Saturday, February 21, 2009
State subsidies for this ...?!
The state of Michigan has an economy that's even more in the tank that the nation's economy. Voters in Michigan re-elected a do-nothing Democrat governor in 2006, and they were solidly behind B. Hussein Obama in 2008. Think about those facts when you read this:
[T]he Michigan Economic Growth Authority has approved "a nearly $723,00 tax credit over seven years" for the Michigan Brewing Company to help with production of a proposed "Kid Rock beer." What exactly is a Kid Rock beer? A beer branded with Kid Rock's name, attitude and stamp of approval, of course.
The company behind the Kid Rock plan, Drinks Americas, claims that "Kid Rock is a reflection of great American rock and roll music and the American spirit, and we think we can create a beer in that same image." And with Kid Rock being a Michigan native, working with a local craft brewery seems like a positive PR move. So maybe this can work, though no other successful celebrity-branded beers come to mind. (There's probably some example out there ... Was Samuel Adams a "celebrity"?)
However, Drinks Americas aren't the ones who'll be questioned: They're just doing what they do. (These are the same guys behind Trump Vodka and Newman's Own Sparkling Juices.) The real question: Do we really need to provide tax relief to make Kid Rock-branded beers in these troubled economic times? Actually, I have no idea: I'm not an economist. And thank god, because -- wow -- too much to wrap my head around this year. I'm grabbing a beer. Preferably one approved by my favorite rap-rock crossover artist."
Public money ... for Kid Rock Beer?! If the voters in Michigan don't soon begin marching round their state's capitol building to protest such an egrigious waste of taxpayer money, we'll know Michigan is a state full o' idiots. (Hell, we pretty much already knew that to be the case when they went for Gore, Kerry, and Obama.)
# posted by Joltin' Django @ Saturday, February 21, 2009 
