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Ruth Graham, a writer for Slate, commented on this this morning[0]: " A sword was brought & Bezos said “Cut HQ2 in half. Each of you can have part of it.” “P
by RubenSandwich 8y ago
Ruth Graham, a writer for Slate, commented on this this morning[0]:
"
A sword was brought & Bezos said “Cut HQ2 in half. Each of you can have part of it.”
“Please don’t split HQ2,” the true host city screamed.
“Go ahead, cut it in half," the other city said.
Bezos pointed to the first city. “This is the real host. Put the headquarters here.”
"
It makes me wonder if this is another negotiation tatic by Amazon to get the final city to shell out more incentives.
[0] https://twitter.com/publicroad/status/1059533656694362115 https://twitter.com/publicroad/status/1059533656694362115
- mcphage 8y ago> It makes me wonder if this is another negotiation tatic by Amazon to get the final city to shell out more incentives. Alternately, Amazon has liked pitting cities against each other so much, that they decided to keep doing it forever. "City A, we're looking to start a major new project up. City B is willing to offer X, Y, and Z if we launch it in the City B office, are you willing to beat that for us to open it in your office?"
- dunpeal 8y agoThis makes the most sense by far. It gives them more negotiating power, and a lot more flexibility.
- hnmonkey 8y agoAgreed. It certainly seems like this is the case and the end result would be both cities lurching towards becoming massively under Amazon's powerful thumb and dependent on it in the long run (think the Walmart method of dealing with businesses but... slightly bigger).
- newfocogi 8y agoHumorous and insightful, the best kind of commentary. For those who aren't familiar with the reference: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Solomon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judgment_of_Solomon
- dpflan 8y agoI suspect you are correct; this is a way to make the two cities compete to please / to accommodate / to benefit Amazon and get the headlines that they are Amazon's choice for X, Y, Z reason. Amazon's gravity is quite strong, and its tactics very honed.
- randyrand 8y agoI wish all cities competed for residents in this way. I think it would drastically improve our government if there was an actually significant risk of people leaving when the government messed up.
- johan_larson 8y agoIt has happened. Remember White Flight?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- randyrand 8y agoYes that a pretty good example, even if it hasn't held up well with modern day morality.
- southphillyman 8y agoAre you referring to the GI Bills that allowed flight to new suburban developments or something else?
- danans 8y agoWhite flight refers to white residents (and usually with it, investment) leaving racially-mixed American cities for the racially homogeneous suburbs en-masse during the civil rights movement and the race-riots that occurred in major cities toward the end of that era. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/White_flight
- 8y ago
- poulsbohemian 8y ago>It makes me wonder if this is another negotiation tatic by Amazon to get the final city to shell out more incentives. Especially given that they are ramping up offices in Vancouver, BC, Northern Virginia, they have a presence in Austin thanks to Whole Foods, and probably other locations I'm forgetting off the top of my head, it has seemed to me like this "HQ2" business is somewhat of a red herring. Even if they do anoint some city as "HQ2" they've already put their eggs into more than one basket.