Media Suddenly Concerned With Arizona's Lost Revenue

Expect to see plenty of stories on how the blackmail against Arizona is going to cost the state money. Conveniently overlooked is the money saved in social services and incarceration costs once illegal aliens are deported.

Backlash from Arizona's new immigration law could cost the Phoenix area a whopping $90 million in lost revenue.

Four major events have been canceled as calls for a boycott grow louder in protest of a strict law that lets police ask people for their citizenship papers, city officials told The Arizona Republic newspaper.

"We have an image and public relations problem of what might be unprecedented proportions," said deputy city manager David Krietor.

He's keeping an eye on 19 events at city-run venues, including the Phoenix Convention Center and the Sheraton Phoenix Downtown Hotel, that bring in about $90 million.

Four event sponsors have already canceled, including one scheduled for 2015, and several others have expressed concern over the legislation.

Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, the oldest African American Greek-lettered frat in the country, planned to hold its annual convention in July. Instead the expected 5,000 attendees will now head to Las Vegas.

Also at risk is the 2011 All-Star Game. Several politicians and even a few players are urging Major League Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig to change the venue in protest.

Two members of Congress are now calling for Major League Baseball to either move the All-Star game out of Phoenix, or for players to boycott the game.

Wow, two out of 535 members of Congress. A regular groundswell building there.

The story also fails to note legal residents of the state overwhelmingly support the law, but why bother with the facts?

Update: Byron York has a look at where this is all headed. It's not pretty.

But what would happen if the boycotts become a reality? In addition to tourism, Arizona is a major presence in the construction, health care, manufacturing and aerospace industries. What if some cities, or even entire states, canceled their business with Arizona-based companies?

"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that if that started, at any level, there would be reciprocation from Arizona," says Barry Broome, president of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. "A boycott can only lead to harm."

It's a pretty simple situation. Lots of cities in California, for instance, do business with Arizona-based companies. But Arizona also does business with lots of California-based companies. "How many Los Angeles- and San Francisco-based companies are doing hundreds of millions of dollars of work in Arizona?" Broome asks. "We have a huge construction and public works platform."

If L.A. and San Francisco were to cut off all business in Arizona, Arizona could find itself forced to do the same thing. "We would be zeroing in on California companies," Broome says.

The result would be insanity -- a trade war inside the United States, all over a law legitimately passed by the Arizona state legislature, signed by the governor and supported by a majority of its people.

But liberals don't care about any of that so long as they get their way.