Amazon expanded while not collecting state taxes, which changed only recently. They were given a discount over brick-and-mortar stores even if they charged the same price.
As automation and pursuing low-cost labor around the world lower the take-home pay of American wage-earners, how much longer will it be before the consumer’s disposable income is too low to afford to buy the products/services that are produced? Monopolistic capitalism seems less stable than democratic socialism.
1. Amazon is under attack in various locations, in the US and overseas. It doesn’t need this agrevation.2. NYC Offered the bonus to Amazon.3. Amazon can go wherever it likes,4. Local politicians, not privy to the deal did not get their payoff.5. Now, NYC will not be improving. Yeah it does need to, not every place in the city looks like lower Manhattan.
The irony is that New York City has long been ground zero for the union busting movement. I refer to Wall Street, which for decades, under the banner of maximizing shareholder value, has tried to force every company to cut pay and benefits for its workers and ship jobs overseas, or face certain takeover by private-equity firms and activist investors who will.
…
Business leaders are already pointing to Amazon’s retreat from New York as a warning about the economic harm that will befall the rest of the country if the Democratic Party continues its leftward drift and gains control of Congress and the White House. But they have only themselves to blame. The antipathy and distrust people have for business is the direct result of three decades of winner-take-all capitalism in which the benefits of economic growth were captured by those at the top and too many people were left behind.
Now the business community is discovering that what goes around comes around — that the anger, distrust and resentment that it has spawned does not distinguish between good companies and bad, between productive self-interest and greed, between good deals and bad ones.
…
The political mugging that Amazon received in New York is a preview of what is in store for American business if it fails to repair the social contract and replenish the social capital it has depleted. The choice for the business community is either to embrace rules and practices that strike a better balance between shareholders, workers, customers and the public, or have rules and practices much less to its liking imposed by an angry and sometimes irrational public.
Payne still believes the taxpayer can afford to pay for the petulant spending of Trump, a bloated military, corporate tax givaways that also gifts companies like Amazon not only tax-free status, but actually give them free taxpayer money for the privilege of simply existing. Relying on the steady elimination of the poorest of Americans to adjust for the cost of our national infrastructure.
Industrial Revenue Bonds sound great in theory and are a slow motion disaster in practice. I’m not sure there has EVER been an IRB that resulted in the city or county that issued them recouping the taxpayer’s investment. The corporations who receive the funding and the tax exemptions either renew the deal or pick up and move on to the next set of suckers when they expire.
Sisu60 about 5 years ago
this scam is as old as time it’s self
Nantucket Premium Member about 5 years ago
Amazon didn’t pay any federal taxes for 2017 and 2018.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/amazon-taxes-zero-180337770.html
Amazon expanded while not collecting state taxes, which changed only recently. They were given a discount over brick-and-mortar stores even if they charged the same price.
superposition about 5 years ago
As automation and pursuing low-cost labor around the world lower the take-home pay of American wage-earners, how much longer will it be before the consumer’s disposable income is too low to afford to buy the products/services that are produced? Monopolistic capitalism seems less stable than democratic socialism.
Monchoxyz about 5 years ago
Paying zero dollars in federal taxes is too much for Amazon I guess.
walfishj about 5 years ago
1. Amazon is under attack in various locations, in the US and overseas. It doesn’t need this agrevation.2. NYC Offered the bonus to Amazon.3. Amazon can go wherever it likes,4. Local politicians, not privy to the deal did not get their payoff.5. Now, NYC will not be improving. Yeah it does need to, not every place in the city looks like lower Manhattan.
martens about 5 years ago
The irony is that New York City has long been ground zero for the union busting movement. I refer to Wall Street, which for decades, under the banner of maximizing shareholder value, has tried to force every company to cut pay and benefits for its workers and ship jobs overseas, or face certain takeover by private-equity firms and activist investors who will.
…
Business leaders are already pointing to Amazon’s retreat from New York as a warning about the economic harm that will befall the rest of the country if the Democratic Party continues its leftward drift and gains control of Congress and the White House. But they have only themselves to blame. The antipathy and distrust people have for business is the direct result of three decades of winner-take-all capitalism in which the benefits of economic growth were captured by those at the top and too many people were left behind.
Now the business community is discovering that what goes around comes around — that the anger, distrust and resentment that it has spawned does not distinguish between good companies and bad, between productive self-interest and greed, between good deals and bad ones.
…
The political mugging that Amazon received in New York is a preview of what is in store for American business if it fails to repair the social contract and replenish the social capital it has depleted. The choice for the business community is either to embrace rules and practices that strike a better balance between shareholders, workers, customers and the public, or have rules and practices much less to its liking imposed by an angry and sometimes irrational public.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/amazons-political-mugging-in-new-york-is-a-warning-for-american-business/2019/02/15/0f9686d8-313e-11e9-813a-0ab2f17e305b_story.html
And further evidence of Amazon’s inepititude in the NYC deal:
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/16/opinion/amazon-new-york-bill-de-blasio.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/02/17/o
Stephen Runnels Premium Member about 5 years ago
Payne still believes the taxpayer can afford to pay for the petulant spending of Trump, a bloated military, corporate tax givaways that also gifts companies like Amazon not only tax-free status, but actually give them free taxpayer money for the privilege of simply existing. Relying on the steady elimination of the poorest of Americans to adjust for the cost of our national infrastructure.
streetbeater about 5 years ago
Industrial Revenue Bonds sound great in theory and are a slow motion disaster in practice. I’m not sure there has EVER been an IRB that resulted in the city or county that issued them recouping the taxpayer’s investment. The corporations who receive the funding and the tax exemptions either renew the deal or pick up and move on to the next set of suckers when they expire.