Corporations getting mentally flabby

Reader comment on: Best Argument Yet Against Keystone

Submitted by John Gillis (United States), Mar 1, 2012 18:05

This story illustrates that companies can get seriously screwed up by being immersed in a culture of private property violation. If the Keystone pipeline folks wanted to acquire the land privately without any government guns forcing people to "sell" their property, all they need to do is look at other firms who have created roads, pipelines, utility rights of way, etc. without any coercion.

Recent books such as "The Voluntary City" (2002, Beito et al), "Roads in a Market Economy" (1996, Ashgate, Roth), "Privatization of Roads and Highways" (2009, Block), show that eminent domain and government agents turning people out of their properties is completely unnecessary to create large scale projects such as expressways, bridges, pipelines, parks, etc.

There are techniques for offering purchase prices that are market-driven, and that involve making simultaneous offers to two or more groups of property owners, involving two or more paths for the pipeline or road, with whichever group of owners that comes to terms first, getting the pot of gold.

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