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People opposed to Amazon's plan to locate a headquarters in New York City are seen outside a store in 2018. (Photo: Stephanie Keith/Getty Images)
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested the Trump administration "focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families" after news broke Friday that Amazon was expanding its presence in New York City without the state giving the company billions in tax incentives.
The decision by the online giant to lease 335,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan and employee 1,500 employees in the consumer and advertising departments was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The announcement came roughly 10 months after Amazon announced it was ditching its widely condemned plan to locate a second headquarters site in Long Island City, Queens--a plan for which New York state would have given the online giant nearly $3 billion in tax incentives.
Ocasio-Cortez was among that plan's most vocal critics, asking at the time, "Why should corporations that contribute nothing to the pot be in a position to take billions from the public?"
In a Twitter thread Saturday morning, the New York Democrat said that Amazon would now be "bringing work without the welfare." Ocasio-Cortez also countered the Republican talking point that the city was losing out on thousands of jobs.
New York state Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris--who was also among the critics of Amazon's so-called HQ2 plan for the city--weighed in on the news as well Friday.
"Amazon is coming to New York, just as they always planned. Fortunately, we dodged a $3 billion bullet by not agreeing to their subsidy shakedown earlier this year," Gianaris said in a statement. "Now, we must enact reforms to our economic development programs to ensure no company can seek to take advantage of the public again."
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested the Trump administration "focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families" after news broke Friday that Amazon was expanding its presence in New York City without the state giving the company billions in tax incentives.
The decision by the online giant to lease 335,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan and employee 1,500 employees in the consumer and advertising departments was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The announcement came roughly 10 months after Amazon announced it was ditching its widely condemned plan to locate a second headquarters site in Long Island City, Queens--a plan for which New York state would have given the online giant nearly $3 billion in tax incentives.
Ocasio-Cortez was among that plan's most vocal critics, asking at the time, "Why should corporations that contribute nothing to the pot be in a position to take billions from the public?"
In a Twitter thread Saturday morning, the New York Democrat said that Amazon would now be "bringing work without the welfare." Ocasio-Cortez also countered the Republican talking point that the city was losing out on thousands of jobs.
New York state Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris--who was also among the critics of Amazon's so-called HQ2 plan for the city--weighed in on the news as well Friday.
"Amazon is coming to New York, just as they always planned. Fortunately, we dodged a $3 billion bullet by not agreeing to their subsidy shakedown earlier this year," Gianaris said in a statement. "Now, we must enact reforms to our economic development programs to ensure no company can seek to take advantage of the public again."
Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez suggested the Trump administration "focus more on cutting public assistance to billionaires instead of poor families" after news broke Friday that Amazon was expanding its presence in New York City without the state giving the company billions in tax incentives.
The decision by the online giant to lease 335,000 square feet of office space in Manhattan and employee 1,500 employees in the consumer and advertising departments was first reported by the Wall Street Journal.
The announcement came roughly 10 months after Amazon announced it was ditching its widely condemned plan to locate a second headquarters site in Long Island City, Queens--a plan for which New York state would have given the online giant nearly $3 billion in tax incentives.
Ocasio-Cortez was among that plan's most vocal critics, asking at the time, "Why should corporations that contribute nothing to the pot be in a position to take billions from the public?"
In a Twitter thread Saturday morning, the New York Democrat said that Amazon would now be "bringing work without the welfare." Ocasio-Cortez also countered the Republican talking point that the city was losing out on thousands of jobs.
New York state Senate Deputy Leader Michael Gianaris--who was also among the critics of Amazon's so-called HQ2 plan for the city--weighed in on the news as well Friday.
"Amazon is coming to New York, just as they always planned. Fortunately, we dodged a $3 billion bullet by not agreeing to their subsidy shakedown earlier this year," Gianaris said in a statement. "Now, we must enact reforms to our economic development programs to ensure no company can seek to take advantage of the public again."