George wrote:

Unfortunately people often parrot that but live something completely
different.

Isn't it a paradox that stuff like the following goes on everyday.

Take for example the Walmarts in my area. In the past few years Walton
Enterprises, LLC has contacted the government with a request that went
something like this. "Mr Government, thanks for all of your help in
the past for lifting the money out of the pockets of others to help
us build our first stores in your area by acquiring the land and
installing the roads, utilities, traffic signals and best of all
giving us a nine year tax exemption which is effectively lifting more
money out of people pockets on our behalf because they have to pay
the taxes and we don't. So the tax exemption is up so we have picked
out another close by location than you can acquire and develop for us
again by pulling money out of peoples pockets on our behalf. As we
understand this completely renews our tax exemption so others can pay
the taxes we don't."
Or how about insurance companies who wouldn't think twice about
denying a claim going to the government and demanding help as in "it
was a lot windier than expected so we will have to pay out a lot of
claims, so Mr Government could you please pull money out of
everyone's pockets to help help us?

Or how about brokerages and megabanks who say they are conservatives
and would do anything no matter hoe amoral it was to make money: "Mr
Government, even though I have an MBA and 25 years experience I got
tricked (read "I was really greedy") into buying those investments. It
would really be embarrassing if my decision making reflected on us so
could you pull money out of everyone's pocket to help poor little us?

And I have known two individuals who always claimed they were true
conservatives and if others had to eat mud it was their fault
instantly change their minds when they got into difficulty. Then it
became "The government has to help poor little me..."


Not that there's anything wrong with that.

In your Walmart case, Walmart didn't make the rules - I don't see how they
can be criticized for playing by them. How hard would it have been for the
city council to say "No?" Walmart would go to the public and say "You can
have a swell store if you just persuade your city fathers...." The elected
representatives could make their case. Then, perhaps, there'd be a vote and
the town would end up with an air-conditioned football stadium. No...
wait....

As to the megabanks, here's a dirty little secret: The PC crowd a few years
ago mandated where banks must open branch offices and how they must allocate
their loan portfolio. If the bank or morgtage company didn't have some
percentage of their loans in certain ethnic neighborhoods, they faced being
put out of business by the government. If a bank didn't have a branch office
on the other side of the tracks, and it didn't matter that the only business
transacted there was bank robbery, some federal agency would yank their
charter.

Banks and morgtage companies HAD to concoct a morgtage instrument that
people with no credit could take, else the entire bank would be brought
down.