The eminent domain ploy
Here's one rapidly growing way in which large US corporations are bending the laws to their will: using government's power of eminent domain. Eminent domain, the right of to condemn and take over land for public welfare, has traditionally been used for such public works as highways, parks, bridges and so forth. Now the law is being applied to give an advantage for large retail oligopolies.
A recent Wall Street Journal article's title tells it all; "Cities Use Eminent Domain To Clear Lots For Big-Box Stores" (12/8/2004). The article gives a number of instances of property owners being pushed out by government so that major retailers can build. For example:
- Pttsburg, Kansas used the law to condemn private land so Home Depot could build a store.
- Port Chester. New York, clears out its business districts and scores of small retailers to enable Costco and Bed, bath and Beyond to build megastores
- Cypress, California condemned a vacant lot to Costco could build there.
- North Bergen, New Jersey, condemned a Kmart so a Home Depot could be built.
- Maplewood, Missouri , condemned 150 homes and business and sold it to Wal-Mart
While such big companies decry government oversight and minimum wage hikes, they are more than happy to use government power to get a handout. One observer is quoted in the WSJ article as saying "They're a new generation of robber barons, like the railroads of the 19th century." Like those companies, they are snatching up land intended for "public use," a concept that has been broadened by courts over the last few years.
The article documents a series of dirty tricks and lower-than-appraised compensations, as the big chains more and more persuade local governments that their salvation is based on keeping the big companies. (We've already seen how the big stores are just as likely to abandon such a property and run off to the next town for the slightest cause.)
The article shows how the condemnation and takeover game has now become the publicly defended modus operandi some of the big-box companies. Costco, in a letter to stockholder, admitted make free use of eminent domanin or the threat of it in dozens of projects, claiming that if they didn't, then rivals like Wal-Mart, Target, and Kmart would beat them out by using it. And local governments are taking sides with big retailers against small retailers, homeowners, and property owners.
The old dictum was that "what's good for General Motors is good for the USA;" now the policy might be, "what's good for Wal-Mart or Home Depot is good for the USA." At least General Motors once provided high-paying jobs and actually made something.
11:15:13 AM 
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