Deficit Shrinking? Ever More Reason to Cut NPR Funds

Thu, 02/26/2009 - 1:39pm | posted by Michael Orion Powell

If you click on this link, you’ll find “The Corporation for Public Broadcasting: Federal Funding Facts and Status.”

There you will find that in 2007, Congress allotted $400 million for public broadcasting. While $400 million is not alot in the face of $1 trillion stimulus packages or $700 billion bailouts, it is a healthy sum of money. Think of how many students could get aid for their college tuition from that money or how many MRI machines could be bought for hospitals. If you don’t like that, imagine how much could be returned directly to taxpayers.

Instead, it’s going to be pay for Wait, Wait, Don’t Tell Me! Wow, what a critical spending priority.

With only 2% of funding for NPR and 15% of overall public broadcasting funding coming from the government, cutting off governmental funds for public radio will not mean its downfall. There’s still plenty of well-to-do hipsters and aging hippies that will dole out hundreds of dollars for their This American Life totebag, in addition to corporations, colleges and other entities willing to lend a hand. Cutting off or further limiting superfluous spending will be a first step toward balancing the deficit during a time of economic distress.