Metro Louisville's pitch to Amazon promises “a quality of life second to none for every Amazonian.”

Dude.

Amazonian

Am·a·zo·ni·an

1. of, like, or characteristic of an Amazon
2. [oftena-] of an amazon; tall, strong, aggressive, etc.: said of a woman
3. of the Amazon River or the country around it

Promising (at least to me, given my proclivities), but maybe GLI, Wendy and the gang should have found a few liberal arts majors to work on the prose -- or pros, as opposed to amateurs.

Exclusive: Greater Louisville’s Amazon proposal, a great pitch, or a foul ball? (LEO Weekly)

We knew it would not be long before the local application for Amazon’s second headquarters was leaked, and it so happens that LEO got a peek at it — first.

The bid detailed on a six-part website, a collaboration of government and business leaders in Louisville, Kentucky and Southern Indiana, touts the region’s obvious, best selling point — location, location, location. It also employs expected hyperbole — “unprecedented collaboration with university and public administration partnerships, as well as strong incentives and easy transit.” Ha! “Easy transit …” And then there is the boast of “a quality of life second to none for every Amazonian.”

In what seemed like defeatist, meta, self-reflection, the introduction says picking Louisville involves “swinging for the fences” because we “may not be the obvious choice for Amazon, but we are the bold choice.” The phrasing and, as it turns out, much of the intro video, parrots Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ annual shareholder letter. Using his words is smart, perhaps, but once he gets the joke, will Bezos be willing to risk a $5 billion mistake… er, investment by coming here? ...

... Certainly, in the coming days and weeks, arguments will be had about the proposal’s content. We thought it would be instructive to take a critical look at how the proposal was presented — Did Louisville use its millisecond elevator pitch effectively, or has the door shut on us before we had a chance? So we asked someone from a local advertising agency for their thoughts (he asked to remain anonymous) ...

Previously:

Amazon's bid: More required reading that Wendy Dant Chesser and One Southern Indiana will add to their bonfire of the vacuities.

Amazon's bid: More required reading that Wendy Dant Chesser and One Southern Indiana will add to their bonfire of the vacuities.

Wendy is positively giddy -- and liberal arts degree holders should be scared.

Here’s what we know about Louisville’s Amazon bid, by Caitlin Bowling (Insider Louisville)

While other cities are publicly touting potential sites and incentives for Amazon’s secondary headquarters or crafting gimmicks to attract attention, the city of Louisville has remained relatively mum when it comes to its bid.

Louisville’s economic development arm Louisville Forward is spearheading the effort, but it has culled information from various other entities inside and outside of Jefferson County to help strengthen its proposal ...

... Wendy Dant Chesser, president and CEO of chamber of commerce One Southern Indiana, said the experience was fun because of the collaborative spirit surrounding it.

“If we can work together and be successful, we can all benefit from it,” she said. “We put in a package what I think is indicative of what the region has to offer. Now will it be enough? We will have to wait to hear from Amazon.”

It's always fun when you're playing with house (taxpayer) money. Now for that pesky fine print. I'm guessing there aren't copies of this article in the break room at 1Si.

Amazon’s Uneven Playing Field, by Olivia LaVecchia (Motherboard)

Amazon is looking for a big subsidy to build its new headquarters—the latest move in the company’s long history of using the government to get favors its rivals can’t.

In the hierarchy of the corporate world today, Amazon is near the top. It's one of the top five most valuable companies traded on the major exchanges, and founder and CEO Jeff Bezos is now the second-richest person in the world.

People tend to think that Amazon has gotten there simply by out-competing everyone else. But there's another part of the story of Amazon's rise. From the very beginning, a core part of Amazon's strategy has been taking advantage of public benefits not available to its competitors.

Now, bidding is set to close Thursday on the latest play in this strategy: Amazon's decision to launch a public auction for the location of its second North American headquarters. In that auction, Amazon is angling for such a substantial public handout that, as Amazon itself puts it in its Request for Proposals, the "magnitude may require special incentive legislation." Since Amazon opened bidding, more than 100 cities across the U.S. and Canada have publicly announced their interest in the Amazon sweepstakes, and have given over conference rooms and staff time to work on the bid, launched PR stunts, and started hashtags. Experts say that the end result of all of this hype could be a multi-billion dollar giveaway from taxpayers to Amazon.

"The real triumph of (neoliberalism) was not its capture of the right, but its colonization of parties that once stood for everything Hayek detested."

Photo credit.

The end is the beginning: "Hayek told us who we are, and he was wrong."

Neoliberalism: the deep story that lies beneath Donald Trump’s triumph, by George Monbiot (The Guardian)

 ... It was inevitable that the blazing, insurrectionary confidence of neoliberalism would exert a stronger gravitational pull than the dying star of social democracy. Hayek’s triumph could be witnessed everywhere from Blair’s expansion of the private finance initiative to Clinton’s repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act, which had regulated the financial sector. For all his grace and touch, Barack Obama, who didn’t possess a narrative either (except “hope”), was slowly reeled in by those who owned the means of persuasion.

Jeff Gahan explains pop-up TIFs and trickle-down parks.

Reader question: "Is there a plan to attract new employers?"

A friend messaged me with these questions.

Does anyone realize with the loss of Pillsbury, Wal-Mart on Grant Line is now the 8th largest employer in Floyd County?

Does anyone really expect to retire from Wal-Mart with benefits? How many of those Wal-Mart jobs are full time and pay over minimum wage?

Does anyone realize the largest employers in Floyd County are family owned businesses ripe for purchase by out of town firms who would probably buy the businesses just for their client lists and close them?

Is there a plan to attract new employers to the county?

What are your answers?

City Hall suggests that corporate welfare in instances like the Coyle site redevelopment will spur trickle-down (they prefer "ripple effect") job creation.

What's our best hope to adapt to the ongoing explosion of River Ridge, which the state has chosen as its regional "winner," and would be enriched even further by proposals advanced for the regional Cities Initiative?

Thoughts?