
Amazon Is Waging Class War - jrepinc
https://jacobinmag.com/2019/02/amazon-hq2-nyc-capital-strike-investment
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49531
I lived in seattle during the city council’s employment tax. It was wild how
many canvassing yuppies amazon had on the streets trying to get folks to sign
their petition.

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skrueger
Actually I think someone hired a company to do the petitioning.

~~~
49531
Someone being amazon.

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mc32
Am I wrong in thinking that the election of progressives who were vocally
against AMZ HQ2 in LIC the reason mentioned by AMZ as well as NY State gov't
(Dem) officials including Cuomo[1]? And not only that but progressives claimed
"Victory"[2] at the announced departure. So it's like Author is trying to
blame Capital but Progressives are claiming victory themselves for the pullout
--which is contra.

Obviously AMZ was shifty in its (private) dealings with State officials, but
you don't cut your nose to spite your face as progressives did.

This quote is fascinating and I think is indicative of the myopia in the
article: "...Capital strikes we look at cases directed against leftist
governments in weak and poor countries of the "global south". Capitalists
stopped investing in Venezuela the minute Hugo Chavez became president..."

I think they began pulling out because he confiscated and nationalized
companies and industries.

Also, VZ was the richest country in the South American continent --not the
"poor" country, at the time they claim. Chavez and his pals made it poor.

[1][https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2019/02/cuomo-blames-
other...](https://www.syracuse.com/politics/2019/02/cuomo-blames-other-dems-
for-amazon-exit-as-aoc-celebrates.html)

[2][https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-new-york-
polit...](https://www.reuters.com/article/us-amazon-com-new-york-politics/as-
amazon-drops-new-york-city-project-progressives-claim-a-major-coup-
idUSKCN1Q332P)

~~~
gamblor956
You're trying to make it a "progessive" or "Democratic" thing when it was
really an anti-gentrification thing. After all, North Virginia is heavily
Democratic and they welcomed Amazon with open arms. Amazon's existing
officials are nearly _all_ in heavily Democratic cities, and Seattle, it's HQ,
is one of the most progressive cities in the US.

Queens and Long Island did not need Amazon HQ2 in the neighborhood that Amazon
wanted to put HQ2. It would have ruined traffic and driven up housing prices
for the 99% of residents who wouldn't work at Amazon, and the tax credits
would have resulted in a net tax loss because the tax credits would have far
exceeded the expected tax revenue from the _net_ jobs Amazon would have
created in that neighborhood (compared to the jobs that would have been
created if Amazon did not move there).

 _VZ was the richest country in the South American continent --not the "poor"
country, at the time they claim_

This was the result of cronyism and vote-buying political programs. Like what
the Trump administration is trying to doing right now...Communism and
socialism had very little to do with it; after all, most Scandinavian nations
have extremely socialist policies, and China, Cuba, and Vietnam have been
doing fine and even thriving despite being Communist nations.

~~~
mc32
It wasn't a Dem thing, it was a progressive thing. Cuomo, DeBlasio, et al are
Dems. They clamored and campaigned for it. It was the new Progs who killed it.
AMZ didn't stick it to NYC/NYS so much as the new Progs actively killed it
(Read what Cuomo has said).

VZ: Author claims it was poor. It was rich prior to Chavez, regardless if he
and the state were true Communists or fakers loved by Bernie.

According to this polling[1], there was strong support across the board in
NYC, and Queens in particular for HQ2.

[1][https://harrisx.com/2019/02/new-poll-shows-overwhelming-
supp...](https://harrisx.com/2019/02/new-poll-shows-overwhelming-support-
among-new-yorkers-and-queens-residents-for-amazons-new-headquarters/)

