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Dear Amazon: National Right to Work President’s Open Letter

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WASHINGTON – In Washington, D.C., on June 14, 2016, Jeff Bezos, founder and CEO of Amazon.com was awarded the James Smithson Bicentennial medal. Official DHS photo by Barry Bahler.

When politicians play games to lure companies to their state, it is oftentimes with tax breaks using money they don’t have, as was the case with New York’s tax breaks to Amazon. Amazon was going to pay much more in taxes than they received in tax breaks—by a lot—it was basically New York Prime.

The topic came up at a recent lunch with clients. I told them I was torn. I have a real problem when politicians use other people’s money to do their bidding. But I’m certainly not sad to see the backlash Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez will face in 2020.

My beef with politicians is, they roll out the red carpet for newcomers like Amazon, but do nothing for the businesses that haven’t already moved down to Florida. It’s a slap in the face to those who stuck around. Probably because they can’t leave. But at the end of the day, is it better for business to give the tax break to a lucky few?

My answer is a resounding no.

I’ve followed National Right to Work President Mark Mix for years and here’s his open letter to Amazon:

February 26, 2019

Dear Sirs,

I could not help but note the recent news reports that you have decided to cancel a major infrastructure investment in New York.

Allow me to congratulate you on having dodged a bullet.

As you know, polls showed that the people of New York were excited about Amazon bringing 25,000 high-paying jobs into their area.

Yet despite the clear benefits to the residents of Long Island City, Amazon immediately began to face a flood of hostility from local politicians, left-wing activists, and, not surprisingly to us here at National Right to Work, union officials.

Such hostility is sadly common in forced-unionism states like New York.

You see, Big Labor’s ability to force workers to pay union dues or fees as a condition of working has led the union bosses and the politicians they finance to routinely ignore the desires of the hardworking men and women they claim to “represent.”

The fact is, job growth in Right to Work states is nearly double that of the forced-unionism states, for just that reason.

And after adjusting for cost of living, it’s clear that families in Right to Work states have on average $4,500 more to spend in after-tax real income.

That’s why site selection consultants consistently report more than half of their clients won’t even consider non-Right to Work states when looking to relocate, invest, or expand.

So it makes sense for you to expand in Nashville, Tennessee and Arlington, Virginia, both in states which have Right to Work laws.

My question to you is why you ever had New York, and more specifically, New York City, on your list, when there are dozens of cities open and welcoming for business across the 27 Right to Work states?

Sincerely,

Mark Mix

President, National Right to Work Committee

For more from Mix, click here.

Originally posted on Your Survival Guy. 

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E.J. Smith - Your Survival Guy

Preparing your investments and family for when disaster strikes.
E.J. Smith is the Founder of YourSurvivalGuy.com, Managing Director at Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd., a Managing Editor of Richardcyoung.com, and Editor-in-Chief of Youngresearch.com. E.J. graduated from Babson College in Wellesley, Massachusetts, with a B.S. in finance and investments. In 1995, E.J. began his investment career at Fidelity Investments in Boston before joining Richard C. Young & Co., Ltd. in 1998. E.J. has trained at Sig Sauer Academy in Epping, NH, where he completed course-work in Practical and Defensive Handgun, Conceal Carry Pistol, Shotguns, Precision Scope Rifle and Kidnapping Prevention. E.J. plays a Yamaha Recording Custom drum set with Zilldjian cymbals. His first drum set was a 5-piece Slingerland with Zilldjians. He grew-up worshiping Neil Peart of the band Rush, and loves the song Tom Sawyer—the name of his family’s boat, a Grady-White Canyon 306. He grew up in Mattapoisett, MA, an idyllic small town on the water near Cape Cod. He spends time in Newport, RI and Bartlett, NH—both as far away from Wall Street as one could mentally get. The Newport office is on a quiet, tree lined street not far from the harbor and the log cabin in Bartlett, NH, the “Live Free or Die” state, sits on the edge of the White Mountain National Forest. He enjoys spending time in Key West and Paris. Please get in touch with E.J. at ejsmith@youngresearch.com. Sign up here to receive all the best content from Richardcyoung.com each week.