Think, Shop, Live Elk Grove?

Here's a novel idea -- use tax money to fund a stimulus plan to give $500 in gift cards to the first 500 people who buy a new car at the Elk Grove Auto Mall...then make the bold claim that this will stimulate the local economy and increase tax revenues for the city!

What fucking planet do these city council members live on? Funding for this stimulus can be sourced right back to our taxes, effectively. Instead of pulling it from the general fund (read: taxes), we're gonna pull it from a one-time telecom refund. Don't you feel better knowing it doesn't come directly from a tax source? Let's see, we're effectively taxing ourselves to pay for this and then we say that this is going to increase tax revenues? A quarter million dollars is needed to fund this scheme, and along with the ridiculous notion that our economy is local, this isn't gonna stimulate shit.

Look around, my fellow Elk Grovian. Name me one business that's local. WINCO? Boise, ID. PetSmart? Phoenix, AZ. T.J. Maxx? Framingham, MA. I've oft mentioned how we don't have any local economy here (and as a consequence, no community), and I'm clearly not the only one to recognize this -- my sister pointed this out with her reference to the 3/50 project.

Go ahead, my ignorant neighbors....spend your $500 in gift cards at Target, Old Navy, Best Buy, Jamba Juice, Chili's, Chevy's, TGI Friday's, LaBou's, Chick-fil-A, BJ's Brewery, Roger's Jewelry, United Rentals...and watch less than 50% of your "local" dollars go back into our "local" economy. I'd guarantee that 97% (by volume) of all transactions in this city are made to non-local businesses.

If you want to go local, how about Nelson's Locksmithing? Or Baja Burrito? A buck spent there will return 68% back to the local economy.

Think, Shop, and Live Elk Grove is a bold faced lie because virtually nothing is local. Go ahead, spend north of $23,000 to buy that new car (another remotely made product) to get your $500 in vouchers. The point of this exercise in government subsidization isn't to promote a local economy (which doesn't exist)...it's to sell more fucking cars. This is where our property tax money goes -- to help our Auto Mall sell more cars. Wonderful.