Let's give all our money to the rich guy!!!!
Reason magazine is among the best in America. If you don't have a subscription, you should get one. A story that just popped up on the magazine's Web site claims that the South leads the nation in huge taxpayer-funded subsidies for private development. Here's a sickening example:
In 2005 the multibillionaire France family, which owns NASCAR, decided its sport needed a hall of fame museum. So it went through the motions of pitting Atlanta against Charlotte for the privilege of hosting the attraction. NASCAR probably had already decided on Charlotte; the city lives and breathes stock car racing, and most of the drivers are based in North Carolina. But the bidding war drove up the public subsidies. Atlanta offered about $102 million; Charlotte anted up $123 million.
The museum will provide only about 100 jobs, most of them low paying. Business development officials in both cities claimed that the prestige of gaining the NASCAR museum, plus the promise of expanded tourism, were worth forcing taxpayers to foot the bill.
What do you want to bet that if Kentucky had a shot at landing a museum like that, most members of the General Assembly would claim credit for giving away the store?
