Baseball's corporate crime wave

[Hannah Bell]

LET'S LOOK at what we have before us: leaked documents that by all accounts should be part of the public record; an alarming snapshot of corruption, waste and fraud that connects the seamiest worlds of politics and big business; calls to prosecute whoever might be responsible for daring to drag truth into the light of day.

No, this isn't a summary of the "WikiLeaks scandal" that exposed the brutal facts that surround the U.S. quagmire in Afghanistan. It's Major League Baseball and the leaked private financial statements that show how some teams claiming poverty, demanded tax dollars for new stadiums while pulling in record profits.

The leaked Major League Baseball documents show the national pastime to be an unaccountable, highly secretive legal monopoly that demands and receives billions in tax money for publicly financed stadiums while willfully misrepresenting their bottom line...But the worst story to emerge from the documents is that of the Florida Marlins, owned by multimillionaire art dealer Jeffrey Loria. The Marlins have secured funding for a new $400 million publicly funded stadium, all while lying about their bottom line to max out their corporate welfare potential. As Yahoo sportswriter Jeff Passan wrote:

The team fought to conceal the $48.9 million in profits over the last two years because the revelation would have prompted county commissioners to insist the team provide more funding. Loria, an art dealer with a net worth of hundreds of millions, wouldn't stand for that. He wanted as much public funding as possible - money that could've gone toward education or to save some of the 1,200 jobs the county is cutting this year.

Let's make it clear to the billionaire owners of baseball teams: pay for your own damn stadiums. If you do take public money from us, then we the people should have a public ownership stake in the teams.

http://socialistworker.org/2010/08/31/baseballs-corporate-crime-wave

[Raster]

1. If you do take public money from us, then we the people should have a...

...public ownership stake in the teams.:rofl:

Don't misunderstand: I could not agree more. Billionaire sports teams owners using the public tax funds to finance their masturbatory sports fantasies--or a run at governor and the pResident. The Texas Rangers comes to mind.

[mrdmk]

2. It's one of those, 'If you do not like my rules, I will take the ball and go some place else!'

Jerk-offs, I stopped watching sports with any seriousness years ago. The major reason was that gambling, not the competition is the major shaker and mover of most sports. Got a big game going on, somebody has a serious bet on that event!