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March 6, 2007
Atlantic Yards will correct a "market failure" to further enrich Bruce Ratner
From today's AP article about how Mayor Bloomberg and Senator Charles Schumer are calling for the renewal of the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA):
Critics of TRIA have complained the federal program unnecessarily subsidizes already successful developers and insurers, but Bloomberg said it simply corrects a "market failure" caused by the threat of terrorism.
That got us thinking how easy it is to justify billions of dollars in subsidies when selling big corporate boondoggles to the public:
A new Nets arena corrects a "market failure" caused by the Dodgers departure to LA in 1957.
The Atlantic Yards housing plan corrects a "market failure" to deliver affordable housing to those who need it most... um, well, not exactly (see, Atlantic Yards Report, Real housing for the real Brooklyn? Half of the affordable units--or less).
The Atlantic Yards plan to demap streets (aka, "useless space") corrects a "market failure" to deliver open space.
NY State is the largest tenant in Bruce Ratner's Atlantic Center mall to correct a "market failure" to generate adequate private demand to lease space from Brooklyn's largest commercial property owner.
Atlantic Yards' extreme residential density corrects a "market failure" to build historically dense residential communities over transit hubs?
The dwindling number of permanent jobs at Atlantic Yards will correct a "market failure" to provide fewer jobs than originally promised??
The deal with Barclays will correct a "market failure" to provide a private team owner with mo' money for a project that's supposed to belong to the people???
Eminent domain will correct a "market failure" to continue to expand Bruce Ratner's real estate monopoly????
Voilá, the growing list of why Atlantic Yards is more about communism than capitalism. On the other hand, didn't Marx say, "Boondoggles are the opium of the masses?"
Posted by lumi at March 6, 2007 1:46 PM