This is why the "public use" clause is so important. It is reasonable to allow the city to place what is in effect a ceiling on the amount they pay to acquire property, because holdouts would essentially be extracting rents from other taxpayers.

However, a private developer has no such claim. The phrase "Everybody has a price," is very true. If a private developer can truely enhance the value of a piece of private property, that developer should be willing to meet the prices the owners ask. And if the developer choses not to meet those prices, well then I guess the development was not all that much more valuable anyway.

The Kelo decision, in addition to being anti-freedom also preempts a perfectly well functioning market mechanism available to the private developers. Just pay the price required to get the homeowner to sell. Period.

But no, the liberal judges feel that markets are bad things, and as such they must be squashed. Government is all knowing and all powerful.

The end result of the recent liberal wing wins in Supreme Court cases: The town's police have no right to regulate what you do inside your bedroom, but the town's council can most certainly drive a bulldozer through it.


Thanks for ruining my 'just got off of work' feeling. I had almost forgotten about this tyrannical stupidity.