Tom_G said,
The FCC is doing this. They're suffering budget cuts from the federal government, and have realized that stepping up enforcement of previously-overlooked violations means generation of a huge revenue stream. It is currently nearly unheard-of for a station to make it thru license renewal without hefty fines. No reason to think that the BATFE wouldn't come to the same realization.
Not only are the fines big, but they usually accrue to each violation, and in some cases, each day the problem is not corrected is another violation. That can add up to pretty big numbers.
I think maybe the EPA pulls this kind of stuff, too. Piss in the river from 11:59PM to 12:01AM and it's two violations....
I pulled that post because I wasn't sure it was actually self-sufficient in budgetary terms. First of all, its budget is over a billion of our dollars a year, but it turns out that the fines 'n stuff go into the general fund, so I guess all you can say is that that billion bucks (of our money) is
offset by fines 'n stuff.
In any case, I guess it goes like this: Make more laws to violate, you get more violators. Get more violators, you get more fines 'n stuff.
Does that sound sort of like a speed trap to you, too?
Terry, 230RN
ETGLAOFBOTA (Edited To Grumble Like An Old Fart But Off Topic Anyhow): I remember when Eisenhower's budget hit something like $73 billion, and holy cow, all kinds of hell was raised. Well, as somebody once said about the US budget, "A billion dollars here and a billion dollars there, and pretty soon you're talking about
real money." Senator Dirksen? Senator Goldwater? I forget. But the point was well made.