Why Amazon’s Departure is Bad for New York

By Lee Enochs

In a stunning and detrimental economic development for all New Yorkers, the Empire State’s Democratic Governor, Andrew Cuomo, who truth be told, is generally not friendly to pro-capitalist business interests in the Big Apple, lashed out bitterly at progressive politicians such as Democratic-Socialist Alexandria Cortez and Massachusetts Junior Senator Elizabeth Warren, for influencing tech giant Amazon’s decision to leave the city.

It has been estimated that Amazon’s New York headquarters would have provided close to 25,000 new jobs and billions of dollars of economic revenue for America’s largest city.

However, “AOC” as Ocasio-Cortez is known to her adoring, three million followers on Twitter, celebrated gleefully Amazon’s abrupt departure from the city which never sleeps, and said,

“Anything is possible: today was the day a group of dedicated, everyday New Yorkers & their neighbors defeated Amazon’s corporate greed, its worker exploitation, and the power of the richest man in the world.”

By Murray Sabrin

On Feb. 4, Gov. Phil Murphy fulfilled his 2017 campaign promise when he signed the bill that would raise the state’s minimum-wage, in increments, to $15 an hour by 2024. This year the state’s minimum wage would increase to $10 an hour in July and increase by one dollar every January 1 until it reached $15 per hour. Not all workers, however, would see the legal mandated minimum wage increase to $15 per hour. In short, some workers apparently are not deserving of being treated equally.

The governor signed the bill surrounded by Democratic leaders, union workers and other supporters at the headquarters of Make the Road New Jersey, an immigrant advocacy group based in Elizabeth.

The front-page article in The Record, “Raise Praised,” on Feb. 5, captured two moments during the event in separate photos -- supporters cheering enthusiastically with their hands raised and Gov. Murphy with both arms pointing to the sky; beneath him at the podium there was a placard with the statement, “A $15 Minimum Wage: A Path to the Middle Class.”