Tuesday, November 03, 2009

It's not generous to give away someone else's money

Oregonians ask, 'Where's my subsidy?'
You've given up those nose-bleed seats in the Rose Garden and you're buying your wine at Trader Joe's. You run in the rain because you can no longer afford the gym. Even though you've taken a pay cut, the last time you remember taking an afternoon off was a furlough day.

Yet every time you turn around, the state of Oregon -- while taxing you to the breaking point -- is dishing out another public subsidy to your neighborhood tavern or green energy pipedream.

You better believe you're steamed. As you should be.

The governor and the Legislature have yet to figure out you can't plead poverty, and pitch tax increases, while freeing state agencies to indulge in this misbegotten generosity.

Our job as conservatives is to now point to the underlying principle that government picking winners and losers is ALWAYS misbegotten generosity, not just in a recession and not just with "green" energy.

It is misbegotten generosity to take money from one person or one group and give it to another who has not earned it.

2 comments:

Scottiebill said...

The first four paragraphs are from Steve Duin's column in this morning's Zero. And, for once he is right.

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