Government Subsidized Monopolies

There was an article in the paper a while back that reminded OffHisMeds once again of the consequences of government-run monopolies and how unfriendly they are to their customers. The article describes how the Houston Texans had reduced the size of their over-priced ($7.75) beer from 24 oz. to 20 oz. Their alleged reasons? To keep fans from getting drunk, and to "avoid having to raise prices".

In these hard times, why is it that it would never occur to them to take a smaller profit, like the Chinese restaurant down the street that recently dropped their prices 12%? That 24 oz. beer cost them less than a dollar, including the collectible cup. Wasn't their 700% markup enough? The Houston Texans were granted a monopoly on professional football in Houston, hundreds of millions in taxpayer dollars to build their stadium, and the bulk of the profits on concessions and parking.

Just like our Education system, professional sports franchises are immune to the needs of their customers, exist only to serve themselves, deliver an inferior product, and use every lame excuse in the book to explain why they're overcharging us.

This is what happens when the government picks winners and losers, all subsidized by taxpayers. And while it would be easy to blame this all on Big Government Democrats, OHM may have to revisit his thinking on the whole issue in light of recent events. As the Health Care debate devolves to some inevitable compromise, it seems that Republicans are as happy with the status quo.