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Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

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Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#91
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There is a recession coming in the near future, which could result in Amazon looking for cheaper developers globally." It's dangerous to post speculative things with such certainty. The future is never guaranteed.

Well, I don't think it's speculative to say that a recession is coming. Predicting exactly when is hard, but isn't it a near virtual certainty that it will happen?

Sure, but that's like saying Yellowstone is going to erupt.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ft. Worth, right next door, is not though. I don't see this happening, by the way. Abbott is up by 15-20 points in the polls this year. And Texas is just different, culturally, than these other states. You can have your LGBTQ anti-discrimination and TX still remain red, BTW. They're not mutually exclusive.

Fort Worth is the largest non-Democratic city in all of the US, yes, but if you also look at every election you can see it too is turning bluer and bluer. Also, the government race is not a good indicator. Lupe Valdez has made mistake after mistake in her campaign — I’m liberal, and even I wasn’t enthusiastic about voting for her. She’s doing so bad that she’s polling less than the percentage of registered Democrats…

> Texas last had a Blue governor in 1994. Texas hasn’t always been red — only for the past two decades — and it won’t stay red forever.

California last had a Republican governor in 2011, but people will look at you funny if you try to cite that as evidence that California wasn't dyed-in-the-wool Blue at the time.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish all cities competed for residents in this way. I think it would drastically improve our government if there was an actually significant risk of people leaving when the government messed up.

It has happened. Remember White Flight?

[deleted]

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#94
post #56

Amazon is playing cities like chump. I had a sense in the beginning of this process that Amazon doesn’t really want to build a HQ2. They just want to open another office. Most large tech companies have large campuses across multiple cities. This exercise is no different than that. But Bezos branded it HQ2 to maximize handout. I also predict that they will end up hiring far less than the 25k projected. There is a rece…

"There is a recession coming in the near future, which could result in Amazon looking for cheaper developers globally." It's dangerous to post speculative things with such certainty. The future is never guaranteed.

We're currently riding the longest bull market in history. Surely you don't think it will last forever and that we are closer to to it's end than it's beginning?

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#95
post #91
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Well, I don't think it's speculative to say that a recession is coming. Predicting exactly when is hard, but isn't it a near virtual certainty that it will happen?

Sure, but that's like saying Yellowstone is going to erupt.

More like saying that a geyser at Yellowstone is going to erupt. If you believe that the timeframe for the next recession is on par with the timeframe for the eruption of the Yellowstone supervolcano, I have a bridge I'd like to sell you.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#96
post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It might be good for a red state to get an HQ, though, since educated people will for once migrate there instead of away from there.

LOL. There are tons of educated people who move to Texas. Ever heard of Texas Instruments?

Everyone's heard of Texas Instruments, but the products that make them famous aren't exactly an advertisement for attracting skilled staff. A TI calculator is less than $1 worth of functionality, $100 of "you can use this on standardized tests without being considered a cheater", and $50 of brand recognition. The whole selling point of the product is that it's just as bad now as it was 25 years ago.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#97
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I suspect you are correct; this is a way to make the two cities compete to please / to accommodate / to benefit Amazon and get the headlines that they are Amazon's choice for X, Y, Z reason. Amazon's gravity is quite strong, and its tactics very honed.

I wish all cities competed for residents in this way. I think it would drastically improve our government if there was an actually significant risk of people leaving when the government messed up.

Wow, you and I couldn't see things more differently. Sports teams are doing this to cities constantly. Build us a new sports stadium at your expense that will be used 8-10 times a year. We'll take the concession revenue, the parking revenue, etc. Maybe we'll let you have a tax on food.

Maybe we'll move away before the city is done paying for the stadium. See St. Louis and the Rams. It's rare that a city like San Diego refuses to buckle under.

In Portland, the City of Portland makes up the difference between the minimum wage and $15/hour for the employees who work the MLS Timbers games.

Nearby in Beaverton, Nike's property was guaranteed by the state not to be annexed by the city so they wouldn't be required to pay property taxes. There was muttering that maybe Nike would pack up and move if this didn't happen.

What I would love to see is that cities and states are not allowed to offer subsidies to companies. If you want to move here, great. How many stupid things like what Scott Walker is doing with Foxconn have to happen before something like that is prohibited?

In a show-down between corporate pros and local politicians, I know who's going to come out ahead.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#98
post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"There is a recession coming in the near future, which could result in Amazon looking for cheaper developers globally." It's dangerous to post speculative things with such certainty. The future is never guaranteed.

Well, I don't think it's speculative to say that a recession is coming. Predicting exactly when is hard, but isn't it a near virtual certainty that it will happen?

it's also hard to predict how deep the recession will be

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#100
post #80
post #56

Amazon is playing cities like chump. I had a sense in the beginning of this process that Amazon doesn’t really want to build a HQ2. They just want to open another office. Most large tech companies have large campuses across multiple cities. This exercise is no different than that. But Bezos branded it HQ2 to maximize handout. I also predict that they will end up hiring far less than the 25k projected. There is a rece…

Don't just about all big corporations with some "weight" behind them do this though? A company employing tens of thousands floats the idea that they might leave the city/state due to some new proposed corporate tax legislation or something, and then the city/state exempts them from the increases to get them to stay since they're such a "big employer?" Isn't this just "negotiating from a position of strength?" This ha…

Yeah, but just because this happens doesn't mean we shouldn't be upset about it. This is companies strongarming governments into giving them tax breaks. It's robbing society to enrich a few people at the top.

Amazon is following the Boeing example. I fully expect Washington state to give away massive amounts of money the same way they did before.

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