Amazon To Not Build 2nd HQ in New York

[s0me0nesmind1]

Play Stupid Games - Win stupid prizes

I'm not exactly in favor of states offering tax advantages - but it is what it is and states have to compete with one another. Personally I'm in favor of outlawing tax advantages to specific companies - but that's a different discussion. New York and their citizens are god awfully fucking dumb.

Amazon says it will not build a headquarters in New York following mounting opposition, Reuters reported.

Last week, The Washington Post first reported that Amazon executives were considering backing out of its planned move to New York City.

This story is developing. Please check back for updates.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/ama...fter-mounting-opposition-reuters-reports.html

 

[fskimospy]

Play Stupid Games - Win stupid prizes

I'm not exactly in favor of states offering tax advantages - but it is what it is and states have to compete with one another. Personally I'm in favor of outlawing tax advantages to specific companies - but that's a different discussion. New York and their citizens are god awfully fucking dumb.

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/02/14/ama...fter-mounting-opposition-reuters-reports.html

Yes, while I think we should probably implement federal legislation to ban these sort of incentives this was unbelievably stupid on the part of people in NYC.

They were literally fighting against billions of dollars in investment and tens of thousands of good paying jobs based on the idea that having more money and more good jobs would increase rents.

Higher rents are a problem. Build more housing? NO! Get rid of good paying jobs? YES.

 

[Vic]

Yes, the Financial Capital of the World, and all of its people, every last one of them, is dumb.

 

[Moonbeam]

I think Amazon may need to be broken up. It's like a fungus that is growing its mycelium into everything

 

[K1052]

Yes, while I think we should probably implement federal legislation to ban these sort of incentives this was unbelievably stupid on the part of people in NYC.

They were literally fighting against billions of dollars in investment and tens of thousands of good paying jobs based on the idea that having more money and more good jobs would increase rents.

Higher rents are a problem. Build more housing? NO! Get rid of good paying jobs? YES.

I thought this could happen once they announced NYC. Amazon did not really think through the possible PR downsides of the contest they ran. They could have quietly done the same thing and still pocketed many/most of the incentives. Nobody does it like this for a reason.

 

[Moonbeam]

Yes, while I think we should probably implement federal legislation to ban these sort of incentives this was unbelievably stupid on the part of people in NYC.

They were literally fighting against billions of dollars in investment and tens of thousands of good paying jobs based on the idea that having more money and more good jobs would increase rents.

Higher rents are a problem. Build more housing? NO! Get rid of good paying jobs? YES.

The people who do not want higher paying jobs also do not want higher housing density. Your solution may work if you can change human nature. We evolved on the savanna and have a thing about open space. Of course, people who were born in cities and have never smelled a rose in a rose garden, may have had those instincts blunted. It's not just conservatives, it seems, who ignore evolutionary biology and invent left brain ideologies that do not comport why our inner reality. My opinion, of course.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread;
And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

 

[theeedude]

New York really dodged a bullet on this one, good for them.

There are currently over 5,000 Amazon employees in Brooklyn, Manhattan, and Staten Island, and we plan to continue growing these teams.

Why buy the cow if you get the milk for free?

 

[sportage]

I think Amazon may need to be broken up. It's like a fungus that is growing its mycelium into everything

Maybe Amazon will start building brick and mortar stores nation wide, like Walmart does,
THAT should kill them off. Amazon that is.

 

[1prophet]

Trump is the greatest gift for rich liberals like Bezo's,

https://www.esquire.com/news-politics/a19669646/trump-amazon-bezos-washington-post/

It is painfully obvious that Trump's Amazon beef is all about WaPo's coverage. But this is also a sad coincidence we've seen before: Trump has stumbled on an actual issue for all the wrong reasons—personal, petty ones—and so will fail to fully digest why Amazon is worthy of criticism. Amazon is foremost among the dangerous tech monopolies exercising incredible power with little accountability in our society.

As Scott Galloway wrote in Esquire in a plea to break up the so-called Big Four:

Amazon has become such a dominant force that it’s now able to perform Jedi mind tricks and inflict pain on potential competitors before it enters the market. Consumer stocks used to trade on two key signals: the underlying performance of the firm (Pottery Barn’s sales per square foot are up 10 percent) and the economic macro-climate (more housing starts). Now, however, private and public investors have added a third key signal: what Amazon may or may not do in the respective sector.​

The day Amazon announced it would enter the dental-supply business, dental-supply companies’ stock fell 4 to 5 percent. When Amazon reported it would sell prescription drugs, pharmacy stocks fell 3 to 5 percent. Within twenty-four hours of the Amazon– Whole Foods acquisition announcement, large national grocery stocks fell 5 to 9 percent.​

 

[theeedude]

Play Stupid Games - Win stupid prizes

I'm not exactly in favor of states offering tax advantages - but it is what it is and states have to compete with one another.

Nope. Amazon is hiring like crazy here in Silicon Valley with no tax subsidies and no phony "HQ". Here is a hint, there is no such thing as second or third headquarters. It's a participation trophy. What the states have to compete on in order to get these tech giants is educating a good tech workforce and/or being welcoming to immigrants who want to work for tech. Every dollar they spend on subsidies is much better spent on math/science/engineering education. Amazon will still be hiring in NY, and NY won't have to pay a billion for a silly "HQ" sticker.

 

[fskimospy]

The people who do not want higher paying jobs also do not want higher housing density. Your solution may work if you can change human nature. We evolved on the savanna and have a thing about open space. Of course, people who were born in cities and have never smelled a rose in a rose garden, may have had those instincts blunted. It's not just conservatives, it seems, who ignore evolutionary biology and invent left brain ideologies that do not comport why our inner reality. My opinion, of course.

There was an old woman who lived in a shoe.
She had so many children, she didn't know what to do.
She gave them some broth without any bread;
And whipped them all soundly and put them to bed.

If you look at the breakdown of support/opposition to the amazon deal it was basically the poorer and browner people in Queens and the Bronx who wanted Amazon to come and the richer and whiter people in Brooklyn and Manhattan who opposed it.

So no, the people who wanted higher paying jobs did want it. The people who already had higher paying jobs didn't. This is just what I've always been trying to tell you.

 

[trenchfoot]

Sure would have been very interesting to be the proverbial fly on the wall during those negotiations between Amazon and the NY authorities handling the negotiations.

It seems to me Amazon represented a major problem to some folks whose tight control over the inner workings of the city/state were being threatened by the sheer power and influence that Amazon wields. I think these folks wanted more control over how Amazon would fit itself inside the "local culture" that Amazon refused to give in to and importantly so, how big a slice of the revenue pie these folks were going to get from Amazon. Skids and unseen palms needed to be greased under the table, "royalties" needed to be offered up or no deal. You know, typical business as usual stuff.

I suspect some conservatives out there will, in classic knee jerk fashion blame this parting of ways on the unions operating in the state.

 

[theeedude]

If you look at the breakdown of support/opposition to the amazon deal it was basically the poorer and browner people in Queens and the Bronx who wanted Amazon to come and the richer and whiter people in Brooklyn and Manhattan who opposed it.
So no, the people who wanted higher paying jobs did want it. The people who already had higher paying jobs didn't. This is just what I've always been trying to tell you.

They should come to Silicon Valley and see what will happen to their rents when big tech moves in. Programmers are going to be making $200K+ and they can afford $5K per month rents and mortgages. Little guy doing regular work is just going to be working for his landlord.

 

[zinfamous]

Yes, the Financial Capital of the World, and all of its people, every last one of them, is dumb.

Don't you mean London? ......oh wait, lol. NVM, carry on.

 

[sandorski]

A $Multi-Billion company should pay for its' own HQ/Warehouse/Store/Whatever. Those that don't are the real Welfare Queens.

 

[fskimospy]

They should come to Silicon Valley and see what will happen to their rents when big tech moves in. Programmers are going to be making $200K+ and they can afford $5K per month rents and mortgages. Little guy doing regular work is just going to be working for his landlord.

Sounds like they might want to build more houses in both New York and Silicon Valley then.

Just a thought.

 

[theeedude]

Sounds like they might want to build more houses in both New York and Silicon Valley then.
Just a thought.

That takes years. By that time, those areas are going to be long gentrified.

 

[fskimospy]

That takes years. By that time, those areas are going to be long gentrified.

It takes years to build an Amazon headquarters too. I mean these areas should have been building huge numbers of houses for the last few decades with or without tech companies being there.

It really says something about how broken zoning and housing policy is in areas like NYC where people are actively chasing away tens of thousands of good paying jobs.

 

[K1052]

That takes years. By that time, those areas are going to be long gentrified.

Cites really should be required to approve a certain amount of housing units per square feet of office development they give the nod to. Want to approve 1M square feet of office space then at the same time you're got to do entitlements for 10K housing units.

 

[theeedude]

It takes years to build an Amazon headquarters too. I mean these areas should have been building huge numbers of houses for the last few decades with or without tech companies being there.

It really says something about how broken zoning and housing policy is in areas like NYC where people are actively chasing away tens of thousands of good paying jobs.

Look at Seattle, look at SF/Silicon Valley, same thing would have happened in NYC. And it probably still will, because Amazon will continue hiring there, they can't afford to pass up the talent. But at least the local taxes won't be subsidizing it.

 

[IronWing]

It takes years to build an Amazon headquarters too. I mean these areas should have been building huge numbers of houses for the last few decades with or without tech companies being there.

It really says something about how broken zoning and housing policy is in areas like NYC where people are actively chasing away tens of thousands of good paying jobs.

How much stock did you buy in house builders anyway?

 

[theeedude]

The whole concept of building headquarters and attracting tens of thousands of people into small areas is bankrupt and part of why the US doesn't like big tech anymore. You got areas where big tech writes off, and then there are areas where they pack everyone in like sardines. So you got miserable people in both places for different reasons. How about finding out where tech workers want to live and building smaller satellite offices in more places?

 

[fskimospy]

How much stock did you buy in house builders anyway?

Zero! In fact as a homeowner the fewer houses they build in NYC the more money I make.

The problem is that this lack of homebuilding is causing massive suffering for thousands or millions of people. I'm not that selfish.

 

[IronWing]

Zero! In fact as a homeowner the fewer houses they build in NYC the more money I make.

The problem is that this lack of homebuilding is causing massive suffering for thousands or millions of people. I'm not that selfish.

Your shtick is as dumb as it is tiresome.

 

[IronWing]

The whole concept of building headquarters and attracting tens of thousands of people into small areas is bankrupt and part of why the US doesn't like big tech anymore. You got areas where big tech writes off, and then there are areas where they pack everyone in like sardines. So you got miserable people in both places for different reasons. How about finding out where tech workers want to live and building smaller satellite offices in more places?

How would they ever communicate?