Could this be Ron DeSantis' Big Goof?

I predict that stripping Disney's great 'privilege' to manage its own infrastructure as punishment for corporate free speech - an act of malice without forethought - is going to be a long lasting bugaboo for the budding Strong Man.

The Reedy Creek Improvement District is a solution to a common problem for land developers, where local governmental authorities (and property owners) won't foot the bill for upfront infrastructure cost - the developer has to agree pay for that before being allowed to proceed. In the case of subdivisions, a deal is often struck where the public will assume the responsibility for maintenance of the roads, sewers, water, etc at some time in the future when the tax base resulting from the development has grown enough to cover the costs. Sometimes no deal is made (on the assumption that the infrastructure will always be the burden of the property owners), but the new residents of the subdivision eventually get to be plentiful (and loud) enough that they 'persuade' the county (or whomever) to take it over..."What are we paying property taxes for if we ain't getting services!?!?"

It's a novel concept that being on the hook for services (including police protection, and more than the short list above) is regarded as a 'privilege'.

In the instance of a mega-development like Walt Disney World, where there was not going to be an increase in the property tax base from new home buyers, that the transition to assumption of the liability to pay for services would never pass from the corporation to the local county government. Disney would pay, either by directly providing the services, or by pay taxes to the county to do it. Considering the specialized nature of the services needed, it is unlikely that a normal county would be equipped, or competent, to be the provider.

In their haste to punish Disney, the Republicans (led by His Highness, Exalted Anaconda of the Everglades) fell for the ConROT notion that being responsible for community services was a privilege, and cancelling that privilege was an easy cruise missile to launch against their rich nemesis.

But alas, and alackaday, it was the first shot in a classic war, doomed to end as they all do...

War, at first, is the hope that one will be better off; next, the expectation that the other fellow will be worse off; then, the satisfaction that he isn't any better off; and, finally, the surprise at everyone's being worse off. -Karl Kraus, writer (28 Apr 1874-1936)

What's Next?

Disney says they can't do it without paying off the $Billion dollar debt first.

The hastily written two page legislation makes no effort to explain how it is done nor to unravel 50 years of contracts and agreements that ALL benefitted the two counties(Orange and Polk) and the state.

DeSantis has promised that Floridians won't pay a single cent in taxes and that Disney will now pay "its fair share".

DeSantis just self-owned without any help from a mouse.

He will become known for increasing taxes on property owners, raising taxes on corporations, and bigger government - all with reduced benefits for everyone.

Goddam Mickey hater!

People oughta know better than to try screwing with "The Mouse".

Today the governor vetoed a solar metering bill backed by FP&L which would have limited payouts to customers with solar panels. The bill was opposed by the solar power industry.

Rather the opposite of what you'd expect.

I keep reading Orange and Osceola counties, not Polk. Maybe my sources have it wrong.

No, you're right. Lake, Polk, Osceola, and Orange counties all come together down at US 27 and 192. I get Polk and Osceola confused. I'm in Lake County.

I'm not really worried about the Disney corporation. They'll be okay.

OMG! This is MUCH worse than they previously thought. The state of Florida promised that the Reedy Creek district could never be dissolved until all the Disney bond debt and interest was paid off. Disney has over a BILLION dollars worth of bond debt! DeSantis didn't know that when he signed the law.



And this is the guy who wants to run for President!

It's the reality tee vee factor.
Nixon failed to appreciate the need to LOOK GOOD on television and now one needs to not only look good, one must appear SENSATIONAL and DRAMATIC! on television. Part of Biden's poor numbers has to do with the fact that he does not "LOOK DRAMATIC!" enough ON television.

Old school white conservative Christian America has succumbed to two decades of full court press reality TV conditioning, so now if you want to be a Republican candidate you must flap your arms all around, jump up and down, pound the podium, make a lot of noise, smoke and fire, threaten companies that don't bow down, club a few baby seals, nuke some whales for BayBay Jeebus and keep those darkies down, unless of course they're Diamond & Silk or a knuckleheaded NFL star.
And above all, one must OWN DEH LIBS at all costs...it HAS to look like you've OWNED THE LIBTARDS.

Outside of that, you don't have to do no actual law-makin nor guvernatin.
You just have to yell a lot and keep the yokels scared and pissed off at someone else.

Interesting that DeSantis' war on Disney is a strategy to use government to suppress free speech. Right wingers are now:

Against free speech;
For higher corporate taxation;
Against businesses bearing the burden of their own infrastructure and security;
For higher property taxes on individuals;
For bigger government.

Strange world...

Should be some tasty election fodder for the Dems.

So you're mostly just yelling at a different set of yokels and asking us to be scared and pissed off at the half of America you deem to be THE ENEMY.

You yell FASCIST

They yell SOCIALIST

Everybody has a bit of both inside.

I don't think either extreme is destined to become a reality in the foreseeable future. Except socialism, but that's 20+ years in the future and I'm afraid I won't live to see it.

A lot of staunch Republicans love Disney World and are heavily invested in it. A lot of them live in gated communities in Disney developments where WDW is the homeowners association.

These communities are liable to be facing massive property tax increases and a loss of services...while DeSantis is throwing red meat to the unwashed servant class he might inadvertently be costing their masters a fortune!

But whether the law is ever enacted or the Reedy Creek Autonomous District(and no-fly zone) is dissolved is still in question. I expect a lot of paperwork and expensive lawyer time will need to go into it which will be followed by lawsuits back and forth over the course of the next few years when, ultimately, lawmakers will strike it down as not worth the time and money.

Self-government, Loggy, Repubs are also against self-government.

Funny they all were for "corporations are people with the right to free speech" until the biggest employer in Florida said something they don't like. Goes to show their ideology is a sham. They don't actually believe in anything other than power and money.

I wonder if Disney cares. I also suspect they have lost a lot of money on their attractions in the last couple of years. As far as I know, however, they are doing well with movies and series. I also think that they actually own their land and it wasn't gifted by the state. So, I wonder what happens if they just shut down Disneyland, blow up everything that can't be moved and sell their land and leave. That, of course, will bankrupt the state of Florida and seriously damage land values in Florida as well.

One can only wonder!

Their ideology is power and money...no sham at all.

DeSantis says they can speak freely about any business matter that concerns them but the education bill is off-limits. If they wanted to petition the lords and ladies of the state to pay a lower salary to gay or trans employees they would be warmly welcomed in the inner circles of power.

But they listened to foolish queer employees and took a stand against homophobia.

Now they are canceled.

I heard a rumor that "Woka Cola" is the next corporation in his sights...

If there is anything that Rightwingers are really good at...it's that they don't think things through.

Aha! I knew I was missing an important one!

The fact is, DeSantis is using his power as a right-wing authoritarian to force a responsible Capitalist enterprise into Socialism.

O, the irony!

This ^^^

I don't really consider things like fire depts, garbage collection and police to be "socialist" endeavors. If they were...right-leaning countries wouldn't have them....

Socialism begins when workers are exploited a little bit less. You know, living wages, health care, education.

Putting armed enforcers on the streets, putting out fires and hauling off the garbage are not done for the good of the people, but for their rulers.

That all depends on whose ox is gored and how much they will contribute to his campaign, doesn't it?

You are talking about "social" undertakings (paid for by taxes on, in theory, by everybody) which, for the most part, I support. There is a real difference between the two, as you are well aware of. You are also one of the most determined of those who admire the possibility of a socialist solution to ALL problems! Its a shame that there isn't a country that is Socialist that hasn't taken over any and all from its citizens.

In the last decade or so there's been at least a dozen stories about this or that community contracting with PRIVATIZED outfits to do what they'd like to refer to as
"policing". Law enforcement contracted to a privately owned company is a thing that raises a lot of red flags for me.

Call me crazy if you like but from where I sit, things like "sworn public servant" are one of the few absolutist positions I take on issues.

Cops MUST BE sworn public servants employed by city, county, state or federal governments.

Military, same damn thing, I am dead set against private military anything at all, under any circumstances. If it's a matter of killing people and breaking things (the military's main JOB) then it is either done at taxpayer expense and wholly under the purview OF said taxpayers and their elected reps or it doesn't get done.
Find a good enough reason to engage the democratic process on those decisions.

In a free society, mercs and paramilitaries should be flat out illegal as Hell and activity in such must be a legally actionable crime.
And free societies should never allow privatized law enforcement because the temptation for unaccountable abuse and corruption is bad enough anyway, and is always ALL the MORE SO under privatization, as we've already seen in the private corrections industry, which is by the way the third in my DON'T list...

NO privatized corrections under any circumstances.

Florida Power is a huge contributor to Republican causes. Because they are largely pro-fossil fuel.

The Solar Industry is a huge contributor to Democratic causes. Because they are pro-clean energy.

His reason for vetoing a bill sent to him by a Republican-controlled state congress was that the people of Florida have been hit with enough hardships recently and that he didn't feel it was fair to legislate another corporate price gouging tactic into existence.

Why don't Democrats have someone like him? Positioning themselves as the assumed 2024 party nominee. Acting on hot-button Democratic issues instead of talking about them. Grabbing headlines and media attention?

Don't confuse the red-meat showman with the savvy politician. Trump was nothing but a re-meat showman, there was no savvy politician behind the act.

And don't pretend that he's the next Mussolini either. He's as American as you and me, he knows and understands the law. ( Naval Justice School (2005), Harvard Law School (2005), Yale University (2001), Dunedin High School (1997) A Florida native with blue-collar roots.

Again...why don't Democrats have someone like him?

And if he is the next Mussolini, I'd like to remind you of Mussolini's fate.

Sounds to me like your version of a "free society" is pretty tightly controlled.

Which begs the question of just how "free" it really is. There seems to be a really long list of things you aren't free to do and people you aren't free to associate with and things you can and can not own and things you can and can not do for a living...

A truly free society has no inclination to harm themselves or others with firearms.

Prisons wouldn't exist in a "free" society, only hospitals. Policing would only need to be minimal, because kids will be kids.

In a free society, everyone would have pretty much everything they wanted and needed. Which eliminates most of the motivation for criminal activity. All would be healthy, well-educated, well-fed. and gainfully employed.

In a free society, EVERYTHING would be privately owned because there is no dividing line between government and the people. Free people govern themselves and government ownership is collective ownership.

There are many of them! And once again I point out that they are the happiest nations on earth. The Scandinavian model is the one I always point to but a lot of European nations have successfully followed suit. I don't keep track but I imagine a lot of nations worldwide are aiming for it.

All you have to do is legislate living wages, socialize healthcare, and make college free or at least debt-free.

You need a tax code that actually prevents the hoarding of massive wealth.

You need labor laws that guarantee an equitable work/life ratio.

Governments need only switch their focus from what is good for the richest among us to what is good for the most of us. From capital interests to social interests.

That poverty exists in the world is reason enough that billionaires should not exist.

There is not, I think, a single country, Scandinavian or not, that has a socialist government. One even has a king and queen! They do have a number of social government agencies though. They also, incidentally, all have millionaires as well! I don't think a socialist nation would have any of those either.

Its pretty obvious that you and I have different ideas about what a socialist government is all about. Its kinda like calling China a communist country. Its not! They just like to call themselves "Communist" because they used to be.

You are right, however, about their status as happy places. One of the reasons is that they trust their governments. They also don't allow anybody to attack government without facts that support their claim. In the United States not only can anybody accuse gov of anything but many seem to make their living attacking our government as well.

Incidentally, I have a lot of relatives over there and been there myself a number of times.

Because, by and large, Democrats are much more honest and uncorrupted at present. That can change. I'll remind you that Ted Cruz also has a law degree from Harvard. Having a degree from Harvard does not imbue one with integrity. The list of white collared criminals from Harvard is very long indeed.

I do think that DeSantis is more crafty than Trump, but he is no more honest or nor a public servant. He's a vile, repulsive, manipulative, vindictive sociopath with slightly more brain capacity. Moreover, he is not particularly smart. Crafty and smart are not the same thing.

(WebMD) I don't know how advanced his condition is, and I am not a psychologist, so I can't make a formal diagnosis, but I do recognize the behaviors.

That's why I was mentioning who's ox was gored. He sees some opportunity, because he's an opportunistic parasite. Only he knows what he's playing at, but everyone knows he's playing.

I'm not a doctor like you so I can't diagnose him with all these things.

Just as I can't answer questions for him nor judge him for crimes not yet committed.

Of course they have millionaires! Do you think socialism denies people the fruits of their labor? Nossir. It guarantees them a larger share of it. What is noticeably lacking is Billionaires. There are no billionaires.

Their government can take any form, depending on what folks want and are comfortable with as long as it is democratic.

Just because the working models don't fit your definition of socialism doesn't disqualify them from being socially oriented in their legislation rather than focusing on capital.