Gentrification And Economic Change

We have heard a lot about how a few New York residents fought off Amazon from building a new headquarters in the city. There were a lot of arguments as to why they thought the new headquarters was a bad deal for the city. There was one aspect I thought was bad—The city was going to give Amazon $300 million in grants. No city should give away money and assets to lure corporations to the area, even if it would mean huge economical gains for the area. The only exception might be if citizens voted for the assistance, such as when they have referendum votes to build sports stadiums.

Amazon was promised $3 billion in tax breaks. It seems impossible to explain to leftists that a tax break is letting someone keep their money, not giving them money. I wrote in Reasoning Behind Eliminating Business Taxes how a business doesn't pay any taxes, because they pass those costs on to the consumer. For this reason a tax break shouldn't matter. For some reason, democrats seem to believe the city will lose $3 billion if Amazon comes.

We're told that one negative about Amazon moving in was the type of jobs. It's said that all the jobs would pay over $100,000. Those might be the primary jobs, but you can be sure they will need janitors, building maintenance personnel, and office assistants. Many of those will likely be contracted jobs. Those workers would likely come from the surrounding area. Because these jobs are often contracted out, a company might not count them in the number of jobs their new location will supply.

Property taxes would likely rise if someone like Amazon moves in, or if an area faces gentrification. This is easily solved, you elect leaders who will reduce or eliminate property taxes. Every apartment you rent, and every hamburger you buy, has the costs of property taxes included in the price.

A Seattle resident was complaining about Amazon. He said heavy traffic was a direct result of Amazon. Someone in New York also complained that if Amazon came to the city, the subways would be too crowded. Some leftists in Seattle go so far as to call Amazon a monopoly, but so far I haven't determined what kind. These are just excuses to avoid progress and/or just the deep seeded hate for corporations that have been ingrained into democrats.

For a long time I've pondered the reason people fight new, large, corporate businesses moving into their area, and my conclusion was, it's because they resist change. I've been told people were against Amazon because they feared rising rent and property taxes. They were worried costs for everything would rise. I admit, these are legitimize fears, but they are a part of progress.

For decades we have heard of Gentrification. In the beginning that was mostly about middle class white people moving into poor, black neighborhoods. The term also applies to any middle class person moving into a poor neighborhood, no matter their race. Is gentrification bad? It surely is in the beginning because as more and more higher earners move into the area, prices will rise. Those price rises will have only a temporary affect because, eventually, wages for most people will rise to equal things out.

Gentrification

Gentrification is a process of renovating deteriorated urban neighborhoods by means of the influx of more affluent residents. This is a common and controversial topic in politics and in urban planning.

I have talked often about minimum wage laws. When the minimum wage rises, many people are better off for a short period. Studies show that within a year the price of goods will rise until the people who got the raise are in the same economic position as they were the year before. The same thing happens with gentrification, although change is a lot slower, and some people will likely never to rise to the new economic level. Without doubt, some people will be forced to move to areas where rent and food is cheaper. But most people will blend with the new economical environment.

It's human nature to resit change. Conservatives have always been seen as the group who fears change the most. Conservative has become more of a label than a description of people. When it comes to progressives, they seem to have become the traditional conservatives who resisted change. Progressives believe they can control the planet's environment so that it never changes. Progressive conservatives will sit idly by as communities degrade into poverty because they see change as bad. We might say, progressives support social change while fearing economic and environmental change.

A community will never rise out of poverty unless there is change. Change is hard. Unless jobs move into poor communities, nothing will ever change. Many people might not be qualified for some of those new jobs, that's why, for decades, there have been government and corporate training programs. Often, the better paying jobs won't enter an area because of crime. Some like to say it's poverty that creates criminals, but that's not true. Good parenting is often the best tool for lowering crime. It's getting to the point where police are afraid to enter minority areas with high crime rates because their bosses fear being called racist. This is a result of progressive democrats who are using race for political gain.

City leaders aren't going to do anything to help these communities. It's going to take people living in these communities to remove the criminal element so that job makers will move into the area. Teach people not to fear change, but show them ways to make the change easier. Go to any neighborhood in American and talk to the elderly, they will point out the changes they have seen in their lives—some good and some bad, but as of this writing, it's mostly for the better.

In my area the largest employer moved out due to NAFTA. I watched former coworkers handle the change in a variety of ways. Some became self-employed(me for one), while others went back to school to learn a new trade. This was one of the scariest times of my life, but it turned out to be the most adventurous time of my life. Looking back, getting laid off was surely one of the best things to ever happen in my life. If not for the layoff, I doubt I would have ever completed four novels. When economic change comes your way, go forward with confidence that you can succeed. One thing is for sure, change is inevitably no matter how much you resist. It takes a lot of effort for change not to happen.