Not all giant corporations are evil

January 25, 2006 5 Comments

From a press release from BB&T bank, “the nation’s ninth largest financial holdings company”:

“The idea that a citizen’s property can be taken by the government solely for private use is extremely misguided, in fact it’s just plain wrong. One of the most basic rights of every citizen is to keep what they own. As an institution dedicated to helping our clients achieve economic success and financial security, we won’t help any entity or company that would undermine that mission and threaten the hard-earned American dream of property ownership.”

The bank

“…will not lend to commercial developers that plan to build condominiums, shopping malls and other private projects on land taken from private citizens by government entities using eminent domain.”

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5 Comments

  1. tricstmr January 25, 2006 at 23:51

    Cool…

    Even though I’m a liberal statist.. I still think eminent domain–except in the the most extreme circumstances is a travesty…

    not that it is the only travesty.. it would be cool to know if the bank also doesn’t lend to commercial developers that engage in unfair labor practices or that work for people (either public or private) that trample on basic human rights…

    1. avdi January 26, 2006 at 14:37

      Re: Cool…

      I’m just amazed at the bluntness of the statement they made. Usually above a certain size, every public statement a corporation makes is filtered through many layers of marketroids and legal counseles until it becomes bland, noncommittal pap. “extremely misguided” and “just plain wrong” are surprisingly strong terms.

  2. princeps1978 January 26, 2006 at 00:41

    Maybe the world doesn’t suck as much as I thought it did…

  3. thesaj January 26, 2006 at 15:07

    I’ve always thought that there should be a stipulation to pay emminent domain victims 2x the peak fair market value of the last 10 yrs.

    a) this would ensure satisfactory compensation (as opposed to what happened to my family in which the city condemned our land, and then, since it was condemned it was not even a 10th the value).

    b) it would raise the cost of such expenditures ensuring our government thought twice about such a decision

  4. iq2hi4uok January 31, 2006 at 23:43

    I *like* that.

    I’d be interested in nudging some of the other big lenders to make the same statement.

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