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'A Major Distraction': Is A Megadeal Like Amazon's HQ2 Always Worth It?
Thursday marks the deadline for bids in Amazon's highly publicized search for the location of its second headquarters, dubbed HQ2. Cities are clamoring to land the conglomerate's project and its unparalleled promise of up to 50,000 jobs paying an average of $100,000, at one of the world's fastest-growing companies.
But with that comes some public soul-searching: How much should a city or state subsidize a wealthy American corporation in exchange for such a shiny promise? [...] Financial incentives are among numerous criteria Amazon included in its solicitation of bids. [...] By multiple estimates, Amazon has already cashed in on more than $1 billion in taxpayer-funded subsidies and incentives for its warehouses, data centers and other operations.
[...] "I often thought, as governor, it would be sort of nice, if all the governors just got together and said, 'Look, we're just not going to play this anymore,' " says former Wisconsin Gov. Jim Doyle. Doyle was at the helm during the financial crisis in 2008, when General Motors shuttered plants, including a factory in Janesville, Wis. But later, the automaker said it would reopen one location, bringing back the jobs. Wisconsin put together its largest incentive package yet — Doyle says he felt an obligation to — but it lost to Michigan's even bigger offer. [...] Since then, Wisconsin has become infamous for its eye-popping $3-billion financial incentive to get a Foxconn liquid-crystal display plant.
Previously: Amazon to Invest $5 Billion in Second HQ Outside of Seattle
Cities Desperate to Become the Location of Amazon's "Second Headquarters"
(Score: 4, Insightful) by bootsy on Friday October 20 2017, @08:12AM
It is certainly true in the US and the UK that the majority of people are actually not employed by very large companies but by small firms of 20 people or less. The UK's largest employer is the State run NHS and back in the day the ex state owned British Telecom (BT).
All this pandering to large employers is actually a very bad use of tax money ( our money ) and is very anti-competitive. We should actually be doing things to encourage small companies to start and then help them grow e.g. cheap small offices rented of the local council/municipality, shared usage of infrequently used facilities such as printers and machining equipment (maker spaces) and free business advice and networks to raise funding.
These smaller companies are less likely to leave the local area/county/state let alone move country. The EU actually paid to help Ford move factories out of England and Wales and relocate to Eastern Europe.