Time to say: "No way, San Jose!"?

"smile when you say that, stranger!"

Is that a Grateful Giants fan we see?

Did the graphics artist just scoop the Sports Department?

 

In order to frame the topic of the exploitation of sports fans let's outline an impossible hypothetical situation:   Would citizens of California agree to use their tax dollars to subsidize the building of a new stadium in Perth, in Western Australia, for the West Coast Eagles?   NFW!   No way, Jose!  

 

Would tax payers in San Diego and Los Angeles agree to let the state subsidize a new football stadium in San Jose?   Not bloody well likely, eh?

 

Would football fans in Los Angles agree to let Los Angeles city and county subsidize a stadium to lure a major football team to their city?     It seems that is a distinct possibility.

 

If the politicians in Los Angeles ignore the naysayers can the wealthy team owners count on the wealthy news media owners to forbid their word slaves from stirring up any opposition to such a deal?   If the politicians fork over massive amounts of tax payers dollars for such a hypothetical project can they then (perhaps?) expect some generous re-election campaign donations from the team owners?   (Ask the Marina (del Rey) Tenants Association about that.)

 

Has any team owner been shameless in the exploitation of eminent domain in the pursuit of personal wealth?   Is there any example of a humble rancher or homeowner being Bush whacked by such a move?  

 

If low-income housing is being defunded at the same time that sports owners are counting on getting government subsidies and tax breaks can that be used by the OWS protesters as an example of their contention that the one percenters are insatiable in their hunger for profits via the trickle up principle?

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