Real-Estate Barons

I have noticed, in my moderately long life, that there are people in certain occupations, who have a tendency to forgive themselves quickly, for any pain or discomfiture they cause anyone.  Principal among these occupations is: commercial real estate. 

One can only speculate as to why this is the case‐--and I'm surely not the only one thinking along these lines, seeing as this was the occupation for one of our least truthful and altruistic presidents--- and many of the most troublesome and stubborn citizens are real estate developers. 

One reason could be that they have discovered---or been taught, by parents---that there's really hardly any downside to being ruthless and vindictive to anyone.  (This must be broadly true about any capitalist, and is the driving force today for forming trade unions.)  Great wealth conveys great power, and power, most of all, to punish and retaliate against perceived slights and transgressions.  'An eye for an eye' is much too mild for some of these people.  They are primitives, and follow a code that predates the Mosaic law: if a man wrongs you, exact twice, and even many times, what he took from you.  Some people admire this attitude, which they call 'strength'.

In Clinton County, for instance, there are laws that any real estate constructions—parking lots, for instance—must satisfy certain rules, especially to accommodate water runoff.  (A large parking lot, for instance, can result in a veritable river of water, that can erode the surrounding soil, if careful preventative measures are not taken.)  Naturally, large developers are impatient with these regulations.  "We should be allowed to build anything,  anywhere we want!"  And the response of some of these entities is to go ahead and build, leaving the paperwork until county administrators draw attention to them.  And then, too, drag their feet as long as they can.  This makes it impossible for the county planners to insist on any construction details that would have minimized the environmental impact of the development. 

And now, our former president is exploring the possibility of unconstrained presidential action.  He has asked the Supreme Court to weigh in on this principle, to which they have wisely responded in the negative.  A good executive, Trump seems to say, like any scofflaw real estate developer, should be permitted to exercise his creativity.  (Judging from his buildings, unless we're careful, we might end up with very garish ('Beautiful!') things.