Fairpoint Can Afford Lobbyists and PR Firms, But Not Your Refund > Maine should takeover..

said by asdfdfdfdfdf :

Come on guys. TK's point is reasonable and correct here.

We don't want the government essentially confiscating assets in situations like this, whether under the guise of eminent domain or anything else. That would open up a cascade of abuses and precedent and we couldn't begin to predict where it would end.

I don't like the BS these companies pull any more than any of you do but there is a normal bankruptcy process for these situations.

Saying that the little guy gets screwed with eminent domain may be true but the solution to that is to end such abuses, not to screw companies as well as some perverse compensation.

"Why doesn't the state of Maine just revoke Fairpoints right to operate after Fairpoint "

Now there is probably some legitimate, legal way to do something along the lines not of revoking a right to operate but of reclassifying them and their regulatory situation but this is a separate issue from taking the assets whether with compensation or without. If nothing else it would create a legal quagmire as TK points up, though it should also be philosophically unacceptable in any but the most dire economic calamities and this doesn't begin to rise to that level.