Just over 2 years ago, we at Confer Plastics bought
a molding machine that is one of the largest on the planet. Of course, it
wasn’t cheap, but we knew that going into it. Its purchase was made possible by
using the company’s cash flows and opening up a line of credit with our bank.
We could have lessened the burden on our company
significantly by pursuing a grant from the state. Rather easily, we could have
received a grant approaching, if not exceeding, $1 million in size. But, we
didn’t even attempt to do that and we stifled any conversations economic
development officials wanted to have with us.
We did that for two reasons -- hypocrisy and
ethics.
It would have been grossly hypocritical to take
money from the state when not a day goes by that we don’t complain about the
high cost of doing business in New York, a cost created in part by corporate
welfare. Why contribute to a very real socioeconomic crisis facing
upstate?
It would have been unethical by our standards,
although totally legal, to accept the grant. The money belongs to the people of
New York. It is their money, better invested in infrastructure, libraries, and
schools. New Yorkers should not be in the business of business. True
entrepreneurs assume the risk of their business; they don’t pass it on to
taxpayers.
Some corporatists will say that we’re stupid, that
we wasted money. Maybe. But, there’s far more to business, far more to life,
than the almighty dollar. We can sleep at night, knowing we did the right
thing.
Frankly, I don’t know how Governor Andrew Cuomo,
Empire State Development CEO Howard Zemsky, and Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos can sleep
at night after last week’s announcements regarding their fleecing of New York
taxpayers.
Amazon is a company with revenues that approached
$178 billion last year and Bezos is the richest man in the world with a net
worth of $156 billion, yet Bezos’ people found it necessary to beg multiple
states and provinces to give them the world in order to give them a home for
HQ2. Somehow, Cuomo, Zemsky, and other power brokers in New York found it financially
and ethically prudent to cater to the multibillionaire and give him a total
incentive package approaching $3 billion to open up shop in Queens.
The thing that bothers me most is not the vast tax
credits but rather the need to give them $505 million in cold, hard cash over a
10 to 15 year period to help Amazon recoup some of their construction costs. It’s
guaranteed that Amazon would have made built HQ2 somewhere even if all of the
states conspired against them and didn’t bait them, so public charity was never
really necessary and it shouldn’t be. It’s Bezos’ business, let him grow it,
let him assume the risk. Why should you? Why should I?
They’re doing a reverse Robin Hood, taking money
from the poor and giving it to the rich. This is a half billion dollars,
belonging to all New Yorkers, going towards the very top of the “One Percent”.
We have major issues all across the state. If we
really do have a half-billion sitting around waiting to be spent, if I were in
Cuomo’s shoes there are countless things I would take care. Here are a few…
The residents of the Central Adirondacks are holding
a fund drive -- yes, a fund drive – to erect a critical $350,000 communications
tower to be used by volunteer firefighters in the area of Inlet and Raquette
Lake. Because of the mountains and the radio obstructions they create, their
ability to communicate is suspect at best, every day putting firemen and
general public safety at risk.
While we’re talking about first responders, don’t
forget that come January 1st all volunteer fire companies must pay a
pretty penny to buy a new cancer insurance for their interior firefighters. Why
couldn’t the state self-insure in a way and make its own fund at $10 million?
Have you recently driven on the Thruway as it
passes through the Cattaraugus Reservation? The state keeps that 12-mile
stretch in the shape of a secondary road, mangled, potholed, and washboarded.
What would it really take to fix the Thruway, the gateway, the connection to
everything New York has to offer?
Despite statements to the contrary, thousands of
rural New Yorkers (their homes, businesses, and schools) are still lacking
access to high speed internet. The state could build towers on municipal lands
that they could sublet to telecommunications companies.
Decades of horrid state education policy drove the
in-school trades classes the way of the dinosaur while also shortchanging STEM.
Only recently has the state realized the folly in its ways and now sees the
importance of those tracks. A few hundred million spread across the state would
allow schools to bring back shop classes and invest in their science labs.
New York has 1,800 structurally-deficient bridges
that need repair or replacement.
I could go on and on. There are literally thousands
of potential projects across the state that could benefit the people – and not
just one billionaire.
Think about that…what would YOU do with a half
billion dollars?
From the 19
November 2018 Greater Niagara Newspapers and Batavia Daily News
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