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New York Mayor Says Amazon Headquarters Debacle Was 'an Abuse of Corporate Power' (cnn.com)
New York Mayor Bill de Blasio is still upset that Amazon isn't coming to New York. De Blasio attacked the company Sunday for canceling plans to build a second headquarters in Queens last week. From a report: "This is an example of an abuse of corporate power," de Blasio told NBC's Chuck Todd on "Meet the Press." "Amazon just took their ball and went home. And what they did was confirm people's worst fears about corporate America." He made similar comments in a New York Times op-ed Saturday. Amazon canceled the deal just months after announcing plans to split its new, second headquarters between New York and Virginia. The Seattle-based company, which is trying to grow its footprint at home and abroad, spent a year reviewing hundreds of "HQ2" proposals from all over North America before settling on the two regions.
[...] On Sunday, de Blasio, a Democrat, said New York offered Amazon a "fair deal," and blamed the company for making what he called an "arbitrary" decision to leave after some people objected. "They said they wanted a partnership, but the minute there were criticisms, they walked away," he added. "What does that say to working people that a company would leave them high and dry simply because some people raised criticisms?"
[...] On Sunday, de Blasio, a Democrat, said New York offered Amazon a "fair deal," and blamed the company for making what he called an "arbitrary" decision to leave after some people objected. "They said they wanted a partnership, but the minute there were criticisms, they walked away," he added. "What does that say to working people that a company would leave them high and dry simply because some people raised criticisms?"
NYC makes offer to Amazon, Amazon negotiates, NYC gets ready to make loads of concessions to entice them into contract, people scream bloody murder, NYC cancels contract, Amazon walks away, NYC -> *pikachu surprised meme*
This is your fault NYC government. Not Amazon's. Yours. And while yes, you put way too much on the table in the first place, that too is your fault, not Amazon's. You could have walked away first, could have turned them down... oh wait, you actually did, but now you wanna be butthurt because Amazon accepted your rejection instead of begging you to take them back.
This is purely your fault for making terrible deals in the past to "bring jobs" to NYC. This is purely the fault of every city that has done this and created this ridiculous reality where corporations can shop around for the best deals... you are a government, not a retail business! STOP SELLING US OUT! Jobs are NOT worth it if they do not help the economy in your city/county/state. When you drop all corporate taxes for X years you are hurting your state, every time. They have no incentive to stay, so when the tax breaks are over, hey, time open a new HQ an reduce workforce to skeleton or less in the last place! And you can't stop it. So, stop doing that. Stop corporate welfare. Stop tax break incentives that last for years. You want an Amazon HQ, give them 1 year. ONE. A year of no taxes while you set up and get going, then business as usual - pay your taxes or walk on, son. Do that for everyone else. Heck, do that for NEW businesses as well! Attract that start-up! Incentivise small business growth! Anything but giving giant corporations that already pay almost no taxes yet another tax break.
An yes, i'd go so far as to charging additional tax on these massive businesses wanting to move into an area. The amount of public resources is way out of balance with the taxes they'd pay even without any tax breaks.
Personal income taxes just end up being paid by hard working corporations. If I have to pay taxes out of my income, I buy less stuff and corporate profits go down.
So do the right thing and abolish personal income tax. Do the right thing and let the corporations pay their taxes out of their profits.
Realistically, NYC was going to get their jobs, but they were also going to all the ballooning housing prices and other issues that are plagueing places like San Francisco, Seattle, and all the other tech boom towns. That's what the root of the protests were about; sticking up for the current residents who were probably going to end up being priced out of their own neighbourhoods and trying to provide them with some safeguards.
At $15,000 average income this sounds like a shitty economically blighted neighborhood. So in order to improve said neighborhood there has to be an economic driver. Any economic driver capable of making that kind of impact, be it Amazon or a Walmart Distribution Center, or anything else of like size will cause some disruption and displacement. More money chasing housing means rent will go up. Values will increase which will also increase property taxes.
All that is by design part of economic development. You can't take a shitty neighborhood, add opportunity, make it somewhat less shitty, and avoid pricing out the prior occupants of the formerly more shitty neighborhood.
Either way you try to make that omelette's, some eggs are going to break. If there is a job center in the area then at least there might be an option to subsidize some housing. Without that job center, it's just another shitty broke neighborhood into which money is poured.