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Imagine if you ran a business. Meaning you purchased or leased a property, signed contracts and you are competing in the free market. Then along comes a compe
by throwaway_kufu 6y ago
Imagine if you ran a business. Meaning you purchased or leased a property, signed contracts and you are competing in the free market.
Then along comes a competitor and your local government gives them $1B+ in grants (consisting of the taxes you pay) they use to buy a property and they get $1B+ in tax credits.
You may think highly of yourself and your business but you can’t outcompete that and they will drive you out of business using in part your taxes to do it. If you don’t call that anti-business it’s at least anti-competitive.
- refurb 6y agoMy understanding what Amazon was offered what any other country would be eligible for if they undertook that size of a relocation. And anti-competitive? Having more jobs in NYC? That’s actually good for workers, not bad. More competition.
- tovej 6y agoWe're talking about competing businesses not workers. And funny enough, more jobs at Amazon also means less worker supply for competing businesses. So even that is anti-competitive in a roundabout way. (Even though, yes, high worker demand is good for the economy in general).
- refurb 6y agoYes, but competition between business can be good for consumers and employees. So not sure if your comment about "so bad for business" is all that clear cut. And whether or not Amazon creates HQ2 to NYC, does that impact their competitiveness with local NYC businesses? I doubt it.
- tovej 6y agoCompetition is good, Amazon's practices are bad for competition. Inviting Amazon to NYC with tax incentives is similar to planting a great white shark in a small lake, injecting the local fish with sedatives and the shark with a mix of steroids and stimulants.