By Lee Pfeiffer
American politician's fervent desire to pal around with people in sports has had drastic financial consequences. Most states have granted huge tax breaks to major sports teams that already pull in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits every year. Teams routinely shake down state lawmakers by threatening to pull up stakes and relocate to another state if they don't get major financial incentives to stay put. Inevitably, weak-willed politicians who can't bear the thought of not being able to get invited to major sports events cave in and grant the teams their request. (The late, legendary New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner was a master at this tactic and even got taxpayers to absorb the bulk of the cost of building the new Yankee Stadium). Similarly, states also roll out the red carpet to lure film production companies to shoot movies and TV series locally. On the surface, granting tax breaks to bring revenue-enhancing businesses into a state might seem sane. However, writer Joe Karaganis points out that star-struck state lawmakers are now giving the store away and the price of the tax breaks greatly exceeds the amount of income generated. Click here to read.