Posted on 08/26/2005 5:55:38 AM PDT by grundle
Why would anyone piss away all this money for a widescreen tv? There's not a damn thing on it worth that much.
END RESULT: We'll have to take the top off the double-wide!
Leave it on the porch and screen it in.
Indeed. And $100 will get you a very serviceable one, brand new, and of decent size. (Small ones and used ones can be had for much less, of course.)
What rankles is not the leisure implied by TV ownership; it's that a surprising number of people spend on frivolous luxury items an amount of money sufficient to change their placement in society.
If that were true, you'd have bought a car with a trunk. ;^)
Does that include Corvettes? :-)
You might be surprized how many books I can fit in that thing. :-)
They're only doing what our government does every day.
As I see it, the complaint is not that people buy expensive televisions; it is that those same people will cry poverty and expect to be supported by public funds. It rankles to see one's hard-earned money taken away and given to maintain people in idleness.
What's worse, most of us realize that doling money to the idle does them no good at all. Indeed, it probably does them harm. It certainly does not help them get to the root of their problems.
I think you said something profound when you talked about the inability of some "to think of anything else to do." Too many people lead empty lives, which they attempt to fill by buying things.
I hate to admit to watching "Cops" sometimes, but I have noticed and remarked to my husband they always seem to have large TVs and all kinds of stereo equipment in the more down and out homes.
It can be pawned when cash is needed I guess.
In NY you are. If you publicly advertise a place for rent, you're obligated to accept whoever wants it - otherwise you're open to all kinds of very costly discrimination lawsuits.
The point is that they don't have money because they spent it on TVs - and then demand rent money from workers' pockets.
It's the idea that someone blows their last $5000 on a TV and then demands the gov't pay their $500/mo rent for the next 10 months ... and that the gov't makes us foot the bill instead of making them sell that TV first.
IIRC After he came here as an exchange student he was corresponding to someone he knew in India that wanted to come to America and that was his reason why; he was fascinated by a country where there can be overweight poor people.
Of course, liberals paint that as racism. Since wages are becoming more similar for whites and blacks, they now hysterically point to the huge disparity in wealth... even though freedom of choice is the root cause for the disparity! This story shows the primary reason for the gap: those who adhere more to urban culture tend to purchase consumption goods, while others choose to spend their time, money, savings and efforts on home ownership, a small business, and/or investment for their later years.
It's understandable, as boozing or doping oneself into forgetfulness is understandable, but IMHO similarly self-defeating.
(Not meant as a strict comparison. You don't get cirrhosis and the like from television, though of course one may drink oneself to death in front of a 50-inch screen, and I suspect some do).
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In that vein,
“A man may take to drink because he feels himself to be a failure, and then fail all the more completely because he drinks.”
-- Orwell, Politics and the English Language.
They can even get a new computer system for $35.99 a week!!
http://www.mozillaquest.com/Hardware05/BlueHippo_Computer_Ripoff_Story01.html
I completely concur that the public dole is useless in these circumstances.
TVs depress me in general. Hubby bought a nice new one (LCD). Not grandiose but nice enough. Our old one of 15 years made a high-pitched whine and was irritating. It would be better if it weren't here as I often let the children watch it. (Just little kid shows). I am glad they don't need it very much, though. We went without any broadcast or cable TV for a long time (economic necessity) and they learned to have fun doing other things.
Now back to my housing bubble blog.
Yeah, but your radio cost ONE MILLION DOLLARS!
< |:)~
LOL! I wish. Try just a wee bit more. :-)
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