Slashdot Mirror
Google Sought To Hide Political Dealmaking
A blog entry by Michael Kanellos at ZDNet links to and expands upon an article in the Charlotte Observer. Last year Google was apparently throwing its weight around in North Carolina, seeking tax breaks from state and local legislators. When the company didn't get what it wanted pressure was brought to bear on legislative aides, journalists, and politicians. The search giant was especially touchy about keeping the negotiations secret: "Executives didn't want anybody even to mention the company's name for fear that competitors could learn of its plans. Most involved with the negotiations were required to sign nondisclosure agreements ... That posed challenges for elected officials, charged with conducting the public's business in the open. As the tax measure wended its way through the legislature, some lawmakers began linking it to Google." The results of this deal are extremely lucrative for both sides. Google brought some $600 million in investment and as many as 200 jobs to the state, and legislation enacted with Google's help is projected to save the company some $89 million in taxes over 30 years.
Can we just all agree that Google is about as evil as the average corporation now? Or do some of you still believe that Google really is above the rest morally?
Philosophy.
Sigh...do my fellow Americans understand basic civics anymore?
In a democracy, legislatures do not draft laws under non-disclosure agreements. The proper operation of a democracy hinges on transparency. There is a strong possibility here that Google was asking the legislators to violate the open meeting or sunshine laws of their own state, which guarantee that government business is done in the open. This is why some legislators refused to sign the NDAs.
That's where the evil is.
They evil is with the Nondisclosure Agreement!
The people should be able to judge how their government is acting. The fact that google is asking this is not that weird that politicians on the other hand agree is the worst part. Lets hope (I know it wont) they will notice this the next elections.
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"The results of this deal are extremely lucrative for both sides. Google brought some $600 million in investment and as many as 200 jobs to the state, and legislation enacted with Google's help is projected to save the company some $89 million in taxes over 30 years."
Lets see, NC gets $600 Million investment that could have gone elsewhere, 200 odd new jobs (and tax revenue from employee's) that also could have gone elsewhere and it just cost them $89 million tax revenue over 30 years, tax revenue that they would probably not have got if they had not done the deal.
Sounds like NC got the better end of the deal by a long margin
The secrecy and nondisclosure agreements are pretty standard, for reasons that are obvious if you give it two minutes worth of consideration
If a bill is being drafted specifically for a company, then the public should know which bill it is and which company it is. If Google can't pursue the idea without those stipulations (and the fact they're requiring a special law makes me immediately say they shouldn't be pursuing the idea, I'd need to be convinced they should pursue it) then tough luck.
The fact that the NC legislators are willingly helping Google in covering up their actions in creating a law simply spreads the evil, it doesn't negate Google's evil.
"Writing apps to rank and sort web pages strikes me as the type of problem that a lot of smart people would find a lot of fun."
Your at least a decade too late, the ship has sailed and it's called google.
"Yeah, the shine's definitely gone off Google, eh? at the rate google (and yahoo) are swallowing up other sites there's going to be some major monopolising going on."
Playing one state of against another is just the regular kind of "evil" found in all big-bussiness, big-bussiness don't pay tax bills like ordinary folk, they negotiate thier tax bill (global corporatization on a smaller scale). Google are paying tax and staying in the US. The politicians did thier job by attracting a large corporate to thier turf and getting gauranteed revenue for 30yrs plus all the spin-off effects on the economy, what more do you want?
Attacking google for this behaviour is like kicking the cat after a bad day, if you want to attack "evil" there are plenty of targets, corporations that lay the planet to waste and supply waring tribes with modern weapons. They destroy lives and feed from the public trough rather than create meaningfull employment and a nice pot of tax money. OTOH: "Kick the cat" often enough and it will scratch your eyes out while your sleeping.
Evil is as evil does - Gump.
The state where I live (not part of the US) built a power plant specifically for an Aluminium smelter, gaurenteed cheap dirty (and drit cheap) electricity for 30yrs or so. They also built a massive sewer to take the waste from a large paper mill and dump it in the ocean and called it a "green project" to rehabilitate the river the mill had already killed. The mill threatened to move overseas/interstate if it had to spend money and went so far as to infiltrate "enemy" community groups in order to discredit them. The crap these places spew and the fairy tale propoganda they use to justify it, is IMHO "evil", but try telling that to anyone who's livelyhood depends on it. Try telling the guy at the nuclear missle plant or the biological warfare lab that his work is "evil" and he will claim he is "preseving freedom" or some such rationalization, to him the thought of not planning for nuclear war is "evil".
I get kind of sick of the "we caught google being evil" shit that accompanies so many articles, it's not like they are claiming they have God on their side or that anyone else is "evil". Here in Australia we have some odd expressions, the one that fits google on slashdot is Tall poppy syndrome.
Disclaimer: "you" - not picking on "you" personally, just the general sociopathic pendantry that surround google's brilliantly provocative slogan.
And did you exchange a walk on part in the war for a lead role in a cage? - Pink Floyd.
With all due respect, sir, you speak for yourself. I *do* check the behaviour and ethical standards of the companies I purchase from or invest in. Yes, sometimes this means lesser profit. So what?
As a resident of "Carlotte", North Carolina my entire 25 years on this Earth, I gotta let you in on a secret; we named it Charlotte. What is this "Carlotte" you speak of? ;p
Aw Frell this
What Google did here was to say that they did not want their competition to find out the deal. Once they do, they will want it as good or better. In fact, it is in the state's best interest to not tell either. That way, they can encourage somebody like yahoo to come in, but with less incentives. The evil comes in when you use your weight against them. For example, if Google was to say to NC that if you do not give us a good deal, we will rate other states above yours (or even to imply it). That is how MS (and to a degree yahoo) has operated. That is what evil is. But a simple negotiation is not evil.
As to operating in a backroom approach, well, that goes on ALL the time. Nearly every company does that with states when they are seeking to come to the state. In fact, I would not be surprised if NC approached Google first, and they kept it quiet. Now, if the deal is kept quiet after the fact, or is not released prior to the congressional vote, that becomes an issue. But the article does not say (or even imply) that.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
A lot of companies do this. Look at some of the recently opened car plants (as oposed to the closed ones). They all negotiated sweetheart deals with the state and local governments.
The real scandal here is that they can do this at all. Why should corporations be allowed to negotiate taxes? Can individuals do that? "Hello, state! I am thinking of moving to your state and being productively employed! And some of the money I make will be spent in the local economy! Promise! I will do so if you cut me some slack on property taxes and state income taxes!"
You'd get laughed at. Scale? so what, could 200 independent single individuals do the same? Nope. But a corporation can.
The same with those land seizures. XYZ corp wants to put in an import*mart or golf course, the local government seizes some poor guys land, forces him to move or close his business, so the bigger corp can put their crap there. Nuts. Does the opposite ever happen? "Hiya state! I want you to seize this local golf course/stripmall/sports stadium for me. I will bulldoze out all the lamer energy hog neon sign enhanced buildings and ugly crap in the way, and then plow it up at my expense with my tractor and make free community gardens, saving local consumers millions a year with the grocery bill". Go ahead, try to do something like that, see what happens.
It is not "getting to the point", it is well past the point that governments exist to cater to large corporations for the most part. "Hiya largest government! I have a problem" You see, I have been in the entertainment redistribution business for generations. It was costly to do this, every copy cost a lot of money to reproduce and distribute, but we did it and made a lot of profit. Unfortunately recent technological advances have made this sort of business almost completely obsolete, which threatens our bottom line. It is now technically possible to do what we did in the past 100 to 1000 times cheaper, and get the product to the consumer. But we are so used to making so much net profit a "unit" for our products that we can't allow this dangerous replicator technology out there without severe restrictions on the consumers, else we would lose our traditional profit structure, and we certainly couldn't charge the 2 cents a unit that would be possible now..it's UnAmerican! So please pass laws that force our business model to stay in place in perpetuity. Oh, and we need to extend the limits on this "IP" stuff as well, after all, even with the tech restrictions, we want todo this forever! We'll get back to you once that time limit approaches again, and we'll extend it even further! Thanks! Oh ya, here's some completely unrelated huge bags of cash, just an amazing coincidence that we are handing this to you, really, no strings attached!"