I hear people say that a lot, and it's true that that event is very common. But for every time I get that event, I usually get one or more other events that improve plot yields instead. Why is it so badwrong for an event to have a negative effect? Besides which, the entire point of that event (among others) is that it's supposed to be a common filler event to cover the times which the prerequisites for the more rare and special events have not been met yet. If you think that the rare and special events would still be rare and special if they happened every turn, well that's crazy. You might as well just remove the entire event system at that point, since it would serve no purpose other than to give arbitrary random bonuses.