i agree, we should definitely eliminate loop-holes/ people from all tax brackets (especially from rich ones) take way to much advantage of these. we need to simplify out tax code, get rid of deductions, loop holes, exemptions, etc. and lower tax rates for every one.

but for subsidies, thats different. thats the government taking your money and giving it to someone else. meaning chosing winners and losers. thats not captalism. for things like alternative energy, im all for it. but right now most of it isnt viable alternative. if it was, the market would take care of it, and government wouldnt have to throw billions of dollars at it. the market chooses whats right for consumers, goverment doesnt. government creates artificial prices, and takes away jobs from other sources, that are proven. the day that solar, wind or whatever energy becomes an ecinomical alternative, trust me there will be thousands of people wanting to get a slice of the pie. the market determines when that comes. and ironically enough its also goverment that keeps us from being energy independent, and keeps us from using alternative energy. we cant drill our own oil, we cant make solar fields in the middle of the dessert, we cant make wind farms, miles of our coasts, and we cant make nuclear plants, all because of politicians. when government interfers with the free market they stop advancement in everything, including energy

they finally saw mirandas ass.

How about having a slush fund, within certain funding limits and allow people using it for whatever they want?  All they go to do is sign up for it.  No one denies anyone.  Explain how this is the government picking winners and losers, if you can get everything from an Evangelistic film to persuade people to be Christians, to a photo of a crucifix in a bottle of urine.  The government just doles out cash.

Of course art can survive.  Corporations can hire artists to make commercial propaganda to get people to buy their products.  And yes, videogames can become art in this to, by using Tetris in tampon ads.  Yes, we need less government funding and more films and other art that end up like this:

And my CADER Facebook group needs more advertising for going back to school and refinancing home mortages. 

Yeah

Screw libraries

It's interactive media, which just happens to require artistic processes in its creation. The end result is a product which is intended for mass consumption. To call that something so rare as art just feeds the egos of fools.

There's more to capitalism than your idea of it.

The rejection of craft or experience as art is self-aggrandizing manure, solely the product of people who need to justify degrees which only really qualify them to talk to each other about their degrees. "Art" is not scarce, though it is special; it is not rare, though it is to be valued.

I agree, there are true craftsmen in this industry, and they are not half as vocal about their achievements as the fameseekers. I am no academic, so I am not really qualified to state what is art, but my experience as a gamer makes me pretty sure that the classification is not a positive one.

Also: I'm not gonna make the mistake of confusing rare and special again, heh.

You'll have to forgive my aggressive tone, then; I am one of those jerks with a degree in Literature who has devoted way too much time to the discussion of art, and have heard too many people spew an awful lot of crap about what qualifies.

I'll get back on topic, which I'm pretty sure is about taking funding away from libraries. Screw libraries!

Man, this is sometimes how I learn things. I dive in and I get bruises. Don't worry about it :B