# Bank refuses to loan money to eminent domain profiteers **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [February 28, 2006, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464 "2006-02-28T15:40:03Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/21 "2006-03-01T18:13:27Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] absence of evidence is not evidence of absence… [/QUOTE] Agreed, though people on this board are pretty good at rustling stuff up. We’ll see if anyone comes through. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/22 "2006-03-01T18:36:33Z")
Hmmm. Still no actual data on how many people actually believe in this exception. How about this: How many of the leaders in the pro-life movement believe in this exception? Not the Catholic church (correct me if I’m wrong on that). How about Pat Robertson? How about Phylis Schalfy? How about any other Evangelical/Fundamentalist Christian leader? If the push for this exception isn’t coming from the top, then I think we can conclude that it’s just an expediant political move, or it’s coming from people who simply haven’t taken the time to think thru a logically consistent position. ---
**Author:** ![CandidGamera](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/candidgamera/32/2878_2.png) [@CandidGamera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CandidGamera)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/23 "2006-03-01T18:39:07Z")
Talk about thread incest! You want the incest thread, John. I think. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/24 "2006-03-01T18:57:58Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] Yeah, but that was in Connecticut – and it set off such a storm of protest that any local government would have to think long and hard about doing anything like that. I’m just theorizing, of course, but I’d be interested if anybody could cite any recent examples (ideally in the Southeast where this bank is located) of eminent domain profiteering, as per the OP. [/QUOTE] Long Branch, NJ has the same ongoing thing happening. [http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/news/2005/0223/Front\_Page/002.html](http://atlanticville.gmnews.com/news/2005/0223/Front_Page/002.html) [http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/regionalnews/20050701-cullen.html](http://www.realestatejournal.com/buysell/regionalnews/20050701-cullen.html) [http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050610/NEWS01/506100401/1004/NEWS01](http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050610/NEWS01/506100401/1004/NEWS01) [http://www.njlawblog.com/condemnation-259-eminent-domain-long-branch-new-jersey.html](http://www.njlawblog.com/condemnation-259-eminent-domain-long-branch-new-jersey.html) [http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/02/05/40\_states\_re\_examining\_eminent\_domain/](http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2006/02/05/40_states_re_examining_eminent_domain/) Jim ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/25 "2006-03-01T19:07:47Z")
To me this is one of those exception-proving-the-rule things. The fact that a single instance (that hasn’t actually happened yet) in Long Branch, NJ made the national news suggests to me that it isn’t a widespread phenomenon. But let’s see what other people have heard. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/26 "2006-03-01T19:21:38Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] To me this is one of those exception-proving-the-rule things. The fact that a single instance (that hasn’t actually happened yet) in Long Branch, NJ made the national news suggests to me that it isn’t a widespread phenomenon. But let’s see what other people have heard. [/QUOTE] That’s local news for me. I have relatives in that town. I think NYC has had several issues. Try googling Eminent Domain, NYC and Sport arena or football stadium. Or just do this. [Google Search](http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=eminent+domain+abuses) and search through the links. Jim ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/27 "2006-03-01T19:26:29Z")
Darn, you sucked me into this. Stop to think of it, Long branch had already successfully used eminent domain to take homes from the poor and give it to Hilton for a Hotel and several Condo Projects. I think the abuses are more than you realize. I would look into Jersey City and Atlantic City also. Shore communities in NJ are very deft of abusing government powers in the name of re-development. I will be shocked if no other states have done this. I would especially look at Florida and California. Jim ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 11:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/28 "2006-03-01T23:05:05Z")
BB&T is in Florida. ---
**Author:** ![Martin\_Hyde](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/47e85d/32.png) [@Martin\_Hyde](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martin_Hyde)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/29 "2006-03-01T23:13:41Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] I made the point in another thread that this is purely a marketing ploy on the part of the bank – a successful one, I might add. The chances that this bank would actually be involved in a deal involving “eminent domain profiteers” strikes me as remote. So they can forswear these deals at no cost to themselves, and gain a marketing advantage. And thus is capitalism served. [/QUOTE] Yes, BB&T primarily operates in the southeast, and several states in BB&T’s operating area have already passed laws prohibiting these type of ED maneuvers and several more are debating them right now. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/30 "2006-03-02T03:14:51Z")
Well, if it’s such a safe-bet sure-fire marketing ploy, why haven’t the other banks done it? ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/31 "2006-03-02T14:38:08Z")
I imagine they will. Though in marketing, I suppose you have to be careful about a “Yeah, me, too!” strategy. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [March 2, 2006, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464/32 "2006-03-02T23:03:00Z")
I suppose. But that doesn’t seem to have daunted Coke and Pepsi or Ford and Chevy. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/bank-refuses-to-loan-money-to-eminent-domain-profiteers/346464.md?page=1)