Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is 100% Correct on Crony Capitalism
- Thread starter wvkeeper(HN)
- Start date
There is a lot of overlap in the complaints of Tea Party types and Ocasio-Cortez types when it comes to this kind of crony capitalism.
Been interesting watching the free market boosters in my timeline writing at places like National Review, The Weekly Standard, and other conservative outlets condemn these kinds of handouts to big business while also seeing "socialists" doing it as well.
But this is a huge YIMBY problem. No one "likes" it until it comes to their town. (See BMW in SC for a Red-State corollary to the Blue-State cronyism of Cuomo and Northam on Amazon).
Been interesting watching the free market boosters in my timeline writing at places like National Review, The Weekly Standard, and other conservative outlets condemn these kinds of handouts to big business while also seeing "socialists" doing it as well.
But this is a huge YIMBY problem. No one "likes" it until it comes to their town. (See BMW in SC for a Red-State corollary to the Blue-State cronyism of Cuomo and Northam on Amazon).
And then the locals blame the local politicians (whose hands are tied) when services don't keep up with the growth.
If I held local office and something this big with this kind of deal opened, I would not run for re-election.
I haven't read what they are offering Amazon, but 50,000 jobs at an average salary of $150,000 means $7.5 billion in payroll. The combined city state income tax rate is right around 10%, which means $750,000,000 in annual tax revenue. That doesn't include sales tax and all the other taxes NYC sneaks in on you. I would say Amazon would have a billion dollar a year revenue contribution.
I tell you what Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft should do. They should all join together and build "the city of the future". Go buy several hundred thousand acres somewhere in the west, build all the infrastructure from scratch and in a sustainable fashion. Bring in developers to build the housing, office buildings, retail, etc. and own everything. Smart houses, smart roads, everything prewired, incorporate solar and wind into everything. They could own all the utilities, no crumbling infrastructure to worry about, pedestrian friendly, planned parks and green spaces, the whole 9 yards. They could buy an NFL, NBA, and MLB franchise to move there. Heck, they could start their own tech college and business school. People would flock from everywhere to live and work there and it would just be a very modern company town. They could even start their own bank and have a monopoly.
I tell you what Amazon, Google, Apple and Microsoft should do. They should all join together and build "the city of the future". Go buy several hundred thousand acres somewhere in the west, build all the infrastructure from scratch and in a sustainable fashion. Bring in developers to build the housing, office buildings, retail, etc. and own everything. Smart houses, smart roads, everything prewired, incorporate solar and wind into everything. They could own all the utilities, no crumbling infrastructure to worry about, pedestrian friendly, planned parks and green spaces, the whole 9 yards. They could buy an NFL, NBA, and MLB franchise to move there. Heck, they could start their own tech college and business school. People would flock from everywhere to live and work there and it would just be a very modern company town. They could even start their own bank and have a monopoly.
Not really arguing and I’m sure that pay and work conditions are good in corporate office settings, but I’ve read a lot lately about the horrid working conditions at Amazon especially the fulfillment centers. Things like forcing employees to clock out when they go to the bathroom and employees being ridiculed for seeking medical help when they pass out from the extreme heat in the warehouses . This article from earlier this year addresses their pay...
https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/19/technology/amazon-employee-salary/index.html
This from the article...
Amazon (AMZN) disclosed in a filing Wednesday that the median pay for its employees was just $28,446 in 2017. Put another way: half of Amazon's employees earned less than that amount.
The underwhelming figure was made public as part of a new rule put into effect this year by the Securities and Exchange Commission requiring companies to disclose the pay ratio between their CEOs and overall employees.
Jeff Bezos, Amazon's CEO and the world's richest man, received a total compensation of about $1.68 million last year -- or 59 times the median Amazon employee compensation.
Call it a tale of two Amazons: those who work in technical roles and those who work in warehouses and grocery stores.
Amazon said in a statement provided to CNN that the median pay includes "part-time, full-time, and seasonal jobs in over 50 countries."
"In the U.S., the average hourly wage for a full-time associate in our fulfillment centers, including cash, stock, and incentive bonuses, is over $15/hour before overtime," the company said.
A simple google uncovers countless stories of abuses. I agree that when you consider the ongoing state and local payroll taxes as well as impact in construction jobs, etc. that people would desire location to their area, but I don’t think this is a panacea for the workers.
Here are just a few articles...
https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-share-their-horror-stories-2018-4
https://m.slashdot.org/story/339853
https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17243026/amazon-warehouse-jobs-worker-conditions-bathroom-breaks
I've heard some really shitty first-hand stories about the warehouses.
