The Columbus city council approved the public-private bailout of the Columbus Blue Jackets yesterday, putting that deal one step closer to fruition. The mayor and the county commission still need to sign off on it, but that seems pretty likely, as the plan has widespread support:
“So many neighborhoods are literally dying,” Smith said. “To do this right now is morally indefensible. We need to focus on our critical needs — infrastructure and the well-being of our citizens.”
Whoops, wrong quote: That’s actually Columbus mayoral candidate Earl Smith, who says it’s a lousy deal, since Columbus would be giving up casino revenue that could otherwise go to serve other needs, in exchange for uncertain economic benefits. It doesn’t look like there’ll be much that Smith can do about it even if he takes office in January, though — and in any case, as we’ve seen, it’s all too common for stadium-skeptic mayoral candidates to have changes of heart once they’re the ones in the lobbyists’ crosshairs.
step one: convince dimwits and politicos terrified of anything sports related that might sound like bad news to begin subsidizing the annual operation of your sports business.
step two: increase that annual taxpayer subsidy using the same weak and unsubstantiated arguments as much as you can, and as often as you can.
Well, silly me… I clearly wasted all that time in business courses learning things like the path to success (and profitability) for any business being it’s ability to give it’s customers better value than it’s competitors do. Clearly that’s just not true. Clearly the true path to profitability in America is sinking your parasitic proboscis into a rich artery filled with taxpayer subsidies. This is true whether you are a sports business, and insurance giant, or a law breaking brokerage firm.
Adam Smith would be horrified.