Here Is a Government Program That Absolutely Should Not Exist
The St. Louis Business-Journal has a story about what one government program has recently done. The Business-Journal article is just a news story about the St. Louis development loan program, but it gives a perfect example of a government program that has absolutely no reason to exist and should be eliminated tomorrow. It is nice to be able to get specific once in awhile, rather than just expressing general “cut government” statements, so here I go.
The revolving loan fund of the St. Louis Local Development Corporation serves no need that the private sector cannot meet. It serves no legitimate public purpose, and should be abolished. It should be a market decision whether two restaurateurs can get backing to open more restaurants in St. Louis. Tax dollars have no business being involved in these projects. I am fully aware that this is a loan program, not a gift program, but I don’t care. Even if they get every penny back with interest, the loans serve no legitimate public purpose, the government has no business being involved in things like this, and it still takes tax dollars above and beyond the loan amounts themselves to employ the people who work for the STLDC. The program deserves to be abolished.
Is this really all that different than FannieMae? (Perhaps one less layer of middlemen involved?) If so, do you think FannieMae should go away?
Comment by DaveG — January 20, 2010 @ 11:49 a.m.
Short answer is yes, I’d be perfectly happy for Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and Freddie Prinze, Jr. to all go away.
Longer answer is that historically, at least, there was probably a legitimate argument that some public good comes from increased home ownership, so programs that aided in that might have some legitimacy. I am not saying I would agree with that, just that it is valid.
There is really no valid argument for the city to be loaning tax dollars for more restaurants in a city full of great restaurants. If there is a market for them, they will succeed; if not, they won’t. Tax dollars should have nothing to do with it.
Comment by David Stokes — January 20, 2010 @ 12:06 p.m.
The wrongness go deeper than stated. Picking winners and losers. Some restaurants know how to work the levers, others don’t, leading to a ‘pay to play’ system. The person deciding on who gets the loan has no skin in the game.
[snark alert]
Don’t worry, it’s only the taxpayer’s money.
Comment by Papillon — January 21, 2010 @ 9:47 a.m.