Dr. Martin Hash Podcast

Using public money to build private sports stadiums is a well-understood phenomenon: many voters are sports fans, and they think everyone is a sports fan, and since most people vote in their own selfish interest, no politician can walk away without cover. This is the epitome of crony-Capitalism, and one of the most difficult problems to prevent. Government and industry need to be in an adversarial relationship, not counter-productively, but as restraints on one-another. This should be obvious to anyone in business, but the insipid rhetoric of social-engineering only requires votes, not honesty.

Elected officials are not held accountable financially or legally to the sweetheart deals they commit to; in fact, they often benefit from campaign contributions, and sometimes after they leave office. Even tiny municipal leaders leverage their little bit of power: Wenatchee, Washington defaulted on a huge bond for a failed arena there, and then were brazen enough to try and get the whole State to cover their bad judgment, which never should have been allowed in the first place. There needs to be legislation preventing municipalities from so-called “public-private partnerships,” specifically preventing taxpayer-funded bonds for sports stadiums.