Welfare for Billionaires
The Rich Get Richer, What a Surprise
This whole Oakland A’s baseball team moving to Las Vegas thing really reeks, and I believe I know the cause. The billionaire owner of the Athletics, John Fisher, seems like a turd of the first magnitude. He has been negotiating with the city of Oakland for several years, trying to get a new ballpark built, but to no avail. It is certainly true that there are valid issues surrounding the team in its current location. For example, the ballpark in Oakland is probably the worst in Major League Baseball.
However, it galls me to no end that these billionaire sports team owners are always looking for handouts from state and local taxpayers to fund, at least in part, new facilities for their teams. Why should taxpayers anywhere be giving welfare to billionaires?
What is especially disgusting about this guy is that he gutted a good team by getting rid of its best players, and, in essence, intentionally put a terrible product on the field. His next move was to RAISE ticket prices. And then, he used the predictably poor attendance which followed as proof of Oakland being uninterested in having the team, necessitating a move to a new city. Presumably one willing to lavish upon him the kind of millions he could not get from Oakland. Did I mention that this bastard is a billionaire? Damn, this just pisses me off.
It is a mystery to me why anyone would support team owners like this John Fisher guy. Why is it acceptable to entice the rich owners of professional sports teams with public money in the form of tax dollars, tax breaks, subsidies, pennies-on-the-dollar land deals, and other giveaways, with the purpose of having a team play its home games in a particular place?
These team owners pit one locale against another, looking for the sweetest deal. One could say they are simply being good businessmen, and they are letting the marketplace set the terms.
Yeah, that’s all well and good, but how much of a benefit really trickles down to the general population by using public money to greatly enhance the wealth of an already wealthy private business owner? It is cool to have a major sports franchise, however, numerous studies have shown the economic benefits of having a professional sports team in a city are vastly overrated.
The Athletics have a long history of extorting cities for the best deal. Heck, they started off in Philadelphia more than a century ago. In the 50s, Kansas City offered them a sweet deal so they packed up and moved west. In the 60s, Oakland offered them a sweeter deal, so they packed up and moved further west. The reality is that there are fewer teams than there are locations that want teams. It is the free market at work, I guess, but giving what amounts to welfare to the billionaire team owners just chaps my hide.
Las Vegas and Nevada should know better. Just a few years ago, the Oakland Raiders, owned by Mark Davis, expressed interest in moving to Las Vegas (poor Oakland, looks like they might be screwed again by Las Vegas). They told state and local officials in Nevada that they required a commitment of $750,000,000 in public financing for a new stadium. $750,000,000!! Jesus. And, the Nevadans go, “Why sure Mr. Davis, we’ll give you whatever you want! Just, please please please come to Las Vegas!!” That is money NOT going to public safety or schools or securing a water supply for Nevada’s growing desert cities and towns.
The new stadium for the Raiders, Allegiant Stadium, is extremely profitable. It is a humongous cash cow of epic proportions. But guess what? The agreement that brought the Raiders to Las Vegas does not include the sharing of those profits with taxpayers. That’s right, 0.0% of those astronomical profits go toward paying off the $750 million. Because they did not have that kind of money just lying around, Clark County had to issue municipal bonds. So, Nevadans will be paying off this debt for 30 years at a total cost of $1.3 billion.
Not to get too far into the weeds on this, but the bonds are being financed by a hotel tax on visitors. So, it does not affect local taxpayers at all, right? Wrong. First of all, any money visitors pay in hotel taxes is money not being spent in casinos and shops and restaurants. Also, in the event of a downturn in hotel occupancy and not enough money being collected from the tax to service the debt, guess who would be on the hook for the difference? If you said the Raiders, you are not paying attention. The taxpayers would, of course, make up the shortfall.
What this all means is that $750,000,000 was spent so already wealthy people can become wealthier. The Berkeley Economic Review described this deal as “socializing the costs and privatizing the profits”. That sounds about right.
Actually, I suppose the Nevadans did learn a lesson of some sort. The deal for the A’s includes roughly $380 million in public money, not $750 million. Way to put your foot down, Nevada.
Sports is not the only realm in which billionaires are looking to siphon off some public loot. It infuriates me to no end when I think about all the tax breaks, subsidies, handouts, and sweetheart deals the wealthy get in this country. Some folks of a conservative bent bitch and moan about poor people taking advantage of the social safety net. Sure, no one enjoys giving their precious tax dollars to those who would rather receive a government handout than get a job. Even though research has shown that people like this are relatively few, no one wants to feel cheated.
Well, I feel cheated by the rich fucks who rake in zillions of dollars and pay zero taxes, and always have their hands out for more - more tax breaks, more loopholes, more taxpayer dollars to finance their latest excesses, more, More, MORE of everything.
And, they cheat us right in front of our stupid faces. The candidates we vote for, our duly elected representatives, make the laws that allow this mostly legal cheating to happen. Why would they do that? Gee, it wouldn’t have anything to do with having their pockets stuffed with cash by wealthy assholes with an agenda, would it? If I sound bitter, disillusioned, and angry, it is only because I am.
I most definitely am not an economist. But, in my uneducated opinion, it seems obvious that the income disparity between rich and poor in the US is getting larger and larger every year. I say there is something screwed up about a tax system that allows people with billions of dollars to pay no tax. I am not suggesting we tax the rich “til there are no rich no more”. And, I am not suggesting we penalize intelligent, creative risk-takers for being successful. Jeff Bezos had a great idea and he turned it into one of most spectacular success stories in the history of the world. Good for him.
But why would I want to subsidize his humongous income with my taxes? To give him an incentive to build an Amazon distribution center in my town? Bringing all those wonderful, fantastic Amazon jobs to the poor, unemployed wretches here? Amazon jobs seem to be rather lowly regarded, both for low pay and poor working conditions, but any job is better than no job, I guess. However, I would rather invest in schools and infrastructure and clean energy and programs that actually help those who need help, than line the extremely deep pockets of Jeff Bezos and his ilk.
Shouldn’t the mega-wealthy give something back to the society that helped them become ultra-successful? In the form of taxes that, in theory, go to benefit society as a whole? I’m not talking about some harebrained wealth redistribution scheme, I’m talking about simple moral fairness. Those who have, help take care of those who don’t.
To be fair, many wealthy people are quite philanthropic toward their favorite causes, and I applaud them for it. But, I have to wonder, why aren’t the wealthy who demand and beg for tax breaks and loopholes, scrutinized and criticized like the people who apply for food stamps or need government assistance to afford a place to live?
No doubt, there are folks on food stamps and welfare who are gaming the system. They should not get a pass. But, make no mistake, the rich game the system, too. And, since their wealth gives them access to the best legal minds money can buy, and access to the politicians who create the tax breaks and loopholes, their activities often go undetected. And, undeterred. Why is that? Is it because everyone would like to be rich, but no one envies the poor?
And, let us not forget the role of our elected officials in this sleazefest. Not every member of Congress is wealthy wealthy, but why is it that almost all of them are fortunate to experience a net increase in wealth while in office? It couldn’t be those wonderfully lucrative cozy relationships with all those special interest lobbyists, could it? It is difficult to understand why working class people contribute their hard-earned dollars to these, at minimum, well-off people. Isn’t that simply another form of welfare for the rich? Are they just checking to see if we’re stupid enough to send our money to them? Honestly, if we are stupid enough to send them our money, then that’s on us.
And, if we are stupid enough to keep electing these people who care only about giving more welfare to billionaires, then that’s on us, too.
Norm should run for office or at least baseball commissioner. You go, Norm.