Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America • Hacker News Board

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#241

Post by product50 » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:03 PM UTC

devmunchies wrote: post #108

Silicon Slopes? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Slopes - Population > 1,000,000 - Serviced by 2 great universities (UoU, BYU) - Utah is a top 5 state for # of Unicorn Companies From the wiki I shared: "The Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development allows a variety of grants and tax incentives to companies willing to either relocate or expand their enterprise" Note: I live in Seattle, not Utah.

I know you want to pitch SS but saying UoU and BYU are great universities is just wrong. Indeed, attracting talent in Utah is going to be one of Amazon's biggest challenges if it opens an office there.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#242

Post by leggomylibro » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:03 PM UTC

BatFastard wrote: post #226

Come to Atlanta! Great schools, great weather, downtown is under utilized, decent mass transit. One of the fastest grow tech locations in the country. We offer, no hurricanes, no earthquakes, no tidal waves, no forest fires, no flooding, and once every 10 year snow storms. We are on the opposite coast which protects you from N Korean actions. Plus you can fly anywhere from our airport!

What about Chattanooga? It's in the same area with a rapidly-growing startup/tech scene, but it has gigabit municipal internet and a slightly cooler climate.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#243

Post by nkassis » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:04 PM UTC

chrishacken wrote: post #222

grecy wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And anyone wonders why the USA does not have money for healthcare, higher education, high speed rail, etc. etc. I am in West Africa and everyone continually asks about the corruption. At least here it's up front and honest. The guy with the AK-47 just wants $5. In the USA, it's the guys in suits getting billions.

The thing is, those tax cuts are largely offset by income taxes that those employees bring in, along with all of the $ that having a huge corporation like Amazon would bring into the area. It's not corruption, it's business.

Has this been shown to be true? I get the logic and it seems like it would make sense but I'm sure this has been researched. This would be a bigger deal than the datacenters being built with millions in tax cuts given it would be a long term and order of magnitude more jobs. Still I wonder if the calculus really does work out.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#244

Post by leggomylibro » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:05 PM UTC

DerfNet wrote: post #236

dbot wrote: post #234

My guess is that Amazon will want to effectively "own" whatever city it selects. Not only will they get incentives from government, but they'll want to have primary influence over the business and educational communities. So that when Amazon wants something, the city will go along. This will give them a laboratory for all sorts of experiments, which is both fascinating and scary. While a city like my hometown Atlanta…

They can come to St. Louis. Everybody else left. They can have the AT&T tower downtown, it's empty.

Already claimed by the Free Republic of Annheuser-Busch-land. How about East St. Louis? I think the Spivey Building could use a new tenant...

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#245

Post by grecy » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:05 PM UTC

chrishacken wrote: post #222

grecy wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And anyone wonders why the USA does not have money for healthcare, higher education, high speed rail, etc. etc. I am in West Africa and everyone continually asks about the corruption. At least here it's up front and honest. The guy with the AK-47 just wants $5. In the USA, it's the guys in suits getting billions.

The thing is, those tax cuts are largely offset by income taxes that those employees bring in, along with all of the $ that having a huge corporation like Amazon would bring into the area. It's not corruption, it's business.

No.

Those tax cuts should be added ON TOP of the income taxes those employees bring in.

More business should be more tax revenue = better services for the citizens.

>It's not corruption, it's business.

When a business is able to make a deal that gets them out of paying taxes they otherwise would legally be required to pay, that's corruption. Sugar coat it all you want, it's regular citizens they are stealing from.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#246

Post by madcaptenor » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:05 PM UTC

mark212 wrote: post #71

kohanz wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Kitchener-Waterloo? edit: just thought it would be a suitable talent hub. Not sure why I'm getting downvoted. Maybe Toronto would be more suitable?

RFP says 45 minutes to an airport with direct flights to Seattle, SF, NYC, and Washington DC. I don't know the area but it seems to me that YYZ is too far away to qualify

Seems easy enough to make a list of all those airports.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#247

Post by JustAnotherPat » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:06 PM UTC

chrishacken wrote: post #222

grecy wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And anyone wonders why the USA does not have money for healthcare, higher education, high speed rail, etc. etc. I am in West Africa and everyone continually asks about the corruption. At least here it's up front and honest. The guy with the AK-47 just wants $5. In the USA, it's the guys in suits getting billions.

The thing is, those tax cuts are largely offset by income taxes that those employees bring in, along with all of the $ that having a huge corporation like Amazon would bring into the area. It's not corruption, it's business.

Many of these incentives go beyond tax cuts. The government will build the buildings, lease it to the corp for free. It will train employees for free, handle the recruiting for free, provide money to the corp for various projects, etc. It's business, sure, but pay to play. And at the end of the day, a lot of these places wind up leaving once their benefits run out.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#248

Post by grecy » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:07 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #171

grecy wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And anyone wonders why the USA does not have money for healthcare, higher education, high speed rail, etc. etc. I am in West Africa and everyone continually asks about the corruption. At least here it's up front and honest. The guy with the AK-47 just wants $5. In the USA, it's the guys in suits getting billions.

Since when does the US not have money for healthcare and higher education? We spend more on both per capita than any other nation on earth. We don't have money for high speed rail? Sure we do, we spend $7 trillion per year on government - 37% of our economy goes to government. Pick your priorities.

> We spend more on both per capita than any other nation on earth.

Why are there tens of millions that can't afford higher education?

Why are people going bankrupt from health expenses?

The USA is just really bad at it. Therefore you need to spend more money just to come up to par with other developed countries. In that case, you need more tax revenue.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#249

Post by yahna » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:08 PM UTC

devmunchies wrote: post #108

Silicon Slopes? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Silicon_Slopes - Population > 1,000,000 - Serviced by 2 great universities (UoU, BYU) - Utah is a top 5 state for # of Unicorn Companies From the wiki I shared: "The Utah Governor's Office of Economic Development allows a variety of grants and tax incentives to companies willing to either relocate or expand their enterprise" Note: I live in Seattle, not Utah.

You would have to convince a lot of people to live in Utah though. Very religious/conservative state, to the point where it does influence things.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#250

Post by daveFNbuck » Thu, Sep 07, 2017, 4:09 PM UTC

adventured wrote: post #171

grecy wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And anyone wonders why the USA does not have money for healthcare, higher education, high speed rail, etc. etc. I am in West Africa and everyone continually asks about the corruption. At least here it's up front and honest. The guy with the AK-47 just wants $5. In the USA, it's the guys in suits getting billions.

Since when does the US not have money for healthcare and higher education? We spend more on both per capita than any other nation on earth. We don't have money for high speed rail? Sure we do, we spend $7 trillion per year on government - 37% of our economy goes to government. Pick your priorities.

The whole point of the comment you're replying to is that we're picking our priorities poorly.