tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685155377705481833.post3006716765347462563..comments2023-09-22T03:17:50.469-04:00Comments on Middle Class Political Economist: Amazon moves closer to breaking the bank with "HQ2"Kenneth Thomashttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05747704671007690674noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685155377705481833.post-31249652833941980532019-02-08T12:04:52.167-05:002019-02-08T12:04:52.167-05:00ThanksThanksWillishttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05564961257494071263noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685155377705481833.post-48900707131198463822018-01-23T19:01:22.763-05:002018-01-23T19:01:22.763-05:00Let me take the second question first. Under the E...Let me take the second question first. Under the EU's current subsidies rules, rich areas can't offer location subsidies (via regional aid, the most common method) at all. If there is an area within these cities with low enough per capita income to be eligible to give some "state aid" (the EU term for subsidies), it would surely be limited to 10% of the investment. Then the regional aid rules for large projects would kick in, and the maximum would be scaled down for every dollar of investment over $100 million (technically euros, of course). Since that's only 2% of the projected investment, essentially the maximum allowable would be 3.4% of the investment, or $170 million. But in all 20 finalists, it's more likely the maximum would be 0.<br /><br />The first question is harder: Can we actually get such rules? We are very far from it. I think first we need more transparency; the Government Accounting Standards Board's Rule #77 will help achieve this. The results are only now coming in; Good Jobs First is tracking the required filings very closely. My feeling is that only when enough people realize how bad the situation is will we have enough political pressure to make major reforms.Kenneth Thomashttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05747704671007690674noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6685155377705481833.post-25754091207677010552018-01-23T11:27:42.759-05:002018-01-23T11:27:42.759-05:00Could the US enact EU-style rules on subsidies lik...Could the US enact EU-style rules on subsidies like this? What would happen if they did?TomWhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13453251490705724225noreply@blogger.com