Amazon Ditches it's second HQ in NYC because of Politics.

[zenkai]

Source

The fallout from Amazon's decision to walk away from its planned headquarters in New York is ratcheting up after a company spokesman publicly blasted Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other lawmakers, saying they had made it a hostile environment to do business.

"If you talk to Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, it's 'Never Amazon,'" Jodi Seth, the head of policy communications for Amazon, told NBC News in an interview on Thursday. "If you talk to [New York City Councilman Jimmy] Van Bramer, it's unions."

Seth added that "it wasn't any one incident" that drove the Seattle-based tech giant to its decision, adding that the virulent political discourse that occurred over the past three months was what led to the decision. "It was that the environment over the course of the past three months had not got any better. There were some local and state elected officials who refused to meet with Amazon and criticized us day in and day out about the plan," she said in the interview.


Seth, who has been at Amazon since October 2017 according to her LinkedIn profile, said the company did not know whether the "deal would be approved until a year from now," but said it was "pretty confident" in the approval, mentioning that New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo "was working hard to make it happen, but looking at the opposition and the timeline we decided we don't want to work in this environment in the long term."
Amazon pulls plug on New York City HQ after backlashVideo

In a fiery statement on Thursday, Cuomo blamed the shocking decision on socialist democratic darling Ocasio-Cortez and others like her.

"[A] small group [of] politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community – which poll after poll showed overwhelmingly supported bringing Amazon to Long Island City – the state's economic future and the best interests of the people of this state," Cuomo said publicly. "The New York State Senate has done tremendous damage. They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity."

Upon hearing the news, Ocasio-Cortez, who has an undergraduate degree in international relations and economics, cheered Amazon's decision.

Ocasio-Cortez's reaction led to significant blowback on social media from prominent businessmen and economists across the political spectrum. The lost jobs would have paid on average $150,000 per year.

Amazon, which currently employs 8,000 people in the state, according to NBC, said it would disperse the 25,000 jobs throughout its 17 corporate offices and tech hubs in the U.S. and Canada, including some in New York. However, Seth added that Amazon does not intend to re-open talks with New York lawmakers and does not intend to find another headquarters for the jobs.


"That's pretty firm," Seth told the news outlet.

Amazon said it would proceed as planned with the second part of its HQ2, which will be built in Northern Virginia, as well as its distribution center that it said it would open in Nashville.

In addition to the 25,000 jobs, Amazon would've brought $2.5 billion in investment and eventually 8 million square feet of office space to Long Island City as part of the deal announced last November.


The Jeff Bezos-led company said it would have generated "incremental tax revenue of more than $10 billion over the next 20 years as a result of [its] investment and job creation."

I think NYC just lost out big time, elections should be interesting in the next cycle.

[Ryme]

I look forward to the flip flopping on how to deal with tech giants we're about to witness in this thread; the power of mentioning AOC.

[Soeroah]

From what I hear it was New York citizens grouping together to demand Amazon not be allowed in, rather than the unilateral decision of politicians.

[Kathandira]

The big mean AOC doesn't bow down to the corporate giant..booo hoo. lol

[Scathbais]

From what I hear it was New York citizens grouping together to demand Amazon not be allowed in, rather than the unilateral decision of politicians.

From what I hear, it was a narrow group of local politicians and state senators (all democrats) and that the majority of residents were in favor of HQ2. Local businesses and residents are the real losers here as Amazon won't be investing in Long Island City and won't be bringing 40,000 jobs with an average salary of $150,000 to the region.
AOC thinks that by stopping HQ2, $3 billion will magically appear in New York's coffers, which demonstrates how out of touch with reality she really is.

[XDurionX]

The decision was purely based on greed, because the tax cuts NY offered them weren't big enough, don't act as if this is based on anything else.

[vindicatorx]

From what I hear it was New York citizens grouping together to demand Amazon not be allowed in, rather than the unilateral decision of politicians.

Well it's similar on what happened in Colorado. Certain politicians really pushed to get that shipping center there and since tit came in they have done nothing but complain about Amazon.

[schwank05]

I'd say got to Texas, I would love to move our Business there. Aside from the amazing weather, the business climate there is amazing.

[Soeroah]

From what I hear, it was a narrow group of local politicians and state senators (all democrats) and that the majority of residents were in favor of HQ2. Local businesses and residents are the real losers here as Amazon won't be investing in Long Island City and won't be bringing 40,000 jobs with an average salary of $150,000 to the region.
AOC thinks that by stopping HQ2, $3 billion will magically appear in New York's coffers, which demonstrates how out of touch with reality she really is.

Eh, I don't think a company run by the richest guy in the world should be able to demand tax concessions in return for gracing a state with its presence, however beneficial it may be. I was under the impression big businesses are successful entirely on their own without any societal assistance, according to those threads about taxing the rich.

[Thage]

The decision was purely based on greed, because the tax cuts NY offered them weren't big enough, don't act as if this is based on anything else.

Butbutbutbut AOC reeeeeeee--

[Endus]

Yes, it's so unfortunate when a politician stands up for the people who voted for her, rather than submitting to the whims of an international megacorporation.

Tragic.

slash-fucking-S.

[NED funded]

The big mean AOC doesn't bow down to the corporate giant..booo hoo. lol

It literally enjoyed popular support from residents of NYC lol. She is actively fucking her own constituents.

[oplawlz]

From what I hear it was New York citizens grouping together to demand Amazon not be allowed in, rather than the unilateral decision of politicians.

Blatantly false. The support from citizens was nearly universal outside a very small nutty contingent of people. This was a lot of jobs and a lot of tax revenue that was already being earmarked for social programs.

[urasim]

Are we supposed to feel bad for corporations? I thought they were the ones who keep pushing for cheap illegal labor and immigrants?

Businesses in the UK are also leaving because of Brexit? Are they the good guys or the bad guys? I cant keep up.

You know when they leave the state loses a ton of money. Hard to create a socialist utopia without the proper funds.

[oplawlz]

Eh, I don't think a company run by the richest guy in the world should be able to demand tax concessions in return for gracing a state with its presence, however beneficial it may be. I was under the impression big businesses are successful entirely on their own without any societal assistance, according to those threads about taxing the rich.

Okay, so lets walk through this. The state could have 10 BILLION in tax revenue, but it's better to turn it away because it wasn't 12?

[Jotaux]

Does it really matter? They are going to disperse the jobs throughout their other locations anyways so its not like jobs were lost.

[Prokne]

It would be interesting to see what would happen if there was no $3billion tax deal to get Amazon. That is only one of the drawbacks, but the one that it brought up the most. Along with Amazon would probably also come a large rise in real estate prices which would push out the people already living there (and probably the smaller businesses too). People think that those 25k jobs are all going to people living in Long Island and that is not likely what would happen. Some would, but most would go to people from somewhere else. So the people already living there would not make more money, would not be able to pay their increased property tax, and would have to move. That is why it is unpopular with people.

Anyway, I would like states and cities to stop giving these tax breaks to get businesses to locate jobs in their area. In most cases, they lose out because they are never going to recoup the money in increased income tax and other tax revenue, or at least, not for a really long time. Most of these places could use the money to better their infrastructure, which would make living conditions better and attract business. And it's not like the businesses need that money. It's basically a bribe to get an already rich company that is already going to make money to make a politician's job rating go up.

[prwraith]

What amazon is doing should be illegal. They're literally strongarming the government to cut their taxes and subsidize their company.

This should be absolutely illegal. (i realize other companies do it, should be illegal for any company, and any local / state / federal government)

[Revi]

It's so surreal to me how the front of a major corporation can go on the news in the US and lay unions out to be a bad thing, and get away with it.

[alturic]

I think NYC just lost out big time, elections should be interesting in the next cycle.

Of course they did, the smart people (yes, even some Democrats) realize this. The SJW's don't realize it yet though.

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What amazon is doing should be illegal. They're literally strongarming the government to cut their taxes and subsidize their company.

This should be absolutely illegal. (i realize other companies do it, should be illegal for any company, and any local / state / federal government)

Every large company in history has done this. In Pennsylvania, we have "Keystone Opportunity Zones", which is the state pro-actively telling companies "if you come here, enjoy the tax breaks".