Expendable Mudge Muses Aloud: My Social Media Life

“Sponsored Story.” “Dedicated email.” And so many, many more weasel words for “advertising.”

Really, really sick of advertising assaulting me wherever I turn. “How else will we have these free sites?” What’s free about ‘em? Looking at ads is very costly to your mental and emotional health! (I ain’t giving citations or research links, if you don’t instantly see the justice in that statement, no amount of “expert opinion” will make you see my point.) Advertisers pay for the site! Yes, indeed they do…with profits that come directly from your pocket. Think not? How much of the price of the goods and services you consume is down to advertising, do you know? One source will give you an idea of the advice on how to budget advertising for small entrepreneurs, or take a look at the Ad Age 2015 advertising market overview for a jaw-dropping set of numbers: AT&T spends almost $2 billion on ads and $7 billion on US income taxes.

So here’s a modest proposal: How about all that ad-budget money gets called a taxable benefit at 100% of spending since it’s spent directly on annoying in-your-face bullshit? It’s designed to increase sales, so we’re eliminating the lag time between sales increase and income taxation.

Then the gummint can spend it ONLY on PBS, NPR, their associated websites and social media platforms, and increase the taxpayer investment in the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. And Congress gets zero control over or input into the decisions those entities make, since it’s a defined contribution, not subject to annual appropriation.

Even if it’s only AT&T treated in this fashion, the public’s ability to spend would put sleazebags like Zuckerberg, Murdoch, et alii, in the poorhouse. Since any tax law must be fairly applied, companies or subsidiaries of companies (foreign and domestic) employing more than 1,000 people would be subject to this media-spending tax.

In my dreams. Those billions will roll on by the socially responsible uses they should be put to (eg, investigative journalism, political campaign financing, and general muckraking) and into the hands of the ever-wealthier, ever-greedier idiots who don’t see that the pendulum is swinging back leftwards and trim their sails accordingly.