David Cay Johnston How corporate socialism destroys

A proposal to spend $250 million of taxpayer money* on a retail project here illustrates the damage state and local subsidies do by taking from the many to benefit the already rich few.

Nationwide state and local subsidies for corporations totaled more than $70 billion in 2010, as calculated by Professor Kenneth Thomas of the University of Missouri-St. Louis.

In a country of 311 million, that’s $900 taken on average from each family of four in 2010. There are no official figures, but this one is likely conservative because — as documented by Thomas, this column and Good Jobs First, a nonprofit taxpayer watchdog organization funded by Ford, Surdna and other major foundations — these upward redistributions of wealth keep increasing.

Read it at Reuters | Opinion
How corporate socialism destroys
By David Cay Johnston
(h/t Mark Thoma)

* Note that states and municipalities are currency users and must fund themselves through taxation or finance through borrowing, as well as run balanced budgets, so what they spend or gift is indeed taxpayer money where spending is not offset by the federal government.