Comments on: Dispatches from the Corporate State

By: Noumenon

Noumenon — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 16:40:26 +0000

I’m fascinated that L Nettles turned up with that little United States Sugar history. How many people reading the web know that?

By: gadfly

gadfly — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 03:04:21 +0000

Warren:

Damn those those spell checkers — I think you meant “financial straits” as in navigating through a narrow, dangerous waterway.

By: IgotBupkis

IgotBupkis — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 00:10:08 +0000

Yeah, as a resident of Florida, I’m not much of a fan of Crist. He’s one of those ersatz RINOs we got so much of in the “Oughts”. Let’s hope the TP movement can do something about that. I might have to vote for him for senator, but I hope not.

As far as any of this being failures of privatization, that’s obvious crap. The sugar tariffs are garbage, and should be eliminated — not only to they contribute to the Everglades issues, the fact that the area isn’t really well suited to sugar cane production is more than obviously an excess abuse of governmental power. Another thing “come the revolution” — some kind of structural component that resists this kind of favorable abuse.

By: ElamBend

ElamBend — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 22:15:22 +0000

This quote is great:
â€œIt wasnâ€™t another company coming in and bottom-fishing you,â€ Mr. Wade said. â€œThey knew it would be for fair-market appraisals.â€

Somehow I think his definition of ‘fair-market appraisal’ is different than mine or any other rational real estate professional. Double-speak at it’s finest.

By: Pat Moffitt

Pat Moffitt — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 19:02:11 +0000

This is classic rent seeking. The subsidized rent seeker may the most abusive and the cash flow allowed by the quid pro quo transfer payments makes them especially powerful. Most subsidized industries charge their members a fee that goes into a PAC used to protect the subsidy.

Another example – the commercial fishing industry is allocated 98% of the marine fishery resource and for this the Public is expected to make continuing transfer payments. The marine fishery resource is enjoyed by 32 million Americans, the sport fishery generates twice the revenues compared to the commercial fishery (despite the 2% allocation), more jobs and produces billions in sport federal and state tax revenues. How much does the commercial fishing industry pay in taxes- well the best guess is they are a net drain. The 1999 Federal Investment Task Force that tried to answer this question for Congress reported there was so much money running through so many departments with so little paper work they couldn’t begin to estimate– but they thought it was substantial. It was actually illegal until 2005 for any government agency to try and find out. If you think this hyperbole see below:

Administration’s Reauthorization of the Magnuson-Stevens Act – 2005
New version posted 12/02/2005 includes corrections to the Lacey Act provisions)
ON page 6 of the Data and Science overview:
“In particular, this amendment eliminates current language in the Act that precludes the Secretary from collecting commercial or financial information regarding fishing operations or fish processing operations.”

The Secretary is the Secretary of Commerce. And it is not surprising that no-one has yet tried to find out how much we are giving the commercial fishing interests.

By: L Nettles

L Nettles — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 17:17:44 +0000

USS was built during the Depression by Charles Stuart Mott taking advantage of the low market, with money he made at General Motors. Now if the government during Depression had bailed out those sugar producers and farmers before they were taken over by Mott, USS would not have existed. Now USS and GM are both getting bailed out.