Iowa's handout to Apple illustrates the folly of corporate welfare deals

Post by specialist » Mon, Sep 04, 2017, 2:26 PM UTC

dpatru wrote: post #219

specialist wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"peaceful cooperation" Sounds nice. Are there any real world examples I can study?

Real world examples of peaceful cooperation are all around you unless you're in prison. Every time someone voluntarily purchases and another sells, that is peaceful cooperation. The alternative would be for one or the other to force the transaction, as happens with taxes, conscription, or robbery.

Belated response. Okay. You have a nice, optimistic, aspirational worldview. I respect that. You and I probably even want the same thing.

This article made me think of your reply:

The Endless Rules of Burning Man

If you love bureaucracy, Black Rock City is the alternative desert utopia for you.

https://www.citylab.com/life/2017/08/the-many-rules-of-burni...

If this self-selected group of hippies can't be "live and let live", then what hope is there for the rest of us?

Post by abalone » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 9:43 PM UTC

AnthonyMouse wrote: post #239

abalone wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes you are. Regulating at the state level does not necessarily internalize pollution on the balance sheet of polluting firms. It merely motivates firms to move to states with weaker regulations. The very process you champion as "competition" specifically undermines the internalization mechanism. This is true for positive externalities as well, such as education and public health. Firms can simply move to the states…

> Regulating at the state level does not necessarily internalize pollution on the balance sheet of polluting firms. It merely motivates firms to move to states with weaker regulations. But how does it motivate states to have weaker environmental regulations? Suppose it saves a company $10M to not have to comply with environmental regulations, but as a result $25M in damage is done to the state. A state has no rationa…

> Irrational or corrupt states may do it anyway, but in that case the problem isn't competitive pressure, it's stupidity or corruption.

Well it's both, isn't it? Corporations seek out the most "stupid and corrupt" state with weak environmental regulations that will drive them to ruin, but maximize short-term private profit. Also, not that hard to do when the corporate elite fund elections.

> And then the next state over can out-compete them by offering environmental regulations with a $12M tax credit which the dumb state can't afford because it lost those resources to pollution.

Great. So your corrective mechanism for corruption is, states first have to fail due to extreme environmental pollution. Which happens over multiple generations, long after the corporations that drove the process have distributed profits and moved on. Not a really primo solution there. That is exactly why we have global warming. I guess our next planet can learn from Earth's "stupid and corrupt" mistakes, as part of a natural market correction, right?

Re: Iowa's handout to Apple illustrates the folly of corporate welfare deals

Re: Iowa's handout to Apple illustrates the folly of corporate welfare deals