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What would happen if Amazon brought 50,000 workers to your city? Ask Seattle
The Philadelphia Inquirer ^ | October 20, 2017 | Jonathan O'Connell, The Washington Post

Posted on 10/20/2017 11:17:56 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet

SEATTLE — Amazon.com has driven an economic boom in Seattle, bestowing more than 40,000 jobs upon a city known for Starbucks coffee and Seahawks fandom. Its growth remade a neglected industrial swath north of downtown into a hub of young workers and fixed the region, along with Microsoft before it, as a premier locale for the Internet economy outside Silicon Valley.

Seattle is the fastest-growing big city in the United States, a company town with construction cranes busily erecting new apartments for newly arriving tech workers. Google and Facebook have joined Amazon in putting large offices here.

When Amazon made a surprise announcement last month that it planned to open a second headquarters with even more jobs, it set off an unprecedented race among cities to lure the tech giant their way. Amazon said it will need 8 million square feet in a second region, making it the biggest economic development target in decades, experts say.

But as Seattleites will say, keeping up with the Internet juggernaut has not always been easy, providing a word of caution for officials from other cities willing to pursue the company at great expense....

(Excerpt) Read more at philly.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: fake; fakenews
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1 posted on 10/20/2017 11:17:56 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

I’m betting on Texas on this one.


2 posted on 10/20/2017 11:21:17 AM PDT by Blue House Sue
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

My city (San Antonio) was in the mix for Amazon Part Two. But backed away. Knowing it’ll probably go to Dallas.

But hey. If the next Amazon Part Two is ANYTHING like Seattle - then forget it.

It wouldn’t be worth it.

Yeesh!


3 posted on 10/20/2017 11:27:21 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Texas will probably get this.
but the mystery remains...just what useful, productive, profitable work could 50,000 new office clerk types perform to make hiring them all of a sudden worthwhile?

and...especially since the company refers to the entire scheme as redundant to its existing bloated HQ

there is something else going on here, other than just duplicating a big HQ operation... what successful corporation has duplicate Headquarters of this size, anyway? what if clerk 12,657 in Seattle says YES and clerk 47, 974 in Dallas, say, says NO?

instead of making Amazon more profitable, it will drain Amazons financial resources and screw up Amazon’s daily operations big=time

so....Bezos not being THAT stupid, just what (else) is he up to with this very stange proposal? Just what will his new 50,000 paperpushers actaully DO?


4 posted on 10/20/2017 11:27:24 AM PDT by faithhopecharity ("Politicans are not born, they're excreted." -- Marcus Tillius Cicero)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
What would happen if Amazon brought 50k workers to my city? An increase in the sale of Xboxes, tennis shoes, skinny jeans, and starbucks coffee?

And low rent housing would become more expensive.

5 posted on 10/20/2017 11:30:55 AM PDT by kjam22 (America need forgiveness from God)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Seattle’s problem is the serious geographic/geologic limitations. There’s a whole lotta people trying to jam into very little usable space, narrowly distributed along peninsulas.

TX & GA have, on the whole, no such limitations. Atlanta sprawls, rather comfortably. As downtown has filled up, high-tech has moved up “the 400” to more spacious areas yet still can travel quickly without too much trouble. Major arteries can be slow, but plenty of roads spread between with no physical limitations of ocean or mountains.


6 posted on 10/20/2017 11:31:18 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (It's not "white privilege", it's "Puritan work ethic". Behavior begets consequences.)
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To: kjam22; faithhopecharity

Amazon says the average salary will be $100,000 a year.


7 posted on 10/20/2017 11:34:02 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

That’s 100 people in management making big bucks, and 49,900 making 50K per year.


8 posted on 10/20/2017 11:36:28 AM PDT by kjam22 (America need forgiveness from God)
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To: faithhopecharity

Accounting, Payroll, Human Resources, internal tech support, internal logistics, etc. etc. etc.

To some degree a 50K workforce requires its own back office support.

I know what you mean though. When you are working with huge multinationals like I do, sometimes you will look at a huge building or campuses and ask “what do all these people DO?” even when you are on your way to meet with some of the people that DO these things.


9 posted on 10/20/2017 11:36:29 AM PDT by freedumb2003 (Every Californian who supported "sanctuary state" has blood and ashes on his/her hands)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
Atlanta is making a BIG push to get it - offering five potential locations and who knows what other concessions. The Mayor has stated that getting it would be on par with The Olympics.

My guess is that, given Amazon's liberal bent, that you could be highly qualified, but if you were a white, middle class, Christian, you would have no chance at being one of the 50,000.

10 posted on 10/20/2017 11:37:10 AM PDT by The Sons of Liberty (Uranium One = BRIBERY and TREASON - HANG THEM ALL!!!!)
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To: ctdonath2

Driving around (and now being driven around) the Dallas/Ft Worth area, it amazes me how much vacant land there is.


11 posted on 10/20/2017 11:38:07 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: faithhopecharity

I suspect Bezos is shopping for whichever city gives him enough tax credits, incentives, and other corporate welfare freebies.

Then - as usual - taxpayers will get screwed.


12 posted on 10/20/2017 11:38:18 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
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To: kjam22

I’m just quoting Amazon. If you have inside information, fine.


13 posted on 10/20/2017 11:39:55 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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To: faithhopecharity

With all the problems in Seattle, Amazon may be thinking of establishing the second headquarters as a staging place to pull out of Seattle. The greedy tax to the max Seattle Democrats are now proposing a head tax on employees. Amazon is their target. Imagine the cost of paying a $100/employee tax every year. Amazon had better hurry. The wolf is at their door.


14 posted on 10/20/2017 11:40:11 AM PDT by jonrick46 (Trump continues to have all the right enemies.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

Well, for one thing the real estate market goes bananas.

for example this place is a shack (but down the road from Microsoft):https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/34111-SE-43rd-St-Fall-City-WA-98024/49004794_zpid/?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=emo-propalert-button&rtoken=d27c5d62-3794-415b-bc56-7948cdbcecbc~X1-ZUx3u8qn86mqdl_8gte6


15 posted on 10/20/2017 11:40:34 AM PDT by RitchieAprile
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To: faithhopecharity
Amazon is expecting continued massive growth. They're looking at scale so large that UPS/FedEx/USPS/etc won't - can't - keep up. They're growing, and brick-and-mortar shops are suffering; that means a lot more brain-work to make it all happen.

And they're not the only one. Local Walmart is installing something to take shopping to the next level:


16 posted on 10/20/2017 11:40:56 AM PDT by ctdonath2 (It's not "white privilege", it's "Puritan work ethic". Behavior begets consequences.)
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To: 2ndDivisionVet

My guy told me he heard from someone at work that one concern was that most of those 50,000 workers were going to be brought in from out of state instead of being local hires-if true, that is not what an awful lot of people want to see happen-the idea is to get local people to work, not people from some other state-and most of us certainly don’t want more liberals infesting our states...


17 posted on 10/20/2017 11:42:32 AM PDT by Texan5 (`"You've got to saddle up your boys, you've got to draw a hard line"...)
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To: The Sons of Liberty

Looks like Amazon is considering Atlanta, Dallas, Austin, Toronto or Boston.

They do not seem to be considering Detroit, Toledo or Des Moines.


18 posted on 10/20/2017 11:43:06 AM PDT by Blue House Sue
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To: 2ndDivisionVet
I’m just quoting Amazon. If you have inside information, fine.

Oh I understand. "Average" is a misleading term. And believing Amazon who is trying to negotiate their best deal with some city is not something I would bank on. But I'm an extraordinary skeptic.

19 posted on 10/20/2017 11:44:17 AM PDT by kjam22 (America need forgiveness from God)
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To: Texan5

50,000 families are going to pull up stakes and move to a red state? Doesn’t really pass the smell test.


20 posted on 10/20/2017 11:44:57 AM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet (You cannot invade the mainland US. There'd be a rifle behind every blade of grass.)
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