|
There is no
free lunch and a lot of folks are darned mad about it.
I’m not sure
when the “Me Generation” gave way to the “Gimme Generation,” but “Me” is looking
better every day. Just as no one can own a sunbeam, we ask in all seriousness,
why should anyone have to pay to use an automatic teller machine?
I’m willing to
be corrected on this, but I believe science has proven beyond a doubt that ATMs
are not a natural phenomenon. They must be purchased and maintained. They
require electricity and a small chunk of real estate on which to sit. Someone,
who presumably expects to be paid, must restock them and keep the records.
The cities of Santa Monica and San Francisco have passed laws banning ATM fees,
though both were overturned by courts. Banks generally operate ATMs without
charge for the convenience of their customers and to reduce the number of human
tellers needed to serve them; we now want them equally obligated to random
strangers.
I’m open to opposing views, but spare me the “Why should I pay to get my own
money?” shuck. It’s not your money if it’s not in your bank.
In the same vein, Governor Davis signed a bill last year requiring gas stations
to provide free air and water to customers, though for all practical purposes
it’s hard to stop anyone who drives up. At least air in the wild is free for
the taking, and water in quantities necessary to fill a radiator runs from free
to cheap. So though I invite anyone who wishes to inflate their tires to use
all the air they can inhale, I fail to see why private businesses should be
compelled to operate compressors and water hoses.
The latest free lunch debate involves Napster and similar web sites that allow
users to download music or movies over the Internet without charge. Pioneering
music web site MP3.com settled suits by two recording companies in June,
agreeing to pay back-royalties as well as fees for future use. Yet Napster
fights on, essentially telling the recording industry to get over it.
That’s a hard
thing to do when you make your living from royalties. Although an esthetic
argument might be made that those using Napster-like web sites to hijack today’s
music and films (I call such folks “kidNapsters”) are getting what they pay for,
the fact remains that royalties are how the artists are compensated.
Predictably,
politicians have gotten involved. Hearings before the Senate Judiciary
Committee in July featured a black-clad Lars Ulrich, drummer for the metal band
Metallica, testifying before the Committee’s chairman and fellow recording
artist Orrin Hatch, R-Utah. (Hatch, you surely know, recently released a
collection of religious pop music.)
A wonderful
circus for sure, with the Committee reluctant to enact new legislation, fretting
that laws to protect copyrights might deter technological innovation. I suspect
they mainly didn’t want to face an irate electorate, but a court subsequently
shut Napster down with a temporary injunction. Hatch better not spend all that
royalty loot just yet; Congress may yet step in to save the popular freebie.
Someone once said that democracy will fall when people find they can vote
themselves money. I’d love to tell you who, but my web search to verify the
author attributed versions of the quote variously to 18th century
Scottish historian Alexander Tyler, Benjamin Franklin, and Alexis de
Tocqueville. I always thought it was Tocqueville, but whoever it was had a
point. The money for these things comes from somewhere, and when we entitle
someone to something we obligate someone else to pay for it. This is not the
working of a free society.
Freebies can be habit forming so don’t expect it to stop with water, air, ATMs,
movies, and music. Why not haircuts, car washes, foot rubs, and just for the
pure poetry of it, lunch? I dread the day, but at least it will be fun to see
if the kidNapsters sing a different song when their turn comes.
© 1997 – 2002 Brent Morrison
|
