5 ms·

Businesses need to operate somewhere - if local governments stand strong we all win. If your local government caves to the wave of lobbying cocktail parties an

by munk-a 3y ago

Businesses need to operate somewhere - if local governments stand strong we all win. If your local government caves to the wave of lobbying cocktail parties and PAC money injection, please vote them out. The costs we levy on businesses to operate in the US are extremely affordable and fair - giving them further discounts and rebates does nothing but enrich investors.

LightBug1 3y ago
There is no 'stand strong' when the federal system encourages competition. Maybe that's a good thing. But specifically not with regards to state subsidies. They shouldn't be competed away at the demands of business, but used with purpose. Subsidies (or anything which quacks like a subsidy) should be regulated so this nonsense doesn't happen.
- munk-a 3y ago
  I agree entirely - these sorts of subsidies can be extremely effective at uplifting job markets by, as an example, attracting a large company to build a manufacturing plant in a specific rural area that recently lost their main employer... To NYC even something as large as HQ2 is just a drop in the employment bucket.
- paxys 3y ago
  Yup. It's crazy that you can be a business operating in a certain jurisdiction and following all the rules and the government can just decide (based on backroom deals) that your biggest competitor now needs to pay no taxes. Literally legalized corruption. At minimum all such policies need to apply uniformly across the board.
- SrslyJosh 3y ago
  > Subsidies (or anything which quacks like a subsidy) should be regulated so this nonsense doesn't happen. 1000x this. Every news story about these subsidies eventually becomes "we gave BigCorp a $5 billion tax break and they opened a facility that employs 50 people."
oldpersonintx 3y ago
[dead]
ueahoknof 3y ago
[flagged]
hahajhiggg 3y ago
[dead]
fullshark 3y ago
I can't vote anyone out, just ignoring all of this remains the optimal strategy for my own sanity.
Ajay-p 3y ago
..And theoretically that somewhere could be anywhere, even outside of the country.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
stale2002 3y ago
> If your local government caves The local community actually wins. Sure, its easy for people in NYC and San Francisco to say that nobody should compete for any of these jobs. They are going to get them anyway. But the moment some other location tries to compete for that economic benefit, well now all of a sudden "their" jobs are being stolen by undeserving locations.
akavi 3y ago
It's a shame that along with the clause against bills of attainder, banning laws that are intended to solely harm a specific individual or group of individuals, the constitution didn't also ban bills of... abtainder (?) banning laws that are intended to solely _benefit_ a specific individual or groups of individuals. Would be the best antidote to this sort of thing, but is probably untenable to amend at this point.
CSMastermind 3y ago
> Businesses need to operate somewhere - if local governments stand strong we all win. This is how you end up with the Rust Belt.
- nebula8804 3y ago
  >This is how you end up with the Rust Belt. The Rust Belt is proof positive of Big Business operating in a unrestrained environment. NAFTA, the move to China, and its ilk are a direct consequence of federal government overriding the will of the people. If there was any actual power at the local level any imports the got shipped overseas would have been slapped with tariffs. You shouldn't get unrestrained access to the largest market in the west while also ignoring the external costs.

by munk-a 3y ago

LightBug1 3y ago

There is no 'stand strong' when the federal system encourages competition. Maybe that's a good thing. But specifically not with regards to state subsidies. They shouldn't be competed away at the demands of business, but used with purpose. Subsidies (or anything which quacks like a subsidy) should be regulated so this nonsense doesn't happen.

munk-a 3y ago
I agree entirely - these sorts of subsidies can be extremely effective at uplifting job markets by, as an example, attracting a large company to build a manufacturing plant in a specific rural area that recently lost their main employer... To NYC even something as large as HQ2 is just a drop in the employment bucket.
paxys 3y ago
Yup. It's crazy that you can be a business operating in a certain jurisdiction and following all the rules and the government can just decide (based on backroom deals) that your biggest competitor now needs to pay no taxes. Literally legalized corruption. At minimum all such policies need to apply uniformly across the board.
SrslyJosh 3y ago
> Subsidies (or anything which quacks like a subsidy) should be regulated so this nonsense doesn't happen. 1000x this. Every news story about these subsidies eventually becomes "we gave BigCorp a $5 billion tax break and they opened a facility that employs 50 people."

oldpersonintx 3y ago

[dead]

ueahoknof 3y ago

[flagged]

hahajhiggg 3y ago

[dead]

fullshark 3y ago

I can't vote anyone out, just ignoring all of this remains the optimal strategy for my own sanity.

Ajay-p 3y ago

..And theoretically that somewhere could be anywhere, even outside of the country.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

stale2002 3y ago

> If your local government caves The local community actually wins. Sure, its easy for people in NYC and San Francisco to say that nobody should compete for any of these jobs. They are going to get them anyway. But the moment some other location tries to compete for that economic benefit, well now all of a sudden "their" jobs are being stolen by undeserving locations.

akavi 3y ago

It's a shame that along with the clause against bills of attainder, banning laws that are intended to solely harm a specific individual or group of individuals, the constitution didn't also ban bills of... abtainder (?) banning laws that are intended to solely _benefit_ a specific individual or groups of individuals. Would be the best antidote to this sort of thing, but is probably untenable to amend at this point.

CSMastermind 3y ago

> Businesses need to operate somewhere - if local governments stand strong we all win. This is how you end up with the Rust Belt.

nebula8804 3y ago
>This is how you end up with the Rust Belt. The Rust Belt is proof positive of Big Business operating in a unrestrained environment. NAFTA, the move to China, and its ilk are a direct consequence of federal government overriding the will of the people. If there was any actual power at the local level any imports the got shipped overseas would have been slapped with tariffs. You shouldn't get unrestrained access to the largest market in the west while also ignoring the external costs.