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Corporate Welfare, Nevada-style

 

Jinxed Jacobs Juice Job Joylessly Junked
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-6-2024

BLACKLASH in Trumpsylvania West
Saving a church & saving the U.S. Mail
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 2-28-2024

Last Chance Joe meets Sherlock Holmes
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-15-2023

Upsy daisy Nevada crazy
New renters' rights organization tries again
Judge bounces teachers union petition to put Oakland A's tax-paid corporate welfare stadium before voters
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 11-8-2023

Unforgettable, Unforgivable & Unnecessary
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 10-4-2023

Freebies for the rich and famous
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 6-7-2023

Selling sex in morally righteous Mississippi West
Sen. Dina Neal keeps up the heat on Elon Musk & Tesla
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 3-8-2023

Underwater at Crunch Time
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno
/
Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 10-5-2022

Nevada: Company town, corporate dumpster
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 7-20-2022


Broken Promises in Boomtown —>

Drug Addiction: Nevada's Chronic Corporate Welfare Tax Giveaways

Jacob Marley's Freakers Ball @ City Hall
Barbwire by Andrew Quarantino Barbáno / Expanded from the Sparks Tribune 10-20-2021

Nevada corporate welfare queens rip off megabux from dumb hick taxpayers
By James De Haven / rgj.com 7-22 / Reno Gazette-Journal 7-28-2019

Corporate welfare ripoffs — Nevada business as usual
By Former Sen. Sheila Leslie, D-Reno / Reno News & Review 7-25-2019

TURNING TRICKS QUESTION: Is Nevada’s corporate welfare paying off?
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 7-18-2019

Assemblymember Skip Daly, D-Sparks, has criticized Gov. Steve Sisolak for vetoing Assembly Bill 444 which would have created a legislative committee to review Nevada's epidemic of corporate tax breaks.
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-3-2019 Sparks Tribune

Corporate Welfare War Rooms: Cabellyup with Cabela's & Scheel's et al + We Don't Need No Education

Reno City Council passes rent control
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the Wednesday 7-17-2019 Sparks Tribune

Downtown Sparks: New taxes, gun controls & a wall
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 1-30-2019 Sparks Tribune

Bob Price, hall of fame Nevada lawmaker, union man and lifelong critic of casino corporate welfare, died 4 Jan. 2019
Las Vegas assemblymember tried to stop casino campaign contributions and paid the price.
Guitarist and friend of Elvis was 82

The growing tide of Teslacide
Latest news from Nevada's $1.4 billion corporate welfare champion

Menial Tasks, Slurs and Swastikas for Minorities

Ballardini black hole: Let's get our millions back
Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-25-2018 Sparks Tribune

Fake boobs and fake news: Guts, feathers and all
Another public relations coup for Nevada: Teslacide
In The Guardian/London-worldwide, Barbano & NV conservatives decry corporate welfare depredations
Menlo Park and Reno-Sparks-Fernley share similarly sad high-tech stretch marks

Barbwire by Andrea Luigi Barbáno
/ Expanded from the 7-4-2018 Sparks Tribune

Chickens Beware! Reno Gazette-Journal names fox its citizen of the year
Reno News & Review Editorial 4 January 2018
BONE DRY MARTINI always drank the corporate welfare Kool-Aid
EXTRA EXTRA, READ ALL ABOUT IT! —> Barbwire by Barbáno Special Internet Edition 12 Dec. 2015

Princess Cassandra and perpetual war machines
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 12-20-2017 Sparks Tribune

Nevada waived legislator conflict rule for Raiders vote
Barbano: "The deal drips with cronyism"
Associated Press & Center for Public Integrity
Tampa Bay Times 12-8-2017 / Reno Gazette-Journal 12-11-2017

Authentic fakes, blonde flaks & grumpy old men
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno / Expanded from the 7-19-2017 Sparks Tribune

Union busters in town to disrupt bus system
Workers reject deficient contract offer, strike authorized
Barbwire by Andrew Barbáno
/ Special Online Edition 7-13-2017 / Updated 7-14, 7-15 and 7-16-2017 GMT

Downtown good ole boys never know when to quit
BREKHUS BREXIT: BAD MOON RISING OVER CITY HALL
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-25-2016 Sparks Tribune

Oakland Rapists: Softshoe fascism on steroids
Nevada adopts an official state religion: The NFL
Also: Bernie Sanders and Trump Jr. blow into Reno
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-18-2016 Sparks Tribune

Corporate welfare movie theater comes back to bite Sparks in the ass 19 years later
Workers never got their back pay

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-4-2016 Sparks Tribune

Senior citizens hit with exploitive rent hikes in Tesla boomtown
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-14-2016 Sparks Tribune

Taxing issue: Washoe County Commission funds Koch anti-public lands political group
Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 6-9-2016

Nevada utilities continually consume consumers
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-31-2016 Sparks Tribune

Faraday's fair name befouled in fallow fields of North Vegas
Anaconjob continues

Mining is The Pits — Business often blocks health and safety measures
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 8-20-2015
Corporate welfare unites me with the moonhowlers
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-19-2015 Sparks Tribune

Tesla rewrites history to chisel worker paychecks
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 4-21-2015 Sparks Tribune

Taxpayers taken for Teslacide demo ride

Barbano to legislative committee 3-9-2015: Let Tesla, Switch and Apple help pay for police officer video cameras

Go west, young Bezoids
Amazon.com scores $1.3 million in tax freebies for moving 30 miles west to Reno from Fernley
Associated Press / 10-12-2014

True confessions from the back of the bus
Reno newspaper pushes new casino redline under the guise of "university town"
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-7-2014 Sparks Tribune

Tinkle-down economics: testing Tesla's testes
Theft of Washoe Med/Renown provides cautionary tale
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-9-2014 Sparks Tribune

CRIME SCENE—>Reno Gazette-Journal STAR Bonds Archive

WHO RUNS CITY HALL?

Hey, Tesla! Nevada's got a fair deal for you
Steve Sebelius / Las Vegas Review-Journal / 8-13-2014

Waste Mismanagement
Unappealing: Local governments turn monopolies loose on public without grievance process

By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 7-17-2014

A cold shower for the NY Times Tesla gusher
40 years in the wilderness: Study says Silver State on downhill slide since 1970
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from
the 7-10-2014 Sparks Tribune

Tesla plants PR slants to get into the public's pants
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-19-2014 Sparks Tribune

Sparks council doles out more casino corporate welfare to John Ascuaga's Nugget
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 3-20-2014

Déjà vu all over again and again and...
Viruses in the program: Apple downtown Reno/UNR center never put in writing—>
Apple burns the mouse pad: Years of union warnings confirmed. Reno Gazette-Journal editorial demands more transparency in corporate welfare tax giveways like Apple and UNR. Better late than never?

Will Gomorrah South learn?
Southern Nevada unions protest wealthy corporate welfare queens' scheme to build Las Vegas 51s baseball park with public funds

$88 million deal would be second only to Apple's all-time shakedown record of $89mm

Does the Howard Hughes outfit really need all that money?
Las Vegas Review-Journal / 10-19-2013
Cabellyup.com

Applecart Tipping?
Critics claim Apple/NVEnergy partnership will put ratepayers at risk
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 9-19-2013

Reno City Council rolls over for Waste Management—>again
Barbano: Workers, ratepayers, taxpayers and competitors all harmed, as usual
Two monopolies for the price of one
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review / 9-5-2013

Corporate welfare for downtown casino railroad trench turns into a nine-figure payday loan for the City of Reno
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 8-29-2013

Workers & taxpayers protest Apple's lack of transparency
Schools pay the price of corporate welfare

Dirt cheap
Congress gave the new state of Nevada 4 million acres to pay for schools.
What happened to them?

Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 7-18-2013
Followup: Fighting over public lands: Does the public care?
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 11-5-2015
We Don't Need No Education —> The Neverending Barbwire Series

Enron II: Nevada's Battle-Born Toxic Event
Indigence and indigestion from ingestion at Warren Buffett's buffet
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from
the 6-6-2013 Sparks Tribune

Star-stuck: Dirty deals for dirty movies
Ghostrider Nicolas Cage sticks it to Nevada school kids
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from
the 5-16-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

Mr. Wynnderful waxes wealthier whilst we wither
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 5-9-2013 Daily Sparks Tribune

Welfare rolls published: Nevada scrutiny of state corporate aid challenged
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 12-13-2012

Kiss the Reno Aces goodbye —>NOW
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 10-25-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

EXCLUSIVE: RTC trying to give away
$50 million+ in corporate welfare
U-News / 9-21-2012 // Updated 9-24, 9-25, 9-27, 10-1-2012

The flipside from an old fry cook
Legit media stenographers fail to pop the corporate welfare question
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 9-20-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

If you give it away, you can't sell it
How the Beehive State bested Nevada by investing in education rather than prostituting to corporations
High-tax Utah has now surpassed Virginia on the Forbes list of most business-friendly states
Tax-the-workers Nevada is at the bottom of the barrel, as usual
By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 7-12-2012

Playing with fire
Too stingy to pay for fire protection but not to raise taxes and blame unions
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-15-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Deception —>
Should public officials give their allegiance to the public or to Apple?

By Dennis Myers / Reno News & Review 7-5-2012

 













i'toon: Fertilizing apples with citizens as mushrooms
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 7-1-2012 Daily Sparks Tribune

Cabellyup.com: Cabela's and Scheels starve Silver State schools

Bullshots and bum watches
Huge Tonopah solar array project Nevada's newest corporate welfare queen
U.S. taxpayers help economic recovery for Spain

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 8-14-2011 Daily Sparks Tribune


Predictions of calamity were not enough to derail Reno’s runaway train trench. Now what?
Reno News & Review / 7-14-2011

Take my daughter, please:
City hall hicks are still easy to con

Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 6-27-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune

Suing for Schools: The 20-year shuck
Barbwire by Barbano / Expanded from the 2-21-2010 Daily Sparks Tribune


Running red in a frozen economy
Sparks and Reno face huge fines for labor law violations / Updated 12-21-2009
Cancerexia: Ralph Lauren boycott widens
Barbwire by Barbano/ Expanded from Daily Sparks Tribune /
12-13-2009

Rory, Rory Hallelujah?
Barbwire by Barbano/ Daily Sparks Tribune / 10-18-2009

More redevelopment
The City of Reno and UNR have a land plan that will kill a park plan. Are the casinos lurking in the background?
Dennis Myers/ Reno News & Review / 10-15-2009

Reno goes Cabellyup again
Money for nothing and the kicks for free
Barbwire / Daily Sparks Tribune / 9-13-2009


Construction workers picket Hyatt Hospitality Suites site at Reno-Tahoe Airport / Hotel will pay no property taxes — EVER / 12-30-2008

Painters Union pickets Scheels store at Sparks Marina Legends development 3-14-2008

Traveling salesman sydrome
3-9
-2008

Pollyanna and Hillary at Sparks City Hall
3-2-2008

Rats, fat cats and Olympic Kool-Aid
2-17-2008

Renown/ Washoe Medical Center: The corporate welfare queen that endangers your life and those of its workers every day


Cabellyup.com: Facts about the Cabela's cabal

How to become a corporate welfare queen for fun and profit

BARBWIRE: The price of piece
Hooking business on Sparks Blvd. 6-17-2007

BARBWIRE: Tales of pigs, perversions and pipelines 5-20-2007

BARBWIRE: Let it bleed / Feb. 25, 2007

Green building tax break just another casino/developer subsidy from taxpayers, and a huge one
Revenge for small 2003 gross gambling tax hike

Corporate Welfare 1998-2003

Nevada Casinos Fail to Support Education

 [To  read the entire article, click on the dice.]

State study confirms that gaming does not pay fair share.

Nevada Commission on Economic Development, August 25, 1999
 [To  read the entire article, click on the dice.]

Today's casinos use the DA — not thugs — to collect debt

Las Vegas Review-Journal, September 5, 1999
By John L. Smith
 [To  read the entire article, click on the dice.]

Steve Wynn's art tax loophole will become a budgetary hemorrhage. Senate Bill 521 makes a bad situation worse. The Nevada Tax Commission, following the mandates of the 1997 law and normal rulemaking practices, defined tax exempt art as that which is non-functional. This bill changes all that so that just about anything might qualify as art.
 [To read the entire article, click on the dice.]

Too much ain't enough:  Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority fights to get millions from schools

Las Vegas Sun, April 12, 1999
By Benjamin Grove and Adrienne Packer
 [To  read the entire article, click on the dice.]

The power elite  It's no secret that gaming executives, developers and political consultants wield tremendous clout in Nevada. So what are you gonna do about it?

Las Vegas CityLife, March 25, 1999
By Steve Sebelius
 [To  read the entire article, click on the dice.]

(Editors' Note — The link at the dice at left may not load. CityLife has changed its website configuration. Sorry.)

Barbwire by Barbano (Click on the dice for the multi-year Barbwire Archive)

2003 — More corporate welfare horror stories

NevadaLabor.com White Paper on Nevada's unfair and regressive tax structure
1-20-2003 Web Extra
Gambling industry offers only token taxes and cosmetic participation
1-20-2003 Barbwire Web Extra
Dudley Do-Right, Will Rogers and the Unholy Silence of the Cows
Sparks Tribune 1-19-2003
State of the State: Next to Nothing
Las Vegas CityLife 1-30-2003
Humongous property tax hike glossed over by Gov. Dudley Do-Right
Sparks Tribune 1-26-2003
The need for zero-based taxing
Sparks Tribune 12-13-98
Logrolling, air raids and dirty deeds done dirt cheap
Sparks Tribune 2-2-2003

Legislative Opening Day Web Special
Dudley Do-Right, Joe Neal, living room elephants & chopped liver
2-3-2003 Web Extra
As it appeared in the Las Vegas Review-Journal vs. the boss of the Nevada Resort Assn.
2-7-2003

Search this site

1998-1999
Render Unto Caesar the Things Which Are Salad
Originally published 5-10-98
The Mirror Has Two Faces and All Three Show Cracks
Originally published 6-21-98
Nevada Banana Republic Makes the Poor Pay
Originally published 11-22-98
A Life Sentence Paying Corporate Welfare Taxes
Originally published 11-28-98
Life is Beautiful Despite Darth Vader and Snidely Whiplash
Originally published 1-31-99
Gov. Barbano Vetoes Gov. Guinn's Tax Watchdog Award
Originally published 5-2-99
Fold democracy and let casinos rule by memo
Originally published 6-6-99
Suede shoe psychos & entrepreneurs with lotsa manure
Originally published 8-1-99
Sen. Neal, conservatives & Gov. Dudley Do-Right agree
Originally published 9-19-99
Electric screwdrivers, smoking guns and smokescreens
Originally published 9-26-99

Casino Seeks Tax Break for Art's Sake  It seems that the gamble by the Bellagio's owner, Steven Wynn, is paying off in spades, even though it costs more to enter the two-room gallery than it does just about any major art museum in the country. Still, Wynn is hedging his bets. He is lobbying the Nevada Legislature to pass a bill granting tax exemptions on the collection that would amount to a one-time sales-tax break of $18 million on the purchase of the art and $2.7 million each year in property taxes.

The New York Times, April 12, 1999
By Evelyn Nieves
 [To  read the entire article, click on the dice.]

Clarifying the grease for corporate welfare pickpockets.  Two major pieces of casino corporate welfare legislation have the potential to knock the entire Reno-Sparks legislative delegation out of office next year. Some lawmakers grumble about being coerced to support Senate Bill 255 or see all their bills killed. SB 255 is an attempt to head off a lawsuit now before the Nevada Supreme Court which challenges the legality of tax increases funding the $192 million downtown Reno Union Pacific railroad trench. SB 437 would allow the track project to be designed as it is built, a method which led to 100 percent cost overruns on the Reno National Bowling Stadium.
 [To  read the entire article, click on the dice.]




Subsidizing casinos The convention authority was supposed to bring us more parks, recreation opportunities. Instead, it's just a marketing arm of the gaming industry.

Las Vegas Review-Journal Sunday, April 19, 1998
By Chuck Gardner www.nevadaindex.com/

 [To  read the entire article, click on the dice.]

Last chance to stop local corporate welfare
Barbwire by Barbano / Daily Sparks Tribune / 9-7-1997


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