Travis County Courthouse: More Subsidies than Scott Walker's Basketball Arena

"There is desirable treasure,
And oil in the dwelling of the wise,
But a foolish man squanders it."
Proverbs 21:20

We were reading an article about the $250 million in public subsides that Presidential candidate Scott Walker has committed to building a new arena for the Milwaukee Bucks when we realized something.

The $250 million that Scott Walker has committed to that project is still less money than the $287 million (plus interest) Travis County is asking voters to approve for the new courthouse.

And at least Milwaukee's getting an arena out of the deal; while we certainly don't approve of those types of public subsidies, at least they're building something a decent percentage of the population will use.

By contrast, no one's going to use this courthouse except a small cadre of rich downtown lawyers.

Bottom Line: For Travis County to be spending more money on this courthouse than AN ENTIRE STATE is spending on a slightly more useful boondoggle illustrates the absurdity of this proposal.