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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

#181

Post by spookthesunset »

yourbandsucks wrote: post #173
untog wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not really, just the definition of "pro-business" is changing. It used to be that all you needed to do was slash a few taxes and you were a pro-business state. These days businesses are looking to be located in areas where their employees will feel safe and welcomed, which excludes states that fight against gay marriage, for example. I don't really see the argument that businesses choosing location based on taxes is…

Choosing based on culture wars is buying into the bullshit. Gay marriage, for example, is federally protected. We need to fix the culture divide in this country. Let's work from places where we agree rather than searching for disagreement. Lots of states are near the tipping point if we could only speak to each other honestly.

> Choosing based on culture wars is buying into the bullshit.

It is absolutely not bullshit. I would flat out refuse to relocate to a red state. In the high tech industry, I'm not alone. Setting up shop in a deep red state is not a good way to attract world class talent from across the globe.

> Gay marriage, for example, is federally protected.

Small comfort when you are gay and wish to find a safe place to hang out for a drink and hook up... Small comfort when you are an ethnic minority waiting for a bus....

> We need to fix the culture divide in this country

In my opinion this is not gonna happen any time soon. The divide is almost to the bone. It is a fundamental divide that can't be solved with mere empathy or compromise. There is no empathy to be had and no common point for compromise.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#182

Post by yourbandsucks »

spookthesunset wrote: post #181
yourbandsucks wrote: post #173

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Choosing based on culture wars is buying into the bullshit. Gay marriage, for example, is federally protected. We need to fix the culture divide in this country. Let's work from places where we agree rather than searching for disagreement. Lots of states are near the tipping point if we could only speak to each other honestly.

> Choosing based on culture wars is buying into the bullshit. It is absolutely not bullshit. I would flat out refuse to relocate to a red state. In the high tech industry, I'm not alone. Setting up shop in a deep red state is not a good way to attract world class talent from across the globe. > Gay marriage, for example, is federally protected. Small comfort when you are gay and wish to find a safe place to hang out…

You wouldn't move to a purple state and vote blue?

You can only tolerate an environment where absolutely everybody agrees with you?

You know where this goes, right? Let's pack all the liberals into 1/5 districts and give the rest to 60/40 conservative majorities. Great job everyone, at least nobody (rich) compromised their values.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#183

Post by thaumasiotes »

mikeash wrote: post #161
thaumasiotes wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

That’s like saying GE can’t atteact skilled staff because people only know them for their light bulbs. The sort of people that TI needs to attract will know that they are far more than just old-fashioned calculators.

I'm saying "ever heard of Texas Instruments?" isn't a good argument, because while everyone has heard of it, they know it only for making useless products that don't need or want additional design.

The fact that you've heard of it is entirely unrelated to the number of people it employs and in what capacity it employs them.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#184

Post by slededit »

zjaffee wrote: post #151
Kephael wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The only HQ is where the CEO sits.

I can't be so sure of that, is the HQ of Berkshire Hathway really omaha, or is it the HQs of the various business subunits. If you have a conglomerate, the existence of an HQ is totally meaningless.

AMZN is not a conglomerate. And even then BRK is extremely rare in its near total hands off policy.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#186

Post by FireBeyond »

hcg wrote: post #109
thebradbain wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The writing is on the wall — Texas will turn blue sooner than later. Dallas is a liberal stronghold in Texas, and in absolute numbers turns out more for Democrats than any other city in the state, including Austin (percentage-wise Austin wins by +5%, I believe). Unlike Austin, which is gerrymandered in the state legislature, every single state/county/city official in Dallas is a Democrat. Dallas is also a gay rights…

Unfortunately Dallas is still in Texas. Not really any different than Seattle, except Seattle has enough sway over the rest of Washington to keep it from going hard right.

> except Seattle has enough sway over the rest of Washington to keep it from going hard right.

Which, honestly, it should be - I get the /notion/ of a lot of US electoral history in trying to allow diversity and representation, but it's people who get to vote, not acreage. Punishing people for living in a city by making their vote worth proportionally less is wrong, and ironically, by acreage/population density is a rough analog of what many were trying to escape "more votes with more land holdings".

Given that the Puget Sound region has 65% of the states population...

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#187

Post by skookumchuck »

cronix wrote: post #117
hcg wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I fully agree. Giving breaks in terms of property taxes directly affects our schools. So we're just shooting the upcoming generation in the foot to keep jobs here "today"

Washington state schools get plenty of money.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#188

Post by xienze »

thaumasiotes wrote: post #96
fipple wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

TI makes a lot more than calculators. But you’re right, nothing as interesting to the highly educated as yet another photo sharing app.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#189

Post by hnmonkey »

kodablah wrote: post #168
hcg wrote: post #100

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

I admit not being very upset about it. How are they strongarming governments? A government says no and everyone moves on. Or are you saying communities can't get businesses without this strongarming? I don't believe that. I recognize the art of both sides shopping for the best deal for themselves, and with how many of these governments operate against their companies, it's definitely bidirectional. The leverage does…

Do you have any examples of "many of these governments operate against their companies?" I'm intrigued by this because this isn't how government generally works at all at a local level. They usually work with these companies and give them sweetheart deals knowing that the money will not really come back to the city and the effect will happen years down the road. All the positives for them of working with the company and someone else deals with the issues later that are caused from tax breaks and other deals.

Re: Amazon Plans to Split HQ2 Evenly Between Two Cities

#190

Post by hnmonkey »

skookumchuck wrote: post #187
cronix wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I fully agree. Giving breaks in terms of property taxes directly affects our schools. So we're just shooting the upcoming generation in the foot to keep jobs here "today"

Washington state schools get plenty of money.

You're saying they get enough money so we should give large amounts of money to corporations? That seems wild and like corporate welfare for the sake of portioning out some money to corporations. Why give corporations a fast-lane to government money because school's are getting some money?

To be clear, is your argument really that schools have lots of money so corporations deserve to get some too?

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