LeBron James Brings the High Cost of Bad Policy to the Fore

The Weekly Standard ^ | July 22, 2010 | Jim Prevor

[JimPrevor]

Those who want to see better public policy in America owe a high five to LeBron James.

His highly publicized decision to sign with the Miami Heat brought forth a torrent of articles noting that the star basketball player stood to save a lot on state and local taxes by moving to Florida. Although conservative media noted the incentive early, eventually it hit the New York Times and other mainstream media outlets. It was a great teaching moment, in which the costs of a public policy – in this case high state and local taxes – could be clearly seen.

The interesting thing is that taxes – and broader public policy actions – affect such decisions every day.

If LeBron James were an auto plant, considering re-locating to Cleveland, New York City or Miami, it is very obvious that the higher taxes in Ohio and New York wouldn’t matter at all, at least not directly. Why? Because the governments in New York and Ohio would offer all kinds of “incentives” to equalize the tax burden with Florida and maybe even undercut Florida’s level of taxation.

But LeBron James is a high-profile, high-earning individual and, so far at least, the government has no way of aiming legal exceptions at one individual.

[JimPrevor]

Any time there is a big issue, the politicians avoid letting the voters see the cost of public policy decisions by exempting the high profile cases from the law that applies to everyone else – that is what tax abatements are about.

[shibumi]

Why the excerpt?

Is there something in your article that’s not fit for publication on FreeRepublic?

[Las Vegas Dave]

FWIW Ohio (LeBron) ping..

BTW: Lebron James is marketing his new line of cell phones, it only vibrates and has no rings.. < /humor >

[TopQuark]

Compliance with copyright law.

[shibumi]

If I’m missing something here, please help me by pointing it out.

Here’s the copyright list, including the “excerpt only” and “no publication at all” sources. I don’t see “The Weekly Standard “ on it:

These sites must be excerpted and linked only:

•abqjournal.com
•adn.com
•afp.com
•aim.org
•atimes.com
•associatedcontent.com
•awsj.com
•baltimoresun.com
•barrons.com
•barronsmag.com
•bayarea.com
•bendbulletin.com
•boston.com (www.boston.com The Boston Globe)
•boxofficemojo.com
•bsudailynews.com
•businessweek.com
•californian.com
•canadafreepress.com
•Capetimes.co.za
•careerjournal.com
•cavalierdaily.com
•chicagotribune.com
•chron.com
•cnn.com
•collegejournal.com
•crainsnewyork.com
•csmonitor.com
•ctnow.com
•daily-chronicle.com
•dailypress.com
•dallasnews.com
•dj.com
•dowjonesnews.com
•djnewswires.com
•dowjones.com
•feer.com (Far Eastern Economic Review)
•fresnobee.com
•foxnews.com
•gallup.com
•The Guardian (UK)
•gazette.net
•GCN.com
•goerie.com
•greenwichtime.com
•gwpi.net
•heraldnet.com
•holahoy.com
•ibdeditorials.com
•idahostatesman.com
•iht.com
•investors.com
•jacksonville.com (Florida-Times Union)
•janes.com
•jewishobserver-la.com
•jewishworldreview.com
•kansascity.com
•laopinion.com
•latimes.com
•livemint.com
•marketwatch.com
•mcall.com
•mercextra.com
•mercurynews.com
•modbee.com
•moneynews.com
•msn.com
•msnbc.com
•nasdaq.com
•nationalweekly.com
•nctimes.com
•newhavenregister.com
•news.com.au
•newsday.com
•newsweek.com
•nhregister.com
•nj.com
•nola.com
•nynewsday.com
•nypost.com
•nypostonline.com
•nysun.com
•nytimes.com
•ocregister.com
•opinionjournal.com
•oregonmag.com
•orlandosentinel.com
•pcworld.com
•pnj.com
•post-dispatch.com
•post-gazette.com
•postwritersgroup.com
•readexpress.com
•realclearpolitics.com
•realestatejournal.com
•rockymountainnews.com
•sacbee.com
•sacunion.com
•seattletimes.nwsource.com
•sfgate.com
•sitepoint.com
•sjmercury.com
•spectator.org
•spokesman-recorder.com
•sportsillustrated.com
•sportsillustrated.cnn.com
•si.com
•stamfordadvocate.com
•startribune.com
•startupjournal.com
•statesmanjournal.com
•sun-sentinel.com
•sunspot.net
•theatlantic.com
•thewbalchannel.com
•time.com
•timesdispatch.com
•toledoblade.com
•tribune.com
•tribune-review.com
•trivalleyherald.com
•todaysthv.com
•victorhanson.com
•washingtondispatch.com
•washingtonpost.com
•washingtontechnology.com
•washingtontimes.com
•washtimes.com
•washpostco.com
•wnd.com
•worldnetdaily.com
•worldpress.org
•wral.com
•wsj.com
•wsjbooks.com
•wsjclassroomedition.com
All McClatchy sources must be excerpted and linked.

These publishers have asked us not to allow any material at all to be posted to FR:

•altoonaherald.com
•altpressonline.com
•americanpolitics.com
•antiwar.com
•bloomberg.com
•brisbanetimes.com.au
•condenet.com
•eweek.com
•extremetech.com
•firstcoastnews.com
•gq.com
•independent.co.uk
•lowtechmagazine.com
•newyorker.com
•ohio.com
•pcmag.com
•portfolio.com
•prevention.com
•smh.com.au
•studlife.com
•stuff.co.nz
•style.com
•theage.com.au
•theonion.com
•thetowntalk.com
•
•tucsoncitizen.com
•universitystar.com
•vanityfair.com
•
•vogue.com
•wired.com

[TopQuark]

You are probably correct; I am not an authority on the matter. Perhaps you can ask Jim Robinson?

[shibumi]

Don’t have to ask.

He wrote the list.

[JimPrevor]

Dear Shibumi:

Rest assured there is nothing in the article that is unfit for publication on Free Republic or, for that matter, anywhere else.

The issue is really this: although it is, of course, easier to read things on Free Republic without having to click on a link, it is a small inconvenience.

Political journals that publish the kinds of editorial material many here at Free Republic are interested in are perpetually operating in the red.

When you click onto their websites they can sell the value of that traffic to advertisers whose payments will help defray some of the costs of producing that material.

In the long run, if we don't provide some financial support for this material, less of it will be produced.

Very truly yours -

Jim Prevor

[FarmerW]

Because the Weekly Standard deserves our visits and business.

I wish LeBron well in his new home and will miss him greatly. He has done well for such a young man with such shallow roots and I will continue to keep him in my prayers.

[Salamander]

I got 21 cookies and 2 trackers.

[taking one for the team]

Gotta go clean up the garbage, now.

[Salamander]

Oh, and a “yellow security alert”.

[Salamander]

If you’re running Firefox, get the Taco 3.0 with Abine add on.

You can block ALL trackers, beacons, pay-per-clicks and beacons.

You get a pop for every “hit” and can kill it right there.

http://www.abine.com/about.php

[shibumi]

"Because the Weekly Standard deserves our visits and business."

See post #10.

If The Weekly Standard "deserves our visits and business" then it should be ethical enough not to tag us with a lot of adware and malware.

One of the main reasons that FreeRepublic is successful is that people can come here and feel relatively safe in this environment. That's why a lot of us are leery about bloggers who post an excerpt to get a hit.

Looks like that wariness was well founded in this case.

Thanks for the heads up, Sal!

[Salamander]

There is *one* “website stats tracker” on this site; Google Analytics.
It’s almost a necessity for any site owner trying to keep their site usable, navigable and fast loading so their readers keep coming back.

It is a -tool- advance the quality of the website.

There is one “FOCUS” cookie.

You can delete it if you want if you don’t mind logging in every time you visit ~or~ you can allow it for easy access.

FR is a good, clean site.

Kudos.

[TheOldLady]

Thank you for the Abine link, Sal. I love it.

[Salamander]

Welcome....;]