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Kentucky Area News –
Three Notes
by Theresa Fritz Camoriano
1.
Kentuckians Forced To Pony Up
Some people in the horse industry are taking a big financial hit
this year, because many foals have been dying.
The deaths seem to be tied to this year’s abundance of web worms,
which eat the leaves of cherry trees and somehow carry the arsenic from
the cherry trees to the pregnant mares.
Governor Patton now plans to help the industry recover from this
setback by providing below market rate loans at taxpayer expense.
While we can certainly sympathize with anyone who has a business
setback, we should object to the state’s forcing the taxpayers to
subsidize this or any other business. Business, and life as a whole, are inherently risky, and
people should take precautions, save for a rainy day, buy insurance, and
so forth, to try to protect against such risks.
If a business is not able to succeed, the business owner should put
his resources to better use elsewhere, not be continually propped up by
taxpayers. The taxpayers
should not become the premium-free insurers for any industry in the state
that happens to have a setback!
If the taxpayers are going to be forced to subsidize the horse
industry, where does it stop? What
about a card shop that has a fire and loses its inventory? What
about a lawn care business that has a bad year due to a drought? Obviously, we cannot subsidize everyone. Should the governor distinguish between large, politically
powerful industries and small, politically weak industries, using tax
funds only to help the politically powerful?
Is it right that the politically weak should bear their own risks
while the powerful should foist their risks onto the backs of the
taxpayers? No.
The simple answer is no taxpayer handouts to business – period
– and no reelection for anyone who abuses the taxpayers by using tax
money to buy influence with the politically powerful.
2.
Rebecca Jackson on the Firing Line
Jefferson County Judge Executive Rebecca Jackson has been trying to
fire Melinda Rowe, the head of the health department, without success.
Due to the archaic laws, Jackson, the chief executive of the county
government, does not have the power to fire her own subordinates.
Regardless of Jackson’s reasons, and whether or not we think Rowe
has done a good job, Jackson should have the power to fire her own
subordinates. Otherwise, how
can we hold her responsible for carrying out her job?
We can only hope that the merged city/county government will not
put the metro mayor in the same unworkable position.
3.
The Taxpayer Funded Basketball Arena Rears Its Ugly Head Again!
The voters of Charlotte, North Carolina have wisely rejected the
opportunity to spend $300 million of tax money to build an arena to
subsidize the owner of the Hornets. So,
Louisville is now wooing the Hornets, with promises to spend our tax money
to subsidize this private business venture.
There has been no talk of giving us a chance to vote on the
expenditure. Perhaps the
people of Kentucky are deemed by their elected officials to be too stupid
to decide how their tax money should be spent.
An arena to house a private business such as an NBA team should be
built with private investment money – not taxes.
If bringing an NBA team to Louisville makes good business sense,
then let the business people take the financial risks to bring the team to
town. Let KFC provide $100
million for naming rights, and let others make investments as they freely
choose. But our elected
officials have absolutely no business taking money that was extracted from
the taxpayers by force to subsidize a private business.
That would not be an “investment” – just more corporate
welfare.
We elected our government officials to keep the potholes filled and
to keep the murderers off the streets – not to hand our hard-earned
money over to their friends.
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