Eminent domain is awesome!

When the government provides for everything, it can take away everything. Like the Venezuelan 273-store mall you're within a couple of months of opening.

President Hugo Chavez says he was heading through downtown Caracas when he was shocked by the sight of a huge, nearly finished shopping mall amid the high-rise offices and apartments.
...
So the often-impulsive president told an allied mayor to halt construction and said this prime block of urban real estate should be expropriated. He said the sprawling six-story building might be put to better use as a hospital or university.

The whole article is worth a read, with wonderful contradictions between Chavez's vision of socialism in action vs local authorities insisting that private property rights should be respected.  My guess is that the contradicting local authorities won't have government jobs soon.  It seems that the harshest local criticism that's safe is that Chavez is too busy to oversee every project and should leave this sort of thing to municipal decision-makers.

Posted by: Alice H at 11:55 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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