The Asheville Tea Party posted a letter to the Hendersonville Lightning by Susan Berger requesting her subscription be canceled. In the letter, Berger faults the paper’s owner, Bill Moss, not so much for claiming that corporate welfare works; but for suggesting those who “flaunt [their] ignorance over how incentives work [should] show up so they could be schooled.”
Well, I have probably been to more meetings about this kind of thing than 99% of the population. We are told (1) the name of the usually large and successful corporation; (2) how many jobs will be created; (3) how much will be invested in the local economy; (4) how much free money will be rewarded; (5) that but-for the money, the corporation would up and leave; (6) that everybody else is playing the game; (7) that people are stupid to assume a tax break for one guy does not shift the tax burden onto others; (8) that very complex computer programs have calculated the direct, indirect, and induced economic multipliers; (9) that the bar graphs prove how much money will be coming in out the yin-yang for local businesses and government; and (10) that this is “exciting” ad nauseum. I deem this “schooling” torture and a waste of my time, and that is why I am peter-principled into the city/county correspondent role.
As far as how the incentives work, I have seen recipients either go out of business or return for more handouts.
