Re:Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
by stretchwithme on Wednesday August 16, 2017 @09:26PM
(#15032929)
Like food stamps? Are people upset about that?
A month's worth of food costs a lot more than using a book for a month.
Re:Bezos should put his billions in public libraries
by mattkrause on Thursday August 17, 2017 @12:08AM
(#15033747)
Uhh....yes?
In the US, Republicans have been talking about "welfare queens" and people buying lobsters with food stamps for literally decades. This strategy has apparently worked for them, even though benefit fraud is supposedly quite rare.
On the flip side, it's virtually impossible to cut Social Security and Medicare in the US, in part because the programs are not means-tested and everyone hopes to get something back from them.
Making something free for some, but not others could stir up resentment ("why should I pay for your use of the library?"), which would make it easier to cut funding in the future. This could lead to a spiral of increasing fees (or decreased service) -> smaller constituency -> less funding.
I'm also not sure that the marginal user costs a library very much. I doubt that a library with twice as many potential patrons needs twice as many books or two times the staff, for example.