Crony Capitalism ALERT
Rival: City’s bike-sharing program ‘tainted’
A rival bidder is trying to put the brakes on Chicago’s plan to launch the nation’s largest bike sharing program — by claiming the path was greased for an Oregon company where Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s transportation commissioner once worked.
Josh Squire, owner of Bike Chicago, charged that Transportation Commissioner Gabe Klein “tainted the process” by failing to disclose his prior relationship with winning bidder Alta Bicycle Share.
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The Roots of Hardship: Despite massive amounts of aid, poor countries tend to stay poor. Maybe their institutions are the problem. (WSJ)
“Just as inclusive institutions feed on each other, so do their opposites: Extractive political institutions support the economic institutions that protect the interests of the elite against new entry from competitors. The wealth of the elite so created can make the hierarchical, authoritarian state even larger and more repressive, increasing elite wealth even more.”
A book our own elites should read.