to begin washing up on the shores of the U.S.

The Twisted Story Of The Asylum That Inspired Stranger Things: Pennhurst State School

Pennhurst State School held nearly 3,000 people in facilities designed for 500. In 1913, Pennsylvania declared disabled people "unfit for citizenship" and "a menace to the peace." They built Pennhurst to hide them. For sixty years, no camera ever got inside. Children were tied to beds. Adults lived in cribs. Residents who could speak when they arrived lost that ability after years inside. Then in 1968, a journalist named Bill Baldini walked through the gates with a film crew—and what he recorded changed American law forever.

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