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Yes, businesses in Seattle are screaming that they can't do business here. Amazon is a particularly vocal on this subject. In protest, they've been hiring thousands of new workers at salaries well above $100k. Many other tech companies have been following in protest by hiring people in those very areas. That'll show those big government types, huh.
The poster was complaining that the regs are onerous on SMALL businesses but not nearly as much on large ones that have their own legal dept etc etc etc.
What the hell does this have to do with "big government"? This is big business: A person forced to sell to a PRIVATE COMPANY by government. If it was government seizing the land for government use, that would be big government. But what he have here is a corporation (not unlike Romney's) using their pull and power in government (buying their way in, which is a lot easier after Citizen's United and other conservative backed efforts) to make someone do something to help their bottom line.
Eminent domain today is a symptom of right wing policy gone insane: everything for the corporations and small business and private citizens are bulldozed with the help of bought off governments. Real big government would be a vote to socialize the business that suggested this woman be forced to sell to send a warning to other CEOs and Wall St. pigs.
But remember, in the words of the last Republican presidential candidate, "corporations are people too."
Well, if they are "people," does that mean we can sentence them to the death penalty?
It was definitely a careless use of eminent domain. Obviously the city was able to justify it for public use due to the construction going on with the highway tunneling going on in the city.
Big Governments abusing their power always justifies their actions. This is nothing new. The idiots in government like to control people and abuse their power.
What the hell does this have to do with "big government"?
Big Government is exercising their power of eminent domain. So yes, it is Big Government.
Eminent domain today is a symptom of right wing policy gone insane: everything for the corporations and small business and private citizens are bulldozed with the help of bought off governments. [/quote]
You have it backwards. It's the Democrats that love Big Government and abusing the power of eminent domain. Yes, they are in bed with big business. Democrats love Crony Capitalism. Just look at what your hero in the White House has done for his Big Business buddies.
Big Government is exercising their power of eminent domain. So yes, it is Big Government.
You have it backwards. It's the Democrats that love Big Government and abusing the power of eminent domain. Yes, they are in bed with big business. Democrats love Crony Capitalism. Just look at what your hero in the White House has done for his Big Business buddies.
Yes, and the democrats are a bunch of right-wing, warmongering hacks who are just slightly less a bunch of right-wing, warmongering hacks than the Republicans. What's your point?
News flash: it is possible to be a progressive and hate George W Obama and hate the Democratic party...hell, if you want to be a REAL progressive, you have to hate the Democratic party and George W. Obama, corporate owned warmonger in chief.
Local governments are the largest threat and biggest remover of our freedom that exists. We put up with it because we are conditioned to believe that if its local, it's okay or somehow easy to change - yet its not.
Another factor is that if a locality or even a state enacts a law you can just move elsewhere within the country, where you need no official permission. That's called "voting with your feet"; it's also much easier to get your political message out at the local level than at the state or national level (less money required, less manpower, etc.). Tyranny must be resisted at all levels of government; while there are easier avenues for change at the local or state level than the national level, that doesn't matter if those avenues are not used, and use of those avenues takes a public (or at least some minority of it) that has the iron will and drive necessary to accomplish the mission. This notion that local tyrrany is more okay offsets the inherent advantages of localities having more power vis-a-vis the higher levels of government, and that is what has to change if we are to realize the benefits that local control makes possible.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Roadking2003
Citing the need for more public parking, the City Council of Seattle made a unanimous decision this week to force a 103-year-old woman to sell a plot of land that is already a parking lot.
Huh? If it's already a parking lot, why bother expending the resources to buy it? Leaving out the moral and policy dimensions of it, it seems like a classic case of government waste to me. Even if it was completely voluntary, i.e. the state making an offer of X amount of money to buy the parking lot, I still wouldn't support such a move.
Quote:
Originally Posted by victorianpunk
What the hell does this have to do with "big government"? This is big business: A person forced to sell to a PRIVATE COMPANY by government. If it was government seizing the land for government use, that would be big government. But what he have here is a corporation (not unlike Romney's) using their pull and power in government (buying their way in, which is a lot easier after Citizen's United and other conservative backed efforts) to make someone do something to help their bottom line.
It's government force - in the service of a for-profit corporation, yes, but government force nonetheless. If government force wasn't backing it a corporation couldn't pull off such a thing, since if they did the owner would call the police and press charges in court. Lobbyists persuade government to use an existing power in a way that favors the lobbyist - if government doesn't have that power, then there is no point in lobbying. For a corporation, capturing an existing regulatory agency is a much easier task than creating a regulatory state from scratch and then capturing it.
Quote:
But remember, in the words of the last Republican presidential candidate, "corporations are people too."
Well, if they are "people," does that mean we can sentence them to the death penalty?
If I stole someone's parking lot I'd probably get some jail time or a hefty fine, and a similar treatment should apply to corporations in this instance. An analogue to the death penalty for corporations would be appropriate under certain circumstances, though.
Quote:
Originally Posted by middle-aged mom
I think SCOTUS deferred the definition of " public good" to the state, no?
There is no legal requirement at the federal level for a state to have eminent domain at all; the federal Constitution just says in effect "if you use eminent domain, you must comply with conditions X, Y, and Z". If a state legislature passed a law saying "eminent domain shall not be used by this state or any of its localities" it would be perfectly legal.
As a city, Seattle is doing really good, so I agree, they do deserve what they get and what they are getting is an amazing city.
And you are OK with them stealing this woman's parking lot? Is that what they deserve? Is that what makes Seattle an "amazing city"?
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