Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
[quote=gsoboi78;49899948]North Carolina is a non starter because our law makers will never pony up enough incentives. Its the same old song and its why NC has lost so many deals to other states. If NC isnt prepared to offer at least $3 billion in incentives, forget about it. That being said, I think Amazon is going to pick a larger city/metro such as Boston, Texas or suburban DC/Virginia. They have the mass transit, population and cosmopolitan culture Amazon is looking for and would likely offer bigger incentives. North Carolina's metros are just not big enough for a headquarters for this particularly company even though all three of the state's big metros barely meet the minimum population requirement. I can see other offices or distribution hubs which NC has to some extent but that is as far as its going to go.
I hate government local/state/federal picking winners. I would love to see as part of a global trade agreement this practice getting banned. I like Amazon but the last thing they need are subsidies. If that keeps NC from landing them .... those be the breaks.
Their prices are no longer the best in many cases.
Walmart is pushing back hard.
Perhaps Amazon will take a fall in many areas. Not so good to have bribed them heavily to come and wind up with a spate of foreclosures as the overpaid hipsters find out what many jobs really pay in NC.
Even GM fell into bankruptcy. The bigger they are the harder they fall.
Closer to home, NC gave a giant bribe to Dell Computer. Their business took dive, and they walked away not fully repaying the bribe.
This area had a solid foundation in government, education, and medicine. A flimsy foundation in retail and tech may very well collapse leaving the state hooked to bonds covering the infrasture needed to support the incoming overpaid hipsters.
Last edited by CapitalBlvd; 10-23-2017 at 03:55 AM..
Their prices are no longer the best in many cases.
Walmart is pushing back hard.
Perhaps Amazon will take a fall in many areas. Not so good to have bribed them heavily to come and wind up with a spate of foreclosures as the overpaid hipsters find out what many jobs really pay in NC.
Even GM fell into bankruptcy. The bigger they are the harder they fall.
Closer to home, NC gave a giant bribe to Dell Computer. Their business took dive, and they walked away not fully repaying the bribe.
This area had a solid foundation in government, education, and medicine. A flimsy foundation in retail and tech may very well collapse leaving the state hooked to bonds covering the infrasture needed to support the incoming overpaid hipsters.
This area is one of the tech hotbeds on the East Coast if not the entire country. How are you defining flimsy.
Another drawback for North Carolina, this state is too conservative. Im willing to bet they will pick a very diverse liberal state. And while HB2 has been repealed, it still hurt our state's image. Diversity is another thing Amazon is looking for and thats pretty lacking here compared to larger cosmopolitan cities.
Nobody knows who will be the winner until Amazon makes the announcement. While some areas in NC are more laughable than others, its a long shot for any city in NC which means Charlotte or Raleigh's chances are no bigger than Hickory or the Triad. There is just too much competition and too many cities that qualify that are bigger and fits Amazon's mold better than any NC city/metro. Incentives will knock us out all together, forget about the things that NC doesnt have on Amazon's list like mass transit. Some states are prepared to offer up to $8 billion in incentives. It would surprise me if we topped $1 billion. With states coming out of the gate offering $8 billion in incentives, we might as well take our ball and go home because we'll never come remotely close to matching that. I think Charlotte and Raleigh/Durham will be the only cities in NC to make the first cut which is a process in filtering out cities that have no chance in hell. But in the end, it will likely be a predictable major city that comes out on top. Heck it might not even be a city in the United States. Major cities in Canada are good contenders as well. Amazon executives are too spoiled to the comforts and urban culture of a city like Seattle to move to cow country in the Triad (sarcasm) or the Triangle which is more of a suburban job market and has a cosmopolitan culture and big city atmosphere that pales in comparison to a city such as Seattle or Boston.
Drawback? Look at the NE which is extremely liberal and all I see is insanely high property taxes and housing prices are through the roof. The amount of people escaping the NE and moving here is insane. 60+ people move to Wake County a day and many of them are from the NE. This area will shift more liberal as time goes on because of the transplants and the increases in taxes/prices will soon follow. People don't learn. Personally I think Amazon would make things much worse for our area and we can do without it. We shouldn't offer billions of dollars to a company to be here. Why don't we focus our money on the people that are already here? I bet teachers would love a pay increase and given extra money for supplies. A teacher makes $30,000 a year and they have to spend hundreds every year for supplies. How does that make sense? They spend eight hours a day with 20+ kids teaching them and they are paid just above poverty level. How about police and firefighters making less than $40,000 a year? That is INSANE. Take care of the people that live here and make our area a better place. Let another state give billions to Amazon.
I will gladly pay more in taxes so teachers make $50,000 a year and first responders make $75,000 starting off. Not so Amazon can build their HQ here.
One thing is for sure, who ever gets Amazon will see a little population boost because of the number of jobs and that doesn't include any associated jobs from other companies.
Drawback? Look at the NE which is extremely liberal and all I see is insanely high property taxes and housing prices are through the roof. The amount of people escaping the NE and moving here is insane. 60+ people move to Wake County a day and many of them are from the NE. This area will shift more liberal as time goes on because of the transplants and the increases in taxes/prices will soon follow. People don't learn. Personally I think Amazon would make things much worse for our area and we can do without it. We shouldn't offer billions of dollars to a company to be here. Why don't we focus our money on the people that are already here? I bet teachers would love a pay increase and given extra money for supplies. A teacher makes $30,000 a year and they have to spend hundreds every year for supplies. How does that make sense? They spend eight hours a day with 20+ kids teaching them and they are paid just above poverty level. How about police and firefighters making less than $40,000 a year? That is INSANE. Take care of the people that live here and make our area a better place. Let another state give billions to Amazon.
I will gladly pay more in taxes so teachers make $50,000 a year and first responders make $75,000 starting off. Not so Amazon can build their HQ here.
Ironically enough; a lot of the folks that move here from the NE all complain that they think the teachers and firefighters up there are paid too much and that's why their taxes are so high. Take a look (if you dare) at the Long Island section of this forum and it seems like every other thread is some old Archie Bunker-type whining about over-paid teachers and civil servants destroying "the taxpayer".
I agree very strongly with your final sentence in bold.
Ironically enough; a lot of the folks that move here from the NE all complain that they think the teachers and firefighters up there are paid too much and that's why their taxes are so high. Take a look (if you dare) at the Long Island section of this forum and it seems like every other thread is some old Archie Bunker-type whining about over-paid teachers and civil servants destroying "the taxpayer".
I agree very strongly with your final sentence in bold.
Maybe people in this area aren't familiar with what Amazon did to Seattle. Because of their hyper growth teachers and firefighters can't afford to live within an hour of their jobs. So yeah, salaries would have to go up here along with everything else including property taxes and your COL.
Maybe people in this area aren't familiar with what Amazon did to Seattle. Because of their hyper growth teachers and firefighters can't afford to live within an hour of their jobs. So yeah, salaries would have to go up here along with everything else including property taxes and your COL.
True. The more I think about it, the more I don't want it. Those of us already here are likely to feel the downsides more acutely, much sooner, than the benefits. I vote for slow growth.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
