Thursday, January 30, 2014

An economic development battle where all the participants lose

Film subsidies are a race to the bottom to subsidize rich weeny lifestyles.  The real money is never going to leave LA because that's where the deals are done.  So why blow money just to get your town to represent New York or LA in a movie. Dumbass to the right of me, moron to the left, here we are stuck in stupidville.  From Gerard Baker at WSJ.

Now the fact that the business is even in play with all of the hometown LA advantages (weather, scenery, everyone and everything you need is already there) is an example of just how totally screwed LA and California are.  Dumber and Dumbererer indeed.

Working in show business used to require a move to Hollywood. But as tax breaks offered by states like Georgia, Louisiana, North Carolina and Michigan have lured film and TV production away from California, workers have followed. Atlanta, we find, has surfaced as a filmmaking mecca. Our story notes this has led to a flurry of business for a state department formed when Jimmy Carter was governor to capitalize, oddly enough, on river-rafting tourism following the movie "Deliverance." But we report that L.A. doesn't want to give up its title without a fight and city officials are lobbying for legislation to sweeten the pot to lure business back to the state.

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