You boys shoot that messenger. After years of catching hell here telling you the same thing this piece tells you I can't wait to see the criticism you hurl at the largest, arguable the most respected publication in the business and finance world.

(Do any of you think Jindal a conservative now?)

Hollywood Teaches Wall Street a Lesson in Corporate Welfare

Some exerts for you:

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Hollywood liberals like to savage corporate America as greedy and mendacious. Consider their portrayals of big business in such recent films as "The Company Men," (2010), "The Promised Land" (2012), and "The Wolf of Wall Street" (2013). But here's a dirty little secret: The film and TV industries have colluded with politicians to pick the pockets of taxpayers on a grand scale.

Media companies nab about $1.4 billion annually in tax incentives that 40 states offer for TV and film production, according to a report this year by the California Legislative Analyst's Office. Most provide either rebates or tax credits that offset a percentage of their production costs.

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Louisiana in 2009 dressed up its tax credit to poach production from California and New York. Tax-credit spending has since soared to $251 million annually from $101 million in 2009, according to the Louisiana Entertainment office. Among this year's beneficiaries are "Fantastic Four," "Terminator 5," and "Pitch Perfect 2." (Like most states, Louisiana doesn't condition subsidies on production quality.)

"Instead of just letting other states beat us and take our jobs, we made a commitment to strengthen our entertainment industry and make it bigger and better," Republican Gov. Bobby Jindal crowed in 2012.

Herein lies another little secret: Some of Hollywood's biggest clients are Republicans. More than half of the 40 states that offer tax incentives are governed by Republicans, and most of those are controlled by GOP legislatures.

Last year, New Mexico's GOP Gov. Susana Martinez signed legislation masquerading as a "tax reform" that enhanced the state's production incentives. Locals called it the "Breaking Bad" bill after the AMC AMCX -1.29% series that was filmed in Albuquerque.

Just last month, Republicans in the California Assembly voted unanimously with Democrats to expand the state's incentive program. "This is an iconic industry, this is an industry that is worth fighting for," said California Assemblyman Tim Donnelly, a tea party favorite who narrowly lost his primary bid for governor this month. "Having more people working is a good thing."

But as California's Legislative Analyst Office (LAO) has pointed out, "these subsidies give businesses in the motion picture industry an economic advantage that other businesses do not receive." As a result, "all other businesses and taxpayers effectively pay a higher tax rate than they would otherwise." While Hollywood claims these credits pay for themselves by increasing in-state spending and goosing tax revenues, the LAO concluded that each $1 of tax credit returned only 65 cents in revenues to the state.

The Louisiana Budget Project, a left-leaning nonprofit, also has found that most of the benefits of the state's transferable tax credits "flow to a few wealthy taxpayers." Nearly two-thirds of the 2,056 Louisiana taxpayers who claimed credits in 2009 reported incomes above $1 million while 92.25% earned more than $250,000. Taxpayers subsidized each production job to the tune of $60,000.

Most of these jobs are not destined to last. Like hustlers, production studios leave once they've finished their job and gotten paid. They then hook up with the next client that makes them a lucrative offer. In Hollywood, money never sleeps.