Have to chuckle over the quote The Charlotte Post extracted from a defender of the current liquor system status quo, warning that the “profit motive” in a privatized system will result in ruin. As if the current system does not generate profits — profits controlled by local liquor boards.
Look, defenders of the status quo system cannot have it both ways. They cannot constantly point to the money generated by liquor sales that flows to local libraries and such and then decry profits as a horribly corrupting influence unique to a private system. In fact, it is the profits of the current system that are so corrupting and subject to little if any meaningful public oversight.
Plus the notion that the retail distribution channel for liquor — public or private — tells you anything about price and therefore consumption is just crazed, although incredibly persistent. North Carolina admittedly has a difficult to follow system, but were you to replace government-owned retail outlets with privately-owned retail outlets selling product at exactly the same prices I fail to see where the increase in consumption comes in. The state could absolutely design a private-retail liquor regime that effectively sets prices via state controlled wholesaling and/or retail taxes. West Virginia and Ohio managed to pull this off, for crying out loud and Virginia is moving in that direction as well.