The Great Art of selling baloney
BY Law, it’s the local Stooges – uh – property tax payers of Paris – who are responsible for all debts of the PEDC. They are the ones who are subsidizing industry in Lamar County, in addition to Paris. Families who can barely afford to feed their kids and pay the cost of city utilities are subsidizing some of the most profitable industries.
Consider that the Paris Economic Development Corporation (the PEDC) gave $350,000 to Blossom Aerospace, a firm in Blossom, Texas, which was recently purchase by an Oklahoma firm.
The PEDC’s President was reported that the gift “aligns with the PEDC’s priorities of business retention and expansion.”
The PEDC’s Executive Director was also quoted, saying that it “was a win for our community that will generate over $70 million in new payroll over the next seven years.”
The money being given away comes from the Paris retail sales tax, of course, not Blossom’s.
And the ability to tell the future – to the dollar – should earn one a multi-billion annual salary or, at least, an appointment as Secretary of the U. S. Department of the Treasury.
Even demented Joe could understand that kind of clarity.
It’s Great Art or a Sharpie drawing.
Every time you clean something, you just make something else dirty.
Regardless, its enough to make you wanta’ slap your Grandma . . .
Yes, we’re told that the local economy does not stop at the Paris city limits, as many of the employees, working in Paris, live in Lamar County and spend money in Paris.
So do some happy folks in Oklahoma, and in Red River, Delta and Fannin Counties.
Using that logic, will Paris subsidize industries in those areas, too?
Are Petty, Direct, Detroit, Roxton, Reno, and all the other Lamar County communities eligible?
For years, we’ve been told a lot of things. Most of it being Happy Talk and Half Truths; all tied together with a logic that defies understanding.
How much of this twisting in the wind help those who cannot afford to pay for salaries, retirement, office expenses, street repairs and water and sewer and property taxes inside the city limits?
Sadly, proponents of corporate welfare suffer from a false belief that they can best determine what technology has the best chance of success, which jobs and products best supply our needs, where best to expend scarce supplies of capital, and that the rest of us will believe just about everything.
For a lot of people, this kind of stuff ruins doing much for Paris.
And the excuse of “They’re creating jobs” ignores the fact that companies need someone in those jobs – people working to create or produce a product that can be sold for a profit. Without bodies, without someone in those jobs, there is no profit.
But the PEDC is swapping cash and other incentives for promises.
Some economically desperate towns will give anything that’s not nailed down to a new industry.
Not only will Paris do it, we’ll throw in some cash as well.