Pork in the Cornfield
Sometimes the best thing that can happen for sound public policy is for a scandal to erupt.

David Hogberg, of the Public Interest Institute, will soon be leaving Iowa for the swamp that is Washington DC. After working and blogging in the cornfields (his blog is currently titled "Cornfield Commentary," after all), he reflects on what might have been.

"My biggest disappointment," he writes, "was not defeating the Grow Iowa Values (GIV) Fund. As far as I’m concerned, the GIV Fund is nothing more than a corporate welfare boondoggle. It is a misguided attempt by the state government to try to 'manage' Iowa’s economy."

I certainly share his disapproval of corporate welfare.

Hogberg speculates that lawmakers may give up on the GIV after they realize it has not lived up to its promises. He's not banking on that, however. "More likely," he says, "the GIV Fund will be involved in some type of scandal. A business that shouldn’t receive a grant will because the business is politically connected to one of the parties involved in the GIV Fund."

Whatever it takes, in this case. Sure, it would be nice if economic logic and the principle that government should not attempt to pick favorites would rule the day. But if that fails, a scandal would be a temporary setback on the way towards the greater good of abolishing at least one "pork" distributor. (permalink)