WhatFinger


Revenue sharing is a flawed economic model

The NHL Lockout: Blame America



After September 11, 2001, the left-wing ganged up on American conservatives and blamed us for all of the hatred and vitriol. “As long as you’re doing what the U.S is doing in the world, you can anticipate a natural and inevitable response of the sort that occurred on 9/11,” said ethnic studies professor Ward Churchill. “God (expletive) America,” exhorted longtime Barack Obama confidante Jeremiah Wright.
For once, though, America is to blame for something: the NHL lockout. Of the thirty teams in the National Hockey League, twenty-three are in the United States (a much more populous country). Sometime ago, Americans got the notion that “revenue sharing” was a good idea. This is a system whereby individuals pool their money together, and everyone gets the same cut, regardless of what he or she produces. In other words: socialism. Revenue sharing is a flawed economic model. Revenue sharing doesn’t work. It never works. Here’s why: In a free-market system, there will be winners, and there will be losers. The Atlanta Thrashers couldn’t make it in America, so they moved to Canada and became the extremely popular Winnipeg Jets. The Jets sell out every game, which is something Atlanta never did. The Thrashers weren’t selling tickets in Atlanta, so they moved. This is how free-markets work -- labor, capital and investment dollars are free to move to where conditions are better.

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The hockey team in Orange County is the Anaheim Ducks. For years the Ducks have been laggards because of bad ownership and a dwindling fan base. Many Californians have left the state, so fewer people go to games. On December 29, 2011, the Vancouver Canucks visited Honda Center and brought with them so many fans that it looked like a Canucks home game. Vancouver fans held up signs that read “Occupy Anaheim.” Vancouver is a strong organization because of its wealthy fan-base. If Orange County can’t support an NHL franchise, they we’ll lose it. If we can’t get our act together, then we’ll go the way of the Thrashers. Vancouver is a strong organization, and it shouldn’t be sharing its riches with Anaheim. The Nashville Predators signed all-star defenseman Shea Weber to a 14 year, $110,000,000 contract thinking they were going to get some additional revenue. Nashville can’t afford him and they know it. Yet they did it anyway. This is patently unfair. Successful clubs like Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal and Winnipeg shouldn’t be subsidizing losers like Anaheim, Phoenix, Nashville and Dallas. Call it “Hockey Darwinism,” but this is how the real world works. Economists note that The National Football league has revenue sharing, and it does just fine. The National Football League, however, has something hockey doesn’t: gambling. If it weren’t for all of the point-spread betting, parlaying and wagering that props up the league, the NFL would be in dire straits as well. The bottom line is this: The United States is the world-leader in revenue sharing. In a $15 trillion economy, nearly half of the population receives government benefits, yet pays no income taxes. And it’s breaking the country apart. Quebec City is courting the New York Islanders, sending thousands of fans to Long Island to make a statement at an Islanders game. Outgoing premier Jean Charest yearns for the return of hockey, asking “are we not better to say to (league commissioner Gary) Bettman who has teams in the U.S. in difficult markets, ‘Do you know there is a city in North America with full employment and great prosperity?’” “I am convinced that Quebec City’s new arena would be full capacity every game,” said Sainte-Foy native Simone Gagne, a veteran left-winger (pun intended). The old Quebec and Winnipeg franchises relocated to the United States in the 1990s, at a time when the Canadian dollar was weak and America’s economy was booming. Now the tables are turned. Today, Canada has arguably the most innovative, robust and dynamic economy in the world, while the United States is locked in an existential struggle, facing a $16,000,000,000,000 national debt, soaring budget deficits, looming tax increases, and a Marxist president who has a very good chance at winning a second term. In Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, unemployment is 5.4%, 5%, and 4.9% respectively, while real unemployment in the United States is almost triple that. One big reason is oil. In 2006, the oil sands in the western part of Canada accounted for 1.25 million barrels per day. Long live the Edmonton Oilers.


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Anthony J. Tarquinto -- Bio and Archives

Anthony J. Tarquinto is an independent financial adviser based in Aliso Viejo California. Anthony is the author of “The Real 40 Year-Old Virgin of Orange County.” (Xlibris 2010) which is available at Google Books.


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