A hidden nugget from the past week’s news: a state legislature has approved a plan to transfer $1 billion in taxpayer funds to private companies in an energy sector that can’t compete in the free market, and are now begging for public handouts. Hmmm …. Must be some liberal state helping new green industries, right? Another Solyndra? Where is Sean Hannity when we need him? Time for some thunderous outrage and cries for public investigations! Has anyone seen Papa Bear?
But what if we told you that the industry with its hand out for public subsidies is coal; the state is Wyoming; and the money is earmarked for export facilities that would be built in other states, specifically Washington and Oregon. Somehow, the reaction from major media is … crickets.
Clark Williams-Derry at Sightline has a brilliant post on this plan to promote what he calls Socialism for Coal. We excerpted some of the best stuff, but you should really read the whole thing.
You can’t make this stuff up. The Wyoming state legislature—ostensibly one of the most conservative deliberative bodies in North America—has embraced full-on socialism for the coal industry.
A budget amendment [now approved by] the Wyoming legislature [grants] the Wyoming Infrastructure Authority (WIA) the power to pursue projects like coal ports in other states…The bill also provides $1 billion in bonds to the WIA for the express purpose of pursuing infrastructure projects, like coal ports.
I had a friend some years ago who worked as an Exec. Secretary for Southern Pacific Rail in San Francisco. She said their long-term policy (industry wide) was to defer rail maintenance until the Federal gov't decided to pay for it.
ReplyDeleteMost of us know all about Corporate socialism, but it gets little attention in the media. We should make every effort to end that silence and make Corporations pay their own way!