Imbeciles against WAMs

Yet another article on corporate welfare programs, by Rick Fellinger in Chambersburg Public Opinion, this one focusing on WAMs. In spite of Johnna Pro's claim "there's no such thing as a WAM," WAMs are line items in the budget in which the funds are doled out to various corporations, local government, and non-profit groups at the discretion of legislative leaders and the Governor throughout the year.

Often, as Barry Kauffman of Common Cause points out, legislative leaders use WAMs to get rank and file members to vote a certain way.

The Governor's office defends WAMs as crucial to economic development (see AP article on the failure of corporate welfare to "create jobs").

Responding to its critics, Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said, "That's the way they [the Commonwealth Foundation] look at all government spending that they consider nonessential, and they consider virtually all government spending nonessential."

Well, we certainly consider handouts to politically selected companies as "nonessential" uses of taxpayer's money. I guess we are cold and heartless in that way, but its better than being called imbeciles.