Thomas Sowell on American Style Socialism
Human Events
The rich have learned to adapt socialist policies to their own benefit. For example, the city of Riviera Beach, Florida, is planning to demolish a working class neighborhood under its power of eminent domain, in order to prepare the way for a marina for yachts, luxury condominiums and an upscale shopping district.
What will the city of Riviera Beach get out of all this? More taxes from higher-income people, enabling local politicians to spend more money on programs to attract votes.
Meanwhile, the rich get rid of lower-income folks without having to pay them the value of their homes and businesses that will be demolished. As in so many other cases, eminent domain is socialism for the rich.
Theoretically, those whose homes and businesses are demolished will get the “just compensation” to which the Constitution says they are entitled.
In reality, just announcing plans to demolish the homes in an area will immediately demolish part of their market value. Even if homeowners are compensated for whatever value remains when their homes are actually demolished — which can be years later — they have still been had. More
I’m very sorry Tina.
Well Done America.
This is happening because too many Blue State East Coast Leftists with money to burn have moved into the city.
Blue State bastids should be run out back where they come from. Me shortlist keeps growing.
Eminent domain does interrupt or even wreck a lot of lives.
The Interstate Highway system is a wonderful achievement, but upon entering cities, it had to cut wide swathes through working class neighborhoods to route traffic to the downtowns. The 105 in LA did that. in the 1970’s there were lots of homes on that route, then they were empty for many years as homeowners were forced out. Finally, 20 years later we got the 105 from around Cerritos/Norwalk to LAX.
The Interstate Highway Act was passed by Eisenhower who liked the idea of controlled access highways he saw in Germany – the Autobahn, mainly designed for troop movements. But our IHS was built for troop movements as much as commerce. Since most military facilities are not in any downtown areas, it does not seem necessary to have routed them to plow through and destroy neighborhoods to get downtown.
They Interstates could have stopped at the suburbs and cars and trucks could have taken local routes to get downtown. But it’s done and done now…no use really to complain about it…just to wonder where all the displaced people went.
Tim Buktu
My Aunt and Grandmother on my dads side lived through that in the 70’s. Except it was the 405.
@Brad
That is sad. I hope they did not suffer too much from the dislocation.
In Memphis, I-40 was planned to run straight across the city, cutting out a swath of homes and a large section of Overton Park which housed the Zoo. Residents organized and stopped I-40, eventually making the Interstate go around the city. Today, the many homes in that area have been rebuilt and the Zoo expanded to take up more of the Park.
Oh, goodie! You want to seize my home through eminent domain, and displace me?
Let me buy a 55 gallon barrel of the most toxic substance I can afford, and dump it around my house and neighborhood as my moving truck leaves.
Have fun cleaning up. That inexpensive land suddenly just got a whole lot more expensive. And time consuming.
Interstate loop 210 ran right through our living room. Dad and the rest of the neighbors in it’s way we’re given “beans” for their homes. We moved where there would never be a chance of that happening again.