Sesame Street is supposed to make better human adults. It's worth spending money to make better human adults.

If sesame street does not make money, then it does not exist in the long run. Someone will have to pay, or?

DR WHO wasn't supposed to make money!

the concept of "the public good" is dead rip

Public broadcasting is paid for by the public. Between donations and tax breaks.

Public Broadcasting is a service where money goes in, and educational programming comes out. Much like how the USPS is a service where money goes in and a functional mail delivery system comes out. To expect these public services to make money is antithetical to their very purpose.

the post office, in fact, is supposed to make money - or at least be revenue neutral.

Hands up who was also raised on @pbs.org! ❤️🤚

So forced payment then.

It is mostly paid for by donations, about 15% is government funded.

These folks seem to understand not-for-profit government projects just fine when it's bombing people!!

Capitalism can not make better adults.

But if things don't make money then they don't matter, DUH.

Cudos to those who donated. Not fan of the rest...
Thank you for setting it straight, I thought most was government.

It’s okay for the US, with vast resources, to pay for a very cost effective program that helps kids in every income bracket be ready to learn in school. It helps even the playing field for kids. Right now all of PBS is 15% federal funds, the rest is from donations.

Let Big Bird run the Wall Street Journal.

Bill Moyers puts it well

"There are things in the public interest that add great value to society that aren't profitable: public libraries, public toilets, public education, and public healthcare."

Sesame Street gave Stevie Wonder seven minutes to play an extended version of Superstition. I can't think of any other broadcaster that would do that for a daytime audience, child or adult. Assuming viewers have an attention span... www.youtube.com/watch?v=_ul7...

prisons aren’t supposed to make money (and are a public harm on top of it)

hospitals aren’t supposed to make money

abolish the shareholder class

Medicare isn't supposed to make money.

Even in America, fire services are not run for profit. They don't ask to see your house insurance before they turn on the taps.

This is accepted but somehow, the idea of the public purse paying for anything else, for the universal benefit of it just existing, has been drummed out of most Americans

Yes. It would be a good thing if armed agents of the state should break down your door in particular and give all your shit to Big Bird

Damn you’re dumb as fuck!

A common belief, because of Republican misinformation. For some reason they oppose children learning things like empathy, respect and the alphabet.

I'm still kind of annoyed that I never did find out how to get to Sesame Street.

Health insurance: Shouldn't make money.

The technocapitalist analogue is Mr Beast so yeah you’re right

Ok, yes BUT how is Sesame Street not making billions on merch and licensing already??

Why can’t that pay for the content?

So, you’re a communist?

I know. Sesame Street made at least a few though.

Republicans think everything is supposed to make money. Sick people aren’t a problem, they’re an opportunity.
Guns and violence aren’t a problem, they are an opportunity.
The poorly educated are not a problem. They are an opportunity.
Fossil fuels are not a problem. They are an opportunity.

There's certainly plenty of evidence to back this up.

No one says the US Navy didn't make any money this year? These are Government services, for you the citizen to use.

Tell that to an oligarch.

Thank you for stating this so clearly

Government-based student loan should not make money.

Exactly! Prisons, hospitals, school, etc. How much money do these billionaires need?!

* obi wan Kenobi voice* the monetization is strong with that one

Ssh, talk like THAT will get you the 3am door knock pretty soon... 😐

Also, the people working in these services, charities, and jobs are not supposed to be poor just cause they are helping others. They deserve to get paid a thriving salary and enjoy full benefits just as much as any other professional.

See UK water and sewage companies - distracted from providing clean water and dealing with sewage by making lots and lots of money for their shareholders instead.

GOVERNMENT IS NOT A BUSNESS!!!

Government is there to serve the people.
Not profit from the people!

Presidents aren’t supposed to grift off the American people

Shove It Up Your Ass

I’m not supposed to make money either

I’m curious as to how the post office got into so much debt.

Were they in debt before the 1980’s?🤔.How did this occur?

Somewhere in the late 90s or early 2000s congress forced them to pre-fund decades of worker pensions or something. It was explicitly designed to bankrupt them

Donald must be a public service too since he can’t make any money (legally) 🤣🤣🤣

If the postal service is supposed to make money, then change the rules so they aren’t forced to fund employee pensions in advance for 70+ years (unlike requirements for every other federal agency).

I think social media belongs on that list. It's comparable to the post office, but it needs even more regulation.

I think we can say by now with 100% certainty, that advertising is the wrong way to pay for it, anyway.

the crazy thing is back about 20 years ago the Post Office WAS making money and then Congress saddled them with debt on purpose...

The army doesn’t make any money either but, curiously, they don’t seem interested at all in cutting that 🤔🤔🤔

Society tells me I need to be a better adult. So I'm suggesting they throw money at the problem.

Damn,🤔.That’s insane.Jeff Bezos should try to purchase the post office from the government and come up with a way to make it profitable.I’m just brainstorming but it sounds like it might would work in some way🤔

🤚 me! The only saving grace in the homeschool hellscape of my education. XD

It was originally aired on public broadcasting stations: began as not a capitalist endeavor.

Fire departments do not make money, then they do not exist in the long run. Someone will have to pay, or?

If the military does not make money, then it does not exist in the long run. Someone will have to pay, or?

Are you understanding yet?

And then telling us they need to put their prices up to pay fines they were hit with because of the crumbling infrastructure they deliberately neglected!

I am also a nonprofit

Honestly though, they might reach a lot more people on YouTube than pay walled behind a premium subscription service

Ooh this

Worth noting that Sesame Street was initially broadcast on public television stations. Ya know stations with the primary purpose is public service.

Hospitals, utilities, and perhaps insurance companies too shouldn't have to make a profit for shareholders. It seems these days that some of these institutions make *insane* profits—wrecking people's lives in the process.

This is what I keep trying to tell my wife.

But. Have you thought how this affects the rich? (I'm not serious. I do seriously adore your username though.)

The government should confiscate their physical assets, which probably have a net zero or less value, given all the outstanding work needed to repair or replace them. This would leave the companies as shells with debts and nothing else. We shouldn't socialise their losses.

And arguably, better adults lead to better jobs, better lives, and lower costs to society. It's still a net profit to the greed machine.

So even taken strictly from a capitalistic angle it's still worth the investment. It's just a long-play rather than quick buck.

Government jobs used to be highly respected, as I recall in the 1970s. Reagan ruined all that and I saw it creep into the national psyche in the 80s that everything had to be "for profit" and privatized. It was gross then, it is obvious just how gross it is now. Thank the republicans

Ironically, Trump is supposed to make money, and often doesn't.

What? You mean... crooks are not supposed to make money too? It can not be possible!

Wait until you find out how much money national defense doesn't make.

www.nbcnews.com/id/wbna39516...

it still is.

but nonprofits still have operating costs.

Healthcare shouldn’t make money.

that pays for worker salaries and stuff like that.

Only in America! Amazing how many other countries have these and more service for taxpayers....at no cost above the taxes they have paid! The govts support the people instead of oligarchs using govt to support themselves.

Schools, parks, even the army, aren't supposed to make money. Sigh.

Long play. That’s the problem. If the ROI lies outside the next quarterly returns, the people making the call won’t get the credit so they won’t make the investment.

The correct take from Nebula M78.

The Post Office was shackled by monopoly restrictions that made it difficult for it to price competitively. Companies like TNT & UK Mail can offer to deliver mail into RM at a lower cost than a stamp (which is RM price point). RM have to take a minimum price for final mile delivery

I understand your objection to the making of money as the only metric. However, in this world, money is a useful metric and if you aren't making money, you are either breaking even or losing it and the latter is unsustainable in the long run.

Hello how are you

Add teachers and child care workers to the list.

all public/government institutions are not businesses.
they are Publicly funded for the Public good. that's it.
that's why it pisses me off so bad when the cops call begging for money, maybe instead of spending hundreds of thousands on one military vehicle for civilian use, pay the guys more!

Prisons and hospitals are not supposed to Make Money either - think how ghoulish it is for those industries to be thinking of how to make shareholders richer.

"That's a Fourth-Quarter Problem!"

Health Insurance should be not for profit.

Sesame St. began as a public television endeavor, using public funds & donations to return a public service, and did so most of its history. You always have to use RESOURCES to make art or educate. That's not capitalism. Capitalism is the one trying to (yet again) KILL Sesame Street.

Capitalism loves to cut PBS funding (which is why Sesame has had to look for other investors). Capitalism likes to try to destroy the not-for-profit social structures like the USPS, PBS, public transit. But all of those require resources to work, but that's not capitalism.

Honestly, those things DO make money, just indirectly by benefitting society as a whole.

The problem isn't thinking about things from a money perspective, it's thinking that everything has to be direct and fast without any intermediate steps.

Capitalism demands imperfection. If you create the most efficient product, the System punishes you for "not innovating" and "not making constant money". (Look at Tuppaware)

THIS

Ronald caused as much damage as Donald

we give MILLIONs of tax payer dollars & student tuition money to universities so they budget sports. The highest paid public employees in every state? Coaches.

Tell me that Sesame Street is less important than government subsidized millionaire football coaches

sportsdata.usatoday.com/ncaa/finances

frinkiac.com/meme/S08E07/...

Reagan set us on the downward spiral that led to today.

Yeah, there were even the 'Reagan Democrats', but those of us who weren't sleepwalking saw what was going on in real time.

The Constitution identifies one of the duties of government as promoting the general welfare. Doesn't say anything about government's responsibility to turn a profit.

You know what else shouldn’t make money?

Money.

Money shouldn’t draw interest just for existing.

The more money you have, the more you get?
This is the very definition of unsustainably. And the basis for our entire economic system.

It was always going to come to this, sooner or later.

Yep, it's supposed to be a public good that's helps the public.