The beautiful Empire State Building took one year and 45 days
to build.It was completed in the depth of the Great Depression
and is still considered one of the great architectural marvels of
all times. But it's been nearly five years since the twin towers,
along with 2,752 human beings,disintegrated into dust,and ground
zero is still just a hole in the ground. If the government had
been involved back in 1930 when the site for the Empire State
Building was being excavated, King Kong would have had to find
another building tall enough to hoist Fay Wray on top of while
battling toy airplanes. Fortunately, capitalism ruled the day,
and private companies - General Motors and Chrysler - were
competing to build the highest skyscraper first.
The heavily bureaucratic Port Authority of New York and New
Jersey,unfortunately,owns the World Trade Center,and though the
site is leased to Larry Silverstein, he doesn't appear to have
any say in any project to replace the twin towers. Nor do we, the
public. I'm willing to bet that most New Yorkers want the towers
rebuilt and wish the Freedom Tower 1194 2174 1290 21851135 1553
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project would get scrapped. That's unlikely to happen because New
York City has rejected capitalism. This is a liberal town, and
when you scratch a liberal you may find a latent anti-capitalist
Marxist.
But New York City became the giant that it is because of private
investments and rugged entrepreneurs who could operate without
much government interference. Ground zero's stagnation is
reminiscent of the Wollman skating rink renovation in Central
Park, which dragged on for seven years until Donald Trump took
over the project in 1986 and completed it in three months, at a
fraction of what the city had spent.
The anti-capitalist bent of liberal politicians and union
officials is also why Wal-Mart is being kept from operating here.
This week I visited the new Home Depot on the south shore of
Staten Island. It is huge and on the same grounds as the new
Target store, which is scheduled to open on the Ides of
March.Work on these buildings was completed almost overnight.
Most of the surrounding area is vacant and will accommodate a
Wal-Mart, the NASCAR racetracks, or both. I say bring them all
on.
Like Wal-Mart, Target is nonunion. Yet it has not been, pardon
the pun, targeted by the unions. Why not? What's the difference?
Is it because Target offers higher-priced merchandise and is not
patronized by low-income customers? The billboards attacking
Wal-Mart here on Staten Island warn of higher crime if Wal-Mart
locates here. Sounds elitist to me.
So why are nonunion businesses anathema to liberal politicians?
Could it be that unions traditionally use employee dues to
support political campaigns? Union members might be interested in
researching how legitimately their union operates.A new Web
site,www.unionfacts.com, exposes the harsh truths of labor union
history and is worth visiting.
While politicians claim they are concerned for the poor, halting
the prospect of new jobs in the area is the worst thing possible
for people looking for work. I've been in enough low-end jobs to
know that none of them offers the health benefits or the wages
being demanded of Wal-Mart.
After 15 years as a stay-at-home mom, I ventured back into the
workplace, which held few opportunities for someone my age. I
took minimum-wage jobs that did not offer any benefits. But if
there had been a local Wal-Mart, I would have been hired.That's
what this huge retailer offers - jobs for the young and old and
inexperienced who are excluded from most white-collar jobs.When
critics charge that Wal-Mart will cause the loss of many
businesses and jobs, they are obfuscating the facts. In a
thriving economy, mom-andpop shops can offer convenience and
better customer service. The ones that will fold are the ones
that offer neither. Competition helps us all. It built the Empire
State Building in record time.
I think it's time for workers to wake up and smell the coffee. If
you're working at a job in an aging industry - like buggy whips -
that will soon disappear, it's time to get training or seek work
elsewhere. This is America, land of opportunity, not a
cradle-to-grave communist welfare state - although New York is
headed in that direction.
I am sick and tired of looking at that hole in the ground where
my friend Donald Foreman, a Port Authority police officer, lost
his life. I don't need a memorial to his death on September 11,
2001, a day when anti-capitalist Islamic jihadists struck. Each
day without the twin towers is proof that they won.