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This thread is very illustrative of how distorted the Silicon Valley view of the Amazon HQ2 story has gotten, and it’s worth exploring. (I’m explicitly saying: don’t respond to Alex, my point is about the messages he’s repeating, not him personally.)
First, there are no 25,000 lost jobs. Job loss *means* something, and this is not it. Nobody is losing their job. More importantly, Amazon appears to have about 9000 employees in the NYC metro area — more than Google’s 8700. 1/3 of HQ2 is already here, even with no “deal”.
Then there’s the astounding idea that secret, back-room sweetheart deals represent a trusted playing field, and an open public feedback process would represent corruption. This is bewilderingly backwards.
Its plainly obvious that tech companies want to create world-class NYC presences with substantial numbers of employees, as evidenced by the fact that Google & Facebook & Microsoft and AMAZON ITSELF already have. Our current subsidies are working! Isn’t that great?
And if a special, costly subsidy to Amazon is somehow both uniquely necessary and plainly worthwhile to the city and state (as many in Silicon Valley assert, and “Amazon” Cuomo would have us believe), then that should be an *exceedingly* easy case to make in a public hearing! No?
Nobody in Silicon Valley has been able to explain to me why Google didn’t need a special subsidy to come to NYC, and Facebook didn’t, and none of our native tech startups needed one, but Amazon does. I’m *happy* to hear an explanation. At a regular, public meeting. @NYGovCuomo
(Following this math, it would add up to only adding 817 jobs/year, including temp jobs. )
