New York mayor says Amazon headquarters debacle was 'an abuse of corporate power'

Amazon broke news last week that the proposed HQ2 facility that was to be built in New York City had been scrapped and the company would be pulling out of their agreement with the city as a result of growing criticisms from progressive voices within the state and across the nation classifying the agreement as "corporate welfare." The deal would have granted Amazon over three billion dollars in return for the HQ2 facility which was expected to bring over 25,000 jobs with an average salary of $150,000. After receiving heat and harsh criticisms from a number of influential progressive politicians, most notably Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Amazon decided to withdraw and focus their efforts on completing the other HQ2 project in Virginia. This decision has drawn backlash from a number of New York officials who worked to secure the Amazon deal including the mayor of New York City, Bill De Blasio. This deal, and the criticisms from both its supporters and dissenters, has brought to light an ongoing rift within the Democratic party. On one hand, progressive Democrats have continued to push against supporting big businesses with taxpayer money (Corporate Welfare). More Centrist Democrats have rebuked Democrats for being too narrow-minded with De Blasio saying, "I am representing 8.6 million people, and a clear majority of those people believe we need more fairness in our economy. But of course, we need jobs, we need growth, we need revenue." This is a clash between Realism and Idealism. You want to have a fair economy, but in order to make ends meet and provide for the people, compromise is necessary. 


Robin Czajowski

https://www.cnn.com/2019/02/17/tech/bill-de-blasio-amazon-hq2/index.html