Becoming a third world country

Free enterprise, not. It's certainly more an attempt to soak the productive by command and control tactics. Keeping politicians in control of the economy. Is Mr. Diaz a follower of Chavez?

Kingsbridge Commissar

Mayor Mike yesterday vetoed that City Council measure killing a proposal to develop the Kingsbridge Armory in The Bronx.
The council is poised to override the veto, so it's unlikely to have any practical effect -- but symbols count, so good for the mayor for sticking up for jobs in the city's poorest borough.
Real jobs, that is -- as opposed to those handed out from Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr.'s patronage trough.
Diaz was instrumental this week in killing the Kingsbridge proposal -- a retail development at the crumbling armory that would have meant 2,200 jobs and $300 million in investment for The Bronx.
"The notion that any job is better than no job no longer applies," he said, in a line that could've come straight from "Alice in Wonderland."
Diaz, along with his union allies, was most immediately incensed that developer Related Cos. refused to require retailers to pay workers well-above-market wages -- a demand Related said would scare away all potential tenants.
But it turns out that's just a wee bit of the command-and-control economy envisioned by the beep.
Indeed, Diaz's proposed "community-benefits agreement" -- that's code for the City Council-sanctioned shakedowns typically imposed on businesses with the temerity to invest in New York's future -- was breathtakingly arrogant.
In addition to the wage concessions, he demanded:
* A promise from Related to bar supermarkets, fast-food chains and "big box" retailers like Wal-Mart, Target and Home Depot from the armory.
* "Labor peace" agreements from retailers that would've allowed workers to unionize without a secret ballot.
* Money from Related to pretty up the storefronts of competing local merchants -- plus $3 million for a low-interest business-loan program. (Read: a Diaz-dominated slush fund.)
That's not all: Related and its tenants would also be required to hire their workers through the economic-development arm . . . of Ruben Diaz's office.
To that end, tenants would have to file notice whenever a job position opened -- and Related would have to pony up $6 million and 5,000 square feet of free office space to staff the agency.
Clearly, this goes far beyond the typical "community-benefits" baksheesh.
All that was missing, frankly, was a mask and a gun. Clearly, if one seeks to do business in The Bronx, one plays by Diaz's rules.
Like Related, legitimate businesses may decide they don't want to roll around in a mud puddle with Bronx politicians.
Who would blame them?