New York basically decided they didn't need to give one of the world's largest corporations billions in tax breaks for the made up number of 25,000 jobs, the only source for which is an Amazon press release, which would have been almost entirely low wage packers/deliverers/cafeteria/etc.
This would have also had the effect of gentrifying the surrounding neighborhood, pricing out the people who would have received those jobs anyway. Assuming even a fraction of those jobs materialized.
Let's see how another recent deal played out, like the one ousted GOP governor of
Wisconsin Scott Walker managed to negotiate with Foxconn:Earlier this month, Foxconn, a major supplier to Apple Inc., reiterated its intention to create 13,000 jobs in Wisconsin, but said it had slowed its pace of hiring. The company initially said it expected to employ about 5,200 people by the end of 2020; a company source said that figure now looks likely to be closer to 1,000 workers.
It is unclear when the full 13,000 workers will be hired.
[...]
Heavily criticized in some quarters, the Foxconn project was championed by former Wisconsin Governor Scott Walker, a Republican who helped secure around $4 billion in tax breaks and other incentives before leaving office. Critics of the deal, including a number of Democrats, called it a corporate giveaway that would never result in the promised manufacturing jobs and posed serious environmental risks.
They could have created a larger economic impact in Wisconsin by splitting half a billion dollars between 26,000 randomly selected Wisconsinites, and would have generated more tax revenue in doing so.
For some reason, the same people who decry aiding individuals directly in the form of welfare seem to have no problem with welfare for large corporations. In fact, making deals such as not collecting taxes for a decade and allowing employers to reclaim the state income taxes deducted from your paycheck is seen as strong and virtuous leadership by those with conservative brain dementia.