I think SNL had a good point, Amazon isn't the worst company in NY, the Trump Organization is also there remember.
The Path Amazon Rejected
31–40 of 102 posts
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#32I don't understand the outrage towards Amazon. 1. No one forced any of these states/cities to join this bidding contest. They willingly participated. "How dare Amazon put cities against one another in a bidding war?!" Yeah, I put five dealers against one another in a bidding war to get my business the last time I shopped for a car. Amazon can do the same thing. 2. "Jeff Bezos doesn't need our tax breaks!" I bet he do…
> Yeah, I put five dealers against one another in a bidding war to get my business the last time I shopped for a car. Amazon can do the same thing. Surely the reason most upset people are upset is that these deals with governments tend to involve tax breaks, and taxpayers have every right to concern themselves with tax policy. I doubt many of those people would also be upset with your car negotiations.
They offered Amazon $3B tax breaks, while the city would have profited $27B. The city would have a net gain of $24B.
Now the city doesn't gain anything.
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#33Amazon screwed up when they made choosing a place into a reality contest. That came off as egotistical and people took notice. They brought the attention on to themselves. I think they finally realized that walking out of it and letting it die down is the best way going forward.
That seems to be the popular opinion (that this is Amazon's fault) but I disagree. Amazon coming to LIC would have been a net benefit for everyone. 25k jobs that pay a minimum wage of $15/hour...who would reject that? Sure they get a $3b tax break, but they would have paid far more than that in state taxes over the long term. The people on the city council did not represent the the best interest of the citizens, inst…
How much did amazon pay in federal and state taxes in 2017 or 2018?
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#34de Blasio tweeted this after Amazon cancelled: https://twitter.com/NYCMayor/status/1096110674613358593 "working with the community" is code for "bribe" among the community organizer types.
Sounds about right.
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#35Being a sore loser is always a poor strategy. Reflect on mistakes made and opportunities lost and move on.
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#36I don't understand the outrage towards Amazon. 1. No one forced any of these states/cities to join this bidding contest. They willingly participated. "How dare Amazon put cities against one another in a bidding war?!" Yeah, I put five dealers against one another in a bidding war to get my business the last time I shopped for a car. Amazon can do the same thing. 2. "Jeff Bezos doesn't need our tax breaks!" I bet he do…
It is exploitative.
Any company founded in the US is going to use the resources US provides - roads, trade & economic power, the USPS, the talent pool etc for Amazon. When their success is built on that foundation, they owe it to the government (& taxpayers) to return the favor and show some goodwill.
Instead, taxpayers subsidize them when they're growing, then they want to cheat as much as legally possible on their taxes when they're grown up.
If you advocate letting Amazon get those tax breaks, yet yelling at the politicians who allow them, thats a basic mismatch between what you say and your revealed preferences. Don't blame politicians when they cater to those preferences.
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#37Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, in fairness, the outrage wouldn't be on his administration in any case. One thing he's conveniently not mentioning is that he was opposed to giving Amazon any tax breaks or other concessions from the start. The state politicians overruled him. Although his position, I suppose, is that Amazon should move to NYC, without any concessions. Which is not altogether off the wall. That's how it should work for ALL comp…
>Corporate welfare is out of hand in this country. That's certainly one view. Another is that these are just breaks on excessive taxes by one government to compete with other governments that have sane corporate taxes in the first place. I don't understand how tax reductions are considered welfare. It's not money the government has already being passed out to Amazon. The government would have still made money in this…
>Another is that these are just breaks on excessive taxes by one government to compete with other governments that have sane corporate taxes in the first place....
Only they're not. That's not always the case.
For instance, Wisconsin has no corporate tax at all. So they made a deal to just hand over giant boxes of cash to Foxconn at each of several milestones. Think about that. ZERO tax, was just too high.
And I've discovered that Wisconsin is not the only place that has made deals like that. Look at it anyway you like, if corporations are at the point where they are openly saying:
"Paying no tax is not enough, we want you to give us money."
Something is out of place.
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#38Virginia thanks NY for those extra jobs. The issue here is NY’s leaders are idiots and don’t understand the fundamentals of economics. Deferred or reduced taxes on Amazon (investment) in exchange for many thousands of good paying jobs (return) and all the down stream economic benefits as those employees pay taxes on good salaries, buy houses, buy cars, and participate in a plethora of other economic activities in the local environment (further returns). Keep electing clowns that want to keep raising taxes, adding regulation, and are unfriendly to business and you get a free market result - companies leave or don’t come to NY in favor of other more business friendly locations. Brooklyn loses a set of very good jobs due to political blundering yet people people want to blame “evil” Amazon. Sorry, that’s not how this works. Good for Amazon.
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#39Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Yeah, I put five dealers against one another in a bidding war to get my business the last time I shopped for a car. Amazon can do the same thing. Surely the reason most upset people are upset is that these deals with governments tend to involve tax breaks, and taxpayers have every right to concern themselves with tax policy. I doubt many of those people would also be upset with your car negotiations.
They offered Amazon $3B tax breaks, while the city would have profited $27B. The city would have a net gain of $24B. Now the city doesn't gain anything.
That seems overly simplistic. I doubt that Amazon are the only ones with any likelihood of bringing new jobs to New York in the near future.
Re: The Path Amazon Rejected
#40How much was AOC responsible for this?