Six on "our" Economy -the Bezos Edition: HQ2 Was Just a Sick Test; A First Look At Everything New York Will Give Amazon To Co
philip panaritis
"This creeping dystopia was further emboldened by the fact that a great many of the inane gestures from these cities felt like little more pandering acts for mayors and governors to show the voters that they were Trying—that their city deserved its chance to kneel before the world’s richest man and offer their humble trinkets. Supposedly progressive leaders opted to play along in the charade, feigning their hopefulness and burying their ideological disdain for being forced to participate—if such disdain ever existed—because it was the politically savvy thing to do in their eyes.
The most disheartening facet of the bidding process wasn’t the hollowness of it all, but the inevitable foolishness that these cities would be left with when Amazon went elsewhere with its business. This wasn’t as much a play or competition as it was a test—a measuring of how far local and state governments could be pushed into playing their part in a massive PR campaign that sold these job sites as a potential jackpot lottery. In reality, HQ2 was always focused on one of the six places Amazon was only ever seriously considering. And now, the two places that needed it the least will welcome Amazon into their cities with bags of gold coins, while Amazon and every other major American employer sits back and plots out how to make the cities dance again."
"In all, barring any hidden surprises, this is $1.5 billion in bonus taxpayer cash, plus perhaps another billion in as-of-right money, in exchange for importing 25,000 jobs (or $1.7 billion if it reaches 40,000 jobs). If you assume an equal number of indirect jobs for all the food truck operators who’ll be needed to feed the Amazon hordes — which Upjohn Institute for Employment Research economist Tim Bartik told us last week was a reasonable figure for a project like this — that’s comes to a cost ratio of $50,000 in subsidies per job, which is neither the best bang for the buck nor the worst.
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So did Cuomo cut a good or bad deal here for New York state? It certainly could be worse: Even at $1.7 billion, New York would be getting off easy compared to the $7 billion offered by New Jersey or the $8.5 billion by Maryland — clearly at least someone in state government realized that New York is an attractive place to plunk down your tech employees, and decided that they didn’t have to try to outbid everyone else with tax breaks."
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"There’s no specific mention of unions or union labor preferences in the written agreement between the state, city and Amazon, but de Blasio promised “you’re going to see union jobs in construction [and] building services,” and Cuomo could be expected to insist on it.
As if to confirm as much, the governor’s follow-up press release on the agreement included a quote from Gary Labarbera, president of the Building and Construction Trades Council: “We look forward to working closely with Amazon and the community to ensure that the project includes good middle-class construction jobs with benefits and high quality permanent jobs.”
Translation: The unions expect a piece of the pie.
There’s no telling how much of a union-labor premium is buried in the half-billion dollars of state capital grants Cuomo is willing to hand the company."
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"Since the news of Amazon's arrival was first reported by the New York Times, Long Island City residents have shared their concernsabout overcrowded schools, congested subways, and failing infrastructure. These effects could spill over into adjacent neighborhoods, including those on the other side of the East River.
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While many Amazon employees may look for real estate in Long Island City, others could be drawn to cheaper neighborhoods like Elmhurst, Queens, or Jackson Heights, Queens. Many more may cling to the cultural vibrancy of Brooklyn and Manhattan, which are just a subway trip away.
Here are the neighborhoods that could start swelling with HQ2 employees."
"I won’t even bother rehashing the dozens of figures both politicians rattled off as self-evident reasons why this is supposedly going to be a great thing, like the “direct and indirect” jobs and “green space” that will be created. All of them are ways to quantify the positive “impacts” to be foisted upon us if we, the taxpayers, will just overlook investing nearly $50,000 into each Amazon job created, among myriad other incentives.
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Here are just a few of the choice empty slogans deployed by Cuomo:
- The world “nucleus” to describe job creation linked to Amazon
- “You want to be ahead of the economic curve”
- “For us, it’s about being a part of the economy of tomorrow”
Then it was de Blasio’s turn. He said that “Amazon will benefit from being in an environment that’s pro-union”—without saying he’d be willing to push them an inch on labor rights—before delivering one for the ages.
“One of the biggest companies on earth next to the biggest public housing development in the United States—the synergy is going to be extraordinary,” he told reporters.
“The synergy is going to be extraordinary.”
The synergy? It’s going to be extraordinary. This will be the epithet on the mausoleum of “elected progressives,” who fail us time and time again.
During his most recent campaign—which feels like it was years ago, already—Cuomo frequently touted his reputation as a “progressive.” (“I’m not a socialist, I’m not 25 years old,” Cuomo also memorably said.) Across two campaigns, de Blasio has heralded himself as an angel of the dawning “progressive” era.
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Enough. Prostrating yourself at Jeff Bezo’s feet is not “progressive” in any sense of the word. It’s pure, unadulterated, capitalist hell, a “job creator” feather in both of their caps—and nothing more."
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