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Fleecing of America


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FLEECING of AMERICA

 

Many of you have watched the evening news segments on NBC hosted by Brian Williams called 'Fleecing of America'. Williams highlights the US Government's waste of taxpayer money that has been dedicated to a litany of projects and developments over the years.

 

The mission of you as a waymarker, if you choose to accept, is to find those places where NBC has spotlighted the waste of taxpayer money and waymark them for others to realize where our taxpayer dollars have gone to fund projects that should never have been developed in the first place.

 

I've discovered that every episode of 'Fleecing in America' on NBC is available on their website:NBC Website as well as on their CNBC website: CNBC website

 

Not every 'Fleecing of America' episode can be waymarked since many of the episodes highlight the waste of government dollars WITHIN the government bodies themselves, but many episodes highlight actual locations around America where projects were completed (or not) and funded by taxpayer money at a wasteful level.

 

I welcome anybody in this forum to give me your opinion of this potentially new category as well as making any suggestions on how to improve this category before going through the process of a peer review.

 

You may also join my newly-established group titled 'Fleecing of America' if you'd like to be part of this potentially new category's officership. Please click the link to join my group: Fleecing of America group

 

Happy Waymarking, everyone!

 

Doug (thebeav69)

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The idea has maybe some potential. But as long it is limited to one country and only one TV show as a resource, I doubt that it would be a viable category.

 

fi67, thank you for your opinion. I thought the same thing in regards to the limited landscape this potential category would dictate. But I have also seen other categories that are also limited to the USA. Specifically, any State Historical Marker or State Highway Road Markers, Grange Halls, VFW Posts, some of the silly fast food or restaurant chain categories (still scratching my head on these) are just a few...

 

I think that many waymarkers wouldn't mind logging onto NBC's website and look for potential sites near their hometowns that they might want to waymark.

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I have several reservations about this idea.

 

First, it is tied to a specific American TV show, and certainly reflects that U.S. Network's bias. Is U.S. TV network news authoritative in any way? The very selection of what to include reflects their own bias. Some may see this as heroic journalism and others may feel that the reports are unfair and unjustified. I'm not stating an opinion about this program, just pointing out that it is controversial. I think Waymarking should steer clear of controversial areas.

 

Second, most of these are what I would call "soft sites." That is they have no intrinsic value in themselves, but only an attributed value simply because the news editor have have decided to tag them as being related to "fleecing" in some way. Is there something really specific to pinpoint with geographic coordinates? Is this something others would want to visit?

 

Third, it is a pointedly U.S. oriented topic of little interest to anyone else. It is a matter of the internal politics of one country. This is much different from categories which you mention that are confined to one country. One might live outside the U.S. and still be interested in Grange Halls or Mississippi Historical Markers just as someone in the U.S. might be interested in Dartmoor Granite or Gothic Buildings. They all have an intrinsic value. But, does the rest of the world give a rip about the "Fleecing of America?" I hope not.

 

Sure, there are always examples of existing categories that may be subject to these same criticisms, but the existence of bad examples is never justification for another one. There's a difference between precedence that should be followed and existing follies that should not be emulated.

 

I'm not dismissing the idea out of hand, but suggesting that these are things to consider when weighing the viability of this as a Waymarking category.

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I just noticed this idea. I do not feel that it is viable. To start, how many of these "fleecing" sites are there? As a rule of thumb I like to see a minimum of 500 potential waymarks in a new category. Also, as SQ pointed out, the list comes from one news channel, with a clear political bias. It is subjective and I am sure ephemeral. Ten years from now will anyone remember this list or show? I do not think so.

 

I do not believe that this will make a good category.

 

"There's a difference between precedence that should be followed and existing follies that should not be emulated."

A most euphonic aphorism.

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Sorry for such a delayed reply here, but I have just discovered this Waymarking fun and this potential category caught my eye. I have seen many examples of government waste and believe this could be a great category if only the restriction of the television show would be removed. If it was marking examples of government waste, many interesting and entertaining (yet, anguishing) waymarks would definitely be there.

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Anything such as this is too subjective in nature to be considered suitable for a category. "Fleecing" can mean many things to many different people. For example, the subsidising of sugar production, and the placement of military bases might be considered "fleecing" by some segments of the population, but not by others (those in the sugar business, or with businesses deriving income from military bases). The only valid criterion I can think of would be a permanent site, that was deemed wasteful by a legal decision. I suspect that there would be few of these.

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