Free Republic

Matthew Blake reports for Los Angeles Business Journal that on April 17, 2018, a bill to extend California’s motion picture tax credit program sailed through a state Assembly committee without opposition. Do California’s taxpayers know that they’re 'subsidizing' America-hating, anti-Second Amendment, pro-abortion, corrupt and debauched Hollywood ....to the tune of $330 million a year?

For the sake of argument, let’s concede the high-speed rail will cost only $68 billion as most recently advertised. Of course, it will cost far more, probably even more than the $98 billion to $117 billion previously estimated, and certainly nowhere close to the $33 billion originally estimated. But let’s give them that. For the sake of argument. And let’s concede, for the sake of argument . . .

What could Phoenix Mayor Phil Gordon and City Council members have been thinking when they authorized a $100 million tax subsidy for CityNorth, a private development planned for northeast Phoenix? We may never know, but businesses planning to expand or relocate have become expert at conning government officials into thinking they won’t come “but for” government incentives. The take nationally comes to $50 billion yearly, according to Alan Peters and Peter Fisher of the University of Iowa. In fact, the annual conference of the State Government Affairs Council, an organization of corporate government relations types, once heard a presentation titled...

Oct. 14 — Adrian Prior-Sankey is learning to play golf, partly at the British government's expense. Doctor's orders, you know."I was grossly overweight and considerably unfit, so I thought I would submit myself to my physician," Prior-Sankey said. The physician recommended exercise, and Prior-Sankey decided to try golf.In Britain, the National Health Service and local government agencies subsidize exercise costs as preventive care, not just as physical therapy after a heart attack or other medical problem develops. American health care providers tend to focus payments on physical therapy.The British physical activity referrals are run through local agencies and use whatever...