About politics: The microchip manufacturing subsidy is more than Amazon gets. | So Good News

However, politicians on the left, led by Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, strongly opposed it. They rightly point out that a profitable Amazon doesn’t need any tax cuts. Facebook and Google operate in New York City without such generous support.

Also, to bust unions. Amazon has a history of being an anti-labor company, including the abuse of warehouse workers and the push to crush small businesses. Amazon represents much of what is objectionable in American corporate life.

In the end, Amazon withdrew, angered by the growing local opposition.

New York’s business establishment was furious. Depending on your point of view, it’s either a victory against a destructive monopoly or a dark day for a city looking ahead. Lost in the debate is the general consensus shared among economists on the left and right that providing generous support to wealthy corporations is usually not a successful economic development strategy.

No Amazon HQ2 in Queens, but big tax cuts are here to stay. In recent weeks, Gov. Kathy Hochul worked with Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer to lure integrated circuit maker Micron Technologies to Syracuse. Micron has been more stealthy than Amazon, looking for the best supply package and launching its own nationwide competition. new York, It seems to have blown over to every other city.

in microns; Progressives who oppose Amazon are mostly silent, even when it comes to taxing the chipmaker. bigger. than offered at an online retailer—and a lower return on investment. Micron said it would hire 9,000 fewer people than Amazon had promised. New York is offering Micron a tax incentive program worth at least $5.5 billion. Although it is uncertain how much federal money will flow through the recently passed CHIPS Act,

Hochul, Schumer and many other Democrats hailed Micron’s arrival in Syracuse as a way to revive manufacturing in an area that had been hit hard by the industry.

Micron has made a bold promise to win public support: a 20-year investment of $100 billion and as many as 50,000 jobs, including supply chain and construction jobs.

It’s all wonderful until the harder questions are asked. Will Micron really employ 9,000 New Yorkers, currently about 2,700 at the largest plant in the state, and when some operations at the Micron plant are automated? Will they save money in New York when the chip factories are capital intensive and the packaging machines, which are very expensive, come mostly from the Netherlands? Can the Syracuse plant be “green” when the city of Syracuse has a quarter of the water it needs?

local economy through employment and community programs; Micron promises to benefit low- and middle-income workers in particular. But the evidence is scant.

Whether it’s the Foxconn factory in Wisconsin or the corrupt Buffalo billion boondoggle in New York. Such heavily subsidized deals rarely work. Government should never try to help a certain industry or attempt to engineer industrial policy. Appropriate oversight from Democrats and Republicans is almost always missing. Politicians are often happy to take corporations at their word and not take responsibility for their failures.

Ocasio-Cortez and her allies, particularly in Queens, have had nothing to say about Micron and have ignored media inquiries. The exception is Assemblyman Ron Kim of Queens, a consistent critic of corporate power and taxpayer subsidies.

In an election year, progressives may not want to criticize the Schumer-Hochul proposal, which is a good time to attract votes.

If that’s the case, it deserves public scorn. Bad economic development deals that will affect New York for decades shouldn’t evade scrutiny because of a midterm election.

I took it quickly.

• Polls show Hochul and her Republican opponent, Rep. It shows the intense competition between Lee Zeldin. The good news for Hochul at the moment is that Zeldin appears to be hitting a ceiling in the polls, not showing up in the polls.
• Can the state legislature be flipped? It’s unlikely, but Democrats are poised to lose their dominance, and Republicans could come close if things don’t go well.

Ross Barkan is a reporter and author in New York City.