Will Grigg?s Liberty Minute

October 20, 2009

Since the original Yankee Stadium opened in 1923, the New York Yankees have been America?s showpiece sports franchise.

Behind the team?s colorful legacy, however, the Yankee organization is one of the country?s most shameless corporate welfare whores.

Matt Welch of Reason magazine points out that the new, recently opened Yankee Stadium cost nearly $1.6 billion. Of that amount, an estimated $1.2 billion came from city, state, and federal subsidies, including special tax waivers, bond subsidies, and property seized through eminent domain.

Thanks to subsidies squeezed from taxpayers nation-wide, the Yankees can charge extortionate ticket prices that only the rich can afford. Thus the new Yankee Stadium is an architectural metaphor for the emerging American feudalism, with opulent, scandalously expensive prime seating for the wealthy and powerful, separated from over-priced regular seats common people can?t afford.

As the financial collapse deepens, the new Yankee Stadium may someday become an empty relic ? a monument to subsidized greed.

Let us take back the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free.