
Shaken by Amazon’s rejection, some cities ponder what went wrong - rb808
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/cities-spurned-by-amazonwonder-if-it-was-all-a-charade/2018/11/15/9c32ac2a-e783-11e8-b8dc-66cca409c180_story.html
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elliekelly
Nothing went wrong. They dodged a bullet. Tax breaks to "create" jobs, public
financing of professional sports stadiums, hosting the olympics. None of these
are good investments of public funds. They aren't even mediocre investments.
They're bad for everyone but corporate beneficiaries and the politician who
gets to pretend he or she did something useful for five minutes.

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longerthoughts
This has always been my gut feeling about these deals but happen to know of
any research highlighting the observed results?

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elliekelly
I actually just came across this one this morning and happen to have it open
in a tab. I'm only about halfway through but it's really interesting. They
mention that some states have constitutional clauses that would seem to
prohibit these sorts of arrangements altogether. I'm planning to check Westlaw
to see if anyone has ever brought suit alleging the breaks to be
unconstitutional but I haven't had a chance yet.

[https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/farren_and_philpot_-
_p...](https://www.mercatus.org/system/files/farren_and_philpot_-
_policy_brief_-_amazon_hq2_the_story_so_far_-_v1.pdf)

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bediger4000
The astronomical tax breaks and other perks that these companies get when
relocating or building new seem a little strange when I think about it.
Municipalities are going to have to deal with fallout from 50,000 new people,
for example. Road use will go up, traffic patterns will change, maybe require
more first responders, sewer, utility usage will go up, there may be
environmental concerns.

What justifies giving out the perks (and probably bribes, if we're being
totally honest) in light of the real costs to municipalities that get a
relocated or new multinational? Is it all just increased tax revenue on the
new jobs brought in? Because we should say that's the economic benefit. It's
not at all clear right now. As a resident of Denver, one of the semifinalists,
I think, I was watching this pretty closely locally, and we just got phrases
like "economic benefits". Nothing specific.

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elliekelly
I just read this interesting (and frankly, absurd) article about the creative
"concessions" offered by various cities. Unfortunately this seems to go well
beyond tax breaks. Though the tax breaks are pretty ridiculous it's just the
tip of the iceberg. I would guess most taxpayers would oppose spending
precious funds on: free zoo tickets, a private Amazon airport lounge, and free
pet microchipping for new employees, among other ridiculous perks.

[https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/14/amazon-
ne...](https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/nov/14/amazon-next-
headquarters-losing-city-bids-what-offered)

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dugluak
how can one private company have so much power?

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cremp
They just threw the words '50k jobs, economy, and did I mention jobs?' in
there, and that's all it took.

I'd bet that the same thing would happen if Microsoft, Apple, Google, or any
other number of big tech firms decided to 'branch out.'

