Hook, Line, and Sinker

As predicted, the Florida Marlins World Series championship has brought forth a generous offer of taxpayer subsidies for the valuable baseball franchise -- $73 million in bed-tax revenue in Miami-Dade County to help pay for a new $325 million stadium (the team itself will only pony up $137 million, and the shortfall may well come from the city, county and state). In case you were wondering, Miami-Dade has a budget deficit of $34 million this year, and the locally based Florida Philharmonic declared bankruptcy in May after failing to raise $64 million. Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig, meanwhile, pronounced that he was "extremely pleased" by the developments.