SCHADENFREUDE

Remember when Amazon.com announced that it wanted to establish a second headquarters and every locality in the United States, from New York City to Country Life Acres, Missouri, fell all over themselves to try to attract Amazon?  New York City eventually got the thing.

Temporarily.

Amazon abruptly dropped plans Thursday for a big new headquarters in New York that would have brought 25,000 jobs to the city, reversing course after politicians and activists objected to the nearly $3 billion in incentives promised to what is already one of the world’s richest, most powerful companies.

A lousy $3 billion?  That's a US governmental rounding error.

The stunning move was a serious blow to Gov. Andrew Cuomo and Mayor Bill de Blasio, who had lobbied intensely to land the project, competing against more than 200 other metropolitan areas across the continent that were practically tripping over each other to offer incentives to Amazon in a bidding war the company stoked.

Laughing?  I'm not laughing.  I just joined a Yoko Ono tribute band.  But get out the popcorn, kids, because it's time for Lefty Smackdown.

Cuomo lashed out at fellow New York politicians over Amazon’s change of heart, saying the project would have helped diversify the city’s economy, cement its status as an emerging tech hub and generate money for schools, housing and transit.

“A small group (of) politicians put their own narrow political interests above their community,” he said.

That they did.  Jobs?  Who needs 'em?  I'm working.  But who's Cuomo referring to?  Guess.

But Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, New York City’s new liberal firebrand, exulted over Amazon’s pullout.

“Today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers and their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world,” she tweeted, referring to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos.

Miss Occasionally-Coherent calls herself a socialist and believes that it's the responsibility of "rich" people to give "poor" people as much money as "poor" people want, no questions asked, so stupidity like that should surprise no one.  Mayor Bill de Blasio, who LUVS it when companies offer to bring thousands of jobs to his town, fired this volley at Alex OhmyGodshe'sa-Nitwit.

It’s a progressive civil war.

A hot-under-the-collar Mayor Bill de Blasio tore into Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on Friday as he blistered both the online giant and local politicians who opposed bringing it to Queens.

“As a progressive my entire life — and I ain’t changing — I’ll take on any progressive anywhere that thinks it’s a good idea to lose jobs and revenue because I think that’s out of touch with what working people want,” the mayor said on WNYC radio.

“I came up watching the mistakes of progressives of the past, unfortunately what happened in this city when it almost went to bankruptcy in the 1970s,” said a boiling de Blasio. “I saw all the times progressives did not show people effective governance and all the times progressives made the kinds of mistakes that alienated working people.”

“Working people are very smart and very discerning. They want jobs, they want revenue, they want the kinds of things that government can do for them,” he added. “They understand they have to be paid for.”

The New York Times is thoroughly embarrassed.

“You have to be tough to make it in New York City,” Mayor Bill de Blasio boasted, choosing to jeer at Amazon as it canceled its plans on Thursday to build a new headquarters in Queens, after some local officials angrily criticized its proposal.

 

What a strange thing for the mayor to take pride in. It’s certainly true that you have to be tough these days. But that’s because the subways don’t work, the streets are gridlocked, the housing is unaffordable, the shelters are overcrowded, and the schools are segregated and often inadequate. Now think how much tougher it’ll become for the typical citizen — not the ones who ride in chauffeured government cars — if New York gets a reputation for the smugness of its politicians and their hostility to business.

 

Last week, the State Senate majority leader, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, nominated a critic of the deal, Senator Michael Gianaris, to a state board that had veto power over it. Mr. Gianaris, who represents the district where the campus would have been located, had legitimate concerns over the arrangement and wanted more investment from Amazon in the city. Though his staff was engaged in discussions with Amazon, he refused even to meet with anyone from the company. His appointment could only have helped Amazon decide to call New York’s bluff.  The governor seems to think so.

 

“The New York State Senate has done tremendous damage,” Mr. Cuomo said in a statement on Thursday. “They should be held accountable for this lost economic opportunity.” He’s got a point.

 

God forgive me but I am SO enjoying this.

UPDATE: Cher weighs in.

UPDATE: Isn't there any possible way we can blame this debacle on Trump?