Re: Santorum introduces more rent collection opps

>"The bill, introduced last week by Sen. Rick Santorum, R-Pa., would
>prohibit federal meteorologists from competing with companies such
>as AccuWeather and The Weather Channel, which offer their own
>forecasts through paid services and free ad-supported Web sites."

Presumably, the intent is to prevent taxpayer dollars from being used
to finance government businesses that compete directly with private
ones. The principle is valid. Unfortunately, in this case, the
private businesses are doing little more than using taxpayer funded
measurement tools and reselling data collected by the government at
taxpayer expense. In effect, this bill would enable private companies
to force consumers to pay a second time for something they've already
purchased with their taxes.

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