Monday, August 24, 2015

The only number you need to know

Do  you want to know how crappy our State Store System is? All you need to know is this single fact. The number of States, Counties, or localities looking to move toward a system like the Pennsylvania liquor system:


NONE, NADA, NICHTS
Since the bad decisions made at the end of Prohibition, no state has ever shifted from a private free market system to a state-run liquor monopoly. Not once, not ever.

Our system is so good that nobody wants it. No one else believes in it except Utah, the only other state that is like us. Even they are somewhat better off since you can buy beer in grocery stores there! Alabama is looking to change, Montgomery County in Maryland, a "control county," has passed a partial privatization this year, Literally hundreds of towns in Texas alone have "gone wet" and even some here in PA, like Antrim Township.

The truth is that most people do not want to live under the quasi-prohibition model of the PLCB, be they in Pennsylvania or even under the more liberal versions found elsewhere. People want to be able to choose what they want and not what some bureaucrat in the capitol decides they should be allowed to have.

We don't want the corruption monopoly brings, either. Graft and corruption is not limited to the PLCB. North Carloina has its share too. Even 40 years ago there were charges and nothing really has changed since then. PA is no different. 5 senior members charged with graft, longstanding nepotism, junkets and "tastings" for members that have no qualifications to select mouthwash let alone wine for the entire state. 

Painting the PA liquor jail cell a nice bright color, putting up new drapes, and calling it "modernization" will not change the way the system works. The state charging more is no better than anybody else charging more, except that in a free market you can shop somewhere else. You don't have that choice in PA; it's the State Stores...or the State Police.

The State Store System does nothing for the citizens. It limits job creation, tax collection, selection, service, choice, and  entrepreneurial  drive of small businesses.  I think we can do far better: don't you?
END IT, DON'T MEND IT!
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11 comments:

  1. AnonymousAugust 24, 2015 at 2:16 PM

    Any time I read a news article written by Wendell, I cringe and must ask "who is this person who speaks to me as though I needed his advice?" (that line is from the movie "Braveheart" and the king who says that line throws "this person" out the window to his death)

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  2. Albert BrooksAugust 24, 2015 at 4:18 PM

    One can always hope.

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  3. AnonymousAugust 24, 2015 at 9:37 PM

    I wonder how he fells when he reads your letters?

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  4. AnonymousAugust 24, 2015 at 9:45 PM

    Here's a clip of that scene, for your viewing pleasure: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=-hU4bwFutNw

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  5. AnonymousAugust 25, 2015 at 3:07 PM

    In my opinion I find it interesting that over the years with all the corruption and mismanagement board members have come and gone but the problems remain. Board members claim they are full time but are only in the building twice a month on average. Now I see that their chief counsel for life now has her staff serving as the director of legislative affairs and another as director of administration. Now that is a breath of fresh air and openness!

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  6. Albert BrooksAugust 25, 2015 at 3:33 PM

    Its tough to find true believers so you gotta get them where you find them. I'm sure a lawyer has all sorts of experience in administration. Maybe even as much as somebody who graduated with a degree in Art.

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  7. AnonymousAugust 25, 2015 at 5:06 PM

    Lew: I know you haven't commented on this particular page so far, but I have a question about your profile picture. What building was it taken at? The wine selection behind you looks huge.

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  8. Lew BrysonAugust 25, 2015 at 5:42 PM

    Oh! That's not wine, it's whiskey. I'm at the fabulous Jack Rose Dining Saloon, in DC. They have over 2000 whiskeys. Two. Thousand. I did a book signing there. Sold out event, for my fans in Erie (who know who they are!).

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  9. Albert BrooksAugust 25, 2015 at 5:55 PM

    Sitting on the terrace about 9PM with a good whisk(e)y and a cigar after a meal is one of the better DC experiences. Bring money though, it ain't cheap.

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  10. AnonymousAugust 26, 2015 at 4:34 PM

    At first I thought that picture was of the wine boutique at Garces Trading Company in Philadelphia. That boutique went out of business this past winter. Do we know why? The PLCB had experimented with that concept in the 1980s, but it was them running the show on their own, not in partnership with free enterprise.

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  11. Lew BrysonAugust 26, 2015 at 5:38 PM

    I had heard that Garces didn't want it around anymore, but that was just a rumor. I do not know if it's true. Hmmm...According to Michael Klein in the Inquirer, the PLCB shut it down...but there's much to be read between the lines there. Like the stories about the corruption and arrests at the PLCB's warehouse in Philly...

    http://www.philly.com/philly/blogs/the-insider/Wine-shop-inside-Garces-Trading-Co-to-close.html

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