18.Jun.2011 at 18 | xn
Economic Illiteracy – Why Most Americans Shouldn’t Vote
Economic illiteracy is frightening.
How can we possibly expect our elected officials to pass laws that make economic sense, when the electorate can’t tell the difference between a tax and a fee-for-service? Between charges levied by the government, and charges invoiced by a private company, directly tied to services you’ve contracted for?
David Pogue published an analysis, printed in the New York Times, of the tension between the data needs of cloud computing, and the bandwidth of cellular networks. One takeaway was that unlimited data plans would give way to metered plans, with higher users paying for that use. Pogue’s a good writer, and the article is worth discussing.
It got stupid when I scrolled down to the comments section. More than one commenter likened higher cell provider fees to a “backdoor tax”. It’s nothing of the sort. A private company CAN’T levy a tax.
The Ministry of Truth would be proud. We’ve been so successful in muddying the role of government, and rebranding taxes as “investment”, and demonizing private companies, that Joe voter can no longer distinguish between the roles of private companies and the role of government.
Why should my educated vote be automatically cancelled out by ignorant voters? Democracy at its finest. Please, PLEASE…can we bring back the poll test?
