This story contains a number of jaw-dropping assertions. I was hoping it was an ironic parody, but the New York Times doesn't really have enough self-confidence to be ironic. It's just painfully earnest, shading over into earnestly painful.
Excerpt:
When city leaders and state legislators agreed last year to fund roughly half the $1 billion cost of a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, they attached the usual strings for such projects: It had to be architecturally iconic, employ steel made from Minnesota iron ore and offer at least a few cheap seats.
So... Minnesota has a total population of 5.4 million souls. Minneapolis has a population of just under 500,000, if you count the surrounding cities like St. Paul. They need a $1 billion football stadium? Really? And taxpayers need to pay for half of it? That's $2,000 per resident of the Minneapolis metroplex. For a sports stadium that will be used, at most, 30 times per year, even counting monster truck shows. The state is going to hit up taxpayers $1,000 per resident of the city to pay for a football stadium. That's not $1,000 per fan, that's $1,000 per resident, in tax money.
That's the NYTimes' idea of "saving"? Well, at least they have cheap seats. Which will be scalped to rich people anyway. Because the poor folks would prefer to have the money than the cheap/expensive seat.
I guess it's okay, though. Knowing that they are using locally-mined, free-range artisanal iron gives folks a warm glow. Because you should make sure and create giant, dirty mines as near as possible to where you live. Oh, and the bathrooms will all be lit with $25 LED bulbs, too. So that's something.
I guess Nick Gillespie just isn't a football fan. Because he doesn't get it.
Seriously, the NYTimes is demonstrating a pretty remarkable support for crony capitalism here. There is no conceivable "stimulus" justification, and the environmental justification is nonsense. This is a giant waste of money, a giveaway from taxpayers to highly profitable large corporations. And a perfect description of the program of the Democratic Party in the U.S. Also the Republican Party in the U.S.
Nod to MK, who notes: "I'm in the wrong business. If a small amount of carbon is worth $500 million, I should set my hair on fire and sell the right to put it out on Ebay!"
Excerpt:
When city leaders and state legislators agreed last year to fund roughly half the $1 billion cost of a new stadium for the Minnesota Vikings, they attached the usual strings for such projects: It had to be architecturally iconic, employ steel made from Minnesota iron ore and offer at least a few cheap seats.
So... Minnesota has a total population of 5.4 million souls. Minneapolis has a population of just under 500,000, if you count the surrounding cities like St. Paul. They need a $1 billion football stadium? Really? And taxpayers need to pay for half of it? That's $2,000 per resident of the Minneapolis metroplex. For a sports stadium that will be used, at most, 30 times per year, even counting monster truck shows. The state is going to hit up taxpayers $1,000 per resident of the city to pay for a football stadium. That's not $1,000 per fan, that's $1,000 per resident, in tax money.
That's the NYTimes' idea of "saving"? Well, at least they have cheap seats. Which will be scalped to rich people anyway. Because the poor folks would prefer to have the money than the cheap/expensive seat.
I guess it's okay, though. Knowing that they are using locally-mined, free-range artisanal iron gives folks a warm glow. Because you should make sure and create giant, dirty mines as near as possible to where you live. Oh, and the bathrooms will all be lit with $25 LED bulbs, too. So that's something.
I guess Nick Gillespie just isn't a football fan. Because he doesn't get it.
Seriously, the NYTimes is demonstrating a pretty remarkable support for crony capitalism here. There is no conceivable "stimulus" justification, and the environmental justification is nonsense. This is a giant waste of money, a giveaway from taxpayers to highly profitable large corporations. And a perfect description of the program of the Democratic Party in the U.S. Also the Republican Party in the U.S.
Nod to MK, who notes: "I'm in the wrong business. If a small amount of carbon is worth $500 million, I should set my hair on fire and sell the right to put it out on Ebay!"