None of what Disney did in Reedy Creek should be a surprise. IIRC, from a 60 minutes episode back in the '70s, the state of Florida would have let Disney coin their own money if that had been legal. State officials were that desperate to get Disney to invest hugely in the barren wilderness.
Disney went into Florida believing they had their own fiefdom and could do whatever they wanted. No one from the state ever said no. So they did.
Disney is a perfect example of my thesis about the progressive corruption of organizations... It starts gradually, and begins with the fact that there's a ton of power and money just sitting there, inherent to the organization. Which attracts the power-hungry careerist types that want the power, the money, and the ability to put both to their own uses. Were Walt still around? With the original set of managers and executives? I doubt that this would have gone as far as is detailed here, and this description, I fear, is likely totally inadequate. I've no doubt that Walt and his lot would have gone over the line, but I don't think they'd have gone quite this far, being essentially sane people. It took from Walt's death until about the 1990s before the really egregious stuff got going...
No institution is immune to the life-cycle: You create an organization, imbue it with power and wealth? The exact wrong sort of people are attracted to it, regardless of controls. Look at the cyclic nature of this stuff, in the business histories. Sears? That ring any bells? They should have, in a reasonable world run on reasonable lines, by reasonable people...? They should have been the giants of the internet age of retail sails, based on their past with catalog sales. Instead? The vile creatures that infested the company hierarchy actually shut down the Sears Catalog branch just as the internet was taking off.
And, that wasn't done because they thought the internet wasn't going anywhere; it was pure power politics within the company, a lot like how Kodak essentially invented digital imaging and then didn't bother to exploit that, choosing to rely on the film side of imaging...
Humans have this long-standing habit of putting something together, as an organization or institution, and then putting the exact wrong sort of people in charge... We do it so much that it's a wonder to me that nobody has pointed this out and said "Hey, why don't we just quit doing this...?"
Florida is going to *nail* Disney. They shouldn't have screwed with DeSantis in the first place. They had been getting away with what was going on in Reedy Creek for decades!
I can remember when I went the one time I've been there (with my parents, it's over 30yr. ago) being told about how big a deal it was that Disney had been running the government in Reedy Creek at all, let alone for as long as they were.
I can only imagine what's going to happen with Disney and the property taxes on the land they have the parks on in Florida now. They own 25,000 acres. For a house in Florida worth about half a million dollars the property taxes are around $3,000. Disney has 25,000 acres and who knows how many buildings on the property, all there to make them a profit.
I'm sure the fines will be outrageous... but tax code is something I will never understand.
You are not meant to understand the tax code... That's the Hollywood accounting of government.
Odds are pretty good that even if Florida "gets" Disney, then Disney will just sigh heavily, and write off the fines and everything else on their Federal taxes. Or, pay some more to their Senators and Representatives to write some special Federal legislation for them to skate on by...
Can only imagine the kind of fees that the company is going to have to pay Florida now, when you take in to consideration things like power and other maintenance fees... I mean, they could have built a nuclear plant, but never did! They wasted SO much of that money!
And what the fraud penalties are probably going to come to be? How far back are the courts going to allow Florida to take this? Given how long Disney has been doing this for...
Could be hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. I really am curious.
You are thinking in terms of "legitimate business". Think in terms of "bust-out", like when the Mob takes over a legitimate business and strips its assets/reputation. Which is, in itself, merely the illegal cousin of what the predatory investment firms do when they perform a leveraged buyout of a successful company, strip it, and then once they have all of its reserves and other assets either sold or under their control, let it go bankrupt. The people running Disney have been doing that since Walt died, gradually working their way into the company.
It is my belief that every corporation ought to have a finite lifespan; original founder generation goes bye-bye, so too should the company. Sell off the assets, pay off the investors, and let that capital do something productive. The number of generational firms that are still around, doing business and not having been taken over by the parasite class? Tiny. We wouldn't lose much by making them self-destruct along with the monolithic giants that wind up doing an IBM or Kodak anyway.
Certainly couldn’t hurt. I think they’re going to shred themselves either way. The current leadership refuse to change their policy, and the investors (or other business folk) are going to pounce on the opportunity.
None of what Disney did in Reedy Creek should be a surprise. IIRC, from a 60 minutes episode back in the '70s, the state of Florida would have let Disney coin their own money if that had been legal. State officials were that desperate to get Disney to invest hugely in the barren wilderness.
Disney went into Florida believing they had their own fiefdom and could do whatever they wanted. No one from the state ever said no. So they did.
Yes, yes, Disney sucks. And your point is?
Disney is a perfect example of my thesis about the progressive corruption of organizations... It starts gradually, and begins with the fact that there's a ton of power and money just sitting there, inherent to the organization. Which attracts the power-hungry careerist types that want the power, the money, and the ability to put both to their own uses. Were Walt still around? With the original set of managers and executives? I doubt that this would have gone as far as is detailed here, and this description, I fear, is likely totally inadequate. I've no doubt that Walt and his lot would have gone over the line, but I don't think they'd have gone quite this far, being essentially sane people. It took from Walt's death until about the 1990s before the really egregious stuff got going...
No institution is immune to the life-cycle: You create an organization, imbue it with power and wealth? The exact wrong sort of people are attracted to it, regardless of controls. Look at the cyclic nature of this stuff, in the business histories. Sears? That ring any bells? They should have, in a reasonable world run on reasonable lines, by reasonable people...? They should have been the giants of the internet age of retail sails, based on their past with catalog sales. Instead? The vile creatures that infested the company hierarchy actually shut down the Sears Catalog branch just as the internet was taking off.
And, that wasn't done because they thought the internet wasn't going anywhere; it was pure power politics within the company, a lot like how Kodak essentially invented digital imaging and then didn't bother to exploit that, choosing to rely on the film side of imaging...
Humans have this long-standing habit of putting something together, as an organization or institution, and then putting the exact wrong sort of people in charge... We do it so much that it's a wonder to me that nobody has pointed this out and said "Hey, why don't we just quit doing this...?"
Florida is going to *nail* Disney. They shouldn't have screwed with DeSantis in the first place. They had been getting away with what was going on in Reedy Creek for decades!
I can remember when I went the one time I've been there (with my parents, it's over 30yr. ago) being told about how big a deal it was that Disney had been running the government in Reedy Creek at all, let alone for as long as they were.
I can only imagine what's going to happen with Disney and the property taxes on the land they have the parks on in Florida now. They own 25,000 acres. For a house in Florida worth about half a million dollars the property taxes are around $3,000. Disney has 25,000 acres and who knows how many buildings on the property, all there to make them a profit.
I'm sure the fines will be outrageous... but tax code is something I will never understand.
You are not meant to understand the tax code... That's the Hollywood accounting of government.
Odds are pretty good that even if Florida "gets" Disney, then Disney will just sigh heavily, and write off the fines and everything else on their Federal taxes. Or, pay some more to their Senators and Representatives to write some special Federal legislation for them to skate on by...
'Cos, that's how it works in today's America.
I made the comment I did about the code because my Dad was a CPA, Kevin. I’m pretty sure Disney has more issues coming than they realize yet.
Property taxes can be a bitch…
Can only imagine the kind of fees that the company is going to have to pay Florida now, when you take in to consideration things like power and other maintenance fees... I mean, they could have built a nuclear plant, but never did! They wasted SO much of that money!
And what the fraud penalties are probably going to come to be? How far back are the courts going to allow Florida to take this? Given how long Disney has been doing this for...
Could be hundreds of millions of dollars in fines. I really am curious.
You are thinking in terms of "legitimate business". Think in terms of "bust-out", like when the Mob takes over a legitimate business and strips its assets/reputation. Which is, in itself, merely the illegal cousin of what the predatory investment firms do when they perform a leveraged buyout of a successful company, strip it, and then once they have all of its reserves and other assets either sold or under their control, let it go bankrupt. The people running Disney have been doing that since Walt died, gradually working their way into the company.
It is my belief that every corporation ought to have a finite lifespan; original founder generation goes bye-bye, so too should the company. Sell off the assets, pay off the investors, and let that capital do something productive. The number of generational firms that are still around, doing business and not having been taken over by the parasite class? Tiny. We wouldn't lose much by making them self-destruct along with the monolithic giants that wind up doing an IBM or Kodak anyway.
Certainly couldn’t hurt. I think they’re going to shred themselves either way. The current leadership refuse to change their policy, and the investors (or other business folk) are going to pounce on the opportunity.
The real problem is how much damage they do while they're still around. Look at what Disney has turned copyright into, for examples.