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Originally Posted by Worldwalker
So, they're squeezing a little more money out of the customers they already have in exchange for losing the customers that will sustain them ten years from now. Typical modern business short-sightedness: It's all about boosting the short-term stock price for the benefit of the speculators. "The long view" means thinking about next fiscal year rather than just next quarter. The Rupert Murdochs of the world win. And everyone else...?
Here's a thought: Andrew Carnegie was a robber baron. He was greedy, ruthless, and very, very good at what he did. He started from poverty and made a huge fortune. But he would be mocked, today, especially by the Murdochs of the world and their kin, because he was "too nice". He spent his money. Worse, he spent it on the "undeserving" -- people who hadn't accumulated wealth of their own, who, in modern belief, deserve only poverty. He bought libraries for towns who couldn't afford them, and pipe organs, which don't get quite as much press. He helped people with that money. He believed it was his obligation to use his wealth for the benefit of others, and he did. And, apparently, had a hell of a lot of fun doing so -- more fun, I would think, than partying on a yacht ever could be. That would be laughable today. People believe wealth is virtue, and should never be shared with the less virtuous (that is, the less wealthy), and things like libraries are liberal nonsense.
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It does not surprise me that a man like Rupert Murdoch would push something like this. Public libraries, and public schools, have always been one of the few forces for equalization in economic class across generations in America. Being from Wisconsin I know how public schools are under assault from the right wing in America. That public libraries would be in the cross-hairs as well does not surprise me.
I am actually in a volunteer group in my local community that works to support our local library financially and other wise. One event we hold every year is a sale of books to raise funds. Most of these books have come from individual donors, but some are books that would otherwise be sent for recycle by the library. These books have been cycled in and out of the library far more than 26 times. If access to books from public libraries is sharply lessened or ceases, especially in economically poor areas, will a tree still be able to grow in Brooklyn?
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“Surplus wealth is a sacred trust which its possessor is bound to administer in his lifetime for the good of the community.”
“The man who dies rich dies disgraced “
Andrew Carnegie
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