Welfare Capitalism

Even in the age of Reagan and the Bushes, the welfare system is alive and well. The principal beneficiaries of such government largess are not the "welfare queens" that Ronnie used to talk about though they were always conveniently black - but also purely fictitious. Nobody ever managed to exhibit one.

The big welfare bucks went to white guys who already happened to be rich and politically connected. The American professional sports franchises classically epitomize this phenomena. Unlike professional sports franchises in most countries, ours are exempted from anti-trust laws and spend a hell of a lot of effort maintaining their monopolies. Because they are monopolies, team owners have a lot of leverage over their host cities - they can always threaten to take their ball and go fishing elsewhere. There are a dozen or so professional football (soccer) teams in London, but no American city has more than two NFL or professional baseball teams. This pays big time when it comes to extracting subsidies from cities.

George Steinbrenner is the champ. At the same time that Rudy Giuliani was saving the city of New York big bucks by cutting police, parks, and libraries, he arranged for several hundred millions to be funnelled into Steinbrenner's pockets. Steinbrenner is no one dimensional welfare queen though - thanks to friends in Congress he got several hundred million more for failing to build some ships the Navy needed. Honorable mention has got to go to an up and comer named George W Bush. With little to recommend him except for being the son of the then current US President, he put together a syndicate that talked the city of Arlington TX into seizing some local land (using eminent domain) and giving him $202 million plus in subsidies. He and his partners garnered $250 million on their $86 million dollar investment when they sold the franchise a few years later - a pretty nice gift from the taxpayers.

The politicians who facilitate them get more for their trouble than those other welfare queens could ever match - campaign contributions, prominent seats and featured billing on the local sports scene.

(Courtesy of David Cay Johnston's Free Lunch: How the Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expense (and StickYou with the Bill))

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