A Stitch in Haste

"I am leaving it as I found it. Take over. It's yours."
--Ellis Wyatt, Atlas Shrugged.

The owner of a site intended for the first Wal-Mart in New York City has abandoned those plans in the face of central planner opposition:

A Wal-Mart spokeswoman said the company was still exploring other sites in the city, but the possibility that the company would open a 132,000-square-foot store in Queens had immediately stirred a storm of opposition by neighborhood, labor and environmental groups as well as small businesses. Wal-Mart also faced opposition from many City Council members.

Labor unions fought Wal-Mart with a special intensity because they believe its wage levels and benefits are pulling down standards for workers through the United States.
...
[S]aid Richard Lipsky, spokesman for the Neighborhood Retail Alliance, an anti-Wal-Mart coalition in New York[,] "We stopped Wal-Mart this time, but they are going to continue their efforts to open in New York and we will be sure to meet that with significant opposition wherever else they try to locate."
...
Several shoppers interviewed yesterday in Rego Park said they were disappointed that a Wal-Mart would not be coming to the neighborhood, noting that many residents now travel to Long Island to take advantage of the store's low prices.

"It would've been good if we had a Wal-Mart near by because then we wouldn't have to travel outside the area," said Rolando Sands, 21, a soft drink deliverer. "We'd be able to keep the money in the Queens community instead of Long Island."

Perhaps for their next "achievement" the City Council will make it illegal for New York City residents to shop on Long Island. Or from walmart.com.

As I blogged previously:

Wal-Mart means lower prices for New Yorkers -- blank that out! No, Wal-Mart "drives out" (higher-priced or lower-variety) "local" businesses in other parts of the country.

Wal-Mart will employ New Yorkers -- blank that out! No, Wal-Marts outside the city employ -- gasp! -- non-union workers.
...
Wal-Mart will pay significant property taxes -- blank that out! No, it's a "red store in a blue city."

Wal-Mart is a leader in part-time employment, youth employment, flex-time employment, management training -- more opportunities for disadvantaged people with special employment needs -- blank that out! No, they won't be union jobs, so they can't possibly be "good jobs."

Wherever a Wal-Mart springs up, smaller, often local businesses tend to locate nearby (think the old "anchor tenant" concept in a mall). Also, a significant portion of Wal-Mart's sales (especially its "Sam's Club" chain) are to small businesses, the very businesses critics contend that Wal-Mart destroys -- blank that out! No, it's bad because a (unionized) supermarket might shut down.

It's amazing -- everywhere the free market wants to build, it can't. Everywhere the free market wants to prevent building, it can't. As Javert says in the musical version of Les Miserables, "The law is inside-out! The world is upside-down!"

At what point do you stop screaming and start weeping? Or do you manage to do both simultaneously?

Or do you just become numb to it all -- as you climb into the car and drive off to the Long Island Wal-Mart?

Related Posts:
Wyatt-Mart Closes Shop
"Men's Socks are Amazing..."
New York's Embrace of "Reverse-Poletown" -- Part Two
Eminent Domain: Are We Seeing a Paradigm Shift?
Kelo and Marxist Class-Based Schadenfreude