Thursday, December 3, 2020

Killing Jobs in New York City

It’s an old story, made new again. When it comes to killing jobs and business, New York’s leftist politicians have led the pack.

When developers wanted to build a factory in the Bronx politicians cried foul. When developers wanted to revive a run-down factory in Brooklyn, politicians put the kibosh on the project.

But then, when Amazon had decided to build an Eastern Hub in Queens, New York’s radical politicians, led by an idiot bartendress, drove them out of town,

Now Amazon is going on a hiring spree, but not in New York City. The New York Post reminds us of this exemplary political dereliction.


Amazon is setting hiring records amid the pandemic — but New Yorkers are missing out, thanks to leftists like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.


Between January and October, the online retailer added 427,300 employees, reports The New York Times. That’s an average of about 1,400 a day — but since July the pace has been 2,800 new hires daily.


The company’s “hiring like mad,” marvels labor historian Nelson Lichtenstein. “No American company has hired so many workers so quickly.” Indeed, its growth this year blows away Walmart’s record hiring of 230,000 two decades ago.


Plus, Amazon offered $3,000 signing fees. And the pay itself isn’t bad: 85 percent of its 810,000 US workers get a minimum of $15 an hour. The retailer is now handing out $300 bonuses to full-timers as well.


As it happened, Gov. Cuomo did everything he could to attract Amazon to Queens. And yet, anti-job leftists chased Amazon out of the city:


New York City could sure use an employer like that right now, as the city faces 13.2 percent unemployment, almost twice the nation’s 6.9 percent rate. Yet radicals like AOC drove Amazon to ditch plans last year for a new headquarters in Queens — costing the city 25,000 jobs then, and who knows how many more during this unprecedented boom.


Keep in mind, the people in AOC’s district, the one that adjoins the place where Amazon was going to build their hub, voted for AOC. Either they are getting what they are voting for or they are showing that they do not possess the capacity to do said jobs.


AOC cheered: “Dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation and the power of the richest man in the world,” she crowed on Twitter.


Hmm: How many out-of-work New Yorkers would agree with her about that today?


It brings to mind the 2009 killing of the project for a mall at the long-vacant Kingsbridge Armory. The executioner, Bronx beep Rubén Diáz Jr., huffed that the idea that “any job is better than no job no longer applies.” That killed 1,200 job opportunities — and the armory’s still empty.


If New Yorkers don’t start rejecting this toxic political culture, the whole city will wind up vacant.

4 comments:

trigger warning said...


"If New Yorkers don’t start rejecting this toxic political culture, the whole city will wind up vacant."

Seems a perfect subject for a film like "Koyaanisqatsi". Philip Glass, call your office.

Sam L. said...

"The executioner, Bronx beep Rubén Diáz Jr., huffed that the idea that “any job is better than no job no longer applies.” Bronx "beep"???? What does this mean? An NYC term??

And why is the mayor against (my guess) of having the tax benefits from more companies?

Jeff said...

I think people are missing a point when they mock AOC and the other Socialists for behavior that harms the working class, which is that Socialists can only seem like a worthy political option when the majority of people are desperate for economic relief. A prosperous constituency will only vote for Socialists if they themselves are insulated from Socialist programs, which people below the upper-middle class are most definitely not. Retarding, if not destroying, the prosperity of those whose votes they seek is a benefit for the Socialist politician.

370H55V said...

@Sam L.

"Beep" means "borough president". Each of the five boroughs (counties) comprising the City of New York has one, although what they do nowadays no one really knows.

In ancient times (before the mid-80s), in addition to the city council, there was a "Board of Estimate" consisting of the mayor, comptroller, city council president, and the five borough presidents. The three citywide officials each had four votes, and each of the "beeps" had two votes each. The Board was a very powerful body, with jurisdiction over all capital budget and city planning/zoning functions. It was dissolved by the courts because it gave equal voting to the Brooklyn "beep" (representing 2.7 million people) and the Staten Island "beep" representing 400,000.

Today the "beeps" still hold court and have lavish operating budgets but no real function, and the at-large elected city council president was replaced by a "public advocate" whose function is to serve as a stepping-stone for higher office (cf. Letitia James).