Paulson's new math: 40% of $59 million is $9 million (Jack Bog's Blog)

They've got some details now on the proposed financial deal between Little Lord Paulson and his latest rube, the city of Beaverton, over his new baseball stadium. The projected cost in the new liars' budget is $59 million, of which Paulson will put up $9 million and the city will borrow the other $50 million.

Adding a bit of priceless comedy to the proceedings is Paulson's assertion that this is somehow a "60-40 split," with the taxpayers paying 60 percent and him paying 40 percent. Even funnier is the blithe acceptance of this bit of math prestidigitation by the O, whose headline reads: "Beaverton stadium deal is $59 million -- 60 percent from taxpayers." Reporter Brad Schmidt also buys into the "60-40 split" line, as fed to him by Beaverton's mayor, Walter Brennan.

It's quite a load of malarkey, achievable only if one thinks that the 6 percent ticket tax that will be imposed on stadium events is somehow Paulson's money. The last time I checked, even well placed Republican trust fund babies did not have the authority to impose taxes in this country. And so the real "taxpayer" side of this project is 84.75 percent.

But hey, as a taxpayer of Portland, I urge Beaverton to go for it. Build him a soccer stadium, too, and get the robber barons of the Paulson family out of Portland entirely.

Comments (12)

It's the MP3 virus, constantly mutating, and easily transmitted. First identified in Portland, it has now spread to Beaverton.

Posted by Peter Apanel | October 12, 2009 10:24 PM

Beaverton Mayor Denny Doyle: ""I think it's probably a very low impact on taxpayers right now, and it can only get softer."

Nice. This guy has the gift.

Posted by Bill McDonald | October 12, 2009 11:59 PM

There must be big bucks in the two deals for LLP. Here's a dumb idea I know, but leave Baseball in Portland, and build the damn Soccer stadium in Beaverton. LLP is smiling all the way to the bank, he gets two cities within walking distance of each other to build him 2 new multimillion dollar stadiums.

Posted by phil | October 13, 2009 5:00 AM

But then if only a soccer stadium was build in Beaverton, then Jr. wouldn't be able to call daddy and say, "I screwed both cities, aren't you proud of me?"

Posted by phil | October 13, 2009 5:09 AM

When are people going to wake up and realize that if it's such a great deal, then LLP should foot the whole bill himself?

Posted by godfry | October 13, 2009 7:53 AM

And you can bet that part of Paulson's "contribution" will be naming rights fees from "his" new stadium.
Meanwhile, the MLS commissioner is talking about switching the season schedule from from March-October to August-May, to match up with Europe's schedule.
I think it would be great to see the mayor and the Timbers' army, huddled out in 35-degree temperatures and a steady rain.
Of course, the MLS boss, Don Garber, has the solution to that, too.
"Key to achieving that will be building more stadiums with roofs to protect against the worst of the U.S. winter," according to a wire story in The Oregonian.

Posted by Al in SE PDX | October 13, 2009 8:02 AM

Beaverton is way ahead of Portland. The price has already gone up 30 percent in the span of three months.

Posted by Ken | October 13, 2009 8:03 AM

Softer, deeper, I always get those mixed up too.

Posted by George Anonymuncule Seldes | October 13, 2009 9:07 AM

It's quite a load of malarkey, achievable only if one thinks that the 6 percent ticket tax that will be imposed on stadium events is somehow Paulson's money.

Yeah, the argument for that is that the ticket tax would otherwise just go into Paulson's pocket. But that's absurd--the only reason you put a tax on tickets is to cover some of the costs of the construction. I'm not aware of ANY deal in pro sports where there is a ticket tax and then that money goes to the owner of the team.

Posted by Dave J. | October 13, 2009 9:18 AM

As residents of Beaverton, my wife and some of our neighbors have come to the conclusion that Mr. Doyle is a one term Mayor.

Posted by Jerry | October 13, 2009 10:01 AM

Do politicians realize that when someone comes to their city with a giant flashy project, you can actually say "no"?

Posted by Snards | October 13, 2009 11:54 AM

I think Hunter Thompson was onto something when he pushed for Aspen, Colorado to change its name to "Fat City", in order to prevent greedheads from cashing in on the city's good name. I figure that Beaverton should offer to cover the whole cost of the new stadium, but only if it's officially named "The Merritt Paulson Goatse.cx Experiment". Let's see how badly he wants it then.

Posted by Texas Triffid Ranch | October 13, 2009 3:19 PM

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Monday, October 12, 2009

Paulson's new math: 40% of $59 million is $9 million

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