Stop the Bailouts, Stop the Cuts

I was going to title this piece "Failure of CanWest = Failure of Conservatives = Failure of Capitalism", but that was too long.  And … given that the Cons are still in control of this country, the focus should instead be on the level of ripe corruption that is really annoying me.

Before I go on, follow this link, express your ‘regrets’ with this call and spread the word that this is unacceptable .

OK. Where to begin?  I guess now that CBC has finally made the cuts to its personnel and programming , it’s only a matter of time before we have ads on public radio, repeat programming and other lame tactics to discourage Canadians from watching and listening to quality Canadian content compare to American imports of programming and product placement that we get from our other media conglomerates.

And because the CBC is limited in terms of its ability to raise funds, cuts are the only option when you’re up against a bunch of folks who won’t give you a percent of a percent when it comes to the MASSIVE federal deficit that Deficit Jim, Harper and Iggy created just a month ago.

But don’t let that stop senior executives from collecting ‘well earned bonuses’.  No way indeed.  I mean, firing and deconstructing and absolute failure are central themes when it comes to progress and promotion, right?  And why are public officers receiving bonuses anyways?

And don’t let that stop our friends at CONWest and other media shops from pandering to the Cons for handouts.  They and at least 2-3 other companies are waiting in line for cold hard cash from the Harper Regime, partially, I suppose as just rewards for treating them so nicely in the run-up to the last election, but also because, well, capitalism is a failure too, isn’t it?  I mean, if it wasn’t, they would just go to the public markets and RAISE SOME DAMN CASH LIKE ALL OTHER COMPETENT PRIVATE ENTERPRISE DOES.

But then, why would they do that when they and other comglomerates in this country already receive billions a year for programs like the Canadian Federal Film and Video Tax Credit so they can run "Red Dawn" on the History Channel and call it "Canadian Content"?

I’ll tell you this:  if they do get extra public money, the public will not be pleased.  Folks in this country may not appreciate what’s happening to their beloved ‘mother ship’, but they’re smart enough to smell a rotten deal when they see one.

Here are some additional links to this very important story:

http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/090318/national/tories_tv_help

http://impolitical.blogspot.com/2009/03/harper-government-looking-to-help.html

http://www.desmogblog.com/harper-handout-friends-natinoal-post

Funding of CBC:  http://impolitical.blogspot.com/2009/03/james-moore-claiming-he-didnt-know-cbc.html

http://www.hilltimes.com/html/index.php?display=story&full_path=2009/march/23/canwest/&c=2 (Maybe I’ve read this wrong, but I can’t believe that Charlie Angus is expressing anguish about CanWest pubs failing)

http://www.google.com/hostednews/canadianpress/article/ALeqM5irva0_ZTubOLDWe_eqv2gZVUJU8A

http://westerngrit.blogspot.com/2009/03/time-to-let-media-conglomerates-fail.html

http://farnwide.blogspot.com/2009/03/you-scratch-my-back.html

http://www.acreativerevolution.ca/node/1730

http://act.friends.ca/ea-campaign/clientcampaign.do?ea.client.id=33&ea.campaign.id=2971