[jammies]

Listen up, ya maroons, the argument is the economic benefit is LESS THAN just giving the money away to random homeless people and visiting Edmontonians. It isn't a difficult concept, except for those of you hung up on "Well duh, you're telling me Jimmy and Martha from Lethbridge coming into town for a Flames game will spend zero money? Hurr hurr hurr!"

The billion dollars or whatever ludicrous subsidy would come out of City property taxes, so that's money that is already IN the city. It only becomes an economic benefit if you get OUT more than you put in. I don't need to rhetorically ask "Does it seem likely that the investment of a billion dollars can be made profitable by visitors eating more chicken wings and drinking more beer?" because the studies say it can't. Further, for those of you with the "facts have an agenda" mindset, if you think the proponents of such megaprojects haven't funded studies trying to prove there IS benefit - with no success - you are being selectively skeptical and mistaking that for clever.