Tag: Amazon

Trump’s DOD Delivers Another Big Blow to Bezos, Gives $10 Billion Cloud Project to Microsoft Instead of Amazon

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The Pentagon reaffirmed its decision Friday to give a $10 billion cloud computing project to Microsoft instead of Amazon, marking the second time in one year that the Trump administration bypassed the online giant’s attempt to secure the program.

The Trump administration’s decision comes amid a legal battle Amazon Web Services initiated in 2019 after the Department of Defense (DOD) selected Microsoft in 2019 for the $10 billion Joint Enterprise Defense Infrastructure cloud computing contract, media reports show. Amazon previously stated that President Donald Trump’s dislike of CEO Jeff Bezos contributed to the move.

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Jeff Bezos’ Net Worth Reaches $200 Billion

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Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon and owner of The Washington Post, solidified his status as the world’s wealthiest man after his net worth reached the $200 billion mark, according to the Daily Caller.

Bezos reached the astounding milestone on Wednesday, with the Caller noting that he is not alone in expanding his wealth during the coronavirus pandemic and lockdown, which has significantly increased business for Amazon due to the rise in online shopping. Two other prominent CEOs who saw their net worths reach significant landmarks are Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who both reached $100 billion.

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Amazon to Add Thousands of Tech, Corporate Jobs in Six American Cities

The Associated Press

Amazon plans to create 3,500 new tech and corporate jobs in six cities nationwide, the company announced Tuesday.

Most of the company’s new hires will be located in Amazon’s New York office with the rest being added in Dallas, Detroit, Denver, Phoenix and San Diego, according to a press release. Amazon also announced plans to expand the six offices to accommodate the new hires.

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Amazon Says Email to Employees Banning TikTok Was a Mistake

The Associated Press

Roughly five hours after an internal email went out Friday to Amazon employees telling them to delete the popular video app TikTok from their phones, the online retailing giant appeared to backtrack, calling the ban a mistake.

“This morning’s email to some of our employees was sent in error,” Amazon emailed reporters just before 5 p.m. Eastern time. “There is no change to our policies right now with regard to TikTok.”

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Censorship, Antitrust Probes: Big Tech Is Back to Fighting Familiar Foes After Taking on Coronavirus

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Amazon, Twitter, and other major tech companies are facing intense criticism on antitrust issues and censorship claims in the months since government officials reportedly began asking for help from Silicon Valley on ways to tackle the coronavirus pandemic.

The president and lawmakers have turned their sights on Twitter and Amazon, respectively, while Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton and other attorneys general are reportedly ratcheting up their antitrust investigation targeting Google’s business model. The White House asked them in March to fight coronavirus disinformation while also assisting the government in its virus response.

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Conservatives Ask Amazon to End SPLC’s Role as ‘Hate Group Sheriff’

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A conservative free-market group hopes to convince Amazon, the world’s largest retailer, not to rely on the Southern Poverty Law Center as a gatekeeper for its philanthropic giving.

The scandal-plagued SPLC, a left-wing advocacy organization, routinely labels mainstream center-right organizations as “hate groups” on a list that includes actual hate groups such as the Ku Klux Klan or neo-Nazis. 

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Bezos Could Become World’s First Trillionaire as Amazon Rakes in Cash During Pandemic, Research Shows

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Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos is expected to ride the wave of business his company is collecting during the coronavirus pandemic to become the world’s first trillionaire, research shows.

Bezos’s net worth has grown by 34% on average over the past half decade, which could make him a trillionaire, according to an analysis from Comparisun, a platform that helps companies create business management tools. Along with creating marketing tools, the company also conducts studies forecasting what will happen in the business sector, Comparisun’s website noted.

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Commentary: Big Tech’s Toadying to Chinese Communists Demands Action

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As the world grapples with the coronavirus pandemic, China has become infamous for its role in allowing the virus to spread. From misleading the World Health Organization about the virus’s contagious elements, restricting the access of global investigators to infected sites, and lying about their infection numbers, China single-handedly stole months of preparation from other countries that have been savaged by the disease.

China has also hoarded masks and personal protective equipment from desperate countries and threatened to withhold critical medicines relied upon by millions of Americans.

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Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison Wages War on Price Gouging During Coronavirus Pandemic: ‘My Office and I Are Coming After You’

Anthony Gockowski

Attorney General Keith Ellison said his office received more than 500 complaints about price gouging in Minnesota last week alone.

The influx of complaints is part of Ellison’s effort to stop companies from hiking their prices on essential products during the coronavirus pandemic. Doing so is now illegal under an executive order issued by Gov. Tim Walz, which will remain in effect for the duration of Minnesota’s peacetime emergency.

Ellison’s office announced a statewide crackdown on businesses engaged in “pandemic profiteering” last week and encouraged Minnesotans to report instances of price gouging to his office.

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The History of Cyber Monday

Zachery Schmidt

  The year is 2004, both Ellen Davis and Scott Silverman, who work for Shop.org, are conducting research when they happened to stumble upon key information that would, in turn, create a new annual online shopping tradition. Research showed them that the Monday after Thanksgiving was one of the biggest shopping days of the year. With that finding, the two created a marketing campaign that would encourage people to buy more things for the holidays. A year later in 2005, the first “Cyber Monday” was announced. The first Cyber Monday saw shoppers spending $484 million. Just five years into the shopping holiday in 2010, it reached $1 billion. Ever since, the line between Cyber Monday and Black Friday has become increasingly blurred. More and more companies have started to put their exclusive deals online rather than in the shops. In 2018, people spent a record $7.9 billion on Cyber Monday, according to CNBC. This was more than was spent on Black Friday online shopping in 2018 where people spent over $6.2 billion. It is common for Americans to buy holiday presents between Black Friday and Cyber Monday. Last year, Amazon sold over 180 million items from Thanksgiving Day to Cyber…

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Commentary: Everything You’ve Heard About the Amazon Fires Is Wrong

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The international news coverage of Brazil’s Amazon rainforest fires has been a complete disaster. News outlets published inaccurate yet easily verifiable “facts” about the number of fires, declaring the situation “record-breaking” and “unprecedented.” Social media lit up with misleading claims about the loss of planetary oxygen supply (20 percent, said French President Emmanuel Macron) threatening to asphyxiate us all. Stock photos and images of forest fires from the last two decades including Peru and Bolivia were shared widely and wildly. Celebrities and politicians alike heaped condemnation upon Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro leading to an ongoing geopolitical crisis.

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Commentary: ‘High-Skilled Immigrants Act’ Is a Sop to Big Tech

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by Rachael Brovard   In a rare moment of bipartisanship last week, Democrats and Republicans joined hands to make a small, but fundamental change to our immigration system. Not to provide critically needed updates or wholesale reforms, but, rather, to toss a sop to the billionaires of Big Tech. Thanks to furious lobbying from Microsoft, Amazon, Hewlett Packard, Equifax, Texas Instruments, Qualcomm, IBM, Cisco, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, and Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg, and Eric Schmidt of Google’s group FWD.us, among others, the House this week passed H.R. 1044, the Fairness for High-Skilled Immigrants Act of 2019. The bill, which was supported by 140 Republicans and 224 Democrats, removes the per-country cap for employment-based immigration visas. In other words, it makes it easier for the tech giants and billionaires of Silicon Valley to hire cheap foreign labor over highly skilled Americans. Current law requires that no country receive more than 7 percent of the employment-based green cards issued each year. This ensures that employment-based visas are limited to a global pool of talent in a wide variety of occupational sectors – and prevents one or two countries from dominating the distribution. The practical effect is that individuals from countries with high demand for…

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Amazon Is Turning 25 – Here’s a Look Back at How It Changed the World

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Amazon Fulfillment

by Venkatesh Shankar   A quarter of a century ago, on July 5, 1994, a company, which shared a name with the world’s largest river, was incorporated. It sold books to customers who got to its website through a dial-up modem. It wasn’t the first bookstore to sell online. (Books.com launched in 1992.) But it behaved like a local store, whose shopkeeper knew customers by name – a bell even rang in the company’s Seattle headquarters every time an order was placed. Amazon’s founder, Jeff Bezos, set his sights on making it an “everything store.” The company would go on to become not just an everything store, but an “everything company.” Today, 25 years later, Amazon has reshaped retailing permanently. It is one of the top three most valuable companies in the world, with a market capitalization hovering around US$1 trillion, greater than the GDP of nearly 200 countries. If you had bought $100 worth of its IPO shares in 1997, it would be worth about $120,000 today. Redefining retail Amazon continually took shopping convenience to newer levels. Before 1994, shoppers had to travel to stores to discover and buy things. Shopping used to be hard work – wandering down…

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Report: Trump’s DOJ Prepares an Antitrust Investigation into Google’s Business Practice

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by Chris White   The Department of Justice is preparing an antitrust probe against Google’s search engine and business model, The Wall Street Journal reported Friday night, citing people familiar with the issue. It would be the first such investigation since the Federal Trade Commission conducted a probe of Google but closed it in 2013 without taking action. The FTC and DOJ have discussed which agency would oversee a probe of the internet giant — the commission agreed to give DOJ officials jurisdiction, TheWSJ noted. The Trump administration is focusing its attention on Google’s business model related to the company’s search. Google and the DOJ have not responded to The Daily Caller News Foundation’s request for comment. The FTC did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Investigating Google was in some ways a long time in the making. Conservatives and liberals have become increasingly critical of big tech. Facebook was scrutinized after Russia used its platform to intervene in American politics. Lawmakers are also unsure about the companies assurances that they are careful handling private data. Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri, for instance, proposed a bill in May that would essentially block tech companies from tracking people’s locations without direct…

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Amazon to Employees: We’ll Pay You to Quit and Haul Packages

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  Amazon, which is racing to deliver packages faster, is turning to its employees with a proposition: Quit your job and we’ll help you start a business delivering Amazon packages. The offer, announced Monday, comes as Amazon seeks to speed up its shipping time from two days to one for its Prime members. The company sees the new incentive as a way to get more packages delivered to shoppers’ doorsteps faster. Amazon says it will cover up to $10,000 in startup costs for employees who are accepted into the program and leave their jobs. The company says it will also pay them three months’ worth of their salary. The offer is open to most part-time and full-time Amazon employees, including warehouse workers who pack and ship orders. Whole Foods employees are not eligible to receive the new incentives. Seattle-based Amazon.com Inc. declined to say how many employees it expects to take them up on the offer. The new employee incentive is part of a program Amazon started a year ago that lets anyone apply to launch an independent Amazon delivery business. It is part of the company’s plan to control more of its deliveries on its own, rather than rely…

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Tennessee Star/Triton Poll: Nashville Voters Are Pro-Medical Marijuana, Strongly Disapprove More Tax Dollars Being Paid to Corporations Moving to Nashville

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  A new Tennessee Star/Triton poll indicates that while the Tennessee the Legislature was not willing to move forward with legislation legalizing the sale and distribution of medical marijuana in the state, Nashville voters are very supportive of the idea. 550 Likely voters in Davidson County were asked: “Would you be more or less likely to vote for a candidate who supports legalizing the distribution and sale of marijuana in Tennessee if strictly limited to prescribed medical use only?” 60.2% were more likely to vote for a candidate who supported legalization of medical marijuana; 18.4% were less likely; 16.1% said it would not impact their vote and 5.3% were unsure. After law enforcement officers voiced disapproval of a bill legalizing medical marijuana that was sponsored by State Senator Steve Dickerson (R-Nashville) it was pulled from consideration this year.  Dickerson says he will bring it back next year. Another hot issue with Nashville voters is the tax dollars being paid to corporations to move their headquarters and operations to town. Many voters clearly feel that companies are relocating to Nashville and Middle Tennessee without needing the lure of taxpayer dollars. That view is clearly tied to the opinion that affordable housing…

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Robots Track, Fire Thousands of Amazon Employees Every Year, Report Suggests

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by Tim Pearce   Amazon warehouse workers are monitored by tracking systems that measure each employee’s productivity, issue warnings for workers that lag and fire those consistently behind, according to documents obtained by The Verge. Amazon offers a base $15 an hour wage and its warehouses, called fulfillment centers, are often competitive to work at. The company is continuously replacing slow performing employees with new hires. An automated system tracks employees and gives pink slips to consistent underperformers, The Verge reported. An Amazon spokesperson told The Daily Caller News Foundation that no employee is fired without meeting with a supervisor. Employee oversight is largely automated, though supervisors can always override the system as the need arises, Amazon told The Verge. “Amazon’s system tracks the rates of each individual associate’s productivity, and automatically generates any warnings or terminations regarding quality or productivity without input from supervisors,” documents obtained by The Verge said. From August 2017 to September 2018, roughly 300 workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Baltimore lost their jobs because of low productivity. The facility employs about 2,500 full-time employees, putting the turnover rate at about 10 percent annually. If those numbers are similar across Amazon’s 75 North American…

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After 10 Years, Amazon Is Pulling the Plug on Its Business Operations in China

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Amazon Fulfillment

by Saibal Dasgupta   Amazon says it is curtailing business operations in China, the world’s biggest retail market, after struggling against better entrenched local players for more than a decade. The company announced recently that as of July 18, it will no longer provide services through its Chinese website, Amazon.cn. The decision means Amazon will stop selling goods from China-based vendors to domestic consumers on the portal. Although it is moving out of the e-retail business in China, Amazon will continue with its cross-border business, bringing foreign brands and goods to China, the company said. “Their demand for high-quality, authentic goods from around the world continues to grow rapidly, and given our global presence, Amazon is well-positioned to serve them,” the company said. The announcement has raised questions about the extremely thin presence of foreign companies in internet-related businesses in China, while Chinese companies like Alibaba create market space for themselves across the world. Amazon’s market share in China has fallen from about 15 percent a decade ago to about 6 percent. Alibaba and another local company, jd.com, account for nearly 75 percent of the Chinese market. Online shopping site eBay earlier moved out of China as it could not make a…

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When Asked If They Identified as ‘American,’ Many US Corporations Stand Silent

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by Tim Pearce   Ten international corporations contacted by The Daily Caller News Foundation got their start in the U.S. but stayed silent when asked if they saw themselves as “American” companies. Nine others responded to TheDCNF’s inquiry by either identifying with their American heritage, obscuring their loyalties or declining to comment altogether. TheDCNF wanted to gauge the commitment of international corporations with roots in the United States to keeping an “American” identity. TheDCNF did not define what an “American” company looks like or list out any principles or ideals that “American” companies are committed to, leaving each business to attach meaning to the name if one chose to stand by it. Representatives for Amazon, Apple, Chevron, General Electric and others did not respond to TheDCNF’s inquiry. A spokesman for the health care giant UnitedHealth Group asked for clarification of the question but never responded after clarification was given. The tech companies Google, Facebook and Twitter – all headquartered in California – are under distinct pressure to increase transparency and be upfront about their commitments, especially as it relates to censored content. Conservatives especially have taken issue with the tech giants’ policies, and U.S. politicians are wary of the companies’ operations in…

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Conservatives Call for Tech Giants to Split Ties with SPLC

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by Jarrett Stepman   Silicon Valley has enormous power over the flow of information that reaches people around the globe. That’s why it’s vital for Americans to understand how tech giants can manipulate information, either intentionally or unwittingly, to advance a political agenda. Now, 34 conservative leaders are banding together to call for tech giants Amazon, Facebook, Twitter, and Google to “cut ties” with the Southern Poverty Law Center. The letter states in part, “It is now clear that the SPLC has proven to be a hate-filled, anti-Christian, anti-conservative organization and nothing more than a weapon of the radical Left, whose goal is to bully people into compliance with their ideology.” [ The liberal Left continue to push their radical agenda against American values. The good news is there is a solution. Find out more ] As we’ve discussed on previous episodes of “Media Misses,” the SPLC is a far-left civil rights organization that has made wild claims about conservative organizations over the years, lumping them in with hate groups like neo-Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan. It has come under scrutiny after its founder, Morris Dees, resigned over accusations of discrimination and improper behavior. The issue has garnered the attention of those in Congress as…

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State House Subcommittee Allows Businesses Receiving Taxpayer Funds to Continue to Determine What Becomes Public Information by Claiming ‘Trade Secret’

Laura Baigert

NASHVILLE, Tennessee – A bill that would have shed light on taxpayer funded payments by Tennessee state and local governments to private entities was killed at its first stop in the House Public Service & Employees Subcommittee. By an obvious voice vote on HB 0370, Chairman Bob Ramsey (R-Maryville) ruled that the Nays prevailed. In his introduction of the bill, Representative Martin Daniel (R-Knoxville) told the subcommittee members, “The intent of this bill is to require disclosure – to shine a light, if you will – on what our government entities are paying for goods and services.” Representative Daniel told the committee, “I would submit that transparency and accountability in government instills public trust in government.” “However, vague and broad exceptions to the (Tennessee) Public Records Act concerning what a private entity might deem to be trade secrets or confidential information can obscure information concerning benefits that are conveyed by government entities to these privately-owned recipients,” continued Daniel. To clarify, Daniel emphatically stated, “This bill would not act on or touch such information” that may actually be confidential and disclosed by the private entity in connection with receiving government payments, benefits or properties. “It is we,” Daniel fervently stated, emphasizing…

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Amazon and Protesters Tell Two Different Stories of Latest Shakopee Protest

Anthony Gockowski

A group of mostly-Somalian workers at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Shakopee organized another walkout during an overnight shift Friday. In a Facebook post, the Awood Center, a local non-profit seeking to build “East African worker power,” said that a “majority of workers in the STOW department at Amazon’s MSP1 facility in Shakopee, Minnesota walked off the job to demand better working conditions.” “These 30 workers came together to demand that Amazon employees have safe jobs, respect from managers and a voice in the workplace,” the post said. Amazon spokeswoman Brenda Alfred, however, said the “characterization of the size of the group is inaccurate.” “The group of employees involved did not represent the majority of the night shift in the STOW department and actually was far fewer than half,” she told Shakopee Valley News. “A small group of associates left during their shift, some of whom went to a nearby restaurant so we disagree on how this activity has been portrayed.” As The Minnesota Sun reported, protesters affiliated with the Awood Center organized a walkout in early December, which Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-MN05) attended. “Their dignity is not being uplifted. For the honest work they are putting in, that is not…

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Elizabeth Warren Announces Plans to Break Up Facebook and Other Big Tech Firms

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by Chris White   Sen. Elizabeth Warren released a plan Friday to wallop big tech companies like Facebook, Google and Amazon as the Massachusetts Democrat works to differentiate herself among fellow presidential candidates. Her proposal would impose new rules on tech companies with $25 billion or more in annual ad revenue, forcing Amazon and Google to dramatically reduce their hold on online commerce. The plan would also aim to curtail mergers between companies like Facebook’s acquisition of Instagram and WhatsApp. “Today’s big tech companies have too much power — too much power over our economy, our society, and our democracy. They’ve bulldozed competition, used our private information for profit, and tilted the playing field against everyone else. And in the process, they have hurt small businesses and stifled innovation,” Warren wrote in a blog post Friday. She announced her bid to run against President Donald Trump in February. She added: “That’s why my Administration will make big, structural changes to the tech sector to promote more competition—including breaking up Amazon, Facebook, and Google.” Warren is expected to promote the idea Friday evening in Long Island City, New York, where Amazon was planning to build a monster campus before the online…

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Report: Ohio Job Growth Strong in 2018

Andrew Shirley

Friday, Ohio’s private economic development corporation, JobsOhio, released their annual report for 2018. The report assessed current projects,  jobs created, jobs maintained, and lastly, capital investments. By these metrics, 2018 appeared to be a strong year for Ohio. However, there are qualifiers to their findings. Overall, by JobsOhio assessment, the organization was involved in 266 projects across Ohio. This is actually a small decrease from previous years. In 2016, the organization was involved in 284 projects and 272 in 2017. However, the payroll and jobs created from these projects are significantly higher. The total payroll for 2018 $1.3 Billion with 27,071 new jobs created. Both of these figures represent significant jumps. While the report does not list the number of jobs lost or why the number of projects decreased, it does list the number of jobs retained. In total, 69,905  were retained in 2018, for a total payroll value of $4.2 Billion. Capital investment remained constant with last year at $9.6 Billion. It should be noted that the job numbers for 2018 reflect future jobs and spending commitments which means that, when the projects are launched, the actual numbers could vary significantly. According to the report, the majority of these new jobs were made in…

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Virginia Residents Plan Demonstration to Stop Arlington’s Planned $23M Tax Break for Amazon Headquarters

Jason M. Reynolds

The backlash that prompted Amazon to discard its New York HQ2 headquarters plans like a rotten apple has emboldened critics of the tax deals being offered for the Virginia headquarters site. Amazon’s New York announcement, ironically made on Valentine’s Day, showed there was no love lost between the e-retailer and politicians and activists who bemoaned nearly $3 billion in tax incentives for the firm, The Tennessee Star reported. Amazon promised 25,000 jobs and $2.5 billion investment in offices. Amazon said it still planned to build an operations center in Nashville. The company was promised $15 million from the City of Nashville and up to $102 million from the state for 5,000 jobs. Now some in Virginia are setting their sights on what they say is not a Prime deal. Roshan Abraham, with Our Revolution Arlington, one of several anti-tax-incentive groups in Virginia, said the Arlington County government should vote down the $23 million tax deal being offered to the world’s largest e-retailer, according to a story by Washington Business Journal. Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam has signed a deal to give Amazon up to $550 million to create 25,000 jobs or $750 million for 37,850 jobs, the Journal said. Virginia critics also…

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Bill Lee Won’t Say if Lee Company Might Benefit from Amazon Deal with Tennessee

Chris Butler

The administration of Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Lee won’t say whether the Lee Company will receive a cent for any services it may offer Amazon before or after the latter sets up shop in Nashville. No one at the Lee Company will say anything either. Nor will anyone at Amazon. No one at either of the two companies or inside Lee’s staff would return The Tennessee Star’s repeated requests for comment on the matter Wednesday. As The Star reported, city and state officials have offered $105 million in incentives to Amazon, something certain people have called corporate welfare. In exchange, Amazon is to offer 5,000 jobs for a $230 million operations center. This all happened before Lee took office in January. Specifically, The Star wanted to know whether Amazon might offer the Lee Company even a single penny for facility management or other services for any Amazon activities in Nashville. As The Tennessean reported, Lee stepped down as chairman of the Lee Company last month, before taking the oath as governor. Lee placed his company’s holdings into a blind trust. As the Nashville-based WKRN reported this month, Lee told a Sumner County audience he met with Amazon officials about its plans…

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Tennessee, Nashville Officials Say All Is Well For Amazon to Open Operations Center With Up to $102 Million in Incentives

Jason M. Reynolds

Tennessee and Nashville officials say they do not expect Amazon’s brush-off of New York to affect the retail behemoth’s decision to open an operations center in Music City. Amazon last Thursday said it would not build its second headquarters in New York City, called HQ2, because of pushback there, The Tennessee Star reported last week. The retailer faced a battle from some politicians and others over nearly $3 billion in tax incentives, Breitbart said. Amazon was poised to bring 25,000 jobs to New York with a $2.5 billion investment in offices. Amazon said last week in a statement it would not reopen the HQ2 search. The company said it does plan to proceed with another headquarters site in Virginia. The company’s Music City plans have drawn criticism from some, including the Nashville Fraternal Order of Police, who said the city’s $15 million in incentives were “corporate welfare.” With the State of Tennessee offerings, the package is up to $102 million for 5,000 jobs for a $230 million operations center. Jennifer McEachern, communications director for the Tennessee Department of Economic & Community Development, spoke to The Star via email about Amazon. The Star asked her if the state would re-examine the tax…

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Commentary: Democrats Move from Crony Capitalism to Class Warfare

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by CHQ staff   Nothing illustrates how far Left the Democratic Party has moved than the reaction of the Democrats’ most popular and media savvy politicians to the news that Amazon was abandoning plans to build part of its East Coast headquarters in the New York city of Long Island City. The move will cause New York to lose the 25,000 jobs that were expected to be created as well as some $27 billion in tax revenue the online behemoth was expected to pay into the Empire State’s coffers over the next decade. Yet, as our friend Peter A. List at LaborUnionReport.com reported to his readers, three of the Democrats’ most popular politicians –Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez [NY-14], Sen. Elizabeth Warren [D-MA], and Sen. Bernie Sanders [I-VT] seemed happy with Amazon’s decision to not create the jobs in New York. “Amazon – one of the wealthiest companies on the planet – just walked away from billions in taxpayer bribes, all because some elected officials in New York aren’t sucking up to them enough,” Sen. Warren tweeted. ” How long will we allow giant corporations to hold our democracy hostage?” ” Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated,…

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Gone in a New York Minute: How the Amazon Deal Fell Apart

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In early November, word began to leak that Amazon was serious about choosing New York to build a giant new campus. The city was eager to lure the company and its thousands of high-paying tech jobs, offering billions in tax incentives and lighting the Empire State Building in Amazon orange. Even Governor Andrew Cuomo got in on the action: “I’ll change my name to Amazon Cuomo if that’s what it takes,” he joked at the time. Then Amazon made it official: It chose the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens to build a $2.5 billion campus that could house 25,000 workers, in addition to new offices planned for northern Virginia. Cuomo and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio, Democrats who have been political adversaries for years, trumpeted the decision as a major coup after edging out more than 230 other proposals. But what they didn’t expect was the protests, the hostile public hearings and the disparaging tweets that would come in the next three months, eventually leading to Amazon’s dramatic Valentine’s Day breakup with New York. Immediately after Amazon’s Nov. 12 announcement, criticism started to pour in. The deal included $1.5 billion in special tax breaks and grants for the…

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Commentary: Amazon’s New York Reversal Shows Exactly Why Crony Capitalism Fails

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by Rachel Greszler   Just months after announcing it would locate one of its headquarters in New York City, Amazon has announced that it’s pulling the plug on the Big Apple. Based on Amazon’s public statement, it seems the company couldn’t rely on the deals it had cut or the political support it had received to last beyond the next election. And businesses can’t base long-term decisions like this on shifting political sand. That’s part of the problem with crony capitalism. It may procure short-term wins for a select few politicians and for businesses that can afford to pay to play, but it’s not a strategy for long-term success. Employers want to set up shop in places where they can grow and succeed. The best environment for that is a level playing field with minimal government interference and low, broad-based taxes—not picking winners and losers through special-interest subsidies. A favorable business environment is one where local leaders work to help all businesses equally, not a select few. Employers want leaders who can listen to their needs without telling them how to run their business, and they want communities and leaders that welcome the jobs and economic growth that employers bring,…

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Amazon Pulls Plug on New York Headquarters, Promises to Continue With Nashville, Virginia Sites

Jason M. Reynolds

The Big Apple has taken a big bite out of big tech, with the world’s largest e-commerce site announcing Thursday it would not build its second headquarters in New York City. The massive retailer/cloud computing firm faced a battle from some politicians and others in New York over nearly $3 billion in tax incentives, Breitbart said. Amazon was poised to bring 25,000 jobs to New York with a $2.5 billion investment in offices. The decision will not affect the planned office space for Arlington, Virginia, and the center in Nashville, Breitbart said. New York Mayor Bill de Blasio tweeted, “You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity.” You have to be tough to make it in New York City. We gave Amazon the opportunity to be a good neighbor and do business in the greatest city in the world. Instead of working with the community, Amazon threw away that opportunity. — Mayor Eric Adams (@NYCMayor) February 14, 2019 Amazon said in a statement it would…

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Commentary: Amazon’s New York Reversal Shows Exactly Why Crony Capitalism Fails

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by Rachel Greszler   Just months after announcing it would locate one of its headquarters in New York City, Amazon has announced that it’s pulling the plug on the Big Apple. Based on Amazon’s public statement, it seems the company couldn’t rely on the deals it had cut or the political support it had received to last beyond the next election. And businesses can’t base long-term decisions like this on shifting political sand. That’s part of the problem with crony capitalism. It may procure short-term wins for a select few politicians and for businesses that can afford to pay to play, but it’s not a strategy for long-term success. Employers want to set up shop in places where they can grow and succeed. The best environment for that is a level playing field with minimal government interference and low, broad-based taxes—not picking winners and losers through special-interest subsidies. A favorable business environment is one where local leaders work to help all businesses equally, not a select few. Employers want leaders who can listen to their needs without telling them how to run their business, and they want communities and leaders that welcome the jobs and economic growth that employers bring,…

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Amazon May Bail on New York Headquarters After Locals Rail Against It

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by Tim Pearce   Amazon is reportedly rethinking its promise to build a headquarters in New York City after receiving pushback from local officials and residents, sources told The Washington Post. New York Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo and NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio, both Democrats, are pushing for the Amazon deal after being instrumental in securing it. Many locals, however, have protested at stores and hearings, and the city’s council has badgered Amazon executives about the company’s position on unions. “The question is whether it’s worth it if the politicians in New York don’t want the project, especially with how people in Virginia and Nashville have been so welcoming,” one person familiar with the company’s plans told WaPo. Amazon is moving forward with plans to construct another headquarters in Arlington, Virginia, near the nation’s capital. Each project in New York and Virginia is expected to create 25,000 jobs. A smaller project in Nashville, Tennessee, is expected to create 5,000 new jobs. The company is considering other options for the New York location, including relocating thousands of jobs to other areas and withdrawing altogether. Amazon has not yet leased or bought any space in the area, so changing plans now would…

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Independent Film ‘Gosnell’ DVD a Best-Seller on Amazon

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by Courtney Joyner   Ahead of its Feb. 5 DVD release, the underdog film “Gosnell: The Trial of America’s Biggest Serial Killer” is seeing success as it reaches No. 1 on Amazon’s best-sellers list in “drama DVDs.” “We have seen this all along,” said Phelim McAleer, the film’s producer, in a statement to The Daily Signal. “‘Gosnell’ is the movie that the mainstream media and Hollywood don’t want you to see, but the public really has an appetite for the truth.” Unlike mainstream studios, “Gosnell,” which tells the story of the infamous late-term abortionist Kermit Gosnell, was supported by a crowdfunding campaign that raised a record-breaking $2.3 million in 45 days. Released in nearly 800 theaters across the U.S. in October, “Gosnell” grossed $3.6 million despite the lack of support from mainstream media outlets. “The film has been suppressed—NPR and Facebook and The New York Times have shut down our advertising,” said McAleer. “They won’t take our money because they don’t want this story told because it shines a negative spotlight on abortion.” The movie depicts the controversial investigation, trial, and conviction of “America’s most prolific serial killer,” as described by ABC News, and the political establishment media’s efforts to…

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Nashville’s Debt Reportedly On the Rise

Chris Butler

To borrow an old campaign slogan from former Nashville Mayor Karl Dean, Nashville is rising. And by that, we specifically mean its debt. Nashville’s debt continues to climb, so much so it’s at its highest point in 10 years, according to The Tennessean. The paper cited a new report that shows city officials spent one out of every $10 of taxpayer money to pay off debt the last fiscal year. The current path, the paper went on to say, quoting experts, is unsustainable. As Metro Council member Steve Glover told The Tennessee Star last month, Nashville is broke and can’t afford to hand out more incentives for corporations, like the one proposed for Amazon.com But incentives aren’t the only thing plaguing the city’s finances, according to The Tennessean. “As debt payments climb they can crowd out salaries for teachers, police and other government workers — particularly when the mayor and council decline to raise property taxes, as they did last spring,” The Tennessean said. “Some of the rising burden can be traced to a decision by city officials during the Great Recession to delay debt payments. Since then, the borrowing has continued.” Chris Coviello, lead Nashville analyst at Moody’s Investors Service, told…

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Sears Staves Off Liquidation, Stores to Remain Open

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Sears will live on— at least for now. The company’s chairman and largest shareholder, Eddie Lampert, won a bankruptcy auction for Sears in New York, averting liquidation of the iconic chain, according to a source familiar with the negotiations. The person agreed to speak on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the negotiation publicly. Lampert was the only one to put forth a proposal to rescue the floundering company in its entirety. He had sweetened his bid multiple times to more than $5 billion over the last few days through an affiliate of his hedge fund ESL. Details of the final terms couldn’t be learned. Lampert, who steered the company into bankruptcy protection, may be able to keep the roughly 400 remaining Sears stores open, which would mean tens of thousands of jobs are saved, at least for now. Whether Sears, founded 132 years ago as a mail order watch business, can survive in the era of Amazon remains questionable. Sears filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in October. At that time, it had 687 stores and 68,000 workers. At its peak in 2012, its stores numbered 4,000. Lampert says there’s still potential for the company…

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Nashville’s $15 Million for Amazon is Corporate Welfare, FOP Says

Jason M. Reynolds

Nashville’s police union is criticizing the city’s plans to award up to $15 million in incentives for Amazon’s new facility, calling it “corporate welfare,” the Associated Press reported. The Nashville Fraternal Order of Police is calling for cost-of-living adjustments the city reneged on earlier this year amid budget woes. Amazon has said its total incentive package in Nashville includes up to $102 million in performance-based incentives based on creating 5,000 jobs over the seven-year timeframe, with an average wage over $150,000. Nashville Mayor David Briley gave merit raises to 20 members of his own staff even as rank-and-file city workers got shafted on the promised salary increases, The Tennessee Star previously reported in September. Two of the mayor’s staff received 6 percent increases. The city’s excuse for not giving the salary adjustments was a shaky budget. James Smallwood, president of the Andrew Jackson Lodge No. 5, issued this statement to The Star about Amazon: The Fraternal Order of Police was pleased to learn that Amazon, in their selection of Nashville as a finalist for their new facility, had recognized what Nashvillians have always known. That Nashville is a safe, vibrant and welcoming city with an enormous potential for future growth. However,…

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Nashville Metro Council Resolution Reportedly Tries to Tie Amazon Deal to Pay Increases for City Employees

Chris Butler

Certain members of the Nashville Metro Council intend to tie the city’s proposed incentives for Amazon.com to wage increases for city employees, according to The Nashville Business Journal. As The Tennessee Star reported, Nashville will get Amazon’s new Operations Center of Excellence in exchange for $102 million in taxpayer-funded performance-based incentives. Additionally, Nashville will provide a cash grant up to $15 million, as reported. The new operation is supposed to have 5,000 new jobs with average salaries of $150,000 per year, according to Tennessee Republican Gov. Bill Haslam. According to The Nashville Business Journal, Metro Council members are scheduled to hear the resolution during next week’s meeting. The resolution, according the paper, asks that Metro Council “hereby goes on record as requesting that the Metropolitan Government of Nashville and Davidson County provide cost of living adjustments to employees of the Metropolitan Government if economic incentives are to be awarded to Amazon.” “If the Metropolitan Government is unable to provide cost of living adjustments to Metro employees, however, no economic incentives should be given to Amazon.” Resolutions, the paper went on to say are nonbinding. That means Metro has no obligation to meet the demands if the council approves it next week. “However,…

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Good Jobs First, National Watchdog Group, Blasts Amazon Deal That Includes Nashville

Chris Butler

Government officials are “whipsawed” into handing out corporate welfare and other tax incentives to companies like Amazon, as they did this month in Tennessee, among other places, according to the head of a Washington D.C.-based nonprofit. This is especially true as government officials try to entice a company to come to their state when they know those company officials have other options. Greg LeRoy, executive director of Good Jobs First (pictured, above), said as much in an op-ed this week in The New York Daily News. According to its website, Good Jobs First is a policy resource center that promotes corporate and government accountability in economic development. “In game theory, public officials are in the ‘prisoners’ dilemma.’ They aren’t told who they are competing against, and if they find out, they know they must not communicate with their peers. Their job is to supply data — and the biggest possible subsidy package — and hope for the best. They may intensely dislike this game’s rules, but know they must conform, lest they be blacklisted by site consultants shopping the next deal,” LeRoy wrote. “When a press release is issued, giving a politician a powerful re-election gift, the spin emphasizes the…

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Amazon’s Use of Hush Agreements With Local Governments Facing Political Consequences

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by Evie Fordham   Amazon’s announcement Nov. 13 that it would split its second headquarters between New York City and Arlington, Virginia, is having some unintended political ramifications. Many of the 238 cities that competed for Amazon HQ2 signed nondisclosure agreements with the company as the parties discussed incentive packages, some of which topped $7 billion. Amazon will likely receive tax incentive packages worth more than $2 billion to build in both New York and Virginia. Local legislators are pushing back against the practice that existed long before Amazon announced the contest for HQ2, reported The Wall Street Journal. For example, a Democratic New York state senator plans to propose legislation to ban governments from signing nondisclosure agreements with private companies, reported The New York Daily News. “The balance of power has tipped way too far in favor of big-moneyed interests and it is past time to fight back and reclaim it for the people,” state Sen. Mike Gianaris said, according to The New York Daily News. “The idea that we can have private corporate interests dictating to governments that they’re not allowed to talk to the people and reveal what they’re doing with their money is insane on many levels.” Gianaris represents Queens,…

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Amazon’s New Move Will Gentrify Neighborhoods

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by Alexandra Staub     When large companies move into an area, politicians often proclaim how the new business will create jobs, increase tax revenues, and thus lead to economic growth. This is one reason local governments offer tax incentives to businesses willing to move in. Amazon’s decision to locate offices in Long Island City across the East River from Manhattan, and in Crystal City on the outskirts of Washington, D.C., follows this pattern. The New York location borders the largest low-income housing area in the United States, with mostly African-American and Hispanic residents whose median household income is well below the federal poverty level. These people, local politicians claim, will benefit from Amazon’s move to the neighborhood. However, when large companies with an upscale and specialized workforce move into an area, the result is more often gentrification. As economic development takes place and prices of real estate go up, the poorer residents of the neighborhood are forced out and replaced by wealthier ones. Is such a market-driven approach that accepts displacement ethically justifiable? And how do we even measure its costs? Can gentrification ever be ethical? Although politicians don’t typically frame gentrification as a question of ethics, in accepting…

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Cities Reveal Insane Offers They Made in Bid for Amazon HQ

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by Evie Fordham   Amazon announced its decision Tuesday to split its second headquarters between Long Island City, New York, and Arlington, Virginia, but by picking those locations the corporation gave up some pretty sweet deals — and unusual offers — from other cities and states. Amazon will get incentives packages of more than $1.5 billion for bringing jobs to New York and more than $570 million for bringing jobs to Virginia, according to a Tuesday press release. Amazon bypassed big offers from Maryland and New Jersey, which put together incentives packages of $6.5 billion and $7 billion, respectively, according to The Baltimore Sun. But other states came up with offers that included deal-sweeteners other than infrastructure investments and tax credits proportional to jobs created. Here are a few of them: Georgia The Peach State had a long list it was willing to do to convince Amazon to build HQ2 in Atlanta. Georgia’s full package, which totaled more than $2 billion, was released for the first time Tuesday evening, reported The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. That package included “Amazon Academy of Georgia,” a state-provided space near or on Amazon’s campus to trains its employees, according to a March 5 document. The state was willing to pay…

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Amazon’s $100 Million-Plus Tennessee Tax Incentives Deal ‘Unfair and Immoral,’ Beacon Center Says

Jason M. Reynolds

The State of Tennessee’s and Metro Nashville’s $102 million taxpayer gift to Amazon is not a Prime deal, a public watchdog organization says. Amazon turned down Nashville for its coveted two new headquarters sites, called HQ2, but Nashville landed a $230 million operations center near downtown in the future Nashville Yards. For more on Amazon’s Nashville announcement, see this story in The Tennessee Star. Mark Cunningham, vice president of communications and outreach at the Beacon Center of Tennessee, criticized the deal. The center is a nonprofit, nonpartisan organization dedicated to providing empirical research and free market solutions for Tennesseans. Cunningham said, “Nashville was passed over for Amazon’s second (and third) headquarters, yet city and state officials still got scammed into giving the company more than $100 million in taxpayer giveaways for a consolation prize, which includes $80 million in cash handouts. Amazon, one of the world’s most valuable companies, and the government played taxpayers with this incentive deal, and it is time for us to speak up against this type of corporate welfare. While we welcome new businesses and the jobs they create to our state, forcing middle-class Tennesseans and small businesses to give their hard-earned dollars to a multi-billion dollar business is both unfair and immoral.” Rick Manning,…

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