"...pork-barrel legislation sails through Congress, lavishing money on small projects
that cannot possibly be described as promoting the national interest...Death by a
thousand subsidies. The cost of Dan Rostenkowski's underground parking garage
at the Museum of Science and Industry is insignificant in the face of our $14
trillion economy. So is the ethanol subsidy. So is the trade protection for sugar
producers, and the tax break for pharmaceutical companies with operations in
Puerto Rico, and the price supports for dairy farmers. But in total, these things--
and the tens of thousands like them-- are significant. Little inefficiencies begin to
disrupt the most basic function of a market economy: taking inputs and producing
good and services as efficiently as possible. If the government has to support the
price of milk, the real problem is that there are too many dairy farmers. The best
definition I've ever heard of a tax shelter is some kind of investment or behavior
that would not make sense in the absence of tax considerations. And that
is exactly the problem here: Governments should not be in the business of
providing incentives for people to do things that would not otherwise make sense."
-Charles Wheelan, W.W. Norton and Company, Inc., 2002, updated: 2010.
End virtually all types of subsidies, including, corporate welfare to big oil and gas.
Those who want a subsidy should go through an extremely difficult obstacle course
to qualify.
End subsidies to wind and solar. Experts say that greenies won't start showing a
a small profit until 2020 (no doubt, subsidies will continue beyond that year).
Sometimes, Charles is liberalish, he didn't mention wind and solar. Experts also
tell that w/s can only generate about 25% of our electrical needs and no more -
and that it can't do it until about 2040. See: "ATBTC Action Chain Letter 4 (Updated
and Expanded" NASA might be able to guarantee 25% and add another 5% and do it
at much lower cost and more efficiently.
End subsidies to SpaceX and Virgin Galactic. Risk-investors usually get bank-
backing because of their track record. Let these types of investors take the big
risks and not taxpayers!!!