Wednesday, February 26, 2014

The LuLac Edition #2608, February 26th, 2014

STICK 'EM UP

(logo: aurorapictures.com)
Only in LuLac land would a Chamber of Commerce thump its chest about saving jobs by using a shell game. A company that has been in this area for a long time was located in the city of Scranton. The embattled city benefited from the influx of employees working in the downtown.
But now, the jobs are moving to Moosic and the County, another embattled government entity that raised taxes on its residents by 40% gives the company $250,000 in a loan to move. Huh?
It appears the business in question gave hints it would leave and everyone did their thing. Same old tax breaks and loans for the cronies all in the name of saving jobs. I wonder if a non profit like a Women’s Resource Center or a Drug and Alcohol place needed a loan for a move, would they get it? Nope because a business crony didn’t put the squeeze on them.
How about this for a novel idea to the Chamber of Commerce flunkies in Scranton and Wilkes Barre, instead of moving the jobs you have here like a carnival barker in a shell game, how about creating new ones? Like bringing in new jobs that you don’t have to “pay” for in loans, taxes, free rides and amenities.
It is easy for anyone to be a job creator when you give the store away. And you get paid a princely sum for doing so. And in the meantime the people who pay, are the taxpayers. Taxpayers are funding, loaning successful business people money for something they should be doing themselves.
But hey, the more we take from our homeless, the more we take from our disadvantaged, the more we screw the working poor, the more we’ll have in the kitty to bribe, beg and God knows what else to business people to stay.
Yeah, we’re the champs. No wonder real businesses with real salaries out of the area shake their heads and laugh at us. We’re like the kid who bribed the bully to not steal our lunch money. Just incredible. But hey, we’re saving jobs. I wonder if the Economic dynamo the Chamber found for the City of Scranton is wondering what he got himself into. I’ve heard of addition by subtraction but this is ridiculous.

4 Comments:

At 8:39 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Kick Ass, Yonkster!
You are righteous and absolutely right!Its a shell game Tony Soprano would have admired!
Now the interesting part begins, what to do with the Globe Store Building? Absolutely smack dab right in the middle of the city!
There she sits, a potential pigeon palace.

JP

 
At 7:50 AM, Anonymous Junction said...

Dave, don't forget to put the local school boards into that big pot of coruption. It is a rotten shame that the chamber of commerce folks are made up of the local big business owners who want the local scene to never change from the "coal mine era". We as taxpayers cannot do much to change that. But we sure could change the school boards in our area. Let's not let any school board member get entrenched to become a "God Father" figure.
We have coruption at its highest level with these local school board members.
Hopefully the voters will make a change for the better next election.
Than people wonder why our young college graduates leave the area for a better way of living.??

 
At 6:25 PM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Very true
Junction.
And I'm wondering when the Wilkes Barre Chamber of Commerce kis going to "find" their new CEO. Bet my bottom dollar it will be guy conducting the search, Gerry O'Donnell. Book on it.

 
At 6:58 AM, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Do you actually know what The Chamber is? It is not a government agency. It is not tax payer funded.
It is a group of businesses that form together to promote business.
As far as the loan. It isn't a 250,000 loan, it is a line of credit. And it will be repaid. The county was/is concerned with keep businesses w/i the county, not the city of Scranton.
Would you have preferred that the business left the county, or worse the state?
It is amazing how business savvy people are who have nothing more productive to do then complain about those actually producing.

 

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