Amazon announces candidate cities for HQ2

The whole west coast seems to be ruled out, so clearly geography is coming into play.

I'm surprised to see Miami make the list, since they're going to have so much work to do over the next 50 years to deal with rising sea levels. I'm not at all sure that the city will still exist in its modern form in 2050, and surely Amazon is planning that far out too.

Take a look at what’s happened to Seattle and you’re liable to say “no, thank you.” The gentrification, the homelessness. The overall wealth inequality.

I mean, sure, Amazon invested billions in Seattle, but those billions went to people who lead end of days capitalist lifestyles oriented around giving that money right back megacorporations like... Amazon. Suggesting the Amazon’s investment will be meaningfully local is kind of comical. It’s a multinational, and the people who get that money will give it right back to multinationals. That’s how those people spend their income.

Amazon isn’t trying to promote ways of life that don’t revolve around cheap foreign goods, soul crushing work, and an isolated, lonely existence. The lucky place that lands HQ2 will have more of all these things, and a lot less humanity. It’s good for business.

They missed a great opportunity to do this as a game show. Pit the mayors against each other Survivor-style and vote one off each week - they could've even staged it in the Amazon.

But yeah in all seriousness this is obnoxious.

I assume Detroit has a lot of the same problems that St Louis has, they are both great little cities with an up and coming tech industry but hiring skilled talent and conniving them to move to the area is a nightmare.