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The HQ2 farce hurt bars and restaurants? Are you sure you aren’t just listing all the axes you like to grind?

seibelj 6y ago
Blaming greedy landlords for the plight of restaurants ignores the larger problems that are bringing the entire city to its knees. Why is the subway bankrupt and with terrible service? The seeds of this were planted well before COVID. Once the restaurants close, the tourists don’t come, Broadway has no shows, and the entire system implodes, I don’t know how NYC will pick up the pieces except a vast restructuring towards pro-growth, low tax, low regulation, and strong emphasis on rebuilding without the shackles of the current government.
- charlesu 6y ago
  Restructuring to low tax, low regulation won’t fix anything. That’s been our position at the federal level for years and it doesn’t seem to do much but lead to worse outcomes with less accountability. It does further enrich the wealthy and entrench special interests with no incentive to provide good services, though. So there’s that, I guess.
  - seibelj 6y ago
    NYC and Chicago are corrupt, bankrupt, overburdened disasters and they are seeing the fruits of their labors. It doesn't have to be this way. You can believe the wealthy caused all of these problems despite decades of Democrat rule, but it is truly the bureaucracy and government that brought them there.
    - charlesu 6y ago
      NYC is a corrupt disaster? It's one of the largest economic centers in the world. It's fine. Maybe you just don't like large cities. The MTA is struggling but it has nothing to do with "Democrat rule" and everything to do with the fact that everyone wants to build but no one wants to maintain. No one gets reelected for a maintenance project that'll improve quality of life 5-10 years from now. They get reelected for adding two new lines to an already struggling system. That's why the United States has bad infrastructure top to bottom. If the United States were a company, we'd be run by product managers perpetually trying to get promoted next performance review by releasing a new, half-assed product every single quarter.
  - wolco2 6y ago
    Lowing taxes when they are too high makes sense. Raising taxes when they are too low makes equally as much sense. Why everyone accepts one and not the other is the core issue.
- redis_mlc 6y ago
  > Once the restaurants close, the tourists don’t come, Broadway has no shows, and the entire system implodes, 6 months ago HN readers were saying things like, "We should shut down the economy so my cousin doesn't get corona." Now at least HN has moved to, "the entire system implodes." Better late than never I guess, but we're still sacrificing half our population financially, and school-age children's education, for a 0.1% fatality rate, mostly elderly people with other health issues.
Traster 6y ago
Yeah it's pretty difficult to see how you can have it both ways. Either you want HQ2 along with all the tax concessions- in which case taxes on other businesses like bars and restaurants will have to rise to recoup that lost revenue. Or you support the requirement for HQ2 to pay their taxes so that you don't have to levy unsustainable taxes on other businesses.

Blaming greedy landlords for the plight of restaurants ignores the larger problems that are bringing the entire city to its knees. Why is the subway bankrupt and with terrible service? The seeds of this were planted well before COVID. Once the restaurants close, the tourists don’t come, Broadway has no shows, and the entire system implodes, I don’t know how NYC will pick up the pieces except a vast restructuring towards pro-growth, low tax, low regulation, and strong emphasis on rebuilding without the shackles of the current government.

charlesu 6y ago
Restructuring to low tax, low regulation won’t fix anything. That’s been our position at the federal level for years and it doesn’t seem to do much but lead to worse outcomes with less accountability. It does further enrich the wealthy and entrench special interests with no incentive to provide good services, though. So there’s that, I guess.
- seibelj 6y ago
  NYC and Chicago are corrupt, bankrupt, overburdened disasters and they are seeing the fruits of their labors. It doesn't have to be this way. You can believe the wealthy caused all of these problems despite decades of Democrat rule, but it is truly the bureaucracy and government that brought them there.
  - charlesu 6y ago
    NYC is a corrupt disaster? It's one of the largest economic centers in the world. It's fine. Maybe you just don't like large cities. The MTA is struggling but it has nothing to do with "Democrat rule" and everything to do with the fact that everyone wants to build but no one wants to maintain. No one gets reelected for a maintenance project that'll improve quality of life 5-10 years from now. They get reelected for adding two new lines to an already struggling system. That's why the United States has bad infrastructure top to bottom. If the United States were a company, we'd be run by product managers perpetually trying to get promoted next performance review by releasing a new, half-assed product every single quarter.
- wolco2 6y ago
  Lowing taxes when they are too high makes sense. Raising taxes when they are too low makes equally as much sense. Why everyone accepts one and not the other is the core issue.
redis_mlc 6y ago
> Once the restaurants close, the tourists don’t come, Broadway has no shows, and the entire system implodes, 6 months ago HN readers were saying things like, "We should shut down the economy so my cousin doesn't get corona." Now at least HN has moved to, "the entire system implodes." Better late than never I guess, but we're still sacrificing half our population financially, and school-age children's education, for a 0.1% fatality rate, mostly elderly people with other health issues.

Traster 6y ago

Yeah it's pretty difficult to see how you can have it both ways. Either you want HQ2 along with all the tax concessions- in which case taxes on other businesses like bars and restaurants will have to rise to recoup that lost revenue. Or you support the requirement for HQ2 to pay their taxes so that you don't have to levy unsustainable taxes on other businesses.