5 ms·
In one town a WalMart was able to go up after years of resisting any sort of development. They used 3 layers of shell companies to buy up the parcels of land an
by ryanmarsh 6y ago
In one town a WalMart was able to go up after years of resisting any sort of development. They used 3 layers of shell companies to buy up the parcels of land and then re-sell them to each other in a maze of county filings until Wal-Mart finally was purchased the sum of the parcels so they had the land to build. Then they sent an army of lawyers and immediately began suing the shit out of the local leadership that was resisting them. A friend, a developer, built a retail strip adjacent to the new Wal-Mart. He didn't have the resources of Wal-Mart despite already being wealthy. He ended up just having to line everyone's pockets in order to get his permits. Yes, that's right, good old fashioned bribes.
Obviously this is just one narrow example, but it just goes to show things still work this way in some parts of the US.
I hate to say it but you probably should have just bribed them.
- rch 6y agoThere's enormous pressure to favor high-capital development projects like big box retail in America, and tons of developers working on the fringe of local politics to keep it that way.
- lotsofpulp 6y ago> but it just goes to show things still work this way in some parts of the US. That’s how it works on the East and west coast in my experience. You have to make the right “donations” to the right “campaigns” or police associations, etc etc.
- selectodude 6y agoThere's this giant city smack dab in the middle of the country too, you know.
- lotsofpulp 6y agoI specified where I’ve had experiences.
- throwaway0a5e 6y ago>Obviously this is just one narrow example, but it just goes to show things still work this way in some parts of the US. There's a long dead Greek guy who had a famous quip about laws and corruption that's relevant to this kind of thing.
- ryanmarsh 6y agoWere you referring to this quote from Tacitus? "The more corrupt the state, the more numerous the laws."
- throwaway0a5e 6y agoYeah. That's it. I would have sworn it was one of the Greek philosophers who said it.