Both of the major newspapers in Philadelphia, just filed for Chapter 11.

Philly newspaper owner latest to file Chapter 11

Chicago, Denver, Miami, Los Angeles.....

Newspapers are going away.

Their major source of revenue is advertising, and, things that people used to advertise and buy in the classified, have moved to eBay and CraigsList.

And, you might say, "so what"....... :dunno:

Yeah, you might say that. Except for one thing - the investigative reporters. The MSM is the largest institution that has any semblance of "investigative reporting", and unfortunately it's become corrupt, and subsumed into a large gubmint thing - BUT, the fact remains, that the newspaper industry contains the infrastructure for that particular activity.

But, this led me down a different path of logic - 'cause look here:

Why are the newspapers failing? Well, they can't make revenue to pay costs.

Why are they not being bailed out? They're "not profitable", and basically, they're an enemy of government, when things are working well. They're a "check and balance", and our gubmint doesn't seem to like that concept very much these days.

What OTHER companies are "not being bailed out"?

Right?

Check it out - the companies that are failing, are

a) the small ones (and by the way, I just saw the former matron of the local Chinese restaurant picking cans out someone's else garbage, which made me very angry)
b) the "early" ones, like, the ones without enough cash to hang out through the tough times - which means, the ones that operate "on the edge", margin-wise - ike GM! like, newspapers!
c) the "local" ones - the ones who can't compete in an international market - like, newspapers!
d) in the banking world, who's folding up? the small, local banks!

Right? See the pattern here? Small and local, is a bad thing these days. It mostly means you go bankrupt.

And then - what are the OTHER checks and balances on big gubmint?

The Congress - what have they been up to? SPENDING MONEY! They're deep in it! They're part of the problem!

The Supreme Court - what have they been up to? Grabbing our land for private developers! Using federal money as a club against the States! Unfunded mandates! Over-riding State laws! All KINDS of highly un-Constitutional stuff!!!

The Executive Branch? Fuggeddaboutit! Executive Privilege! Signing statements! National security opinions that carry more weight than the law! Violations of international treaties! Handwaving over the Constitution!

It is clearly time, that We the People, assert our will once again, and force those weasels to adhere to the contract, 'cause it's pretty clear they're not gonna do it any other way.

We gotta get off our butts though. They've made us complacent!

As long as we're gettin' our standard of living, we're happy campers.

Maybe this economic calamity is a blessing in disguise.