Gentlemen (Dear Commissioners, May 19, 2013) | Eastern NC Now

    Gentlemen:

    Although I do not see any way to escape using state and federal grants as the most direct means of recapturing local taxes unfortunately sent to Raleigh and Washington, DC, I have strongly argued against matching grants to local businesses which are funded by additional burdens on local taxpayers.

    The following quote by University of Chicago economist and financial scholar, Eugene Fama, fully expresses the nature of my reservations, i.e., we are taking money out of the pockets of the many in order to give that money to a favored few.

    The very fact that these favored few cannot independently fund their own businesses without recourse to government subsidies gives us every reason to believe that the money would have found a higher return if left in the possession of the individuals who earned it. Locally funded commercial grants lower the returns on the financial resources of local residents.

    "Government bailouts and stimulus plans seem attractive when there are idle resources - unemployment. Unfortunately, bailouts and stimulus plans are not a cure. The problem is simple: bailouts and stimulus plans are funded by issuing more government debt. (The money must come from somewhere!) The added debt absorbs savings that would otherwise go to private investment. In the end, despite the existence of idle resources, bailouts and stimulus plans do not add to current resources in use. They just move resources from one use to another. And bailouts and stimulus plans only enhance future incomes when the activities they favor are more productive than the activities they displace." Eugene Fama (2009)

    Link here for the full essay.