Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Protectionism Behind Lottery Flap

The silly "scandal" at the Ontario lottery commission has more to it than meets the eye:
The minister in charge of Ontario's scandal-ridden lottery commission has blown a gasket over a "crappy decision" to give away foreign-made Mercedes-Benz cars as casino prizes.

Infrastructure Minister George Smitherman was incredulous that the Ontario Lottery and Gaming Corp. purchased 22 Mexican- and German-made B200 hatchbacks at a time when the province is trying to bail out General Motors Canada and Chrysler Canada to protect Canadian jobs.

Essentially, isn't this the same thing as Obama saying that they are going to use US steel only for government sponsored infastructure projects, that had us screaming up here?

With Big Government taking over more businesses look for more of this crap.

9 comments:

  1. To answer your question, yes.

    What a complete joke though. As if the sales of 22 cars will make any difference in determining the company's viability. Hardly something to get furious about at this point.

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  2. This reminded me of a Roll Up The Rim contest a few years back. One of the top prizes was a Pontiac Aztek. I wondered what I would do if I won the Aztek. Options included, driving with a bag over my head, refusing to except the prize, or immediately selling the car to a scarp yard.
    I think OLG had some smarts on this one. A Mercedes gets people excited, a GM Saturn, well I think you know what I mean.

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  3. Yeah, just a chance for an Ontario minister to grandstand.

    On that note: I love how provincial governments monopolize lotteries and casinos. Some other guy gets caught doing it and they prosecute it like you're an illegal bookie or racketeer.

    If they legalize prostitution, will Ontario run the brothels?

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  4. 2nd post: Hahaha! So fucking true. I've seen those Aztecs, they're awful.

    They were just doing their jobs well, by building excitment with Mercedes.

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  5. They also pay the CEO around $400K a year. That really pisses me off.
    On the positive side, it is amazing how well the profit motive works. Just compare buying a Lottery ticket to getting a new passport. The government can not force people to gamble, so they have to act differently.

    Lets not forget McGuinty allowing smoking areas at the Niagara casino. The Detroit casinos allowed smoking, so they were taking business away from the Niagara casino. How do you think a pub owner feels about that one? The pub owners business takes a hit, and it is who cares. The government on the other hand, did not like the drop in business.

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  6. Really? Unbelievable. The anit-smoking rules killed pubs.

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  7. I also hear pubs in England are dropping like flies, since they passed anti-smoking laws in England.
    What right does the government have in running someone`s private business? We are talking about a legal activity.`

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  8. Back in my smoking days, it's what turned me off pubs, when they passed the anti-smoking law in BC. If i can do it at home, why would I go to a pub? The two pubs that were my favorite spots went out of business.

    I quit smoking a long time ago and don't care but pubs aren't the same anymore. What's next, ban beer because its harmful?

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