Economic Darwinism

Well, I swanee!  There hasn't been this much wailing and railing, gnashing of teeth, tearing of hair, beating of breasts, and ripping of lapels since Fox Books drove The Shop Around the Corner out of business.

Similar evolutionary business developments have occurred in real life.  Wal-mart spelled doom for a variety of mom and pop operations.  The Home Depot and Lowe's caused the demise of many small Ace Hardware and True Value stores.  Walgreens and CVS did in almost all the little corner drug stores scattered in towns around the country.  And now we in the Tampa Bay area are soon to witness the incursion of Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World.

Don't know what Bass Pro Shops is?  Check out "Last Man Standing", the Tim Allen sitcom that airs on ABC on Friday nights.  His Outdoor Man store is essentially what Bass Pro Shops is all about.

Anyhoo, you would think this coup would be a cause for universal celebration.  Bass Pro Shops is, after all, a "chain store mecca for hunters and recreational fishermen that is both a shopping palace and indoor expo."  It draws customers from miles around.  Because of its wild popularity, other stores spring up around it like remoras to a shark.  It provides jobs, both for its initial construction and its retail operations.

To woo Bass Pro Shops to its future location in Estuary, a retail complex near Brandon, Hillsborough County anted up $6.25 million in road improvements.  Estuary will benefit by gaining a powerful anchor tenant which should help fill the rest of the complex.

"I have a very clear conscience in supporting this project," said one county commissioner.  "This is about economic development at its best."

"In my 10 years on the County Commission, the county has not had an economic development opportunity that generates such an immediate return on investment," said another commissioner.  Indeed, the $6.25 mil is expected to be paid back in a mere four years.

Win, win, right?  Not so fast, Pollyanna.  Enter now the buzz-kills.

"I have a real issue with using taxpayer dollars for a multibillion-dollar company to grow its business," said the lone dissenting commissioner.  And yet he has no issue at all with spending taxpayer dollars for the multimillion-dollar boondoggle that is light rail.

"Corporate welfare!" screamed one newspaper columnist.  What alarmist hyperbole!  Corporate welfare is subsidizing businesses that would otherwise fail.  This is corporate investment.

Several business owners also have their knickers in knots over the spending of tax dollars on a project they see as benefiting an out-of-state megachain that will compete against them for customers.

Horrors!  You mean this may very well spell doom for long-time establishments such as Joe's Stinky Bait Shoppe, Billy Bob's Beef Jerky Emporium, and Leroy's Galleria of Lures and Jackknives?  Can our economic system survive the extinction of such arcane Americana?

I think so.  I'm more concerned about the evolution of the Hillsborough County Commission.  Now that the comedy relief tag team of Ronda "Boom-Boom" Storms and Brian "Killer Bee" Blair have long since gone, the commission is a lot less fun.

But we take hope from Commissioner Les Miller.  Les paid his wife $13,186 for "services rendered" as his campaign manager in 2011 and 2012, a campaign during which he ran unopposed.  Is this a great country, or what?