With all the wrangling over the Real Salt Lake soccer stadium, there's a couple of real key points we shouldn't forget:
- Rocky only hates the back-room deals to which he isn't invited. He seems perfectly fine with all the other ones.
- Despite the statement that "... it's all tourist money...", I suspect that more than just tourists will be paying for the stadium deal. Every visiting businessman and businesswoman paying the Transient Room Tax (a.k.a. hotel tax), regardless of their interest in soccer, will see his/her cost of doing business increase, making business less competitive (and that includes local businesses). Local citizens will also be paying the tax whenever they decide to spend a night on the town or are lucky enough to escape for a weekend without the kids.
- Rocky loves transit except when funded with the hotel tax, disrupting the spending frenzy for "environmentally friendly" soccer stadiums (wouldn't that just be a grassy field?) and downtown performing arts facilities.
- Dave Checketts is now "the man" according to Mayor Dolan. So much for Larry H. Miller. (We knew that guy!)
Oh my goodness! I get back from the honeymoon, and I see that somebody jump-started the blog machine. It is good to hear your political viewpoints again.
Posted by: Ben Bitter | August 12, 2006 at 08:34 PM
For those that don't know, Ben was my amazing intern this past session (he got worked to death). With everything going on I was tempted to have him post for me. Can you believe that, even after 6.5 weeks of nonstop dealing with me during the session, he's still glad to hear my viewpoints?
Welcome home and congrats!
Posted by: John Dougall | August 12, 2006 at 08:46 PM
Great little piece. I have been against the way they wanted to fund the stadium from the beginning, It's crazy! If I wanted to collect 51 million of tax payers dollars for some grand adventure I would be laughed to death.
Anyway, You mentioned a book I needed to read a while back, something like "the road to serfdom"? What is is called? I have finally gotten on top of my reading list and want to read that book now.
Carl
Posted by: Carl Wimmer | August 14, 2006 at 11:08 PM
Glad you liked the write up. The book is "The Road to Serfdom" by F.A. Hayek. Look along the left column and you will see a picture of the book cover partway down.
Some other great books are "Applied Economics: Thinking Beyond Stage One" by Thomas Sowell and "The Law" by Frederic Bastiat.
Happy reading!
Posted by: John Dougall | August 15, 2006 at 12:06 AM