> Wall Street Journal - December 8, 2004
>
> Cities Use Eminent Domain
> To Clear Lots for Big-Box Stores
>
> By DEAN STARKMAN
> Staff Reporter of THE WALL STREET JOURNAL December 8, 2004; Page B1
>
> Big-box retailers have a message for local landowners: Move.
>
> And the command has the force of law, much to the dismay of
> Darrell M. Trent, a part-time developer in Pittsburg, Kan.
> Mr. Trent thought he scored a coup this year when he leased
> part of a seven-acre parcel his family had owned since the
> 1960s to a local plumbing supplier.
As soon as it is set up as a mega-corp vs a local mom-and-pop shop, most US-sers stop thinking rationally and emotions start flying high, as the small business capitalism is the dearest thing to the US heart. As for me, I follow the footsteps of Johns Kenneth Galbraith who belived that mega-corps can potnetially deliver more public goods than small businesses are ever capable of doing - so I have no problem when the city says move over to an operation of some shaky local establishment to build a Wal-mart that served thousands.
This is all I have to say on this subject - I like big cities, big government and big organizations I think they canb provide more public benefits than a bunch of small shops. I have no sentiment for small-business, which ususlly means less choise, higher prices and lower wages - and littly if any neighborhood effect. It is a matter of taste. If someone else likes mom-an-po shopos, there is plenty of them in the Podunks of this land. I prefer thinking big, like the Big Apple.
Wojtek