Conservatives love Capitalism and hate subsidizing Takers and all that, except when it comes to rural areas:
The LCB operates more than 600 retail wine and spirits store statewide. Scarnati said he wondered whether private retailers would choose to operate a store in some parts of the state where they are unlikely to turn a profit.
I’ll never understand why so many otherwise well-meaning people think maintaining a large selection of booze in the middle of nowhere is something the government should do. And lose money on it!
(Thanks: Melissa Daniels)
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Overall the state’s LCB is far more a moneymaker than not. Every state that has privatized has so far lost out for state budgets and consumers. Sometimes, you have to take a little bad to go along with the far larger good that the PLCB provides.
The net operating profits for the past few years have been $72 million. They’re supposed to be sending $105 million to the general fund, but they aren’t even making that. We can easily come up with $72 million elsewhere in the budget.
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