To Tax or Not to Tax

The NBA will now be in charge of seeking a public/private funding deal for a new stadium in Sacramento.

“The billionaire Maloofs have been roundly criticized by local taxpayers’ groups for seeking public funding for a proposed multi-use arena in downtown Sacramento or north of town near Arco Arena, the Kings’ aging current home.

…they have requested that we take a leadership role in helping them achieve that goal,” Stern said.

I give Stern and all professional sport organizations are resounding Phfffbt!

Granted, professions sport owners, for the majority are not in the business of owning stadiums. I understand that. I understand that the concerts and monster truck pulls that are held in those arenas are not what a professional sport owner wants to have to deal with.

What those same owners lack in perspective, is that they need to prove to the public that if the public puts money up for a stadium, at least an equal or greater portion of the money the owners are looking to increase into their wallets also makes it into the public economy.

The public shouldn’t be expected to be in the practice supporting owners making more money while the public gets stuck with increased taxes and a big thank you for increased ticket prices, parking, hotels, etc.

I can tell from experience, that as an AZ resident, I feel like walking around with a sign which says “Sucker” as it relates to the great deal we just gave the Cardinals. We just gave the Cardinals a brand new stadium, gave them the naming rights, the parking revenue, a sold out season, and a whole lot more… in return:

…A 1-8 team (as of Nov 15^th) which is $10 million UNDER the salary cap BEFORE all the great revenue the team should make this year.

Maybe an amendment should be made to the Fans Collective Bargaining Agreement.

Professional franchise owners should beware that they don’t push their main revenue stream away. While the real money is in the TV contracts, what would that broadcast look like if there were no fans in the room?

Prove It — Part 2

Listening to the knee-jerk comments from all sides of the isle of last weeks elections, there are plenty more tidbits to call out.
I found it funny listening to comments from both winners and losers from the races.

“We ran a good race” — said:

– the challenger for the Republican Wisconsin congressional seat of Paul R. Nelson throughing morality accusations
– the new Democratic House Representative Chris Carney after running ads slamming the “family values” of Rep. Don Sherwood

What planet were these people on during the campaign? Didn’t those guys “approve” of those messages? This was a disgusting campaign year.

As soon as the election is won, everyone likes to pretend they took the high road from the beginning and will continue on that road by saying:

“We need to come together and unite” — said the DNC chairman (Dean) who also said “I hate Republicans and everything they stand for“

Prove It!

Adding to the mix is the free press. Free press is great and one of the greatest gifts any nation has to offer. Though it can be abused. If nobody else is going to call out the media for being The Media, it will have to happen here. Calling the media suckers for a good smear campaign to lead the next day with seems appropriate enough. But the following quote would be more “PC”.

“When the news is bad, the ads tend to be negative,” said Shanto Iyengar, a Stanford professor who studies political advertising. “And the more negative the ad, the more likely it is to get free media coverage. So there’s a big incentive to go to the extremes.”

Prove it

The 2006 campaign season was full of the same promise… change will bring improvement. While no one bothered to mention WHAT changes will bring improvement or HOW things will be improved… none of that matters now because things have changed. Democrats now have the control desired. The promises were said, they are documented nowhere, but every tax paying American is watching, waiting, and saying “prove it.”

Will it be too much to hope that U.S. Congress will be able to put aside differences and work together for the common good of the country rather than the exclusive benefit of partisanship?

Democrats have been able to pull a proverbial “fast one” over the Republicans in taking control over both houses. Without any experience in the Senate, I wonder just how much impact a one person majority has outside realigning committee leadership.

I’m leery of the “tit-for-tat” virus which seems to have infected Congress over the last 3 decades.

You said this about me… well you did this to him… well he blocked our vote on… well he didn’t really win the election… and on and on.

As for one lowly tax payer, I’d like to see the score set to zero, and everyone start to play nice.

I would love to through my support around someone who publicly sticks it to the lobbyists and doesn’t play puppet, who doesn’t vote except for what his constituents want.

I’m a tax payer, and I approve this message. I think I just threw up a little bit.