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Idaho expands plan to compete with private business

It just really rubs some people the wrong way: The idea of the state owning and operating businesses; the idea of tax-paying business owners squaring off against a competitor they help support.

For some — even before they hear details of the state’s plan to expand into the business world, owning businesses and developing commercial properties — the idea alone elicits a visceral reaction.

"It’s a direct affront to our understanding of the clear distinctions between private/public activities," wrote Michael T. Scanlon Jr., president and chief executive officer of the Washington, D.C.-based Self Storage Association, in a letter to Idaho Department of Lands Director George Bacon.

State Rep. Grant Burgoyne, a Democrat from Boise, was just as forceful in an interview with IdahoReporter.com: "It’s socialism. That is a piece of socialism, when the government operates a for-profit business. That’s what socialism is." He said: "I will just say I’m troubled by the endowment’s venturing into operating businesses" and "It’s something to be approached with great caution."

Are they saying that the state owning businesses seems kinda un-American?

By JAY PATRICK

Full Story: http://www.cdapress.com/news/local_news/article_6d07d3a4-1de6-11e0-a797-001cc4c03286.html

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