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'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

theguardian.com

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Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#31

Post by eropple »

pc86 wrote: post #13
vinceguidry wrote: post #9

I'm not sure that I would stick around Atlanta if Amazon puts its HQ here. The property values will skyrocket, and I haven't bought in here yet. The civic angle is interesting though, will pressure groups succeed in reining back the usual massive concessions that local governments usually grant corporate behemoths? Or will it be business as usual where the giant tosses a few shiny wampum beads to the locals while des…

"I won't be able to profit in the most obvious way possible, so I will leave." That doesn't make much sense to me.

I've repeatedly thought about moving to Atlanta, because I really like the city. I won't be able to afford to if Amazon moves there. Somebody who lives there who hasn't already bought themselves a sandbag-wall against ridiculous rent spikes would probably be wise to consider moving.

(I don't want to own a car again; MARTA, being a good public transit option that is taken by people across the socioeconomic spectrum and so there's political weight on the side of keeping it good, makes Atlanta one of few American cities where that's potentially tenable.)

Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#32

Post by roymurdock »

ukulele wrote: post #6

What's missing from most articles (this one included) is any kind of analysis of whether tax breaks make sense for the states in question. It bothers me how it's presented as the state giving $5B of its own cash away to Amazon, as if that money could go to the homeless instead. Presumably there are ways to estimate the economic effects of 50,000 jobs + tax breaks. Is there a reason they're not mentioned?

Point of the article/most news is to trigger NIMBYism or some provoke some fear/anger reaction, not provide an objective analysis. You need to pay for most objective and informed analysis

Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#33

Post by RightMillennial »

RobAley wrote: post #26
ukulele wrote: post #6

What's missing from most articles (this one included) is any kind of analysis of whether tax breaks make sense for the states in question. It bothers me how it's presented as the state giving $5B of its own cash away to Amazon, as if that money could go to the homeless instead. Presumably there are ways to estimate the economic effects of 50,000 jobs + tax breaks. Is there a reason they're not mentioned?

The protesters point (as stated in the article) is that Amazon is going to pick the city that best meets their (physical, if you will) needs regardless of tax breaks. So for the winning city : without tax breaks you'll still win, but will also keep the extra tax revenue Amazon will generate (which you'll need because of the oversized burden they create).

But surly Amazon won't decide the city based solely on just their physical needs. Say city A is technically the best, but offers no tax breaks. City B is just slightly behind city A, but offers attractive tax breaks. Wouldn't that cause Amazon to seriously consider city B?

Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#34

Post by ynniv »

vinceguidry wrote: post #9

I'm not sure that I would stick around Atlanta if Amazon puts its HQ here. The property values will skyrocket, and I haven't bought in here yet. The civic angle is interesting though, will pressure groups succeed in reining back the usual massive concessions that local governments usually grant corporate behemoths? Or will it be business as usual where the giant tosses a few shiny wampum beads to the locals while des…

Where does this fear come from? Atlanta is adding ~ 100k jobs every year, and HQ2 is projected to be ~ 5k per year for a decade. Developments adding a few thousand jobs are announced every other month. Anyone worried about rapid expansion and gentrification in Atlanta has been ignoring our reality for a long time.

Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#35

Post by toomuchtodo »

vinceguidry wrote: post #12
toomuchtodo wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The state’s role is to enable the level of capitalism it desires. Capitalism doesn’t compete against the state, as the state can always control it.

This is a very Anglo point of view. In other parts of the world the relationship is much more antagonistic than you would expect. The state has to get its money from somewhere, and the locals rarely have much of it. The state is often heavily intertwined with industry, through massive regulation and, too often, good old-fashioned corruption. If the state thinks it can get away with nationalizing a vital industry conc…

Not sure it's an Anglo view. The State has a monopoly on force and regulation, allowing for the governing of degrees of Capitalism. Capitalism has no such control over the State.

Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#37

Post by Zelphyr »

"By signing, you accept Change.org’s Terms of Service and Privacy Policy, and agree to receive occasional emails about campaigns on Change.org. You can unsubscribe at any time."

I support the campaign but that one sentence prevented me from signing. I've made that mistake before and the deluge of emails I received from "partners" was astonishing.

Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#38

Post by [deleted] »

eropple wrote: post #31
pc86 wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"I won't be able to profit in the most obvious way possible, so I will leave." That doesn't make much sense to me.

I've repeatedly thought about moving to Atlanta, because I really like the city. I won't be able to afford to if Amazon moves there. Somebody who lives there who hasn't already bought themselves a sandbag-wall against ridiculous rent spikes would probably be wise to consider moving. (I don't want to own a car again; MARTA, being a good public transit option that is taken by people across the socioeconomic spectrum an…

[deleted]

Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#39

Post by Helmet »

Slansitartop wrote: post #7

Honestly, I think it should be illegal for a city or state to negotiate a tax break with a specific company. Sure, they can cut taxes across the board if they want, but everyone should get the same deal. I'm even for banning "backdoor" tax breaks that effectively only benefit one or two companies and were clearly targeted at them (I'm thinking of the Delta aviation fuel tax break, as an example), or sweetheart deals…

Are we could allow local communities to govern themselves and decide what should and shouldn’t be legal when it comes to this stuff? Federalism and all that.

There are good arguments from each side, so a top down one size fits all approach doesn't seem like the proper way to go about it.

Re: 'Not welcome here': Amazon faces growing resistance to its second home

#40

Post by scarythoughts »

Well, HN has gone full leftist social justice! The article complains about how there are very few black and mestizo employees without ever wondering if there are differences in racial populations that would account for this. There is certainly no problem in finding Chinese engineers is there?
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