8 THE QUEENS COURIER • MARCH 14, 2019 FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT WWW.QNS.COM
Photo: Mark Hallum/THE COURIER
Warren comes to LIC, touts plan to break up big tech
BY MARK HALLUM
mhallum@schnepsmedia.com
@QNS
Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth
Warren came to Long Island City on
March 8 striking a high note with
Amazon opponents as she boasted a
presidential campaign free of wealthy
and PAC donors, with a plan that would
hold big corporations accountable.
Warren, one of more than a dozen
Democrats running for president next
year, told a crowd of about 500 fans
about some points of her plan revealed
earlier that day that would curtail the
way in which tech giants plow over
competition, hurting small and medium
sized business.
“I want a government that isn’t here to
work for giant tech companies. I want a
government that’s here to work for the
people. And today, I made a down payment
on that. It is time to break up
America’s tech giants,” Warren said.
“My view on this is you can be an
umpire, and you can own a team, but
you can’t do both at the same time.”
Warren laid blame on Amazon for
allowing small-time sellers to use their
platform, then taking data to determine
how profi table their products are
before producing the item themselves
and bumping the original seller down
on the search order.
If elected president, Warren said that
her administration will promote more
competition by specifi cally breaking up
Amazon, Facebook and Google as well
as strengthening unions.
“When I was a girl, a minimum wage
full-time job in America would support
a family of three. Today a minimum
wage job in America will not
keep a mama and a baby out of poverty,”
Warren said before commenting on
Amazon’s reluctance to allow collective
bargaining in their labor.
“We’ve got to change the rules in this
economy… We’ve got these giant corporations
– do I have to tell this to folks
in Long Island City? – that think they
can just come in and roll over everyone.
Th ey think they can roll over workers…
Th ey think they can roll over local government.”
Th e night at the Arc at 36-30 36th St.
may not been how Amazon itself pictured
Long Island City aft er their proposal
to build a campus in Anable
Basin.
Th e corporate giant had been promised
a combined tax incentive of $3 billion
from both the city and the state on
the condition that they create the promised
25,000 to 40,000 jobs and return
of about $27 billion in economic gains
over the next decade. Amazon withdrew
those plans on Feb. 14 aft er hearing
vocal opposition to the deal set last
November.
While several polls showed Amazon’s
a campus to be a popular prospect,
some still viewed the arrangement as a
backroom deal. Th at’s something which
Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul
denied in an interview with QNS; she
said this misconception was little more
than what any company can expect to
gain through Excelsior tax credits.
Warren was further critical of
Amazon’s tactics in deciding on a location
to establish a campus by pitting
diff erent states against one another for
what she described as the best deal.
Th e $3 billion off ered to Amazon by
New York was comparatively small to
Maryland, which off ered them $8.5 billion
in incentives, or New Jersey which
off ered $7 billion. Tennessee also made
an off er to Amazon for HQ2, but is
reportedly withholding the details of
their proposal for the next fi ve years.
Two local critics in government were
at Warren’s March 8 rally: state Senator
Michael Gianaris, who was Amazon’s
most powerful opponent having been
appointed to the Public Authorities
Control Board not long aft er their proposal;
and Councilman Jimmy Van
Bramer, who has been criticized strongly
by Amazon supporters such as John
Brown Smokehouse owner Josh Bowen.
Bowen has been featured on Fox News
where he spoke about the jobs killed by
the Amazon opposition and there is
currently a community eff ort to raise a
primary challenge against Gianaris.
Senator Elizabeth Warren was in Long Island City Friday night to talk about holding big corporations accountable.
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