Much is being made this week about President Obama’s recent comments regarding the success of private businesses and what credit is due the federal government for that success. Not surprisingly, here in a such a strong Republican bastion like Lancaster County, those remarks are being fed to the masses as red meat and evidence that a socialist occupies the White House.
I find a strange sense of irony in this controversy.
Early on in the development of the CC, many of the project’s opponents questioned the level of incentives, giveaways and corporate welfare that were being offered to the private parties in the deal. Attempting to address these claims of sweetheart deals to his political cronies, former Senator Gib Armstrong drew a comparison specific to Route 30 businesses arguing against those incentives. He said, to paraphrase, “the direct subsidies to PSP were no different than road improvements made on Route 30”.
Really? Did he really say that? Did he really equate road improvements to the direct subsidies that he was advocating to benefit the pocketbooks of High, Fulton Bank, and LNP? I thought he was a free market Republican? A capitalist?
Yes, he did say just that, and regardless of what you think of President Obama’s recent remarks, there is very little difference between the two.
I can only assume that means that current PSP partners, High and LNP are standing right behind President Obama and his recent remarks.
