Even ideas are known by the company they keep. Disgraced and indicted Illinois Gov. Rod “Show Me The Money” Blagojevich is hard at work today signing subsidies for the movie industry. While facing legal action for soliciting bribes in exchange for filling the Senate seat left open by Barack Obama, Blagovich is using taxpayer dollars to bribe moviemakers to come to Illinois. Says something about the morality of the entire scheme, doesn’t it?
Some argue it’s good government to take money from hard-working taxpayers and give it to billionaire moviemakers and millionaire movie stars.
Really? Redistribution of wealth (even if described as “tax credits” for a specific industry) only brings ruin. No industry — healthy or otherwise — should get taxpayer hand-outs, and no self-respecting businessman should take them if offered.
It is simply not the role of government to underwrite bad business models or subsidize private industry. The best way to make a state economically competitive, to attract business and grow jobs is to cut taxes and clear bureaucratic hurdles.
That Texas’ governor and lawmakers want to engage in bailouts and subsidies is misguided, economically and morally. We must put a stop the pay-to-play schemes, whether they are for U.S. Senate seats or movie-making enterprises.
