DirecTV: The next RIAA?

[Ryan Lintker]

I'm a bit tired of this thread as well, but I don't want any misunderstandings in what I meant due to my misuse of words, butchering of the english language, and very poor debate skills and/or style.

I only brought up the slavery issue due to the fact that it was mentioned that capitalism didn't cause loss of freedoms until recently.  I didn't mean to and shouldn't have compared it to the freedoms that we are losing today.

I didn't get a degree in computer science to get rich.  Computers used to be my second second favorite thing next to farming.  I needed to give something else a chance other than farming due to my situation coming out of high school.  I first chose my school, looked at what it offer in the computer genre, decided that CMIS looked too easy, and settled on CS.  I didn't know much about CS jobs or what they paid.  So it wasn't exactly want of fancy things that lead me to a CS degree.  Even if I never have a computer job, which is entirely possible, I use my degree every day and don't regret getting the degree or spending the time working on it.

If I could make 20 grand a year farming at my age, I'd be doing it.  Unfortunately, I could barely make that working for another farming operation, and not farming myself.  There is a huge difference between the two careers.

I never blamed clinton for the problems with the family farms.  I said that I know better than to blame him.  I really don't know that he or W has treated the farmer much differently.  Usually, politicians don't give much consideration to farmers as we make up less than 1% of the population.

Farm subsidies, while they do provide some help to those who need it, are not the answer to today's agriculture dilemma.  Just like many other government subsidies, such as student grants/loans, welfare, urban development programs, etc., much of the money provided by the government goes to those who do not need or deserve it.  Is it the farmers' faults that the government's program does not work?  One thing that farm subsidies provide for the American people is a very cheap, reliable, and relatively safe food supply.  If those subsidies were not in place, you would be paying those tax dollars at the grocery store or be finding more empty shelves.

The profit that I talked about was obviously misunderstood.  Farmers don't pay themselves an hourly wage.  Their pay is in their profit.  They don't get a minimum wage.  Some years their pay may seem very high if they get lucky with crops and prices.  The next three years they may actually lose money, resulting in a negative income.  We also have a family business outside of farming.  The profit there goes towards the hours getting bids ready, paying for tools and equipment, time spent billing, hours the owner works on the job.  Thus in my experience, profit is part of your pay, not something way over the top that comes from making your neighbor grab his ankles for your goods or services.  I do believe that you can turn a profit without being greedy.

[William Grim]

Well, I wrote out a whole rebuttle to Digit, and then figured he/she's not worth it.  So screw it.

[Travis]

Not that it really matters... , we're all going to be slaves someday anyway. :-D  ;-)  :-P

[DaleDoe]

Digit said:

do you wear nice clothes, or do you wear merely functional clothes? do you drive a nice car, or merely a functional one?  do you buy luxury items, like music, tv, etc?

For the most part, I do wear clothes that are merely functional.  My nice looking leather trenchcoat actually cost $40 (and I bought it a long time ago).  That's the nicest piece of clothes I own.  Actually, it's the only nice one.  Do I drive a nice car?  HAH!  Mine is functional, barely.  Until this summer, my truck only ran on 5 of its 6 cylinders thanks to a broken piston.  I guess the 6th one was a luxury.  Do I buy music, TV, etc?  I get the free TV, and steal what little music I do get by copying it illegally.  Why?  I'm broke.

As a bit of disclaimer, I do own a couple of classic cars that do run, but one hasn't been driven since I was 17 (because I can't afford the gas mileage or insurance) and the other one is in need of restoration I can't afford.

Why?  Tuition is high, I'm "lower middle class" and therefore get no assistance, and I thought if I spent this much money and effort on a degree that after 4 years I could make big bucks when I'm done and finally afford everything I've been deprived of.