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This is why you need to get the government out of business. They shouldn't be choosing what stores are built where nor should they be giving certain businesses

This is why you need to get the government out of business. They shouldn't be choosing what stores are built where nor should they be giving certain businesses tax breaks over others.

Analemma_ 8y ago
What does "get the government out of business" even mean in this context? What do you think should have happened instead? Dollar General asks for a tax break and says they won't build a store if they don't get one, and the government can either accept or refuse. It's not clear to me how you can prevent this situation, short of passing a law at the state or federal level that forbids municipalities from offering tax breaks. (Which I actually think the government should do, to prevent races to the bottom, but that would by definition mean more state/federal control over local tax policy, and is not likely to be popular.) Please think for a minute before you post comments like "This is why you need to get the government out of business." They're so easy to make that often people post them before realizing they don't make any sense.
- bena 8y ago
  Not to mention, let's assume that government "got out of business". Had no say in business at all. No zoning laws, no permission needed to open a shop wherever you wanted, etc. Then while Dollar General wouldn't get any sort of tax break for building in a town, nothing could stop them either. Buhler wouldn't have been able to reject the store.
pdonis 8y ago
From the article it looks like the local government was what kept Dollar General out of a town after seeing what happened to a neighboring town that gave Dollar General some breaks to come in. So local government, while it did make a bad decision in the first town, made the opposite decision in the second town. A question the article doesn't explore is what effect government policies and actions at higher levels (county, state, federal) have on the ability of a large chain like Dollar General to drive out local competitors. It might well be that getting government out of business, in the sense of stopping it from playing favorites, at those higher levels would be a net benefit.
monkeynotes 8y ago
Get government out of business?? I think it should be the other way round. Get business out of government. Government has a place in prescribing how business is conducted. Without local government zoning for businesses your cities would be pretty shitty places to live. Light or heavy touch is the contentious point. The bigger problem is that businesses by and large control America. Sort that problem out, complaining about government pushing business around is laughable.
- scarface74 8y ago
  Living in GA, big business serves as somewhat of a beachhead against it from becoming another Mississippi.

This is why you need to get the government out of business. They shouldn't be choosing what stores are built where nor should they be giving certain businesses tax breaks over others.

Analemma_ 8y ago

What does "get the government out of business" even mean in this context? What do you think should have happened instead? Dollar General asks for a tax break and says they won't build a store if they don't get one, and the government can either accept or refuse. It's not clear to me how you can prevent this situation, short of passing a law at the state or federal level that forbids municipalities from offering tax breaks. (Which I actually think the government should do, to prevent races to the bottom, but that would by definition mean more state/federal control over local tax policy, and is not likely to be popular.) Please think for a minute before you post comments like "This is why you need to get the government out of business." They're so easy to make that often people post them before realizing they don't make any sense.

bena 8y ago
Not to mention, let's assume that government "got out of business". Had no say in business at all. No zoning laws, no permission needed to open a shop wherever you wanted, etc. Then while Dollar General wouldn't get any sort of tax break for building in a town, nothing could stop them either. Buhler wouldn't have been able to reject the store.

pdonis 8y ago

From the article it looks like the local government was what kept Dollar General out of a town after seeing what happened to a neighboring town that gave Dollar General some breaks to come in. So local government, while it did make a bad decision in the first town, made the opposite decision in the second town. A question the article doesn't explore is what effect government policies and actions at higher levels (county, state, federal) have on the ability of a large chain like Dollar General to drive out local competitors. It might well be that getting government out of business, in the sense of stopping it from playing favorites, at those higher levels would be a net benefit.

monkeynotes 8y ago

Get government out of business?? I think it should be the other way round. Get business out of government. Government has a place in prescribing how business is conducted. Without local government zoning for businesses your cities would be pretty shitty places to live. Light or heavy touch is the contentious point. The bigger problem is that businesses by and large control America. Sort that problem out, complaining about government pushing business around is laughable.

scarface74 8y ago
Living in GA, big business serves as somewhat of a beachhead against it from becoming another Mississippi.