Who paid for this?

As I get older, I am more interested in how society works.

Las Vegas is one of my favorite cities (not that I have been to all of
them). I often hear a lot of criticism about how much money was spent
to build all of these casinos and how many better uses there could have
been for that money.

I understand the point but think it is slightly off target. I now pay a lot more attention to who actually pays for things and whether I agree those people should be paying for those things.

Places that do not bother me:

Las Vegas - All casinos have some people who should not be gambling in them. But in general, if you have the money to fly to Las Vegas
you can probably afford to lose a few hundred dollars. To me, building
big casinos from money people could afford to lose is totally fine if
that's what they want to do.

My local Rec Center - I am not normally one for taxes, but I think building a rec center is a great use of tax money (now why I have to pay a membership fee on top is
another question, maybe to pay for employees and operating costs). But
pooling of people's money to build something no individual can afford is
a great idea. Now I have access to a running track, a pool, basketball
corts etc that maybe I wouldn't have if not for the rec center.


Places that really bother me:

Check Cashing Places - Check into Cash, EZ Payloans,
etc. On the surface no one may have an issue with them since they do
try to extend some credit to help people (usually struggling
financially) if they need money. The problem I have is that all of the
money comes from people who don't make a lot of money and therefore
need small short term loans to make ends meet. These people are paying
for the buildings to be built and to employ people at these places that
take advantage of peoples financial situations. They take a short term
need and profit from it. Most end up falling one paycheck behind their
bills and have to use these companies every payday.

Goodwill - Same logic applies here. Goodwill buildings are built with money spent
by people who can't afford full price clothing and other items. I am a
bit jaded since the Goodwill by me just had a recent renovation make it
look like a huge department store "Goodwill Industries" (unnecessary in
my opinion, but maybe a way to hide cash if they are a non-profit?)
They take donated clothes and resell them. I personally don't think
their prices are much lower than buying something new atWal*Mart.

Publicly Funded Sports Stadiums - Cincinnati, OH where the 2 stadiums ($1 bill
total) were almost 100% publicly funded by a 0.5% increase in sales
tax. What a great social scam. Sports are a big business and all
expenses should be paid by those who profit from the business. In
Cincinnati, you had teams with ticket prices around $20-$30. Now you
make everyone pay a tax to build new stadiums so you can now charge the
same tax payers $40-$50 for these seats (more if you have to pay seatlicences
for season tickets). Now the owners thank the fans for increasing the
value of their franchise by several hundred million and usually sell
the team and take the profit. Of course there is always the threat of
moving the teams if people don't buy them a free stadium. Most cities
cave in hoping to keep the jobs and economic benefits in town. But
football only plays 8 home games in a year, how many jobs can you
really create by doing that? And are they worth charging your residents
$600 million? Casinos find a way to pay off their massive debts in 5-7
years without adding to taxes.


I will wait for another time to discuss why I don't like publicly traded companies.