March 2, 2009, - 10:52 am
The Kid Rock Porkulus: Multi-Millionaire Soaks Michigan Taxpayers for Eponymous Vanity Beer
By Debbie Schlussel
If there’s something I detest more than the undue conservative worship of drug kingpin and pimp glorifier, Kid Rock, it’s that with the Obama “stimulus” package and similar programs here in the State of Michigan, the government picks winners and losers and finances fatcats with your money.
One of the most blatant examples is Bob Ritchie a/k/a Kid Rock’s new vanity beer named after–who else?–himself. Ritchie is rich beyond his wildest dreams, so you would think that if this scumbag baby daddy and former drug dealer wanted to go into the beer biz and produce a vanity beer, he could and would finance it himself. But you would be wrong.
Instead, this money-bags rapping rocker is soaking the taxpayers of Michigan for almost a million bucks to pay for Kid Rock Beer. Yes, Michigan, which is on life-support even more than the rest of the country, is cutting spending everywhere and then . . . giving it to Kid Rock’s beer venture?!
The tax-funded subsidy comes in the form of a $723,000 tax credit to the beer company, so it can make the risky vanity beer, courtesy of the Michigan Economic Growth Authority, which is financed by Michigan tax dollars. Kid Rock brags that the venture will create 400 jobs in Michigan and will be profitable. But if that’s the case, why can’t this multi-millionaire risk his own money, instead of soaking Michigan taxpayers in these tough times? He can well afford to spare the money for his own business venture and take the risk himself. It may seem like a tiny amount in the scheme of the Michigan budget, but that doesn’t make it right, or give us a reason why Michigan–not Bob Ritchie–should shell out the cash.
It’s simply disgusting that this rich crybaby (who is still whining about having to do real community service for his gazillionth assault) is sucking at the teat of the Michigan taxpayer.
With all of the fake breasts he hangs out with, let him extract something out of those for his private business ventures, instead of stealing from the less fortunate, non-jetsetting working stiffs of Michigan.
And, please, don’t send me e-mail about how Kid Rock plays for the troops. Those vanity gigs (which he does as much for his own self-adulation as he does for the troops’ benefit) don’t justify taking money from Michigan taxpayers.
If it did, maybe Michigan should finance Gary Sinise’s Lt. Dan Beer, too. (No, there isn’t such a beer. I made it up. But I’d buy that before I’d ever touch anything with Bob Ritchie’s alter ego’s name on it.)
Debbie,
Here in Grand Rapids our fearless city commisioners won’t approve a zoning variance for Grand Rapids own Founders Brewing to allow it to expand its operation. This is a Michigan company with a proven product. At the Michigan Beerfest Saturday in Grand Rapids over 4,000 beerdrinkers and brewers gathered to showcase and taste the best that Michigan has to offer. If Kid Rock has such a good beer why wasn’t he there? Maybe its because he knows his overpriced overhyped would have been laughed out of the beerfest. With breweries like New Holland out of Holland, Arcadia out of Battle Creek, Schmoz out of Grand Rapids and Bells out of Kalamazoo this truly was a Michigan showcase with people coming from Chicago, Indy and Ohio.
I’m sick of the state picking name recognition instead of supporting local businesses that are surviving and trying to expand in Michigan. If this is how the state treats its own small businesses already here why should new business even bother to come here?
swede on March 2, 2009 at 12:17 pm