There’s just something incredibly wrong about this. I already have enough issue with governments subsidizing stadiums and the like. It’s ridiculous that we get to shoulder the burden to build millionaire owners and their employees – also millionaires – brand new facilities for which we then have to pay entry fees to enjoy! The idea that my tax dollars bought Goldman Sachs a new headquarters has me thinking I should be camped outside their office building demanding my share of the record Christmas bonuses they doled out. Now JP Morgan is demanding equal treatment, crying something akin to prejudice, as if corporate welfare should exist at all, let alone be comparable to actual unfair practices in the corporate and personal world.
Of course, this practice has been around long before Bloomberg but he talked right out of both sides of his mouth, announcing the end of the corporate welfare era while giving breaks to major corporations and approving subsidies for stadiums for the Mets, Yankees and approving the Atlantic Yards fiasco. The hilarious explanation for these handouts is that city real estate is in such high demand that major companies can no longer find space (pardon me while I snort coffee through my nose).
It’s an interesting premise nonetheless and you should read the entire article (arguments for this kind of handout are given) linked above. Then decide for yourself if the city should capitulate when a company threatens to move away without free money.