{2/18/19} Reactions to Amazon

This past Thursday Amazon announced they were cancelling their plans to put an HQ2 in New York City. I, like many other people, have an opinion about this. I commented on a NY Times article, and wanted to share the sentiment here:

Not to overstate things… but this is a win for democracy. This was a backroom deal that specifically tried to bypass democratic processes. That is simply not ok, and sets a dangerous precedent. Plus, there are a number of valid concerns with the deal.

Concern: the Walmart Effect. When Walmart moves into a community wages decrease and public assistance goes up. I know Amazon and Walmart are not the same thing, but there is a real historical pattern of mega-companies negatively impacting the communities they move into. In that respect, not all jobs are ones that benefit the community. Given that and examples set in Seattle and Wisconsin (Foxconn), It’s fair to pose these questions.

Concern: infrastructure. Amazon would be creating jobs and adding people… but can our current infrastructure withstand that? The subway is falling apart as is. If we’re subsidizing Amazon by not taxing them, how would we get the money for capital improvements? Income tax pales in comparison to corporate tax and, in my understanding, would really only be enough to maintain the status quo in services, not improve them.

Thousands of other companies have headquarters here, including Google; which — to my knowledge expanded without demanding huge subsidies. The citizens of New York raised valid concerns that neither Cuomo, DiBlasio, nor Amazon sufficiently addressed. Instead of having that conversation, Amazon called it quits.