Where Kelo v. New London has taken us

[elprincipe]

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/articles/2009/04/racing_past_the_constitution.html

Illinois has nine licensed riverboat casinos and five horse-racing tracks. In 2006, supposedly to "address the negative impact that riverboat gaming has had" on Illinois horse racing, the Legislature -- racing interests made huge contributions to Gov. Rod Blagojevich -- mandated a transfer of 3 percent of the gross receipts of the four most profitable casinos, those in the Chicago area, to the state's horse-racing tracks. This levy, subsequently extended to run until 2011, will confiscate substantially more than $100 million.

Expect this to happen more and more as governments realize the scary power given to them by the U.S. Supreme Court when they basically ignored the word "public" in "public use." Will your home be next? Your business? Your employer? Or will you just pay through the nose due to the increased cost burden imposed by government corruption, meddling and incompetence? The worst Court decision of the 21st century continues to haunt us.

 

[rickonker]

Lame but not surprising at all. This was bound to happen.

 

[Magus8472]

How is this different from a tax and subsequent subsidy?

Taxing and spending gets along fine with the fifth amendment, after all.

 

[rickonker]

[quote name='Magus8472']How is this different from a tax and subsequent subsidy?

Taxing and spending gets along fine with the fifth amendment, after all.[/QUOTE]
This just makes what's happening more obvious.

 

[elprincipe]

[quote name='rickonker']This just makes what's happening more obvious.[/QUOTE]

What rick said. It's just that much more blatant and corrupt. But yes, it is extremely similar to levying a tax on some industries and massively subsidizing others (e.g. ethanol). Even that is not as bad as what happened in the actual Kelo case, which was taking from a whole group of individuals and giving that taken to a corporation because the government liked the payoff they were getting. This has somewhat of the same dynamic, but isn't quite as odious.