This Sunday, Feb. 13, the Super Bowl will take place in Los Angeles, featuring the Los Angeles Rams vs. Cincinnati Bengals. Many fans expect it to be an exciting game as both teams pulled off major upsets on their playoff runs to the Super Bowl. Some of us may even be looking forward to the famous Super Bowl commercials, which can be very funny and creative.
One commercial that some of us may see will be an advertisement promoting tourism to the state of California. In fact, the government of California has authorized $2.2 million dollars of state tax revenue to be spent on a flashy 30-second Super Bowl ad to promote tourism to the state, which has dropped off due to the COVID pandemic. In total, the state government has authorized $22.1 million to be spent on the whole ad campaign, which will also play throughout the Winter Olympics.
At a time when the state has plenty of money to intervene to prevent school closures in school districts such as Oakland, and the politicians have chosen not to do so, spending this amount of money on an ad campaign shows the true priorities of California’s government. We are constantly told that there is not enough money for schools or healthcare expenditures during the pandemic, but this is a lie! Californians live in the wealthiest state in the country. The reason why there is “not enough money” is because of the priorities of politicians, who do not represent the interests of ordinary working people.
