BB&T

Evil corporations strike again:

BB&T Corp., a North Carolina-based financial services company with a substantial Washington area presence, said it will not lend money to private real estate development projects that rely on local governments to seize land from reluctant sellers.

The bank and legal analysts said they believe BB&T is the first major financial institution to announce such a policy since the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that using "eminent domain" powers for privately owned projects did not violate the Constitution. The court ruling in Kelo v. City of New London sparked public opposition and efforts in Congress and 41 states to put new limits on local governments' power to condemn private land.

Now BB&T, the nation's ninth-largest financial services company in terms of assets, has waded into the debate. "Our number one concern is a philosophical and principle-based one," chief credit officer W. Kendall Chalk said in an interview. "We do a large amount of commercial lending. . . . There is the potential for abuse of eminent domain."

Good for them. That's what I love about capitalism, if you don't like something, just vote with your dollars. Every economic decision we make is a small vote for the kind of world we want to live in.