I continue to be impressed with the crazy things these participants can think of, and simultaneously disturbed by the fact that they actually came up with this.
Something of a tangent. I work in security and this sentence pretty much sums up my feelings about my job every day. My colleagues think I'm nuts (probably not unwarranted) but I think there's a kind of noblise oblige when you across someone with a knack for subterfuge and deception. It takes a particular kind of mindset and I very much admire that capability, if not always their intentions.
Money is fungible, but the word "subsidy" does imply a flow of government to someone. Tax break is the proper term to use unless you are deliberately trying to mislead people. See also "corporate welfare".
I've commented on this before in other threads. There's a (rather disturbing IMHO) school of thought that thinks government is the ultimate economic engine. Thus any money the government doesn't collect is equivalent to subsidy.
The banks are sitting on something like three houses for every homeless man, woman, and child in America, refusing to drop their prices to market level.
Can I see a citation for that statistic please? Or at least your calculations to come up with that figure?
"May your future be limited only by your dreams." -- Christa McAuliffe