- Cafe Hayek - https://cafehayek.com -

The Only People Wal-Mart Should Have to Court are Consumers

Tweet [1]

Today’s Washington Post offers a thoroughly sensible editorial [2] on why the current city administration in Washington, DC., would be wrong to require (as it seems to be threatening to do) Wal-Mart to build a store in location X in order for the city to give that retailer permission to build in locations A, B, C, & D. But I was baffled by this passage in the editorial:

There’s no question that a fair amount of horse-trading goes on when companies enter — or are courted by — a market. But threatening to interfere with a governmental process is nothing more than a shakedown.

More-accurate wording would be:

There’s no question that a fair amount of horse-trading goes on when companies wishing to set up shop seek the permission of — or are courted by — a government. But threatening to interfere with a market process is nothing more than a shakedown.

Share [3] Tweet [4] Share [5] Email [6] Print [7]

Comments