Sports as a tool to steal from taxpayers

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Sure. George Steinbrenner is getting over $600 million for the new Yankee Stadium in New York. The New York Mets are getting over $600 million. In fact, the City of New York gave them money to lobby against the taxpayers to get more money. Rudy Giuliani gave $50 million to the two teams for that purpose.
The new owners of the Washington Nationals baseball team in Washington, D.C., paid $450 million for the team. But, in fact, they got the team for free, because the subsidy they're getting for the new stadium is worth $611 million. We actually paid these people to buy the team.
(...)
AMY GOODMAN: Speaking of sports teams, talk about President Bush and where you believe, really, ultimately, he got his wealth.

DAVID CAY JOHNSTON: Well, it isn't a function of belief, Amy. I've got the documents. President Bush, who will go down in history as the great tax cutter, owes almost all of his fortune to a tax increase that was funneled into his pocket.
(...)
The value of this subsidy, according to Ray Hutchison, who is the husband of Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, is a prominent Republican insider in Texas and is the leading authority on municipal bond finance in Texas, was $202.5 million. The profit that President Bush and his partners made when they sold the team was $164 million. What does that tell you? Every single penny of additional money President Bush got from that investment, his gain, came from the taxpayers. He did not add one cent to the value of that team through his skill as an MBA manager. This gets repeated all over the country.
Playlist:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfQDBjVhMzA&feature=PlayList&p=5EF4E9A...
Book:
http://books.google.com/books?id=iuKyGAAACAAJ&dq=david+cay+johnston+free+...
NPR interview:
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=17808622

Category:

Sports

Tags:

• Yankee
• Stadium
• Mets
• Giuliani
• George
• Steinbrenner
• Washington
• Nationals
• baseball
• Bush
• Walton
• family
• donald
• trump

[kadennis66]

This has been my rant for years!. Why do I as a taxpayer pay for the facility and then get taxed again just to walk in the fucken door! This is Goddamn lunicy. Go ahead and buy a sports franchise, if you want a new stadium then YOU pay for the sonofabitch! Where the hell is the Tea Party on this issue? Never hear a peep about big buisness fucking over taxpayers from the teabaggers.

[madashelldude]

@kadennis66 that's because they are drones programmed by big business: people who never in their entire life learned any truth that didn't come from the boob tube or ClearChannel Comm Inc.

[Shmecklecka]

Answer, they will do nothing, because the PEOPLE JUST DON'T CARE.

They don't even get that it was the USA that overthrew the democratically elected government in Iran in the 50's or supported saddam. The people are stupid, brain-dead, bible-belted red-state rednecks, who only like to shoot things. They are happy being poor, stupid and voting for republocrats who let them legally kill things, especially brown people.

[o0xst]

They are trying to screw us with a stadium swindle here in Oklahoma City..but we are fighting it...I hope Amy will do a bit on our efforts, lots of good stuff going on here in the bible belt....progressives here CANT and SHOULDNT be ignored forever.

[xAbsoluteJackx]

@Shmecklecka

I bet your a brown person.

[3089280288]

Just like any business, if you open a franchise, then you should bear all the cost. If you ask for tax money for your facility, then you can't afford the team period. Buy the team, buy the facility.

[sinistar99]

@Dswelli23 There are also natural monopolies, like water, gas roads etc where there's only one source and 1 delivery system.

[elsamuraiguapo]

Nationalize sports leagues.

[bvd1022]

he allowance of corporate tradition killing Hasnt George Steinbrenner and Fred Wilpon ever heard of the phrase Bad Karma? I dont know about you all but I say I still believe in tradition and I wont support them going forward.

We have too many problems in this country to allow this type of greed and corruption. The way to eliminate these people is to take the power away from the politicians that enable them Whats wrong with tradition?

[sirgreatness]

Great point, and the big guys will lobby the little guy to death lol because they have the money.

[BizzyBumpyWilson]

they do wut iz right in their own eyez...MAY GOD JUDGE US WELL

[szatmar666]

Yes, but the book's argument is exactly that US (tax)laws are such that big guys have unfair advantage ie. what u call a "forced monopoly". I recommend you read the book or pay more attention 2 what Johnston actually is saying for instance about how Bush used eminent domain and coercive big gov measures that relied on nepotism and behind the scenes corrupt politics to get taxpayers money for the Texas Rangers ballpark in Arlington! He literally privatized profits while socializing expenses.