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Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

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Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#251

Post by mindcrime »

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.

Well, that's the "party line" anyway. I'm not convinced that it's usually (or even ever) true in practice though. And even if it were, it's still a case of the government distorting the market in a way that is, IMO, not a valid role for government. And there will always be unintended consequences, quite often negative ones.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#252

Post by chupapuma »

Johnny555 wrote: post #204
ynniv wrote: post #198

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They mention at-site transit in the RFP, and the transit in Pittsburgh seems light.

It's pretty light in Seattle too

As a Seattlite, I kind of wonder if this isn't in response to our lack of transit. We have some possibility of improvement, but it is almost 20 years out for my neighborhood and Amazon is growing super fast. Since they can't stem the growth to the rate of infrastructure development, maybe they can offset the growth to another city. And that city needs infra already waiting. Of course this narrows down city choice significantly.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#253

Post by leggomylibro »

euyyn wrote: post #175
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.

I mean, if you don't like the tax cuts your city government offers Amazon to try and get their headquarter, you can vote them out come the next election.

No, you can't; deals involving this much money are beyond local politics. For example, Washington's governor just vetoed a measure that would extend state tax cuts to manufacturing companies that aren't called Boeing, and he's not going anywhere.

And even if people do complain, all your mayor/city council has to do to win re-election is claim that all the jobs would disappear if they didn't offer the incentives. You can't do anything about this, it's just blatant corruption endemic to the system.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#254

Post by nkassis »

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!

Atlanta was one of the top places that came to my mind given their requirements. It's really compares favorably with Seattle for size, access, tech talent.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#255

Post by wonderwonder »

kogepathic wrote: post #60

Why not put HQ2 in Vancouver? Okay, yes, house prices are unrealistic, but hear me out: 1. Not in the US (helpful for any non-American employees who can't get a visa or don't want to live in the current political climate in the US) 2. Relatively easy for Americans to work in Canada 3. Close proximity to Seattle 4. Canadian salaries are typically lower than America, so this could be a huge boon to Canadians working in…

They need it to be in America due to the current political climate here. Many politicians are looking at Amazon with an unfriendly eye. Investing Billions in the US and hiring tens of thousands helps remove that pressure. Doing all of that in a foreign country would be political suicide for them right now.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#256

Post by BatFastard »

leggomylibro wrote: post #242
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.

Chattanooga is great! Just not sure if they have the infrastructure to handle that big of a corp. And Gigbit is kinda passe by now.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#257

Post by dylan604 »

MicroBerto wrote: post #115

Texas has the inside track, too. Wonder what city though... Austin's already too crowded as it is but has a great talent pool. Could be better off somewhere like San Marcos or Georgetown.

My first thoughts on this would be the Frisco area just north of Dallas. I believe it has been touted as one of the fastest growing areas in the country. The local gov't there is giving away the city just to attract business. Toyota just moved there, the Dallas Cowboys just relocated there, there are others that I'm not recalling and more is in the works. They are close to DFW airport (one of the largest) as well as smaller Lovefield (very appealing after the Wright amendment has been lifted). This airports already offer the required direct flights. As for colleges, there are so many to feed into it, that it's not really a concern. Cost of living in North Texas is very cheap, and other than the occasional tornado, environmentally it is very stable.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#258

Post by nether »

jpatokal wrote: post #24

The RFP is rather more interesting than the marketing page: https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/G/01/Anything... The 2nd criterion is basically the total amount of sweet, sweet taxpayer dollars available to subsidize them: Please provide a summary of total incentives offered for the Project by the state/province and local community. In this summary, please provide a brief description of the incentive item,…

Does it matter if the economic benefit of Amazon's presence in a city outweighs the initial tax breaks?

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#259

Post by sjm-lbm »

Cshelton wrote: post #196
MicroBerto wrote: post #115

Texas has the inside track, too. Wonder what city though... Austin's already too crowded as it is but has a great talent pool. Could be better off somewhere like San Marcos or Georgetown.

Dallas/North Dallas (Plano/McKinney/etc.) Haven't seen it listen much but it is probably one of the top contenders. There is a reason Toyota, along with many others, moved their (U.S.) headquarters here.

North Dallas is getting crazy crowded, though. Enough that housing supply for their potential workers really should be a concern for any additional company looking to relocate there.

That said, engineer availability should be fairly good when compared to most places outside of more traditional tech hubs (the area is served by TCU/SMU/UTD directly, UT/Texas A&M/additional Texas schools indirectly, is already near EDS and Perot Systems/whatever those two call themselves these days) and the local authorities have shown both a desire and ability to attract major company retractions. You would have to think the North Dallas area is on the shortlist.

Re: Amazon to Build Second HQ in North America

#260

Post by nkassis »

kogepathic wrote: post #60

Why not put HQ2 in Vancouver? Okay, yes, house prices are unrealistic, but hear me out: 1. Not in the US (helpful for any non-American employees who can't get a visa or don't want to live in the current political climate in the US) 2. Relatively easy for Americans to work in Canada 3. Close proximity to Seattle 4. Canadian salaries are typically lower than America, so this could be a huge boon to Canadians working in…

If we are looking at Canada, Montreal could be attractive. Lower labor cost, large amount of schools churning out tech talent (including strong AI programs). Eastern timezone. Still reasonable housing prices.

Obviously there are down sides, perpetual construction, governmental corruption, and Airport kinda sucks but it's still not too hard to access. Visa situation for US workers isn't too bad under NAFTA most of their (US and Canadian citizen) employees could transit between the two at will with a simple VISA

They would probably get the incentives they want if they did move there too from the provincial and federal level.

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