Private liquor spells doom for PA, groups say: Testimony at Tuesday’s hearing told of liquor privatization as a harbinger of social chaos

The Philadelphia Inquirer reports:

For most of the last two years, the debate over alcohol privatization in Pennsylvania has focused on the financial aspects of the Republican-backed plan to sell-off the state liquors. But such bottom-line issues took a backseat on Tuesday as the state Senate held the first of three planned hearings on the liquor bill passed by the state House in March. Social issues were front and center in the Senate Law and Justice Committee, with privatization painted as a harbinger of doom by a parade of testifiers who promised everything from an increase in crime and disease to higher rates of unemployment and prostitution.

Socialists say this sort of thing every time someone tries to sell off a monopoly.