County that shelled out tax rebates for creationist Ken Ham's Ark museum 'teetering on bankruptcy'
Source: RawStory
BRAD REED
27 FEB 2017 AT 13:44 ET
When Grant County, Kentucky decided to shell out as much as $18 million in tax incentives to creationist Ken Hams Ark Encounter museum, it made a bet that it was going to become a major tourist attraction.
Instead, as local news station WKYT reports, the Ark hasnt brought in nearly as much money to the areas economy as once projected, and the county itself is now teetering on bankruptcy.
Its been a great thing but its not brought us any money, Grant County Judge-Executive Steve Wood said while taking a break during a recent budget meeting, according to WKYT.
Grant County faces a major budget shortfall that Wood has said might have to be solved through a combination of a 2% payroll tax and job cuts to the countys workers.
Read more: http://www.rawstory.com/2017/02/county-that-shelled-out-tax-rebates-for-creationist-ken-hams-ark-museum-teetering-on-bankruptcy/
titaniumsalute
(4,742 posts)County employees will be paying for the Ark Encounter. However, they will see it is a God's way of making them tithe more and they'll be fine with it of course.
dembotoz
(16,802 posts)NurseJackie
(42,862 posts)calimary
(81,238 posts)NewJeffCT
(56,828 posts)that they go bankrupt, obviously.
PoiBoy
(1,542 posts)Mendocino
(7,488 posts)To boost attendance, Kim Davis will appear in an exhibit with all her ex husbands.
calimary
(81,238 posts)Hortensis
(58,785 posts)Looks pretty good.
?w=500
njhoneybadger
(3,910 posts)Aristus
(66,328 posts)If only...
ToxMarz
(2,166 posts)Time to poison their water, give away all their public lands and infrastructure, and close the schools. That'll fix it!
snooper2
(30,151 posts)Bengus81
(6,931 posts)CON job. Coming next,a new "Flat Earth" museum complete with ships going over the edge! Sam Brownback of Kansas to do the dedication.
Panich52
(5,829 posts)Unfortunately, those who were against the offense are caught up in the punishment.
Javaman
(62,521 posts)the "ark" will be a waffle house.
Chakaconcarne
(2,446 posts)Javaman
(62,521 posts)everyone likes them regardless of religious bent.
I know some people here in Lexington waiting to snap it up for a Casino and betting Parlor.
Javaman
(62,521 posts)I can see that.
trusty elf
(7,391 posts)[img][/img]
benld74
(9,904 posts)old guy
(3,283 posts)PJMcK
(22,035 posts)calimary
(81,238 posts)Angry Dragon
(36,693 posts)Xolodno
(6,390 posts)...Jesus whipped the bankers and money changers. Making a profit off of God is a no-no.
calimary
(81,238 posts)OR the Beatitudes. Nowhere in there does it say "Blessed are the rich, OR the CON artists."
Xolodno
(6,390 posts)...how about when Jesus said the woman who gave two pennies to the money box gave more than the two rich guys before her.
If "conservatives" actually read the book they profess to follow, there wouldn't be any more "conservatives". But they make Matthew 25:35-40 not prophetic, but real. Atheist's and Agnostics will end up in heaven before them....and the book Apocalypse of Peter infers the compassionate will get them out of their perdition.
Or how about Jesus being essentially a vagabond who lived off of handouts.
They don't believe in the very thing they say to preach.
*gets off soapbox*
calimary
(81,238 posts)"The least of these." These holier-than-thou phonies need to read their New Testament a wee bit more closely. And then look in the mirror, and read it aloud to themselves - WHILE they're looking in the mirror.
brooklynite
(94,520 posts)However you felt about the Creation museum, the Ark encounter should have drawn in suckers from all over Christendom.
LiberalFighter
(50,912 posts)or there weren't enough suckers that had the money to go there.
erronis
(15,241 posts)Apparently the "reasoning" part of the brain is not well-connected to the idolatry part. Don't care if you're a supposed xian, a muslim, an irrational non-theist. Once the mouth starts spewing credo, the human consciousness shuts down.
Same pattern in gamblers and others that like to cheat. They "know" that they are alright, OK - that they can get away with the insanity. (I know for other reasons...)
brooklynite
(94,520 posts)...at least Jim Bakker's "Heritage USA" had a water slide.
Archae
(46,327 posts)progressoid
(49,988 posts)hibbing
(10,098 posts)Purely for entertainment purposes, and entertaining it was. Tammy Faye with her two inches of makeup on balling her poor little eyes out every five minutes. It was all a matter of time before the whole thing collapsed.
Thanks for sharing the link, rather...sad.
Peace
JHB
(37,160 posts)Too much depended on the **ahem** faithful **ahem** going to the expense of traveling there to be fleeced. Even the blinkered have to decide if travel expenses are worth it, and even if they do they could easily just put it off until some "one of these days" in the future.
Too much overhead in one spot, and little opportunity for repeat business (how many could be expected to be so in love with creationist Disneyland that they see it again and again?).
The investors gambled and lost, but any government official who played that game with public money (dressed up as tax breaks) should be run into the ground politically, and prosecuted if applicable.
Roland99
(53,342 posts)Kimchijeon
(1,606 posts)a big pile of nothing
hatrack
(59,584 posts)Not enough attention, I'd say.
BobTheSubgenius
(11,563 posts)JHB
(37,160 posts)...but the very nature of the thing chops off potential visitors. The people who will dutifully sit through church on Sunday won't be too thrilled to do it with a wonder-wheel. And the people who take their Church seriously don't want a tilt-a-whirl inside it.
elmac
(4,642 posts)Lotusflower70
(3,077 posts)We are doomed. It's the end times. At least the people that were convinced President Obama was the anti-Christ would say that.
PsychoBabble
(837 posts)yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)dalton99a
(81,475 posts)TexasProgresive
(12,157 posts)King James Bible Genesis 9:25
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; a servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Koinos
(2,792 posts)ProfessorGAC
(65,010 posts)Then what are you complaining about, Woody? You have a great thing going. Or, could it be that you don't really give a whit about that biblical nonsense but figured it was a way to pull in money by fleecing the masses?
bucolic_frolic
(43,148 posts)They haven't found a way to merge religion with accounting fraud yet?
NCjack
(10,279 posts)futile act is to sustain it with payroll taxes and tax incentives to operate. Time for the residents of Grant Co., KY to smarten up and stop the foolishness. Oh, and also run Ken Ham out of town on a dinosaur.
Squinch
(50,949 posts)that many of them.
Not even enough to keep a wing nut amusement park open.
Solly Mack
(90,764 posts)MineralMan
(146,288 posts)They could ask Ken Ham to pray for them, too. That ought to do the trick, don't you think?
Still, if God sends down a flood, maybe Ham's Ark will be of some use, assuming it would float.
MineralMan
(146,288 posts)work better. PillarsofSaltLand, they could call it, with re-enactments of the whole thing. Pornish stuff does well in the Bible Belt, I hear.
Tanuki
(14,918 posts)MineralMan
(146,288 posts)In a patriarchal society, such a sacrifice might not have been extraordinary at that time. Look at the honor killings of daughters in some backwards Muslim cultures, even now. That story causes lots of dispute among biblical scholars. Did Jephthah really sacrifice his daughter as a burnt offering. Did that deity allow such a thing? Its a difficult question, indeed.
blue sky at night
(3,242 posts)about people who live in K E N tucky....with the fucked up idiots they keep sending to Washington and all....just saying!
Docreed2003
(16,858 posts)You waste a boatload of money on an attraction that is based on folklore (until modern evangelicals began claiming the bible was literal that was what the Noah story was considered), you fill that attraction will absolute horseshit like the world is 6 thousand years old, and throw in a dose of absolute idiocy by putting dinosaurs into said attraction, and you're surprised no one wants to shell out money to come to BFE Kentucky to visit your bullshit attraction?? Amazing....amazingly stupid
Scruffy1
(3,256 posts)This whole thing was always a shell game. If it fails, which is likely eventually, the county will still have to pay off the bonds. In the meantime it has to provide fire, police protection and of course infrastructure without getting a dime of property tax. This was besides the $18,000,000 the state handed to them. I'm going to Kentucky and build a Flying Spaghetti Monster Museum and Peep Show. I'll never have to work again. i wonder how much the judge charges who made the decision on the 18 million. I need to know so I can put it in my plan. Right know I'm assuming 10%, but they might be cheaper and more competitive in Kentucky. Fooling the locals is apparently no problem.
Ilsa
(61,695 posts)If you bail them out, they'll give all credit to god and start another goofy, expensive project.
Fritz Walter
(4,291 posts)Each pick-up truck, RV and horse-drawn carriage would be charged a few dollars going to and from the Ark.
Simple, huh?
Oh, wait...
JDC
(10,127 posts)The folks in that town will be saved by the Ark. Until then, it is about to have the lights turned off.
Ligyron
(7,632 posts)So sad that flood killed Jebus tho'.
Turbineguy
(37,324 posts)who don't swallow this shit.
Maybe there's hope after all?
kimbutgar
(21,137 posts)dem4decades
(11,288 posts)Losing healthcare too.