Comment Rescue: The Tithes They are a Changing
This comment from Political Observer is interesting…
What this really adds up to in my view is that there has been a subtle shift in the political undercurrent that has long supported the Delaware Way. It was once the duPonts and Dupont itself. It has also been unions (at least upstate).Yet another period it was corporations and banks. Now we are seeing the gambling interests flex their muscle, testing to see if they are ready to become the biggest bulls in the ring. And they just might end up being just that.
So if this is true we have an economic monster (created to save the horse racing industry…ha!) now calling the shots. Of course the big difference between this current economic shot caller and our state’s previous economic shot callers is the number of beneficiaries and “winners” created if the company or industry thrived.
Dupont, of course, was the largest employer in the state for years and years. But not only did those directly employed by Dupont benefit from the company’s success, but entire support industries grew up around the company. Dupont created high paying research jobs and attracted PhD’s from around the country to come and settle in Delaware from Seaford to Centerville. Some Duponters started their own companies like WL Gore, and the children of the scientists filled up the schools and pushed to get accepted at Harvard.
The banks also employed a great many people, but the jobs were not so good. There were a bunch of accountants, but call centers replaced laboratories. The state stopped making things, but the wealth that was created when someone in Tulsa bought a flat screen TV that they could not afford was still spread around a bit.
Now we have ten fucking people sucking up all the money. Sure there are some minimum wage busboy jobs and valet parkers – but it does not take a team of PhD’s to keep this cash cow alive. All it takes is some state Reps cut in on the action and it is easy street for the ten family members in the three families that run the show.
Replace the old Old Boys with new Old Boys?
Well put.
And I don’t want to over romanticize Dupont. I know they created dioxin piles that linger, but there is no doubt that the economic benefits to the state (per dollar of revenue they took in) is much greater than the race track’s downstream economic benefits.
Infact, when you factor in social ills created – the racetracks are probably a net loser for the state.
We tried to tell you people.
Jason–Did you have a near death experience, or something?
This is my favorite post of the week, perhaps the month.
My fan!
Can we check the IP address to make sure Jason actually posted this? 🙂
Politics is a game of shifting interests and players continued by often unprincipled politicians.
Term limits my friends.
Riiiiiight.
Bobby Byrd needs MORE power.
This post shows a shocking lack of insight into to pros and cons of unka duPie as to their effect on this state.
I’d suggest that you have a sit down with Alan Muller and get yourself informed.
After posting it I realized that the post is a romantic look at Dupont (comment 2) – however, nobody can deny that the economic benefits delivered to the state by Dupont tower over the economic benefits provided by racetracks.