Nevada proposes new "company towns" ~ autonomous zones

[some seeing eye]

https://www.reviewjournal.com/news/poli ... s-2272887/

[Elderberry]

Not so sure this is a good idea.

[lucky420]

Pretty sure it’s a fucked up idea.
We’ve had company towns in Nevada before (mining)

[FlyingMonkey]

....and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.


Oops.

[XPTom]

Isn't Empire still a company town? How would this proposal change things?

[lucky420]

Elonville

[FlyingMonkey]

Isn't Empire still a company town? How would this proposal change things?

The average strip mall is bigger than Empire. At that scale I don't think it matters.

I think that on a scale any bigger than that when a "government" is beholden to shareholders over citizens bad things are bound to happen & people will end up mistreated.

With the exception of Elonville I think this is a bad idea. But then again, no one is forced to live in these zones.

[Ugly Dougly]

It's not the "Temporary Autonomous Zone" as you know it on the playa. Don't get your glitter in a dither. It's basically feudalism.

[Simon of the Playa]

7A2F0966-2B2A-439C-9ACD-A85FC850DDEF.jpeg

[FIGJAM]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRh0QiXyZSk

[XPTom]

50,000 acres min size definitely limits this to the billionaires boys club. BMORG probably doesn't have the cash.
Biggest obstacle I see is vast tracks of land in Nevada with no incorporated cities are that way because they lack water. The NSA data center in Utah needs more water for cooling than they want to admit.... something near 2M gallons a day. I see endless court battles over water, endangered desert tortoise, ..... etc

[lucky420]

Just read an article about blockchain buying up water rights up by Gerlach, Winnemucca before this “company town” idea has even been brought to the legislature...

Pyramid Lake tribe may have a thing or 2 to say about this...

If I can find the article again, ill post it

[^Rhino!]

Sixteen electric cars, what'll you get?
Another day older and deeper in debt.
Lord don't you call me 'cause I can't go,
I owe my soul to the Company store.


Apologies to the estate of Tennessee Ernie Ford.

Those of us who grew up in coal mining country remember all about company stores. Used to be you could get anything at a company store. You'd pay 10% more, and the coal company owning the store would pocket the difference. Anything that might deter from company goals wouldn't be on the shelves. No playing cards, no liquor, only 'approved' publications on the magazine rack. You might pay double for a pair of work boots, though. Carbide (Calcium carbide, used in miners' lamps until much safer battery power came along) you'd pay triple for. Unions like the United Mine Workers broke the back of the 'system', especially when mines failed to insure miner safety. Though much smaller union membership is present today, the UMW is still concerned with miner safety.

Want to piss me off? Ask me why Don Blankenship, the former CEO of Massey Energy, and convicted felon after the Upper Big Branch mine fire and explosion appeared on the ballot for US President under the auspices of he Constitutionalist Party in most states. The families of thirteen dead miners would like to know why Don didn't end up in Federal prison for a full term, spending less than a year behind bars.

Mine accidents still occur, though nothing like at the rate they occur in China. There, thousands die in collapses, cave-ins, and explosions.

Company towns are a BAD idea.