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Why federal government (that's article's argument) should be in the business of deciding what kind of agreement local government and private company had reached

Why federal government (that's article's argument) should be in the business of deciding what kind of agreement local government and private company had reached? Whenever feds post RFPs for their projects, they put a lot of conditions that company must comply with in order to even be considered. How is this different from what Amazon does? Amazon has fiduciary duty to their shareholders; local governments have responsibility to their constituents. If both are aligned - why anybody else should have a say in the matter? You may like or dislike the contract, but as long as both parties are not coerced into the contract (surprise: the city can opt out from bidding!), who cares? The last thing this country needs is more fed involvement.

dragonwriter 8y ago
> Why federal government (that's article's argument) should be in the business of deciding what kind of agreement local government and private company had reached? Assuming the private company isn't doing purely in-state business, the Commerce Clause, and, if it's not either a natural person or an in-state entity, insofar as corporations and other artificial juridical persons are creatures of the chartering governments, the Compact Clause.
- jimbobimbo 8y ago
  Sure. Only the moment federal govt decides to use that to restrict Amazon's (any company's, really) ability to choose locations, said location will be moved outside of US altogether. Who'll benefit from that?
  - dragonwriter 8y ago
    The federal government already uses it's commerce clause powers in a way which limits the range of wage and working condition arbitrage between domestic jurisdictions; this limitation clearly hasn't stopped all new facilities from being sited in the US, even though it limits what deals jurisdictions can cut to attract facilities. The idea that limiting other race-to-the-bottom avenues similarly would inherently being catastrophic is not supported by good reasoning or evidence.
  - Apocryphon 8y ago
    Tech companies are so constrained to the West Coast that the HQ2 talent show was a big deal in the first place. It's incredibly doubtful that they have the capacity or the will to move outside the U.S.
    - jimbobimbo 8y ago
      Canada is right around the corner.
      - Apocryphon 8y ago
        If Amazon had wanted Toronto for HQ2 they would have chosen Toronto for HQ2.

dragonwriter 8y ago

> Why federal government (that's article's argument) should be in the business of deciding what kind of agreement local government and private company had reached? Assuming the private company isn't doing purely in-state business, the Commerce Clause, and, if it's not either a natural person or an in-state entity, insofar as corporations and other artificial juridical persons are creatures of the chartering governments, the Compact Clause.

jimbobimbo 8y ago
Sure. Only the moment federal govt decides to use that to restrict Amazon's (any company's, really) ability to choose locations, said location will be moved outside of US altogether. Who'll benefit from that?
- dragonwriter 8y ago
  The federal government already uses it's commerce clause powers in a way which limits the range of wage and working condition arbitrage between domestic jurisdictions; this limitation clearly hasn't stopped all new facilities from being sited in the US, even though it limits what deals jurisdictions can cut to attract facilities. The idea that limiting other race-to-the-bottom avenues similarly would inherently being catastrophic is not supported by good reasoning or evidence.
- Apocryphon 8y ago
  Tech companies are so constrained to the West Coast that the HQ2 talent show was a big deal in the first place. It's incredibly doubtful that they have the capacity or the will to move outside the U.S.
  - jimbobimbo 8y ago
    Canada is right around the corner.
    - Apocryphon 8y ago
      If Amazon had wanted Toronto for HQ2 they would have chosen Toronto for HQ2.