The Mountain Xpress captured some of the discussion from last night’s Buncombe County Commissioners’ meeting in detail:
“There’s always some opposition to county commission[ers] doing economic incentives,” said Commissioner David King. “But we live in the real world … where you have South Carolina, Tennessee, Georgia and other states throughout the Southeast that are competing for these jobs and these planned expansions. …
“We compete in the market just like everyone else,” King continued. “Above and beyond all these so-called political ideologies and principles are the people of Buncombe County who need jobs. I’m proud of the work this commission has done in putting forth economic incentives to keep Buncombe County a viable place to live.”
I happen to live in the land of make-believe. Here, the “free market” is used to describe trade in the absence of government intervention. This runs counter to recent political trends wherein the term, “free market,” is invoked to describe anything the speaker wishes to sell to fake conservatives. Whereas any self-respecting, money-grubbing capitalist would leap at the chance to sell goods to an eager market; both they and the wee consumers would surely prefer pricing that doesn’t cover the cost of government interjecting itself. It matters not, because in the “real world,” words are like concrete objects – they assume whatever form the speaker wishes to claim.
What’s more, at least one semi-human life form out here is resisting government employment as long as possible. That includes “partnerships,” “returns on investments,” “how we like to do business in North Carolina,” &c, &c.
