Comments

1
2.35 BILLION?!

wow.

imagine how much crap art that no one wants you could pay "artists" to shit out with that kind of dough.....
2
This bothered me immensely when I was in the Senate, and still does. On the Federal level however, I want to assure folks that subsidies, incentives, and investments with business is critical for helping grow our economy, support our infrastructure, and deal with the affects of climate change by investing in solar and wind power. Cries of my performing crony capitalism are simply wrong.
3
In general, I would assume that the louder someone trumpets the virtue of "capitalism" and "the free market", the more likely they are to be the beneficiary of government subsidies and hand outs. The makers are the takers.
4
Unlike a newly registered troll, POTUS is smart enough to know the difference between "affect" and "effect."
5
@2&3 - There is little wrong with subsidies if they help us meet our needs.
6
Microsoft receives part of its subsidy as B&O Tax Exemptions for Fruit and Vegetable Processors...

Any investigative journalist want to take a crack at that?

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2012/…

7
Did the President just post on Slog? It's a first. He really does listen. Thank you sir. We're lucky to have you gaurding the hen house! Keep up the pressure. We're with you all the way.
8
And is that figure computed by the "amounts" that are available? I wonder because if you look at the companies listed with amounts "not available", there are hundreds more. One of which is Boeing with 30 subsidies.... So, I'd guess the $2.35 billion is low-balled by a significant amount. Follow the money.
9
@4 Also:
subsidies, incentives, and investments with business are critical

Same grammatical mistakes as Gay Dude for Romney? AWWW he missed us!
10
The sentiments of this article only add to one I read about a month ago about state tax inequality. In particular is this section in the last paragraph “Washington state though, is the worst, where the richest 1 percent pay a 2.6 percent tax rate while the poorest 20 percent pay a whopping 17 percent in taxes." I wrote a general letter to every member in Olympia for some sort of explanation, but alas I received not even a single reply. My sister is a teacher for children with various special needs in a “Low Income" district, and guess who's always first to have their budget cut? Yeah those who need it the most. I could go on and on but I know the intelligence level of most Stranger readers already know what I'd say and most likely have the same feelings. So instead ill point you to the article seeing as how it fits perfectly with this one. http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2012/09…
11
So what about the educated people we need to work in those businesses? Where are we getting those from?
12
@10, Yes Washington has the most regressive tax structure in the nation—and by far—largely thanks to our over-reliance on a regressive sales tax and and some of the highest in the nation excise taxes on alcohol, tobacco, and fuel that tax per unit rather than price (meaning buyers of premium priced products pay a lower effective rate).

It's nearly impossible to correct this without taxing income and/or wealth.
13
#6 Follow up

Since July 1, 2005, a business and occupation (B&O) tax exemption has applied to manufacturing fruits or
vegetables by canning, preserving, freezing, processing, or dehydrating fresh fruits or vegetables and to
wholesale sales by persons performing these activities when the sales are to buyers who transport the
goods out of Washington.


http://dor.wa.gov/Docs/Pubs/SpecialNotic…

So did they count Vista as a lemon then...?

14
@9: Could very well be, but that's a classic error I always do. I mention something, then think of others to support my argument, and forget to change the 'is' to 'are'.
15
@14. Me too. But we're just ordinary people.
I think an Obama impersonator needs to write well and think well in order to pull it off. Like Obama on Twitter. Every tweet of his is (nearly) perfect grammatically and conceptually. Like he's got a whole team behind him.
This, not so much.
16
@11 A lot of them are already coming from other states and nations. Only a tiny percentage of employees at companies like Amazon and Microsoft were educated in Washington. Probably even more so if you look at high school versus university education.

Part of why we've gotten away with underfunding education in this state for so long is that certain successful businesses have been able to recruit highly skilled employees from outside who are attracted by high pay and a particular quality of life here.
17

$349? Wow, what a bargain to keep such amazing firms as AMZN, MSFT and BA right here in our own back yard.

Next time you barista monkeys see someone throw a crisp dollar bill in your tip cup, show some gratitude, it might be your rebate from one of the hundreds of thousands of well paid workers from one of these firms.
18
The 2012 election was probably our glasnost and perestroika moment, an important cultural shift that nonetheless left economic and political relations unchanged. If we can't change in a hurry how the 1% is fucking everyone else, it's the end of the United States. Probably a military dictatorship or splintering into regional groupings as in the former Soviet.

A bland puppet like Obama is largely irrelevant in this equation; it's either sustained mass protest to improve what's here, or start preparing for what's next.
19
@17 - Except Microsoft needs zero extra incentives to stay in Washington.

Fine, Microsoft, relocate to North Carolina. Have fun finding the 25,000+ skilled, experienced employees you'd lose in the process in an area without a vast array of competitors to poach from.

Or have fun trying to acquire 15 million square feet of office space in the Bay Area, with no possibility of selling or subletting the office space you left behind.

They aren't going anywhere. Cut them off.
20
Microsoft doesn't employ Washington residents; it employs whoever it can find to do the work, and they come from all sorts of place. Msft does the same thing Boeing has always done for skilled professionals: look at peoples' qualifications, fly them out for an interview, hire them and pay for their move. Why do you think all these new people come here?
21
"Microsoft doesn't employ Washington residents"

Really? Every MSFT employee I've met here is a Washington resident, pays taxes here, invests in this community. Or are you some kind of nativist who only thinks people born here are residents?
22
That's the tough thing about growing up in this area. You see all kinds of people getting these good, high-paying jobs, and the vast majority of them are recent arrivals from outside of the state/region. We do a piss poor job when it comes to equipping Washingtonians with the education and skills needed to obtain lucrative work in this state.
23
@22 maybe if fewer spoiled white kids were poetry therapy, English and social work majors, and Occupiers, MSFT could find decent workers.

Please wait...

Comments are closed.

Commenting on this item is available only to members of the site. You can sign in here or create an account here.


Add a comment
Preview

By posting this comment, you are agreeing to our Terms of Use.