t.nie
Patience Tester
What happened?
Here's what happened. We got into two wars since 199...whatever. That put the nation trillions of dollars in unfunded debt. Somebody has to pay. That's the working class, the same people who used to sit in the stands and race cars at dirt tracks.
Tax cuts for the rich. Think the bills those tax revenues paid went away? Oh, there have been cuts in services, no doubt. Just look at how badly public schools struggle to keep the doors open and all the local referendums for more tax dollars. But still, across the board the burden of paying for stuff at the local level now falls squarely on the local community with little outside funding from federal tax money. Someone has to pay. That's the working class, the same people who used to sit in the stands and race cars at dirt tracks.
The transfer of good paying manufacturing jobs overseas to cut costs and increase profits. Those jobs that used to pay decent wages for working class folks are gone now, along with all the ancillary jobs in support businesses, also jobs that paid decent with some overtime money each week to fund a race car and a trip to the track. That directly affects working class folks, the same people who used to sit in the stands and race cars at dirt tracks.
The 2008 housing bubble/Wall Street catastrophe. Sure, Goldman Sachs et al made a killing and laughed all the way to the bank. Meanwhile, millions of working class folks lost their homes and now find it harder to get credit, the rest of us get to each make our own individual contribution to the billionaire boys club failures fund, and we will be doing so for some time to come. Someone has to pay. It sure ain't gonna be the Donald Trump's of the world, they put their money in a movement called Taxed Enough Already (millions of their dollars supporting that astro turf fake grassroots "movement" that they conned people into supporting as if it was the middle class folk's taxes that mattered) and threw a wrench into the wheels of our government called the Freedom Caucus that ensures the people paying are the same folks who used to sit in the stands and race cars.
Health care costs. You can go either way on that one, either the Obamacare law helped people finally get insurance (which costs money) or it raised rates on a lot of people who already had insurance (which costs money). I don't care which way you want to look at it, the cost of Health Care Services and Medication has skyrocketed in America since 2000. It was going up before Obamacare (My wife's insurance contribution before we got married was $400 a month in premiums and a $5000.00 deductible before the insurance paid a dime. Do the math, she was paying $10000.00 cash each year for health care guaranteed. That's Ten Thousand. That's 2 really nice vacations and a new Street Stock engine every year.) Anyway. Someone has to pay. That's the people who used to sit in the stands and race cars.
So, in answer to what happened, well. Nothing really happened that the tracks have any control over. Racing is considered, in the grand scheme of economics, a "luxury" business. It ain't food, clothing or shelter. It's purely run on the working class' surplus cash. And after the last 30 years of trickle up, all for one and all for the wealthy politics in this country, we now see just how broke the people at the top will let the people in the middle be and still do nothing but gripe about raising the minimum wage as a job killer, demand more tax cuts for themselves, send jobs overseas to boost corporate profits and character assassinate any politician that dares to challenge them.
You can come up with all the budget ideas in the world to get people to the track, but "it ain't a bargain if you can't afford it." May as well advertise Lamborghini's at 50% off to anyone with a pit pass from the last night's racing. It's nice gesture, but no one who qualifies can afford one.
To fix racing, fix all these there problems first. Because no one in the racing business can, by themselves, change the economy the business exists in. Everything on your list of things that are gone/left due to lack of participation/interest, not because the tracks just decided they didn't want to bother with it any more. Promoters can't afford to drop money on promotion when the people they are selling to can't afford it anyway. And when the Jr Fan club numbers are single digits, low single digits each month, at some point the people doing it just can't justify the time any more.
The problems at the track are just a reflection of everything else that has happened in our country. And I am pretty sure the Golden Boys at Goldman Sachs and their ilk could care less if your local dirt track shuts or not. It's up to you to care enough to do something about it.
Here's what happened. We got into two wars since 199...whatever. That put the nation trillions of dollars in unfunded debt. Somebody has to pay. That's the working class, the same people who used to sit in the stands and race cars at dirt tracks.
Tax cuts for the rich. Think the bills those tax revenues paid went away? Oh, there have been cuts in services, no doubt. Just look at how badly public schools struggle to keep the doors open and all the local referendums for more tax dollars. But still, across the board the burden of paying for stuff at the local level now falls squarely on the local community with little outside funding from federal tax money. Someone has to pay. That's the working class, the same people who used to sit in the stands and race cars at dirt tracks.
The transfer of good paying manufacturing jobs overseas to cut costs and increase profits. Those jobs that used to pay decent wages for working class folks are gone now, along with all the ancillary jobs in support businesses, also jobs that paid decent with some overtime money each week to fund a race car and a trip to the track. That directly affects working class folks, the same people who used to sit in the stands and race cars at dirt tracks.
The 2008 housing bubble/Wall Street catastrophe. Sure, Goldman Sachs et al made a killing and laughed all the way to the bank. Meanwhile, millions of working class folks lost their homes and now find it harder to get credit, the rest of us get to each make our own individual contribution to the billionaire boys club failures fund, and we will be doing so for some time to come. Someone has to pay. It sure ain't gonna be the Donald Trump's of the world, they put their money in a movement called Taxed Enough Already (millions of their dollars supporting that astro turf fake grassroots "movement" that they conned people into supporting as if it was the middle class folk's taxes that mattered) and threw a wrench into the wheels of our government called the Freedom Caucus that ensures the people paying are the same folks who used to sit in the stands and race cars.
Health care costs. You can go either way on that one, either the Obamacare law helped people finally get insurance (which costs money) or it raised rates on a lot of people who already had insurance (which costs money). I don't care which way you want to look at it, the cost of Health Care Services and Medication has skyrocketed in America since 2000. It was going up before Obamacare (My wife's insurance contribution before we got married was $400 a month in premiums and a $5000.00 deductible before the insurance paid a dime. Do the math, she was paying $10000.00 cash each year for health care guaranteed. That's Ten Thousand. That's 2 really nice vacations and a new Street Stock engine every year.) Anyway. Someone has to pay. That's the people who used to sit in the stands and race cars.
So, in answer to what happened, well. Nothing really happened that the tracks have any control over. Racing is considered, in the grand scheme of economics, a "luxury" business. It ain't food, clothing or shelter. It's purely run on the working class' surplus cash. And after the last 30 years of trickle up, all for one and all for the wealthy politics in this country, we now see just how broke the people at the top will let the people in the middle be and still do nothing but gripe about raising the minimum wage as a job killer, demand more tax cuts for themselves, send jobs overseas to boost corporate profits and character assassinate any politician that dares to challenge them.
You can come up with all the budget ideas in the world to get people to the track, but "it ain't a bargain if you can't afford it." May as well advertise Lamborghini's at 50% off to anyone with a pit pass from the last night's racing. It's nice gesture, but no one who qualifies can afford one.
To fix racing, fix all these there problems first. Because no one in the racing business can, by themselves, change the economy the business exists in. Everything on your list of things that are gone/left due to lack of participation/interest, not because the tracks just decided they didn't want to bother with it any more. Promoters can't afford to drop money on promotion when the people they are selling to can't afford it anyway. And when the Jr Fan club numbers are single digits, low single digits each month, at some point the people doing it just can't justify the time any more.
The problems at the track are just a reflection of everything else that has happened in our country. And I am pretty sure the Golden Boys at Goldman Sachs and their ilk could care less if your local dirt track shuts or not. It's up to you to care enough to do something about it.
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