I was not even following the developments closely. I thought it was a done deal. Past tense. And then Amazon announced its exit. I was surprised. I still have not had the time to dig into the details. I did read the NYC Mayor's op-ed on the topic. And the AOC celebratory tweet. And there is this Wharton podcast, that I read. (I did not listen)
If it was a botched deal, maybe the NY Governor, and the NYC Mayor did not sell it to the people hard enough. Or maybe Amazon made the mistake of not engaging. Or the protestors did not see the full picture. It comes across as a political victory, but an economic loss.
When I think of the Green New Deal, I see a lot of high tech entrepreneurship. Otherwise, under the current economic paradigm, the Green New Deal can look really, really hard. Pricing out dirty energy is much smoother than trying to shut down an industry. There is no shutdown valve.
Just like the original New Deal created a new middle class and a new age of prosperity, I see the Green New Deal as ushering in an Age of Abundance.
You probably don't want to come across as anti-entrepreneurship. On the other hand, maybe Amazon should not be so stand-offish when it comes to ordinary people and their elected representatives. The local community matters. The city might have gotten 25,000 jobs. But what was Long Island City going to get specifically?
I see no evidence AOC was the central figure in the protests. (Some New Yorkers will protest a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g) But she obviously was supportive, and she obviously was celebratory after the fact. If it was a political victory, it was a grand one. Hey, not everything is business.
But I do think AOC should work harder to come across as pro-entrepreneurship.
If it was a botched deal, maybe the NY Governor, and the NYC Mayor did not sell it to the people hard enough. Or maybe Amazon made the mistake of not engaging. Or the protestors did not see the full picture. It comes across as a political victory, but an economic loss.
When I think of the Green New Deal, I see a lot of high tech entrepreneurship. Otherwise, under the current economic paradigm, the Green New Deal can look really, really hard. Pricing out dirty energy is much smoother than trying to shut down an industry. There is no shutdown valve.
Just like the original New Deal created a new middle class and a new age of prosperity, I see the Green New Deal as ushering in an Age of Abundance.
You probably don't want to come across as anti-entrepreneurship. On the other hand, maybe Amazon should not be so stand-offish when it comes to ordinary people and their elected representatives. The local community matters. The city might have gotten 25,000 jobs. But what was Long Island City going to get specifically?
I see no evidence AOC was the central figure in the protests. (Some New Yorkers will protest a-n-y-t-h-i-n-g) But she obviously was supportive, and she obviously was celebratory after the fact. If it was a political victory, it was a grand one. Hey, not everything is business.
But I do think AOC should work harder to come across as pro-entrepreneurship.
There was little in the fuzzy proposal that guaranteed jobs for actual NYers, yet lots of hard concessions from the public.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019
Queens saw how the FoxConn/Wisconsin disaster is working out - a $4.5 billion nightmare - & asked Qs.
The response? “This is above you, you won’t get it.”
Or that a technology giant of big-brother-esque potential was selling (notoriously flawed & racially biased) facial recognition technology to ICE while trying to move into 1 of the most immigrant-dense areas of the world?— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019
No, it must be because I’m dumb.https://t.co/IoBixav34r
There’s no CHANCE that the speculative insider real-estate buys that were creating immediate spikes in rent in one of the most rent-burdened communities in NYC could have possibly been unpopular?https://t.co/wArbA7B1Q6— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019
There’s NO WAY that this deal - one of the biggest giveaways in state history - could possibly have been bad, right?— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019
Surely there can’t be anything wrong with suddenly announcing a massive restructuring & pricing out of a community without any advance notice or input from them.
Frankly, the knee-jerk reaction assuming that I “don’t understand” how tax giveaways to corps work is disappointing.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019
No, it’s not possible that I could come to a different conclusion. The debate *must* be over my intelligence & understanding, instead of the merits of the deal.
Not sure how many pundits talking about Amazon even read the deal or where it was going.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019
$500+ million of the deal was *capital grants.*
$2.5 billion in tax breaks.
It’s fair to ask why we don’t invest the capital for public use, + why we don’t give working people a tax break. https://t.co/jUqaugUHYP
very wealthy tech people tweeting their objection to @aoc income tax proposals and yet silent on this presidents actions on the "national emergency" wall, healthcare, social justice etc is deeply upsetting— Bijan Sabet (@bijan) February 19, 2019
Bright spot: Held 1-on-1s w/ constituents today at our local @nypl branch.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 19, 2019
We try our best to provide crayons, markers, + books at our events so kids can create & read while we work with their parents/guardians.
After one convo this AM, a constituent’s daughter gave me this 💜 pic.twitter.com/feTwYK6NeY
More like, “I’d like to order 25 pizzas. I made up this $300-off coupon + demand you take it, and if you want to talk about it at all I’ll leave.”— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
Queens: Where did this coupon come from? $300 is too much. Who gave this to you? This is weird.
Them: I TOLD YOU $300 OFF 25 PIZZAS https://t.co/nPfQAssYnC
Costumer: “I’d like to order 25 pizzas. I have a 10-dollar-off coupon I’d like to use, too.”@AOC: “No, you must pay full menu price! I will not accept your evil coupon.”— Boomieleaks (@notwokieleaks) February 15, 2019
Costumer: “I’ll just take my business elsewhere.”@AOC: “Hey boss I just saved us $10 can I have a raise?”
“Economists have long warned against the financial mirage of tax incentives for corporations.”— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
“Suddenly the green curtain was pulled back,” said Greg LeRoy. “People are aghast at what they saw, and rightfully so.” https://t.co/josb97OQOq
Come for me all you want, but my job is to make sure that people are protected in society.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
Someone’s got to look out for the people our system is leaving behind - esp now, when most of the wealth created is going to fewer people, those left behind are the majority of Americans.
Amazon touting “jobs” (has anyone fact-checked where this 25k number even came from? How many were promised to be local hires?)— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
...but they refused to even consider hiring union when we insisted labor be part of the conversation.
Union jobs are a key ladder to the middle class. https://t.co/HefYzOBhyG
This deal wasn’t a simple tax break. It was $3 BILLION dollars.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
When the community wanted to negotiate, Amazon said “all or nothing.” They bailed when they didn’t get 100% of what they wanted.
Google came into NYC just fine. Amazon wanted to be FoxConn:https://t.co/Ce9gVb7jg8
Yeah I’m laughing @ this.— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 15, 2019
Amazon was not coming to my Congressional district, had no concentrated outreach to us that I’m aware of, yet w/ no effort I defeated the richest man in the world?
Doesn’t add up. Story that’s not being told: the local community organized to reject it. https://t.co/S9Or7NKprZ
Few things effectively communicate the power we’ve built in fighting dark money & anti-worker policies like billionaire-funded groups blowing tons of cash on wack billboards (this one is funded by the Mercers).
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) February 21, 2019
(PS fact that it’s in Times Sq tells you this isn’t for/by NYers.) https://t.co/B4QTPi1r2k
Amazon Walking Away Was A Loss For @AOC https://t.co/xh6XID2Eui @_waleedshahid @VarshPrakash @saikatc @_Arajh @alexandrasiera @justicedems @sunrisemvmt @SenWarren @KamalaHarris @TulsiGabbard @BernieSanders #GreenNewDeal— Paramendra Kumar Bhagat (@paramendra) February 20, 2019
