Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Got TV?


Anyone who reads this blog (all 5 of you) knows that we in the Garver house are a bit concerned about what we see as hard times ahead. Maybe only for some of us, maybe for all of us, but in my brain I see some tough times a 'comin and because of that reality we are striving to be at least minimally prepared. I love scouring blogs for help, insight, and tips to make our lives better and less dependent on the marketplace. So I had to laugh today at the lead story in the newspaper- Worried about your TV -complete with a photo of a couple sitting in front of their fuzzy television set.

We have a TV....we have several TVs....we don't have satellite or cable (cost-cutting) and only one of our TVs has the converter box. Even with the coupon we could only afford one box, and the other coupon expired. I figure after Feb. 17th we'll just watch more movies. We managed to live without ESPN and HGTV for 7 months now, I'm almost certain we will survive this crisis as well.

The article chronicles the woes of the 1.7 million people on the waiting list for converter box coupons as the deadline for switching to digital looms and the government program to subsidize the switch has run out of funds. What will Americans do without their television? Why doesn't the government "get their act together"...as Congress "scrambles to approve more money for the program" and officials representing President-elect Obama want to "delay the switch past Feb. 17th because 8 million households are still not ready for the transition".

Lions and tigers and bears...Oh My!

Is it just me or is this all a bit ridiculous? Why is the government paying for this in the first place? Is television now considered a need vs. a want? Lets put those silly health care, GMO food, mortgage crisis, war in the mideast, less important issues on the back burner...we have to get this TV problem solved!

I'm leaving now.... and shaking my head...and rolling my eyes.


5 comments:

Steve said...

Ridiculousciousness! You know Deliciously Ridiculous. Another example of tail wagging dog.

Julie said...

I heart Scrabble!

On the way to work this morning, the radio guys were joking about how only the government could say "Our kids need to be more fit" and then turn around and cancel phys ed in our schools! Makes perfect sense to me...NOT! :)

Maureen said...

I heart Scrabble too Julie, except that Wilson trounces us every time; I haven't won a game in years...but we do have fun!

Lol on the phys ed comment...not much happening in education makes sense to me these days.

Love Your Quilt said...

OH, I'm happy I found your new blog.
(beegreen and organic from today.com)

Your new garden ideas sound great! I'll be looking in to see how things work out. When do you start planting in CA?
I have a bad case of citrus-envy.

Nancy Winningham said...

And we wonder why our national debt keeps growing. I won't even comment on Obama's plans to stimulate the economy.