quote:

Then the small companies have to band together and go to the state and local governments together.

Why should that even be legal?

Can you and your neighbors get together and negotiate a different property tax rate than the subdivision down the street?

The rules should apply to everybody equally. If the government says Amazon gets to pay less, then everybody else should get to pay less too.

^^^ I'm with you, a1abdj!

CORRUPTION: Democrats Bribe Amazon To Come To Town
Ben Shapiro

On Tuesday, Amazon announced that it would split its much-ballyhooed HQ2 between two cities: New York and Crystal City, an area just outside Washington, D.C. New York is obviously heavy Democratic territory; the headquarters will be located in Queens, for whom the congressperson is Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. And Northern Virginia is a similarly Democratic area.

So, what goodies did Democrats give Jeff Bezos and Amazon for the privilege of hosting their new headquarters? According to Jim Geraghty of National Review, the state of Virginia will give Amazon some $573 million to produce some 25,000 jobs, and Arlington will give Amazon $23 million over 15 years. As Geraghty points out, “Arlington is raising taxes in order to pay Amazon to locate there.” Meanwhile, New York opened its goodie bag as well, with Governor Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill De Blasio grinning through the announcement that the state would give Amazon some $2 billion in tax credits and other incentives. They will receive direct incentives of $1.525 billion for creating 25,000 jobs – an average of $61,000 per job created. As The New York Times reports:

The state also offered a capital grant to the company that could total as much as $500 million that Amazon can use to build new offices. It will also apply for additional incentives through existing city programs available to any company, Amazon said. Tax experts said those programs, for hiring workers in boroughs outside Manhattan and for commercial development, could amount to hundreds of millions of dollars.

Both New York and Washington D.C. can also expect rising housing prices, strained public services, and additional spent tax dollars on Amazon.

So, it turns out that crony capitalism is alive and well in Democratic areas like New York and Washington D.C. This used to be called corruption. Now it’s just “drawing business.” It’s rather hilarious that the same politicians who recognize that they need to create special incentives to draw businesses from foreign climes refuse to acknowledge that the regulations and taxes they place on their own homegrown businesses drive those businesses away. But economic liberals have never been known for the consistency of their viewpoint.

All of this drove Ocasio-Cortez to tweet about her opposition to crony capitalism:

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ✔
@Ocasio2018

We’ve been getting calls and outreach from Queens residents all day about this.

The community’s response? Outrage.

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez ✔
@Ocasio2018

Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here.

This prompted right-wingers to claim Ocasio-Cortez as one of their own. But as Philip Wegmann of the Washington Examiner points out, this is nonsense: Ocasio-Cortez is fine with crony capitalism so long as she gets to pick the big winners. Her website explicitly calls for “the electrification of vehicles, sustainable home heating, distributed rooftop solar generation, and the conversion of the power grid to zero-emissions energy sources.” That can only be attempted through massive subsidies and taxes.

This is the dirty little secret about crony capitalism: democratic socialists love it, because crony capitalism is just another form of top-down economics in which the government chooses winners and losers. But it’s bad business for taxpayers no matter how you slice it.

https://www.dailywire.com/news...ome-town-ben-shapiro

I’ve got a friend who owns residential real estate in Long Island city. He’s happy as a pig in shit tonight. That aside, I am so glad I got out of NY even if it’s just to the lesser evil of NJ. The thing that’s glossed over in all this is the infrastructure and transportation that Bezos and friends are crooning about in Queens (and NYC in general) is absolutely crumbling. They invested no money in the subway or rail systems on Long Island and in the five boroughs for many years. Instead, Andy and Bill just fight about who should pay for it. It’s way over capacity and stressed now and it’s going to get much, much worse.

Meanwhile, Emperor Cuomo has spent billions rebuilding bridges and making parks he can light up in rainbow colors while naming them after his daddy. The lust for power and level of corruption in Albany is truly staggering. For me now, the best part about visiting my beloved NYC is that at the end of an enjoyable day or night in town, I get to head home to my semi-rural town in NJ. Murphy hasn’t destroyed it yet, but he’s damn sure trying to drag the state down with moonbeam levels of liberalism. Even our democrats aren’t ready for what he wants to do, thank god they’re slow walking him so far.

Seattle resident and long term Amazon watcher here.

Amazon's presence in these two locations is not the actual engine of change. Instead, it's all the developers, speculators, contractors, etc. They will descend on these locations like locusts. The people there should prepare for big changes in their local.

Amazon itself is an evolving organization. The local rumor here in Seattle is that one day they may spin off the online retail portion of the business. Who knows?

Amazon has three HQs so no one local can tax them to death. The head tax here is Seattle scared the crap out of them.

V.

Scott Galloway called the hq2 a “prosperity bomb” for whom ever was suckered into it.
Well, make that two prosperity bombs...

He also called the final location awhile ago. Near Metro DC. Simply to set up a lobbying HQ.



A sample:

https://www.ted.com/talks/scot.../up-next?language=en

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
All of this drove Ocasio-Cortez to tweet about her opposition to crony capitalism:

I read that Tucker Carlson agreed with her stance, stating that the world's number one richest human got billions in tax breaks and subsidies specific and designed for Amazon alone. What is going on is not free market or capitalism, not when govt. shoves its muscle behind one entity.

I'm a business owner and I would like similar breaks and subsidies.

Amazon, in a "Stunning Reversal," Will Not Build Its Major New Headquarters In NYC

I don't support such lavish giveaways to attract a business. These don't seem fair to businesses already located in the city. If you just keep offering tax deals to a certain number of favored companies, doesn't the tax burden shift to those who aren't being given sweetheart deals?

But.. LOL

Amazon dumps New York City as new headquarters site
https://www.bostonherald.com/2...w-york-headquarters/

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Amazon, in a "Stunning Reversal," Will Not Build Its Major New Headquarters In NYC

I don't support such lavish giveaways to attract a business. These don't seem fair to businesses already located in the city. If you just keep offering tax deals to a certain number of favored companies, doesn't the tax burden shift to those who aren't being given sweetheart deals?

But.. LOL

Amazon dumps New York City as new headquarters site
https://www.bostonherald.com/2...w-york-headquarters/

That's awesome, Atlas just shrugged NYC

You watch.

They will go to NC, SC or TX now.

Announcement by next week.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Amazon, in a "Stunning Reversal," Will Not Build Its Major New Headquarters In NYC

That’s the correct decision but I have to question their wisdom in selecting NYC in the first place. To put any portion of your already successful and fully established business in NY is beyond foolish.

NY will wisely give you all the rope you want in order for you to put the noose around your own neck with tax incentives, permits etc. This strategy is very effective with small businesses that are in their infancy. By the time all the benefits expire, your business is fully rooted in NY and you can’t just pick up and move. Then they have you. The NY Department of Taxation WILL become a partner in the business you created and they’ll fleece you for whatever they can get as often as they can get it.

quote:

Originally posted by chellim1:
Amazon, in a "Stunning Reversal," Will Not Build Its Major New Headquarters In NYC

They woke up, and smelled the socialists!

May just move the whole HQ shebang to NoVA - AWS has big presence out in Herndon, lots of available office space in Crystal City and DC is where political power resides - oh, and Bezos owns the Post.

I hope they choose another liberal socialist shithole. If they pick a nice low tax, conservative city/state it just become another fucked up version of California/New York/New Jersey within 10 years.

Cortez:

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.

Yeah, just go get some cash off of the money trees, you blithering twat.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Cortez:

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.

Great, just what we need. This loony toon to have an even bigger head than she has now.

Maybe it will help with her eventual fall from that pedestal she thinks she's been placed on.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Cortez:

I just see her name and already know which hole the message is coming out.

quote:

Originally posted by sdy:
Cortez:

Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.

I wonder how many of her constituents would have loved one of the new jobs that Amazon was bringing to NYC.

Asylum Occupant-Cortez is he gift that keeps on giving! The bright star in the universe of shit. She keeps drawing attention to how far out of touch most Americans are with her party. Good ole Deblasio’ head must of exploded when he got the news. Just earlier in the week, Asshat Coumo cited the poor federal tax code for the 2.5 billion shortfall in tax revenue & the reason the wealthy are fleeing. Then he promptly pushed 750 million in expense to Deblasio who promptly told his department leaders they needed to cut $750 million from the cities 90 billion dollar budget..

Suprised Amazon did an about face on this.