Bernie.........and to think he could have been President !

[Irvrobinson]

I should add though, sometimes government intervention is warranted, such as FDR's New Deal. But, that's not quite the same as bribing profitable companies.

Okay, but what's the alternative? Say that you're a state government which wants more investment and jobs in your state, but you have higher taxes than other states, or, say, very pro-union labor laws compared to other states. What do you do to attract companies? Do nothing, and companies will locate to the most advantageous areas. For difficult to find skills sets, like engineering, scientists, and financial experts, you might just swallow the high costs and be in the Bay Area, NYC, or Boston (or Toronto and Vancouver). But manufacturing isn't like that; skill sets are usually less important, and high taxes and unions more impactful. Become too much of a purist and you lose a lot of your blue collar jobs. I wouldn't want to be governor of New York or Michigan; they're a mess.

 

[Danzilla31]

Okay, but what's the alternative? Say that you're a state government which wants more investment and jobs in your state, but you have higher taxes than other states, or, say, very pro-union labor laws compared to other states. What do you do to attract companies? Do nothing, and companies will locate to the most advantageous areas. For difficult to find skills sets, like engineering, scientists, and financial experts, you might just swallow the high costs and be in the Bay Area, NYC, or Boston (or Toronto and Vancouver). But manufacturing isn't like that; skill sets are usually less important, and high taxes and unions more impactful. Become too much of a purist and you lose a lot of your blue collar jobs. I wouldn't want to be governor of New York or Michigan; they're a mess.

Seems like in the modern world with countries that can offer no taxes or cheap labor or here in the U.S. with some states being more friendly with taxes and labor laws etc that it just seems to be a reality that you have to give the companies something

Or as noted they'll just set up elsewhere

Tesla landing in Austin could be an example of this?

It just seems to be a reality that you ignore at the cost of your constituents if your a governor or in public office

 

[Mikado463]

I am philosophically against subsidies.

agreed, there other ways to foster growth, improve productivity, etc. In my industry(railroading) we have the very successful 45G tax credit which over the past 15 years has gained support and momentum from both sides of the isle.

Section 45G Short Line Tax Credit: Helping Smaller Railroads Modernize & Better Serve Rural Companies - Association of American Railroads

To ensure short line railroads can continue to invest in their infrastructure, the government should make the Section 45G short line tax credit permanent tax policy.

www.aar.org

 

[panteragstk]

Seems like in the modern world with countries that can offer no taxes or cheap labor or here in the U.S. with some states being more friendly with taxes and labor laws etc that it just seems to be a reality that you have to give the companies something

Or as noted they'll just set up elsewhere

Tesla landing in Austin could be an example of this?

It just seems to be a reality that you ignore at the cost of your constituents if your a governor or in public office

At this point Austin is trying to attract as much tech as possible. Apple is also building a huge new campus in addition to the one they already have.

Traffic is only going to get worse. Ugh

 

[Danzilla31]

At this point Austin is trying to attract as much tech as possible. Apple is also building a huge new campus in addition to the one they already have.

Traffic is only going to get worse. Ugh

Traffic sucks in that town so bad

 

[GO-NAD!]

Okay, but what's the alternative? Say that you're a state government which wants more investment and jobs in your state, but you have higher taxes than other states, or, say, very pro-union labor laws compared to other states. What do you do to attract companies? Do nothing, and companies will locate to the most advantageous areas. For difficult to find skills sets, like engineering, scientists, and financial experts, you might just swallow the high costs and be in the Bay Area, NYC, or Boston (or Toronto and Vancouver). But manufacturing isn't like that; skill sets are usually less important, and high taxes and unions more impactful. Become too much of a purist and you lose a lot of your blue collar jobs. I wouldn't want to be governor of New York or Michigan; they're a mess.

Good question. I'm glad I'm not being paid to have the answer. It all looks like a domestic version of the off-shoring of jobs. Same thing happens between Canadian provinces, as well.

 

[panteragstk]

Traffic sucks in that town so bad

Well, when the city's logic is "if we don't build roads, they won't come" and people do in fact show up, then you have a difficult problem to solve.

 

[John Parks]

At this point Austin is trying to attract as much tech as possible. Apple is also building a huge new campus in addition to the one they already have.

Traffic is only going to get worse. Ugh

Speaking of Austin...

 

[panteragstk]

Speaking of Austin...
View attachment 38839

Hell, I think there are more of them here than in Austin. Luckily they don't live near me.

When I left DFW, there were TONS of Californians moving to that area, I'm guessing that's still happening?

 

[John Parks]

Hell, I think there are more of them here than in Austin. Luckily they don't live near me.

When I left DFW, there were TONS of Californians moving to that area, I'm guessing that's still happening?

That's because NB is awesome!

Yeah, it's still happening, but it's not that bad (Austin excluded). I've designed several Amazon projects in Dallas (and Austin) and it seems a lot of their employees are immigrating from CA & WA.

 

[KEW]

Amazon bring in tens of thousands of jobs paying an average of $150K per year.

The mean salary would be $150k?
If the median salary were $150k, I would be seriously impressed!

Edit: For those rusty on statistics, the median salary would be the salary point where the number of people who make more, and the number of people who make less, are equal. This would give a much better sense of how the salaries are distributed.

For example, the average household net worth in the US is $692,000; however, the median net worth is $97,300; so you can see how an average value does not really give the full picture!

 

[Irvrobinson]

The mean salary would be $150k?
If the median salary were $150k, I would be seriously impressed!

Edit: For those rusty on statistics, the median salary would be the salary point where the number of people who make more, and the number of people who make less, are equal. This would give a much better sense of how the salaries are distributed.

For example, the average household net worth in the US is $692,000; however, the median net worth is $97,300; so you can see how an average value does not really give the full picture!

I wouldn't be surprised. Recent college graduate salaries [edit: compensation] in software development for Amazon are about $150K, and senior engineers can make $400K and up. I think I read that a lot of these jobs would be software people, but lots of administrative people too. Assuming headquarters people tend to be more senior than junior, but there are a range of skillsets from administrative assistants to directors and VPs, so I suspect $150K would be easily met as a median. Note that most big companies nowadays outsource sanitation and food service, so those contractors probably wouldn't count as Amazon jobs.