Look at the economic development fund. Every state has one and every one gives taxpayer money to private business.
Yes, so very true.
Yep, it's cronyism on steroids.
Not voluntarily they don’t.
And most “economic development” projects are pork that goes to build boondoggles that can’t be maintained and add no long term ‘economic development’ (except to the few who got the contracts).
Just look at every po-dunk town that has a ‘convention center’, which sits idle most of the year (how many conventions are going to go to small towns with attractions other than the convention center itself?) In addition they are usually ugly, poorly built and expensive to maintain.