Cash-strapped Texas invests millions in.....wait for it..... Formula One racing scheme

[FourScore]

This article is a few days old, so maybe someone already posted it. Unbelievable though.

Fri May 13, 2:23 pm ET
Cash-strapped Texas invests millions in Formula One racing scheme
By Liz Goodwin

As Texas slashes education and other public spending due to a staggering projected deficit, the state plans to pay out $25 million in public funds each year for the next decade to lure Formula One auto racing to Austin...

SNIP

...But some teachers--many of whom are worried they'll lose their jobs over dramatic proposed cuts from the statehouse--told Bloomberg News that they don't understand why the state should take the seeming position that high-performance auto racing is more important than what they do. "I have to wonder why the state of Texas is all over funding for this racetrack and not the school-funding crisis," Austin German teacher Ewa Siwak told Bloomberg. Her job at Bowie High School is being cut. "Tax dollars for education should be a higher priority..."

SNIP

...But economists told the Austin-American Statesman that the economic value of a large event is almost always overstated by its planners--meaning that the city and state often do end up directly subsidizing private events, and that those events are often a net drain on the economy. Professor Craig Depken analyzed sporting events--many of them in Texas--and found that their economic benefit was on average only 10 percent of what planners had projected. (The paper also notes that Formula One is a multi-billion for-profit business, when other sporting groups such as the NCAA that have received subsidies are nonprofits.)

Regardless of whether the Formula One scheme ends up making the state money, Bloomberg's story isn't likely to come across as good PR for the move. "For $25 million a year, the state could pay more than 500 teachers an average salary of $48,000," the paper writes.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110513/us_yblog_thelookout/cash-strapped-texas-invests-millions-in-formula-one-racing-scheme

[Rex]

1. Our governor is Mr. Goodhair...how Texas is still standing and not

a husk of rubble and trash is a miracle or just dumb luck. Before him was GWB...ack, I puked a little bit in my mouth thinking about it. :(

[TygrBright]

2. What, NASCAR idn't good enough for 'em? What are they, unAmerican? n/t

[Rex]

5. It is a conspiracy to fight the embarrassing liberal bias of Austin with

some kick ass, motherfucking fast cars!! YEEHAWW!!!

[charlie and algernon]

3. Texas already has 1 Indy Car race and 2 NASCAR races

If THREE American series races isn't enough to boost the Texas economy, why the hell do they think adding an international series will be any better?

[NightWatcher]

4. why not soccer, cricket, croquet or some other non-Texan sport

If you're gonna play in Texas, you gotta have a fiddle in the band...

not a car driven by some Italian with a name your average Texan cannot pronounce. They should bring midget-tossing, tobacco-spittin, or some other sport John Q Texan could get behind.

[AtomicKitten]

6. $250 million for cars driving fast in a circle. D'oh!

[Blue Owl]

7. It all makes sense now

:sarcasm:

[damntexdem]

8. Throwing money after a false god --

everyone knows that football is the true religion of Texas, not auto racing.

;-)

[Lone_Star_Dem]

9. Just to add some spice to the stupid. They're also building it in a flood plain.

Not all of it to be fair, just 250 or so of the 900 acres. No biggie. Just a few million more in repairs, grating and roadwork after each flood. Not to mention the damage it will have on the environment by changing the route of the runoff. Oh, and Travis County is going to have to some major road improvements for spectators to be able to actually attend events there. Last I recall they were estimating upgrades in the roads to cost in the ballpark of 6 million dollars.

All that to host an event which has been a long term failure every single time it's been attempted in the United States.

Can you understand now why it's of a higher priority than educating the children of Texas? No? Yeah, neither can I.