Trump's Amazon attacks hurting a state taking him on

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

The Trump administration is turning Washington counties from red to blue on maps of America, and will soon have its supporters seeing blue.

The red represents big 2016 Trump majorities in Central Washington from the Canadian border to the Columbia River.

The blue, in a Washington Post map on Tuesday, represents impacts of China jacking up tariffs on U.S. wine and agricultural products, in response to Trump's hit on Chinese steel imports.

Washington is the second largest wine producing state in the nation. Its tree fruits fuel a multi-billion dollar export economy. Will wheat come next?

The Trump administration is hurting its political base in Washington, even as the President launches Twitter attacks on the state's major employers.

Conflicts between Donald Trump and the Evergreen State began two years ago. When a Trump campaign visit was announced in May of 2016, Gov. Jay Inslee quipped about building a wall around Washington to keep him out.

Soon after being elected, Trump bloviated on Twitter about "out of control costs" on Boeing's planned building of two replacement Air Force One aircraft. "Cancel order!" he declared. The demonizing of Boeing ignored national security and technology requirements for the planes.

Trump has renewed his Tweet storm against another Washington-based corporate villain with false charges against Amazon and CEO Jeff Bezos. Independent of Amazon, Bezos owns a newspaper in the "other" Washington that has reported the turmoil, scandal and Cabinet corruption in the Trump administration.

https://www.seattlepi.com/local/politics/article/Trump-vs-Washington-attacks-Amazon-hurts-his-base-12802540.php?utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=dailynewsletterspi&utm_term=spi#photo-9976184

[greyl]

1. Also, Trump met w CEO whose company is competing w Amazon for a Pentagon contract.

Trump quietly met with a major tech CEO whose company is locked in competition with Amazon for a Pentagon contract worth billions
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The meeting came amid Trump's war of words with Amazon. On Tuesday, he tweeted that he was "right" about his criticism of the internet giant's use of the US Postal Service, later telling reporters that Amazon was causing numerous store closures.

Trump has criticized Amazon for well more than a year, often tying the company to The Washington Post, owned by Amazon's founder and CEO, Jeff Bezos.

Multiple news outlets have reported that Trump is trying to figure out what he could do to Amazon, such as changing its tax status or using antitrust laws against the company.

Another speculated-about option could be meddling in the Pentagon contract, which aims to provide the Department of Defense with cloud-computing services, though Trump has not mentioned it in his recent attacks on Amazon.

More: http://www.businessinsider.com/trump-and-amazon-oracle-safra-catz-pentagon-cloud-contract-2018-4

[matt819]

2. Amazon HQ2 $5 Billion Investment

I got to thinking about Amazon's short list for its HQ2 investment.

On the one hand, it's potentially a losing proposition for the municipalities, states, and regions under consideration, what with tax concessions, unreimbursed infrastructure development, housing/transportation issues, etc.

On the other hand, a $5 billion investment is a $5 billion investment.

On the third hand, many have argued that it's a losing financial proposition for the municipalities, states, and regions, what with transportation/housing issues, costs of infrastructure development, and tax concessions.

So, what to do? Should Amazon commit to a red region and really screw them over financially over the next several decades? Or should they invest in a blue region and simply thumb their nose at trump and his red state supporters? And, let's face it, if any area can make the best of this sort of investment, it's a blue region. They are generally (though not always) well managed, well educated, and have pretty well developed infrastructure.

Interesting development, I think.

[vi5]

4. A someone whose state was in the running...

...and whose state is notorious for luring businesses with these massive tax breaks, I've seen the data at least for here in NJ, and it shows that the state loses money by a big margin. And the studies I've seen show that even when taking into account the potentially positiveimpact on surrounding businesses, etc.

The amount that the corporations get out of paying is nowhere near made back in tax revenue from what are mostly lower wage jobs.

[Wellstone ruled]

3. Today we just had

a announcement from Amazon building a new Distribution Center here in North East Las Vegas with 2.4 million square feet . They just opened the present one a few months ago. Amazon is putting their money where their mouth is and it appears to be going to Blue Voting areas.