Monday, August 9, 2010

New Washington State Capitol

In Seattle at 5th and Mercer the new state Capitol is being constructed.  These times remind me of when Boeing moved their headquarters to Chicago from Seattle.  The city mayor at the time said he was blindsided, had no idea.  The county executive said he was surprised, he had absolutely no idea they were planning such a thing.  The governor of the state was hurt Boeing did not bother to come to the governor and discuss the move.

What politicians do not understand is big business is ALWAYS talking to them: how much can give give us, how little do we have to give you.  When Boeing decided to move, it knew the state had nothing else to offer, but was going to want more, so Boeing left.  No point in talking to politicians anymore.  Today the states and politicians have bankrupted themselves, financially and morally, so their is a shift taking place.

The Gates family foundation is spearheading an effort to get many billionaires to pool resources, as I mention below.   Gates wealth would not cover 3 years of Washington state budget today, but who cares, state government and what it can offer is evaporating.  This being a democracy, it will take small leverage to get politicians to do the bidding of a multibillion dollar foundation.

So,  a new capitol is being built for Washington state at 5th and Mercer in seattle.  It is the Gates foundation.    The Gates foundation may not have  a lot of money in the larger scheme of things, but it only takes a little bit of money in a democracy to buy off the whole system.  With 5% of 100 billion to play with each year, the Gates foundation (gates + buffett) will be able to call an awful lot of shots, direct a whole lot of action.


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