August 13, 2026

Archives for June 14, 2012

When the government picks winners, the applicants might already be losers

Maybe it’s time to choose leaders who won’t keep “picking winners” by subsidizing private businesses and using government to compete with the market? Even the Chinese can make a city look good by pouring enough money into it. Just look at the Olympics. That doesn’t mean the economy will do better because of it.

Government subsidies equal corporate welfare. It doesn’t matter if you’re in Washington, D.C. or West Valley City, it’s the same thing. Whether it’s Solyndra or UTOPIA, the more a company shells out to get onto the public assistance, the less likely it would perform well in the market. Spending more money on campaign donations and lobbying might be correllated. [cont…]

How does Matheson survive? He doesn’t.

Today, in Salt Lake Magazine, Rebecca Walsh writes what is probably best described as “free advertising.” With almost no news worthy event to write about, Walsh goes after the obvious topic of concern to Salt Lake: how Jim Matheson wins reelection. With a Republican Primary nearly upon us–which means a race for Attorney General, Auditor, US Senator, and a County Mayor (PS vote Mark Crockett), at least–Walsh opts to cover the race that is all but on the back-burner until after June 26th. [cont…]