How to turn your government into a cash cow

From Paul Chesser, an associate editor for the John Locke Foundation:

Perhaps the favorite impression that most politicians like to leave with their constituents these days is that they "create jobs."

When businesses hint that they may relocate or expand operations in another state, elected officials there are quick to offer companies money and assets that they have taken from taxpayers. They call such gifts "incentives." Politicians love incentives so much that they sometimes will create a specific law and maybe even call for a special session of their state legislature just to award an individual company the fruits of their stolen generosity.