George W. Bush:Your Land Is My Land

I heard on the radio today that Janis Joplin died forty years ago.She was from Texas,just like the the greatest tax-shelter salesman in the history of the USA(George W.).She was a few years older than George but I heard George was in love with her because she could drink and do drugs like a man.He was into that type of entertainment in the early seventies just like Janis.They were sisters in arms doing anything that tasted good and could removed oneself from the thoughts that brought pain and misery.Janis sang the blues better than almost anybody on her short visit to the planet.George was giving the blues on his continuous stay with his taking from the poor to give to the rich.George took money from the taxpayers in Arlington,Texas and made his fortune on the backs of lower and middle class.He made a lot more for the high powered "free market" investors who came knocking at his door.This was a time when he was "born again" and not a bad ass drinking and doping around the valleys of Texas.

The Rangers investors(Bush had a 2% stake with money from his dad's friends) had pockets plenty deep to build a new stadium but Bush planned to have the taxpayers pick up the tab.First,he threatened to leave Arlington for another city.Second,he hired campaign pros to roll over the opposition before a referendum and arranged for a half-cent increase in the sales tax for the city to aid in building the new stadium..This group also wanted cheap land to build the stadium.The stadium required only 17 acres but they wanted over 200.They didn't want to buy fair market prices so they got the city government to use their power of eminent domain(good to have connections..George's father was President). Arlington created a sports authority to sell bonds to build the stadium.The Rangers negotiated a rent to own deal(interest free).Every dollar they paid in rent and maintenance was counted toward the purchase price.They could also buy the stadium for $60 million even when the cost was $180 million.The lawyer who represented the sports authority said the entire subsidy came to $202.5 million(money that was taken from education,parks and infrastructure). The investors paid $86 million(1989) for the Rangers..they sold it for $250 million nine years later. The $164 million profit was $38.5 million less than the subsidy.

Three decades of published research all point to one conclusion:subsidies for commercial sports teams never produce a net gain for society.They are just a government sponsored transfer of wealth from many to the few.Adjusted for inflation,the Arlington profit drops to $134 million.This means that the Bush investors captured less than two thirds of the money they took from the pockets of taxpayers.In 1998, Bush made $16.9 million for his connections and treated his investment as a capital gain which brings a 20% tax rate.He avoided the 39.6% rate and wasn't challenged by the IRS.When he became President,2000 and2001 were the record low years for audits for high income Americans.The richest taxpayers benefited mightily those years because,at the insistence of the most right wing Republicans in Congress,The IRS focused on tax returns filed by the working poor.In 1999,for the first time,those who made less than $25,000 were more likely to be audited than those who made more than $100,000.

More from "Free Lunch" in the near future. Janis wouldn't stand for this if she was around.