Occupy Yankee Stadium

Writing in the New York Post, Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute suggests a new target for Occupy Wall Street protestors angry about crony capitalism: Yankee Stadium's taxpayer-subsidized luxury parking garages. As Gelinas explains, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz, Jr. is currently trying to orchestrate a government bailout for the cash-strapped garages:

Diaz's proposal relies on fear of a bond-market panic, which would force another 2008-style bailout of sophisticated investors. Apparently, such bailouts are OK as long as they come in the form of useful goodies, like the promise of taxpayer-subsidized construction jobs for Bronx voters.

But bondholders need to be taught a lesson. It's bad enough national taxpayers have too-big-to-fail banks. Local taxpayers don't need too-big-to-fail parking lots.

Read the whole story here. Check out Reason's ongoing coverage of Occupy Wall Street (and related protests) here.

Comments

[Federal Dog]

"Writing in the New York Post, Nicole Gelinas of the Manhattan Institute suggests a new target for Occupy Wall Street protestors angry about crony capitalism"

I they were opposed to crony capitalism, they would be protesting the government, which alone can distribute that capital.

They are not; instead, they are merey demanding their cut in the form of debt forgiveness and $20 an hour just for breathing.

[wareagle]

if crony capitalism were the problem, wouldn't someone have mentioned Solyndra by now? But they are not going to protest the govt because their entire relevance lies in expanding the govt. It's what their professors preach, it's what the party they support is built upon, and it's the type feel-good rhetoric that gives the impression of having done something when, in fact, all they have done is TALK about something. And the wrong thing, at that.

[Tulpa]

Here we go blaming the professors again.

I suppose the senior citizen Tea Partiers screaming "HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE" are just parrotting professors, too?

[Apatheist]

No, they are just money grabbing assholes like everyone else.

[Mr. Mark]

"No, they are just money grabbing assholes like everyone else."

Absolutely.

Everyone who is capable needs to go cold turkey on government handouts.

There will be many who relied on empty government promises and who are simply too old to fix their past mistakes. We should use means-testing for people in those age brackets and then phase the whole thing out for everyone else. If states are interested in setting up such schemes, let them - but the feds have no business in retirement and healthcare funding.

That said, I missed the Tea Party protestors alluded to in comments.

[CoyoteBlue]

But the Government Cheese tastes so good.

[wareagle]

tulpa,
slight difference - seniors want their own money back since it was confiscated by Medicare taxes; OWS folks simply want other people's money. Nice attempt at the straw man argument, though.

[Mr. Mark]

"slight difference - seniors want their own money back since it was confiscated by Medicare taxes; OWS folks simply want other people's money. Nice attempt at the straw man argument, though."

Their money was wasted by government. Medicare won't work. Socialism doesn't work. Implement means-testing and phase this stuff out.

[adam]

So will seniors promise to swear off medicare and ss once they receive back what they paid in? If they do, then our debt troubles are solved. Right now they get out way more than they ever paid in.

[Paul]

I suppose the senior citizen Tea Partiers screaming "HANDS OFF MY MEDICARE" are just parrotting professors, too?

Yeah.

[Raven Nation]

Hmm, obviously rejects the "Road to Serfdom" thesis.

[jtuf]

Tulpa, I was at occupy Suffern, NY on Sunday to report on it. One of the speakers at that rally was a Rutgers professor in the Environmental Studies department. He spoke about history and politics with a Liberal bias. When I asked him if he taught those things to his students, he affirmed that he did and said that "sustainability" is about economic and social issues along with environmental issues.

[R C Dean]

he affirmed that he did and said that "sustainability" is about economic and social issues

[Mr. Mark]

"I they were opposed to crony capitalism, they would be protesting the government, which alone can distribute that capital."

Exactly.

I don't know why Reason feels such a need to associate with these communist twits. OWS is made up of losers - not poor people trying to make it out of poverty, and not people even capable of forming a conception of crony capitalism.

If somebody wants to protest crony capitalism, here are some ways to go about it:

1. No Guy Fawkes masks
2. No defecating on the street, on police cars, so on and so forth
3. No need for drums
4. Shower, use deodorant
5. Dress and groom like a conventional, mainstream American - look like somebody who might know what they're talking about
6. No "Eat the Rich" tantrums about how you don't like some people having lots of wealth. Some people earn that stuff. Not everyone is a "crony capitalist."
7. Consider a change in terminology - I'm very leery of any term that seems to be ambivalent or compromising about the value and moral quality of capitalism. Free enterprise is the best economic way. That must be stated unequivocally. Also consider some other way of expressing the notion of "corporatism" which is too easily interpreted as there being a problem with corporations - which there is not. Many businesses seek special, unconstitutional favors and handouts from government, but the problem is with government granting those favors - not with the asking.
8. Forget anything about "occupying" or "Wall Street." Instead, take it to D.C. and take it to local congressional and senatorial offices. Take it to corrupt government officials and lay at their feet.

[wareagle]

but mark,
that sounds too much like work and who wants to do that when you squat for days on end on someone else's property, pissing on the bushes, smoking weed, maybe getting a blowjob from some equally vapid coed at one of those schools that charge 30k per year for a degree that has no real world value.

[PantsFan]

9. Do not use the phrase "almighty dollar."

[PantsFan]

9. Do not use the phrase "almighty dollar."

[free2booze]

I just returned home from my very average college campus. After noticing the vast number of 19-21 year olds getting into their newer model year cars, along with the number of students toting around smart phones, tablets, and net-books,it became obvious that we need to do something about the wealth gap in this country.

[TrickyVic]

Exactly

[College Kids]

We have a more nuanced definition of "99".

[Binky]

Don't forget to Occupy the US Capitol Visitor Center while you're at it.

[?]

Have you noticed that this "If you guys really mean what you say, then what you guys should really be doing is protesting _________" rhetorical move is entirely ineffectual?

Maybe there's something wrong with the "If..." part.

[Mr. Mark]

"Have you noticed that this "If you guys really mean what you say, then what you guys should really be doing is protesting _________" rhetorical move is entirely ineffectual?

Maybe there's something wrong with the "If..." part."

Ineffectual how?

Do you mean to point out that nobody listens and adopts the suggestions?

OWS types don't do much reading. I think most of them are poorly educated. Some might be academically degreed, but they are not educated. More than that, though, they are not interested in learning or finding stuff out - they are interested in telling all the rest of us what to do and how to do it. This is because, as you and I know quite well, a leftist, twenty-something twit with an art degree is well-qualified to tell the rest of us idiots what we ought to be doing or how we ought to do it.

[Geoff Nathan]

I've been tempted to put together a website that says something like
"I'm Bill Gates. I make a gazillion dollars a year. I've donated more money to charity than anyone else in the history of the world. I'm the 1%'
"I'm George Blork. I make $475,000 a year running some kind of government-induced environmental scam. I have a yacht. I'm the 99%'
But I don't have either the time or the platform.

[sevo]

"But I don't have either the time or the platform."

Yeah, but you got the content.

[PantsFan]

You can make any image like that at icanhazcheezburger.com and other sites

[PantsFan]

rough idea
http://postimage.org/image/1n2uexays/

[RoboCain]

I think the "OWS types" do read, the problem is that they just read post-modern neoliberal horseshit.

[Drake]

I hope they try to occupy Yankee Stadium on opening day next year. Forget police violence. The police would be rescuing hippies from vicious beat-downs by New Yorkers.

[Yeah, but]

Swisher would swing and miss.

[Nike Dunk Shoes]

thanks