They didn't pick Texas, which trumpets its low taxes.
They didn't pick Maryland with its $8.5 billion in incentives, or even New Jersey with its $7 billion.
In the end, Amazon came to New York.
When I took office, the 20-year knock on New York City's progressives was that our love of big government, the labor movement and high taxes would send businesses running.
We ignored the critics, and went on to pass paid sick leave, a higher living wage, a $15 minimum wage and a fair work week.
And this is where Amazon — the world's biggest online retailer — decided to be: in high tax, pro-union, high-regulation New York City. The 25,000 jobs coming to Long Island City in the coming decade represent the single biggest employment boost in the history of our city or state.
You can continue on and read the rest of this delusional bullshit, but let's point out that the type of workers Amazon is planning to hire will not be subject to anything he mentioned and will not be union. And the only reason you got them to come here was because you gave them tax incentives, a helipad and there is a workforce here that can support what they need. But we enjoy you reveling in the fact that this is a high tax state as if that's a positive.
33 comments:
Fair work week my ass. Full-time employees work 10 hours a week and are subjected to a body search by security at the end of the day that doesn't even count as work time
And a large percentage of amazon's workforce are part-time workers who bail on the place because of the unreasonable work demands and standards.
The willful ignorance and slobbering subservience to amazon by the weak ass Mayor Big Slow in this op-ed is not a surprise. I said from day one when this bozo was elected that he would be a shitty mayor and also betray his base. But now he is going full-on asshole. He clearly doesn't give a shit anymore. He fired his investigator and is double talking non-stop. His fat ass is riding a wave of hubris.
Anyone seen that creepy commercial Bezos put out celebrating NY's arrival? It came on 3 times during the Giants game. It is repulsive and creepy. Just like Alexa
https://theintercept.com/2018/11/15/amazon-echo-voice-recognition-accents-alexa/
A lot of cities gave them massive tax breaks.
That is only one reason they came here but I doubt it is why they did it.
Amazon is moving here because there are two major airports (more if you include Jersey and Westechester), room for private jets at our airports, rich people love NYC, NYC is fun if you have money, the city is close to a bunch of Ivy League schools, and there is a workforce here. NYC is it's own brand.
Those are warehouse employees. Employee are the number one reason for workplace theft.
It is a touch job for hourly workers, true. But Software interns make $6000 a month. It is a great place to get technical experience and move on.
>> JQ LLC said...
>> subjected to a body search
Hi Diana
Thanks for pointing out the gross inequity of pay between hard workers being treated like garbage and overpaid interns (if that even is true, 6000 a month???)
Rich people have the ability to go anywhere they want. This bribery audition was a farce from the start so amazon can gather data about the states they dissed so they can get leverage with it if they desire to open headquarters 5 to 1000 in them.
And if they are subjected to searches at work then that should be included as time in their pay. Just like how the NYPD includes cleaning out their lockers at overtime.
Enough with the oligarch worship. People are suffering to make Bezos the richest individual in creation.
Will Amazon has to hire Union personnel?
Make America Goat again. Billy Blob Villain needs to give folks a goat with each tree he plants so they can eat the leaves so they don't cause fires.
If the proposed jobs will not be union isn't that a good thing because locals wont be locked out? I say this because the unions (and the insane dues) are just as corrupt as the mayor.
Why would Amazon want a union bosses in the picture and end up like the parks department, theater district, movie industry or MTA where the only people who can get jobs are useless relatives of other union members who dont deserve those jobs.
Not a fan that he gave away the farm, but DeBlasio at least didn't screw up this deal. Would have been better to put the HQ2 slightly upstate, but he didn't lose the whole deal, which that moron certainly could have done with his stupid grandstanding. This, and his privatizing almost 1/rd of NYCHA apartments... This DeBlasio I think I can live with. Not a great mayor by a longshot, but he's finally tempering his idiotic progressive crusading and making moves that will keep private sector money here instead of chasing it away.
I can assure you, interns get treated like garbage, too. But they are more valuable and harder to place.
Google interns are paid $34K for the summer.
That is what it costs because it is that competitive.
Anybody off the street can pack a box. That is why they don't make more money. It sucks, but that is why.
The working class no longer has any real power, unfortunatly.
>> JQ LLC said...
>> Hi Diana
>> Thanks for pointing out the gross inequity of pay between hard workers being treated like >> garbage and overpaid interns (if that even is true, 6000 a month???)
First off, "not the sharpest knife in the drawer". He would be lucky to be that, he is more of the bent spoon that slides easily on the assholes of the mega rich and real estate developers. A progressive liberal my ass.
And why the constant yammering on unions. I come from a long line of union family members, starting with my grandfather who was a coal miner, which helped protect them in the work place, give them a livable wage that allowed them to own a home, a car, take a vacation and put kids through school and not be taken advantage of by upper management and despicable companies like Jeff Bezos (Amazon), Dara Khosrowshahi (Uber), etc. Even the horrible Koch Brothers who own some union companies, like Georgia Pacific, are key funders and architects of the anti-union American Legislative Exchange Council, the State Policy Network and Americans for Prosperity (which is a laugh, prosperity for the 1%). Your issue should be with all the CEO's and despicable companies that take advantage of the working people. No doubt there are some issues with some unions, but there are bigger problems with places like Amazon and a million other places that take advantage of workers or the real big asshole Scott Walker of Wisconsin, who fucked up an entire state with his union busting shit, not too mention the aforementioned Koch Brothers.
SO I guess for the person making the union comment (and others on this site who have), crooked CEO, Wall Street Bankers and the other elite are just fine fucking not over the hard working people but the economy as well like Wall Street did, while not one of those crooked bastards spent one day in jail and are back doing the same shit that caused the meltdown in the first place.
And until are a union member, you do not realized just how valuable they actually are to the working class people, who anymore can barely make a livable wage, have health insurance, own a home (let alone keep onto) or any other number of items that make people's live enjoyable. That is not asking much to make a livable wage, own a home, take maybe one vacation and not worry about your health because you have no insurance.
I dont understand why everyone is complaining honestly. I get the fact that it's going to be in a overcrowded area and the trains suck. However, we have 60000 homeless people here that live off of taxpayers dollars and if Amazon were to just hire those who live in NYC FIRST and give full time jobs and not part time jobs then I agree with it coming here. At least it won't be another unaffordable housing complex or homeless shelter. What would you like to see go up there then? If not a place for jobs? We have close to 9 million people in this city and A HUGE amount of homeless here and VERY LOW PAYING JOBS. If Amazon can get some people off of welfare, then what is the problem? As long as they hire locally first and then whatever jobs they can't fill, they can broaden their search for. And I'm sure that a chunk of those homeless have some kind of skills to be put to use. Granted, I would like to see them all get bus tickets back to their own states or countries of origin but since that'll never happen, at least they can now start supporting themselves in some capacity.
More on this topic:
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/nycs-de-blasio-would-love-to-see-city-control-rents-and-housing-development
"As long as they hire locally first and then whatever jobs they can't fill, they can broaden their search for."
I think people would feel much better about this deal if this were true but as far as we know, there is NO requirement to hire locally first or ever. Amazon can bring in 25k people from around the country or world and we are going to pay them to do it. This will not likely decrease the 60k homeless. If anything, it might make it worse. See Seattle and Sn Francisco for examples of the tech effect.
"Until are a union member you do not realized just how valuable they actually are "
Why union member's never tell the truth I have no idea
High pay unions in New York are usually "father & son" closed, the tests are just for show. And to get in you need to wait till a relative dies or retires a "nod" from other union members.
Well for most of us that means NEVER no matter how hard we try, no matter how good our skills or work ethic.
A non union "house" can afford to hire more of us and I'm perfectly fine living cheap, working part time as long as I can pay the rent and stay below the threshold to keep my Medicaid managed healthcare. Union health insurance today is all high deductible, high co-pay and no better then Obamacare.
Unions are perhaps why this city is going broke, its streets and transit system falling apart. --hell, a family of 4 can no longer see the Rockefeller center Christmas show without dropping $600+ dollars. Look at the MTA mess.
Unions are only good for the very few people who can get in them and wont be around much longer anyway.
The key is learning how to live cheap
Another one of Mousilini Joe's infamous rants
Queens Crap please allow me to preface this rant by saying that I think unions were, at one point in history, a good thing. My Grandmother worked in Brooklyn - the knitting mills - where unions were very important to securing tolerable working conditions and wages for my grandmother and her generation (and previous generations).
That don’t work anymore, thanks to all the post 1960s political nonsense and racketeering. Look at these people working on trains, streets, sidewalks, parks. Obviously nobody administered an IQ test to any of those idiuts. 1/2 the people working in the subway cant even speak understandable English.
And oh, the complaints !!
They took your bottled water away! Holy Shit! They took the Twinkle & coffee machines away! Holy Shit! How can you possibly work in those conditions... A bunch of spoiled, lazy, whiny f***tards getting over on something that was not earned buy handed them- that's what those guys are.
Why shroud others pay higher costs for goods & services so these people can own homes, expensive cars, take quarterly vacations they didn't earn. That sounds more like organized welfare to me !
Why should an honest person willing to work harder be locked out of work?
How about this - if you agree to work for someone at a certain rate, don't accept the job and then bitch about how much you're getting paid or benefits!
-Z
The unions have become nothing more than a money funnel to the Democrat party which itself has been taken over by the radical left. Look at 32BJ which trumpet its achievements while its members are making 4 dollars over minimum wage lol. Then look at all the non-union construction going on all over. The unions sold out to a Democrat Party that doesn't give a fuck about them.
The median wage for an Amazon worker is around $28,446 per year:
https://money.cnn.com/2018/04/19/technology/amazon-employee-salary/index.html
The average apartment rent in Queens is $2,342/month = $28,104 per year:
https://www.brickunderground.com/rent/rentcafe-august-2018-rent-report
Do the math.
Harry Haller
P.S. The federal guidelines define the poverty line for a family of two as: $30,451:
https://www.health.ny.gov/prevention/nutrition/wic/income_guidelines.htm
Amazon is definitely not going to hire the homeless.
@ princess
A techie intern would never be able to handle the box filling that the warehouse workers have to do.
It's time to stop calling amazon warehouses that and even the dystopian sounding "full fillment centers". Because these are actually factories. Except when we use to assemble actual things we need and that are made in the USA, the amazon factories assemble packages containing items made overseas for lazy rich morons who can't get off their ass to go to stores.
ANON said: "Union health insurance today is all high deductible, high co-pay and no better then Obamacare."
----------------------------------------
WRONG, many union workers across the nation DO NOT have high deductibles, or high co-payments. Many have low deductibles and low co-pays. If you are doing to make a statement, at least just don't make up a total lie and say that it is all. You obviously do not work for a union.
AND ZOE, your comment: "Why shroud others pay higher costs for goods & services so these people can own homes, expensive cars, take quarterly vacations they didn't earn. That sounds more like organized welfare to me!"
-------------------
Sure lets keep buying cheap crap junk from China made on the backs of "slaves" while the product last a couple of months if you are lucky. So who are helping out with that move. AND I did not know that taking quarterly vacations are such a bad thing. Your anger about unions should go toward corrupt, don't give a shit companies like Amazon who do nothing but exploit workers, fuck up communities, while Jeff flies around in his helicopter, live in a super mansion and give NOTHING back to the community. While I said that there are issues with unions, the bigger issues are with the companies, CEO's and Board of Directors who don't give a shit about the regular people. Amazon could have set up shop in NYC or better yet a city that needs it for NOTHING, not tax breaks, etc and still not have lost a cent.
@JQ LLC
A techie intern would be better at packing boxes then a warehouse working would be at coding. That's for sure.
We can argue all we want that it is not fair but the economy has changed. The higher paying jobs have shifted to almost exclusively being white collar jobs.
Shareholder want to see profits, low costs and new products.
Saying that people are lazy because they will not go to a store is equally as misguided. Times have changed!
People see an infinite amount of options online that can be delivered. Or a small amount in a store for which they have to fight traffic and wait in line. I'm not going to go to 10 stores and compare prices when I can do it on the bus from my phone and have it at my house by the time I'm home for work. That gives me more time to work out, more time to read, more time to help with homework and more time to play with kids.
Well good for you Diana, but realize that the predominant demographic that relies on these "conveniences" work long hours and live in tight spaces. They have practically no lives and their incomes are actually insufficient to pay for their frivolous spending lifestyles.
As for waiting on line, I have seen lines for app-based paying restaurants that resemble the lines for amusement park rides.
"I did not know that taking quarterly vacations are such a bad thing."
Yes that should be a compulsory benifit mandated by the government.
Quarterly vacations for union teachers , police , sanitation workers everyone.
One question who is going to pay for this Joe ?
Tax payers that's who !
@JQ LLC said...
Please address me as Princess Diana. I earned the title.
Fine, but what is your point? You saw a line at an app-based restaurant that was long and now what? I saw a retarded kid read a a book....it doesn't mean they're going to be a doctor.
You can say "it shouldn't be this way" all you want it doesn't stop the momentum. People always choose the path of least resistance. New technology always replaces old. This is like 30 years ago when people would say "i'll never buy airline ticket on the internet". Try to call an airline and buy a ticket. You'd be on the phone for two hours.
>> As for waiting on line, I have seen lines for app-based paying restaurants that resemble
>> the lines for amusement park rides.
People who buy things online don't have lives? Um, that is quite a large brush you are using.
>>They have practically no lives
Amazon ordering didn't do this. Jesus. Anyhow, with what data did you figure this out? You can get way better deals online then in a store. There are entire sections of Amazon selling used items.
>>their incomes are actually insufficient to pay for their frivolous spending lifestyles.
"unions have become nothing more than a money funnel to the Democrat party"
No shit, 100% true !
In Whitestone lots of Irish working for Dept of Sanitation (whatever union that is) took their money and backed John Lui like he was the Messiah.
These same people then cry poverty and have "benefits" in the park to buy ballgame equipment for their kids.
Yea these unions are money funnels straight to the mouths of the bad.
All the movie and TV industry (IATSE IAs) do the same shit with deBlasio and Cuomo II) It goes on and on, all these unions back and donate the lions share to democrats. That should be a red flag.
I'm fine with all of the unions going bust and straight too hell.
Its all gotten too corrupt, the playing field need to be raised and leveled
I don't get it New Yorkers! He brought jobs to your city and you still cry. I know he crows about unionism, but unions make up only about 6.5 per cent of the private sector throughout the country, probably less in NYC. There won't be a union anyway. Even big public unions like the UFT for instance have non union employees working for them.. A lot! It's only the public unions living off the public dime, like the UFT for instance, that are doing just great. They're union members work for the Mayor. So you've got jobs..something the rest of the world is looking for. Be happy.
"So you've got jobs"
No we don't, they going to bring in people from the west coast.
Also the number of jobs is also being misrepresented because the boilerplate number of jobs counts the "East Coast" as a whole including a larger shipping & processing facility being built in Virginia.
The number of jobs for LIC is 1/3 or even less of whats being claimed here, possibly less !!!
Now how many of that 1/3 left is temporary for the construction of this complex. Sweet deal for Amazon to use our infrastructure with huge tax breaks, some IAs poring cements, electricians but the people who actually live here been ROYALLY SHAFTED big time.
This is another deal like when they built the World Trade Center (a scam). The folks who lived in Lower Manhattan were driven out and shit on as white collar's from Park Slope, Jersey & Long Island got the jobs. Not to mention the 10,000 construction people laid off when it was completed.
The city then went BANKRUPT and needed BIG MAC bonds to bail out taking a good 15 years to recover
The communist Governor and Mayor rammed this down our throats to create a monument or legacy to themselves. No vote, No public referandom NOTHING. What's next ? How many small homes & people here 2, 3, 4 generations will soon be under the gun of imminent domain in Blissville and Long Island City once this goes up?
This will be Armageddon for the blue collar & middle class who live, own or rent here.
stop complaining. either there are natives smart enough to snag some of these jobs and subsequently spend the wealth locally, ...or not. the problem is less Amazon than the policies that a misguided administration thinks brought them here when they would've arrived eventually anyway, sans ridiculous tax breaks.
Princess diana:
Being a human being, all I have are my eyes and am not capable of swallowing data like your and our future overlords.
As for the progress that Amazon is showing, the corporation has opened up two physical stores in Soho and Herald Square. Guarantee if they open more brick and mortars when they replace the big chain stores including Macy's there will be massive lines too.
I know Amazon ordering isn't wholly responsible, rental market speculation/fabrication is for these demonically inflated commercial and residential rents.
I didn't care about Amazon or other online shopping in the 90's and early aughts, because physical stores and online stores were able to co-exist. I used it too. Now it's become an oligopoly and it's not healthy for the economy and eventually society.
Enjoy Black Friday consuming, Princess Di.
@ JQ LLC said...
"Enjoy Black Friday consuming"
#optoutside
The Hastagger...
@the hashtagger
I wish I can afford and enjoy luxe hiking. Good for REI. I heard they sell great bike locks.
No worries about unions and jobs. Useless arguments. The lady who thinks she is a princess is also wrong, she is talking about the past.
Amazon is number ONE in automation. Warehouses long automated. Now white collar jobs are being automated.
https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-automation-jobs-20180613-story.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cLVCGEmkJs0
They also have a big problem paying taxes:
https://itep.org/amazon-inc-paid-zero-in-federal-taxes-in-2017-gets-789-million-windfall-from-new-tax-law/
But surely love tax breaks!
https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/politics/albany/2018/11/13/new-york-amazon-incentives-billion/1986979002/
Plus all the stores are put out of business for their cheap crap.
Competition is a sin you know.
They sell things made by other stores?!?!?
You do understand right? Like, you could make a product in your home and then have it show up on Amazon to sell. Hell, bigger companies let Amazon take care of all the shipping.
>>Plus all the stores are put out of business for their cheap crap.
Some white collar jobs. But we are long way from fully enabled AI
>> Now white collar jobs are being automated.
>> https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-amazon-automation-jobs-20180613-story.html
You are forgetting that R&D has made some serious gains in automation, AI , cloud computing etc... All these things can be used to make people's lives better.
I am actually a computer brought to life by Amazon. I know have free will.
Amazon is good for those who don't live greedy or excess, people can work from there cars and home on the books and stay below the poverty line. Minimum wage keeps them from being disqualified from Medicaid health & dental. Those who also work as delivery drivers can earn up to $3000 untraceable cash supplement tips a month atop the salary.
The cars (and mileage) also deductible on the income tax and since the cars (including cars valued over &4500) are for work they are not disqualified from Medicaid.
In the end due to qualifying for free Medicaid (and in some cases food vouchers)low tax bracket and write-offs make out better then most people grossing 70+K.
Its the city, state and people paying taxes who are getting screwed in this deal.
@Princess Diana
Free Internet at the mental institution darling?
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