Ocasio's costly blunder (771 hits)

Amazon is blaming local politicians for its shock decision to abandon plans to open a new headquarters in New York City – and Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s vehement opposition appears to have been the main catalyst.

In a statement released late Wednesday morning, Amazon said “a number of state and local politicians have made it clear that they oppose our presence and will not work with us to build the type of relationships that are required to go forward with the project we and many others envisioned in Long Island City.”

Newsmax Reports:

Ocasio-Cortez has trashed the Amazon expansion and encouraged opposition against it, writing, “Can everyday people come together and effectively organize against creeping overreach of one of the world’s biggest corporations? Yes, they can.”

She further complained: “Amazon is a billion-dollar company. The idea that it will receive hundreds of millions of dollars in tax breaks at a time when our subway is crumbling and our communities need MORE investment, not less, is extremely concerning to residents here.”

That concern, surprisingly, was echoed by conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson, who said on his nightly Fox News Channel program: “Hate to admit it. But Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez has a very good point.”

On Wednesday, following Amazon’s announcement, she tweeted: “Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.”

The self-described Democratic socialist’s sentiments are entirely opposite of those of fellow New York Democrats, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and Gov. Andrew Cuomo, both of whom approved of Amazon’s move and helped broker the deal.

But other Democrats besides Ocasio-Cortez were also wary. New York state Sen. Michael Gianaris, whose district includes Long Island City, called Amazon CEO’s Jeff Bezos’ search for a new headquarters “one of the great PR scams” the city fell for, handing out $3 billion to the company in state and city incentives.

“Why is it the state and the city’s responsibility to provide billions of dollars to Amazon, which is probably the one company in the country that needs it the least?” Gianaris said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” last December.

He added that big tech companies such as Facebook and Google parent Alphabet had successfully settled in Manhattan without such financial incentives.

But the opinions of Ocasio-Cortez and Gianaris are apparently not shared by New York voters, who, by a margin of 56 percent to 36 percent approved of the agreement between the city and the online retail giant, according to a Siena College poll released on Tuesday.

https://www.libertybugle.com/ocasio-cortez... Posted By: Steve Williams
Friday, February 15th 2019 at 8:31PM
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