this post was submitted on 28 Sep 2024
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Is there any reason why this needs to be a taxpayer subsidized organization?
I realize it's not quite the same thing, but there are already corporations who pay private meteorologists for their services.
World or not be better to allow corporate America to pay for these types of services and free up those dollars for other things?
"Is there any reason why this needs to be a taxpayer subsidized organization?"
Public safety? Is that a good enough reason? We should be subsiding more things that are in the public interest - programs that benefit the public should never be run by for-profit corporations.
Very much agreed! But...
I wouldn't go that far. In fact, I would actually go so far as to say kind of the opposite: that all "corporations," including "for-profit" ones, should be required to act in the public interest, as originally intended, and that any organization that doesn't want to be subject to those sorts of conditions is perfectly free to remain a full-liability general partnership instead of incorporating. Incorporation is a privilege intended to be granted in exchange for public benefit, and we need to get back to that instead of continuing to let the courts treat it as an entitlement.
I get your point, but I have trouble understanding how acting in the public interest and charging over operating costs can be compatible, especially in public service areas like hospitals/medicine and education.
Did you read the article I linked?
Here's the part that should've answered your question:
"Enabling shareholders to profit was seen as a means to that end."
Right, that's the part I take issue with. Why is there a profit on a public good?
I agree with all of the restrictions in place, but those have gotten weaker over time, when they should've gotten more restrictive. The problem with allowing them to profit is that over time, the profit gives them more bargaining power which allows them to erode the oversight and avoid all consequences for breaking the regulations.