The New York Times has got the vapors this morning. It has three reports (count 'em, three) about Amazon pulling out of its deal to come to New York City. (And one report about a so-called national emergency in the offing. But this is the New York Times, so Amazon pulling out of its New York City deal is a MUCH bigger story.)
One of the New York Times stories is breathless, one is actual reporting, and another is a reprint of a couple of Twitter takes by some of its reporters including one who actually covered the Amazon story. So, what's going on?
Well, one thing that glares out at you is the fact that neither the political powers-that-be in New York nor Amazon did much of a selling job, and certainly nothing like a successful sales job.
Next, there are a couple of other things that come to mind at this early hour when these words are being written.
- $3,000,000,000 or $3 Billion in tax incentives to Amazon for its promise of 25,000 anticipated jobs.
Let's not look at the job promises too closely. Let's just take these figures on their face. That would mean $3 Billion withdrawn from the tax base in exchange for 25,000 new jobs. That breaks down into $120,000 per person who gets one of those new Amazon jobs.
Does anyone seriously expect us to believe that each person would pay $120,000 in taxes over the same period of time to make up for the taxes that Amazon would not have to pay?
This leads to another question: Why does government believe itself to be compelled to offer tax incentives to lure large corporations when throughout American history, it never had to do that before?
- The real reason Amazon pulled out of the deal.
"A number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward." Amazon said that in a statement quoted by The New York Times. Read: They have to kiss our ... ring. Or we are picking up our deal and going home. We will not negotiate our power over you. Those are the only "types of relationships," apparently, that Amazon is capable of building, or wants.
The Art of the Deal on full display, once again.
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