The federal government has awarded the University of California, Santa Cruz a $615,175 grant to digitize its "Grateful Dead Archive," which the university says "includes materials related to the phenomena of the Deadheads, the band's extensive social network of devoted fans, and the Grateful Dead's highly unusual and successful musical business ventures." Which raises the question -- if the Grateful Dead were such successful businessmen, why do they need taxpayer help to take care of their old stuff? A New York Times article from April 2008, when the material was donated by the band to the library, reported, "Mr. Weir said the band had decided to donate the memorabilia in part to keep it from getting lost as years went by." Lots of ordinary taxpayers would like to preserve their own family or personal or business memorabilia in a storage unit or a scrapbook or some extra space at home. But the money those ordinary taxpayers might spend on such activities has been taken from them by the government in taxes and used to preserve Mr. Weir's memorabilia. It's the latest example of what we call the "Reverse Robin-Hood." (I learned about the Grateful Dead grant by reading about it on the Club for Growth Web site.)
The Grateful Dead Subsidy
https://www.futureofcapitalism.com/2009/10/the-grateful-dead-subsidy
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