I would like to take this opportunity talk about the President's new stimulus plan. What is your view on that? Here is a broad statement about the plan, President Bush is wanting to put money in our wallet so we may feel the need to start spending more because people for some reason has held back on purchasing large items over time. We are now seeing the results of this. Do you think this plan will work? There is some downsides to this issue, if they approve and issue the checks to the taxpayer or you and me, that will increase the countries deficit to about $194 trillion I think. Small businessess are going to be getting tax incentives as well. Thank you for taking the time to read my blog.
What do you people think about DRM (Digital Rights Management) music? Do you think that music should be shared over a peer to peer network or a P2P? Or what about those online music stores that charges a little more to offer DRM-free music. All DRM-free music is that it enables you to play you're itunes songs on a Microsoft Zune. Here's another question, would you rather pay $0.99 for a song with DRM enabled or get a song free? My view is that sharing is illegal and a song artist had put time and money into creating that work of the mind.
I definately understand concerns about sharing music illegally over the internet, and I do think it should be illegal, but it isn't too serious in my mind. I sort of think of it as the same way as I do speeding. I definately don't feel badly for the millionaire artists who are "stolen" from, or their billion dollar record lables. As for smaller arists, most give their music for free- good exposure.
I doubt that Bush's plan will have a major, if any, effect on the economy. It seems almost exactly the same as Reagan's trickle-down plan, and that did not work.
Digital Rights Management: My view on this issue is twofold. When it comes to DVD's, full-out CD's, movies, TV shows, and the like, I most certainly believe that copy right laws should rightfully come into play, as such material is entirely the work of company which must be preserved. However, I believe that, when an individual purchases a CD, the songs on that CD become the control of the individual's. I believe that consumers should be able to share individual songs - share, not making money off of it, with others. That's probably a really confusing position and I've stated my position poorly, but allow me to fix that with a better explanation of my position on the stimulus plan, which I don't get fits with this topic, lol.
Bush's Stimulus Plan: The $200 billion-or-so stimulus plan is, in my view, a poor decision on the part of the government, for several reasons. First of all, as you brought up, the program will be paid for years from now in the form of the debt, as it will only serve to continue burdening our generation. More and more it seems like the politicians of today truly believe in Herbert Hoover's statement that, "Blessed are the young, for they shall inherit the national debt."
Second of all, the money that the government is handing out in the form of these tax rebates will not be received for months to come, when it may well be too late to have any sort of impact. Plus, once individuals do receive the checks, are they going to invest it? Chances are they won't, and what will happen is they will go out and spend the money on products that will essentially send money straight to China and not truly have any beneficial effects on the US economy.
Third of all, short-term stimuluses simply do not work, especially when we're facing a fiscal crisis like the US government now is. Their effects are minimal at best and they do not strike at the heart of the matter. Short-term stimuluses are like cold medicine: they make you feel better for a short amount of time, but once those effects are gone, you're back to feeling crappy again. Spurring an increase in spending won't do anything except, as I said, really return money back to China; it's only like taking a pseudophed with a really stuffy nose, if that.
What politicians need to do is focus on is the longterm; that means embracing pro-growth economic policies, such as cutting the outrageously high corporate tax rate (second-highest in the world after japan) from 35% to 25% and cutting taxes on capital gains to spur investment. We should also produce tax cuts for struggling small businesses and allow them to, as South Carolina Senator Jim DeMint suggests, write off more of their business expenses, which would create an incentive for them to "invest in assets that help their organization grow and create new jobs." Finally, painting the picture that the government is acting as it should and the economy is on the upswing would boost consumer confidence, spending, and investment. The key is to do it right and deal with the longterm, not the short term. Quick fixes prove themselves not to work time after time, and this is one of those times.
"Government is not the solution to our problems; government is the problem. - Ronald Reagan