Last week, writing about the findings of an in-depth audit of Disney's tame "government" of its land in central Florida, I observed:
The more I read about this mess, the more it appears - assuming the audit is correct in its findings - that Disney has been engaged in criminal activity (i.e. in clear violation of black-letter state and Federal law) for literally decades, and expected to continue to do so.
I now think that was an understatement, to put it mildly. The more we learn about the situation, the worse things look for Disney.
Disney wasn’t just greedy, it was stupid greedy. Mickey the Great and Terrible didn’t just have his hand in the cookie jar, he’d crawled inside and ate everything in it to include the bottom of the jar itself.
Here’s a fun example, Reedy Creek owns some power plants, and these are taxpayer-supported. Although, they are primarily to be used as emergency backups. Please excuse this next bit because I’m going to have to say allegedly a LOT. Allegedly, it would take years to bring one of them online. The other has allegedly been turned into an air conditioning plant, but they both allegedly still collect subsidies. I mean why pay for something out of your pocket when you can get Uncle Sucker to buy it for you?
The auditors weren’t permitted entry into these plants because the employees that run these Reedy Creek government facilities DON’T WORK FOR REEDY CREEK ... They are Disney employees.
. . .
The chief auditor stated that Reedy Creek produces no electricity at all. This startled the hell out of a lot of us because Disney World has huge banks of solar panels. In fact, they’ve committed quite a bit of ecological damage to the local wildlife trails to build them. To say nothing of how badly those filthy things will poison the land when the inevitable hurricane blasts through and wrecks them.
Disney nonetheless ignored real-world environmental terrorism to pat itself on the back over a being phantom friend of the Earth. Disney World loudly and proudly proclaimed that these panels provide 40% of WDW’s power, cleanly!
Allegedly, all of the electricity provided by those solar panels is sold to a third-party utility. Disney World allegedly buys 100% of its power from Duke Energy and only 10% of that is allegedly provided by anything approaching “clean energy.”
. . .
The alleged activities have been going on so long it would meet the legal definition of a “criminal enterprise” if these allegations are proven in a court of law ... And no, the IRS can’t ignore this. If they do, every business in the country will start doing it.
There's more at the link.
How on earth did Disney think it could get away with such shenanigans forever? One is irresistibly reminded of the ancient Greek connection between Hubris and Nemesis. To put it another way: "Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad." It begins to sound very much as if that fate has been visited upon successive generations of Disney board members, directors and top management.
One might almost feel sorry for the Disney Corporation, if it hadn't systematically and with malice aforethought trashed the legacy of its founder and led untold millions of children around the world astray with its deliberate denigration of "traditional" values and morals. I'm afraid that if Nemesis is to be visited upon anybody, the Disney Corporation is more deserving of that fate than most.
Pass the popcorn . . .
Peter
9 comments:
I have loaded up on Jan 85Puts, baby! Can't WAIT!!!!
'zackly.
Goes Around has devolved to Comes Around, and it couldn't happen to a nastier bunch of pirates and cutthroats.
How on earth have they gotten away with all of it? Simple, they've either bought politicians, bureaucrats and interest groups or threatened politicians, bureaucrats and interest groups who have tried to look into or do something about Disney.
Only in the last 4 years have enough non-bought or non-controlled politicians and people who have had enough power to fight The Rat come into power.
All of this corruption and evil has been known throughout Florida for 50 years. And the eneMedia has been covering for Disney for the same amount of time.
Disney without Walt is a completely different creature than Disney with Walt.
There's a reason a lot of people call Disney et al "The Rat."
Just wait for the SEC to determine that bonds issued by Reedy Creek were de-facto corporate bonds that paid taxable interest, not municipal bonds that are sheltered.
Regarding the power situation, I can see where there can be a lot of solar panels on WDW but if they leased the panels to Duke Energy WDW wouldn't actually operate the installations or pay for maintenance but they would pay Duke for the power generated, and of course WDW actually runs 24 hours a day so the back shift can do all the upkeep required and even Disney Imagineers don't know how to make solar panels run at night. That kind of base load can't be provided by 'renewable' power, hello gas, nuclear, and coal.
Paying millions of dollars a month to Duke Energy for electrical power (operating expense) so Duke can pay the money back on a Lease payment (investment profit for another entity) lets WDW shelter profits. It isn't illegal but it is sure shady.
Well, once again we see that absolute power corrupted absolutely...sigh
I suspect Disney has been diligently buying the necessary politicians needed for company to short circuit any efforts at holding the company accountable. So while Disney may commit corporate suicide with it's embrace of "woke" bullshit I doubt they had any need to worry about external legal threats.
Well, this will be the Electric Disney Acid Test of Governor DeSantis, won't it?
Disney was bribing both sides until the Don’t Say Gay bill. When it passed Disney stopped giving money to Republicans. Oops bad move there.
Just as a comment, the one example that "The auditors weren’t permitted entry into these plants because the employees that run these Reedy Creek government facilities DON’T WORK FOR REEDY CREEK ... They are Disney employees." may have a very simple explanation.
If Reedy Creek owned a facility and leased it to Disney, Disney employees would be responsible for the maintenance and upkeep and security of the building. If someone shows up at the door and demands entrance -- not because they are the owner of the building, but because they claim they are an auditor for the owner -- then the occupant of the build can refuse entrance. Same as if someone shows up at the door of my apartment and demands entrance claiming they are the auditor of the landlord.
Now *if* the landlord had contacted me and said "I've got auditors coming over, give them access" -- that's something different.
Similarly, if Reedy Creek owns the facilities, but Disney leases them from Reedy Creek and runs the power plants. Since Disney is fueling and maintaining the power plants they can sell the power to whoever, or use it themselves unless that is specifically called out in the lease/ operation contract. Reedy Creek doesnt produce the power; Disney does using leased facilities. Same as if a landlord leased a building for a grocery store to a grocery chain. The landlord doesnt make money from the sales of the groceries -- the operator of the store does.
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