4 ms·
I was daydreaming about, picture if a corporation buys an entire state. Say, Wyoming or West Virginia. Gemini guesses $180 billion to $250 billion. With that
by MattCruikshank 4mo ago
I was daydreaming about, picture if a corporation buys an entire state.
Say, Wyoming or West Virginia. Gemini guesses $180 billion to $250 billion.
With that investment, they'd get to control who lives in the state.
So, then the corporation gets to control who the Governor is. And the two Senators, and the seat in the Congress.
Forgive me if I'm wrong, but doesn't a single Senator have just a tremendous amount of power to block basically any legislation? With pocket vetoes, or silent filibusters?
Granted, actually buying a Senator is probably cheaper by a few orders of magnitude.
- ceejayoz 4mo agoSenators can't veto, and filibusters require 40 other Senators to play ball. The Constitution also overrides any attempt to prevent interstate migration.
- bwestergard 4mo ago"The Constitution also overrides any attempt to prevent interstate migration." Sure, but if there is no where you can legally stay, because the sole landowner prohibits it, how do you migrate?
- ceejayoz 4mo agoSure, if we ignore how we get to "the sole landowner" scenario, which is a big hole in the thought experiment.
- dfxm12 4mo agoFWIW, you have a risk of losing your senator every 6 years, and senators don't have power in local matters. Plus, the way things are going with conservatives pushing hard for federalism, owning local matters could become more important, anyway. You might be onto something...
- kjkjadksj 4mo agoLook up Vernon CA history. It is pretty much this where there are a couple city owned residential properties, rest of city is nearly purely industrial, and tenancy of these tightly controlled to shape local election outcomes.
- ceejayoz 4mo agoSame deal for Disney World until 2023. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Florida_Tourism_Oversight_District https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Central_Florida_Tourism_Oversi...