

Billionaire wants Michigan to reject free bridge to Canada & use his bridge - slaven
http://news.nationalpost.com/2012/10/23/greedy-u-s-billionaire-urges-michigan-voters-to-reject-free-bridge-to-canada/

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alanpca
I live in Windsor, so it's pretty cool to see this make HN. I don't know what
will happen if they do strike this down, because we've already been working
__heavily __on the infrastructure for this for a year.

The fact that a single person is allowed to own an international crossing is
laughable. I know they probably can't take it away from him, but that it
happened in the first place is a joke. I hope that this never happens again.

Edit: especially an international crossing that accounts for 25% of US-CAD
trade.

~~~
walkon
> The fact that a single person is allowed to own an international crossing is
> laughable. I know they probably can't take it away from him, but that it
> happened in the first place is a joke. I hope that this never happens again.

Why laughable? If the owner of the bridge does not provide good enough value
and operational efficiency, then competing bridges will be received with favor
instead of skepticism. If the government owns the bridge/infrastructure and
does not provide acceptable value or efficiencies, it would likely be even
harder to create an alternative.

~~~
kristopolous
If I owned the only bridge in town, I'd be giving lots of money to the people
that had the power to authorize new bridges; they may even be personal friends
or current employees of mine (who better to call the shots on the bridge than
someone who has already built one).

I'd also sign near perpetuity contracts with all the shipping firms offering
them lower rates for exclusivity of my bridge.

I'd push for tougher building and environmental standards so that any would-be
competitor would have a larger barrier to entry and have to go through a
longer approval and vetting process than I ever did.

My bridge would be the one with the proximity of gas stations, factories and
major roads simply because it was there first.

Other bridges then wouldn't be built not because I'm offering a better
service, not because the patrons are charged fair tolls, and not because the
roads are clean and well maintained.

No. Other bridges wouldn't be built because my friends wouldn't approve them;
they would be further away from the major roads, they would have to go out and
pitch to each shipping client, and face a substantially higher cost of
constructions. Additionally, they would have to deal with the arguments "We
already have a bridge" and all the NIMBY lawsuits that comes with it. Hell,
I'd even pay for their lawyers.

I'd focus on maximizing profit and making sure I remain the only game in town.

When someone has the capital and motivation to effectively stop the
competition from ever forming it's in their interest to do everything they can
to pre-emptively do so from the start.

Heck, it's probably even outlined in the initial business proposal given that
addressing potential competition is such standard practice.

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the_real_plyawn
Canada's not only paying for Michigan's $550 Million share, but also financing
them and collecting back via tolls. The bridge will connect directly into
motorways (the current bridge dumps you downtown) check out
<http://www.economist.com/node/21563756>

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aculver
So, this is the first I've heard of this. Are there any interesting economic
details as to why the Canadians are willing to pay for the whole thing?

Growing up in Hamilton, having family in Windsor, and frequently visiting the
Detroit area, it was clear that the U.S. bound truck traffic heading over the
Ambassador produced totally insane backups. (Similar backups regularly exist
for the Blue Water Bridge a little further north in Sarnia.)

~~~
bbaker
The Canadian auto industry (as well as the American one) feels that the
friction caused by the current congestion is slowing down their industry
enough that it's worthwhile, even to pay for it in full. The gov't feels the
same way. At this point, parts make many crossings as they're built into
finished cars - the industry in Ontario and Michigan is completely
intertwined.

------
dpatru
A common question for anarchists (people who argue that government is
unnecessary) is "Who will pay for the roads?" Here we have an entrepreneur who
has paid for a bridge, and the government is trying to compete with him.
Government should not be in competition with business because it's based on
coercion and it's inefficient. Coercion should be used only as a last resort.

~~~
forensic
Because when billionaires own everything they won't be able to coerce us?
Government is the ONLY entity capable of checking the power of the private
oligarchs who control the majority of the world's wealth.

Do anarchists have a solution for the straightforward fact that "free markets"
lead to massive concentration of power in the hands of a few unaccountable
billionaires?

~~~
jamesbritt
The wealthy seem to extert power by buying off governments. Reduce the power
of gevernment and there'll be less for the wealthy to buy.

~~~
ubernostrum
"Hereby it is manifest that during the time men live without a common power to
keep them all in awe, they are in that condition which is called war; and such
a war as is of every man against every man."

~~~
forensic
The economic ignorance on display at Hacker News is pretty solid evidence for
the necessity of liberal educations to maintain a civilized society. There are
now entire generations of engineers who never read any philosophy, economics,
or history, yet believe themselves to be experts on questions addressed by
these fields. It's astounding how smart people can be so stupid when they are
denied a liberal education.

Anyone who considers himself educated should be able to instantly spot the
author of that quote. How many HN readers, aside from pg, could do that? It's
not okay that this kind of ignorance is now considered acceptable among the
"educated" and wealthy classes.

~~~
mentat
Religion major, music and philosophy minors, so yes, I instantly recognized it
as well as it's philosophical context. We are here on HN too.

~~~
forensic
I'm here too. I know that we exist.

But Peter Thiel's entrepreneur/libertarian monoculture is expanding. These
culture killers are celebrating the death of the liberal arts. It used to be
that entrepreneur billionaires funded the arts, now they are actively seeking
to dismantle them out of some kind of resentment. Things are looking bleak for
the open, civil society.

Mark Zuckerberg called for the end of privacy in his book. Our society is
putting sophomoric man-children in charge of the cultural landscape.

------
krichman
Why on Earth was "greedy" in quotes in the title?

~~~
Cogito
Could be a selective grab of one of Mr. Norton's quotes in the article:

 _“The Morouns are greedy. They are manipulative. They are cynical.”_

