Alexandria, Andrew and Amazon

Off the record, it's called corporate welfare. But it's a reality in the times we live in. Every village, every town and every city in every state is competing to bring business in because business equates to money injected into the local economy in the name of jobs. Jobs that pay a measurable margin above minimum wage are most desirable because they bring educated and skilled workers along with them, and this equates to a good standard of living and thusly a healthy community. It also has the side effect of keeping local taxes stable and when taxes are stable, communities flourish.

Business, however, is not like business used to be. To remain profitable, they have to compete in the marketplace. This means they have to be able to produce and distribute their product and then be able to sell it at a profit. If business, any business does not make a profit, they do not last long. Raising prices is the last thing a business wants to do because they know competition is fierce and if they price themselves out of the ballpark, sales will drop and consequently profits. So they look to lower their internal costs any way they can.

The highest cost a business has to deal with is their human resources, period. The more people you have on the payroll, the higher the cost of doing business. So it is no surprise that business will automate everything it can to lower costs. There is a line, however. There will be employees and there will be a payroll.

When a company like Amazon lets it be known they are looking to establish a regional presence, the political wooing begins. With an estimated 25,000 jobs to barter with, Amazon sat back and considered the offers. And there were plenty of them, to be sure. Boston, Chicago, San Diego, New York City ... not to mention the southern states set up with lower tax schedules than the bigger blue states. Along with doing business in a blue state comes the reality that it is usually over-regulated more than red states are. (This is one contributing reason business down south is doing better than up north.)

I confess I was surprised and amazed that Andrew Cuomo seemed to have won the competition to have Amazon locate in New York; Queens was the selected location. Andrew Cuomo is not on my Christmas card list, but I gave him credit for winning the competition. The nay-sayers attacked him for the deal he gave them (3 Billion in tax credits and incentives along with squashing local regulatory controls, just to mention a couple of gems in the package), but overall bringing in 25,000 jobs is no minor accomplishment.

It was a short-lived victory. About a month or so after the announcement, Amazon pulled out. And as the story unfolds, now we're learning why. It seems the new Congresswoman from Queens (Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez aka AOC) kind of pissed on the deal to the point where Amazon decided it would not be in their best interests to relocate to Queens after all. The bidding war looks to be back on, but anybody with a brain should realize Amazon already had a plan B, C and D in reserve. The smaller municipalities (like Oneida County) can save their ink, paper and stamps and skip wooing Amazon. Simply put, it ain't us... It ain't happening here.

Like Yogi Berra says, It's like deja-vu all over again. The first thing that came to mind was how our County Executive Anthony Picente (aka Fearless Leader from the cartoon Rocky and Bullwinkle) did worse: He actually built the building before having the company pull out of the deal leaving OC taxpayers holding the empty NANO bag, bond debt and all. But he had help ... Boris "Brindisi" Badenov and Natasha "Destito" Fatale have their fingerprints all over it too.

There is a silver lining in the cloud. Now Democrats are going after AOC for ruining the deal, and we all know there is nothing better than watching liberals tear up liberals. It saves wear and tear on Republicans when Democrats shit where they eat.

Is the deal salvageable? I have no crystal ball and won't bother to prognosticate about that. But I will make a bet, and that is AOC is going to have a real hard time in less than 2 years when she runs for re-election. She has her own party that is pissed-off at her to contend with before she has to deal with the other party candidate - and I'm thinking there is going to be a Republican candidate on the ballot next time. That's a double whammy, and for the new kid on the block, that's a critical mistake to have made so early in her career. I'm thinking she is going to be a flash-in-the-pan anomaly; here today, gone tomorrow.

And, FWIW, the New Green Deal is almost guaranteed DOA. Mitch McConnell is going to bring it to a vote, but he already knows the outcome. Not only is it going to go down, it is going to go down in flames and the upside of calling the vote is that the American public will now have on record as to who voted for it and who voted against it.

And 2020 isn't all that far off. Barring any unforeseen tremors and if history is any predictor, Trump will be re-elected ... and I wouldn't be surprised if he brings the House back to Republican leadership at the same time. Not to mention, odds are this President will have another Supreme Court nominee if I'm reading the tarot cards right. That is going to set the tone and pace for judicial decisions for decades to come, and after considering how screwed up this country is, I'm not thinking this is a bad thing.

But for now, I'm going to sit back with a bag of popcorn and enjoy watching Andrew Cuomo and NYC Mayor de Blasio rag on AOC for pissing in their Amazon Wheaties.

I'm betting it's going to be a show to remember.

God Forbid the Rich Leave

Irony can be a real bitch. I've lived in New York State all my life, but I see the writing on wall. In a few short years, I won't. My wife and I are planning to fully retire in the next few years. The clock is ticking and we've begun looking into states that have a much better tax climate than NYS.

Don't get me wrong; I've lived in my house at the same location for over 40 years and I love my small corner of the vineyard. I've been blessed beyond expectation. But New York has reshuffled the deck over the years, and not for the better. I'm not Albert Einstein, but like others, I've come to realize NYS is a poor place to live in retirement. The population has been steadily decreasing for decades (especially upstate), and the reason why is pretty clear: NYS owns the title to being the worst state to live and retire in; it's #50 out of 50 United States and considering how far gone California is, that fact is pretty sad.

There are numerous websites that will confirm my words. Forbes, Kipplingers and Freedominthe50states are just some sources that reinforce my words. It's so bad NY has become #1 in population loss; about 50,000 people booked out of NYS last year. (That's just one year!) Andrew Cuomo would have us believe it's because of the weather. If he had only used the word climate instead of weather, he'd have been right. Andy baby, it's not the weather, it's the climate. The tax climate. The anti-gun climate. The pro-choice abortion climate. And so on ... You even have the brass balls to say I and others like me are not even welcome in this state. Yeah, vaffanculo, Mr. Cuomo.

And that's the problem when people leave. Not only do they leave a hole when they leave (NY is scheduled to lose 2 US Congressional seats after the 2020 census), they take their money with them. Often, that's a lifetime accumulation of money, and when they go, that is money that is not going to be spent or taxed in NYS anymore. The real hit is the loss of money because that means those that remain are going to pay more in taxes, not less.

It's not conservative policies that are driving up NY taxes, it's liberal policies. It's not conservative policies that drive people out of NYS, it's liberal policies. And of course, conservatives don't run NYS, liberals do. And worse, they don't have a clue as to a solution. As politicians tend to do when the hooey hits the fan, they start pointing fingers and blaming others.

In Andrew Cuomo's case, he is now blaming Donald Trump's tax cuts for the almost $3 billion shortfall in the budget. This is, of course patent bullshit. It's not Donald Trump, Mr. Governor. It's you. After decades of big tax and big spend policies, after years of 3 men in a room hacking out budget compromises, the seeds you have sowed have grown. And what a miserable crop they turned out to be. Not only do we pay the highest sales tax rate in Upstate, but we pay high income and property taxes on top of that, and yes - you're responsible in part because you force the local schools and municipalities to tax the shit out of us for your unfunded mandates.

What's more, I thought you and your ilk said Trump's tax cuts benefited the rich. Why, if they truly did, that's more incentive to stay here, not leave. Which is it? The tax cuts hurt NY by letting the rich pay less in taxes ... or the other way around? Do rich people have an incentive to stay here by paying less, or ... Just which way is it, Andrew?

Now it's even worse. Now you have complete 1 party control in NYS and this is not going to end well. Yeah, now Carl 'Montel Williams' Heastie, Andrea 'Moms Mabley' Stewart-Cousins and Andy 'Kaufman' Cuomo are going to sit in the room and now there's absolutely nothing stopping you. When great comedians like those get together, you would think the jokes are going to be pretty good. When the curtain next month lifts, I'm thinking the joke is going to be on us ... again.

So, Uncle Andy, you have a problem: Your current budget is doing down faster than Rosie O'Donnell on a see-saw. You need more revenue, and I'm only curious as to where you are going to get it. Now you've come to realize that you can't afford to lose rich people anymore, because their small numbers pay the lions share of taxes already. Every once in a while you let your guard down and say what you really think; we saw that already with your 'America was never that great' quote. But your latest quip, God forbid the rich leave was really telling. I'm sorry to say, you're a little late already. They've been setting sail for years now. If you don't believe me, just ask Tom Golisano, the Paychex billionaire and (former) NYS resident. He left over 10 years ago and wrote a nice essay about his reasons why. I couldn't find it on the web again, so I'll just post this syracuse.com article from 10 years ago. (He's saving almost $14,000/day just by domiciling outside NYS; thank God he's still donating to his charities here like his Children's Hospital) ...

It's tough to leave a place you've lived at for a long time. It's tough to pull up roots and leave your friends and family behind. Yes, we'll be back from time to time. But please know and understand that the liberal policies stemming from downstate control of upstate for decades ... are the primary reason ~50,000 people chose to leave NYS last year.

God forbid if you ever make it to the White House, Andrew. I don't know where to move should a national tragedy like that occur.