India Launches $35 Tablet

Many readers have submitted stories about a new $35 tablet computer released today in India. The Aakash (meaning sky) has been handed out to 500 students for an initial trial run, if successful a $60 commercial version will hit the shelves later this year. The Aakash computer runs Android 2.2 (Froyo), has a 7-inch touch screen, 256MB of RAM, 32GB expandable memory slot, two USB ports, and weighs in at only 350 grams.

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Re:Cool

[PopeRatzo]

Government giveaways are always cheaper than what the public can buy in both cost and quality.

Medicare is a hell of a lot better than what a 67 year old man with colon cancer can buy on the "open market".

And Social Security is a hell of a lot better than the private pensions available to a 58 year-old grocery store clerk. Or a 58 year old programmer, for that matter.

So no, government "giveaways" are not always cheaper (in terms of quality) than what the public can buy. However, they are usually "cheaper" in terms of actual cost.

The administrative costs of a private pension is usually around 12-18%. Social Security's administrative costs are about 2.5 - 3%. Private health insurance administrative costs are anywhere from 15-60% (and that's before you add in the profits). Medicare's administrative costs are less than 3% (unless you read the right-wing "think tank" websites, where you will learn that Medicare's administrative costs are a million gazillion percent higher than the altruistic health insurance companies).

My wife, who is a skydiver who used to belong to the national skydiving team of a formerly socialist eastern european country, has often told me how the gear that the US military "gives" its members is almost always superior to anything you can buy in the store. She was jumping in Hawaii once with a bunch of US military and one of the guys on the US team gave her his standard issue backpack. She's still got it and the quality of construction and design beats anything I've seen available commercially.

Now that we've cleared up your misconception about "government giveaways", we should work on your misunderstanding regarding your usage of the term "giveaway". Learn the difference between getting something for free and having the costs shared by society as a whole.