The question is should our government be giving subsidies to anyone or any group? This is a problem at all levels of government. It exists at the smallest local level up to the Federal government. Some examples are listed below.
My neighborhood beautification group (West Park Neighborhood) asked the neighborhood council for $300.00 to subsidize our block party. It was granted and we had 150 to 200 people in attendance. We did not earn enough money to repay the council. The council did not ask us to repay them.
The state of California was contemplating a subsidy to build a new football stadium in the Los Angeles area but this idea was blocked by county supervisors. The city of Industry had asked for power to divert $829 million in county property tax revenue from basic government services < http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-indust17apr17,0,867083,full.story >. This was a wise action by the supervisors considering that the county lacks sufficient funds for those basic services.
The Federal government subsidies for ethanol amounted to $7.0 billion in 2006. There was and $18.0 billion subsidy for oil companies that that was created in 1986 and eliminated in 2008 (H.R. 5351: Renewable Energy and Energy Conservation Tax Act of 2008). $16 billion in subsidies were given to farmers every year between 2002 and 2005. Wind turbine investments are subsidized through the use of shortened depreciation schedules.
Think about it! No more subsidies from government for anything. Perhaps such policies would enable government to balance its budgets.
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