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We “rethink the week” with Dave Leventhal, Senior Political Reporter at the Center for Public Integrity; Valerie Endress, Professor of Political Communication at Rhode Island College; and Mark Fernald, attorney and former gubernatorial candidate in New Hampshire.
We discuss how difficult it is to distinguish when Pres. Trump is acting as president (governing the country) and when he is running for reelection (he filed papers with the FEC declaring his candidacy on the very day of his inauguration). The “merchandising aspect of every part of his presidency” raises concerns that Trump might make policy decisions based on how much they’ll help him get reelected, rather than based on what’s best for the country.
Because of this week’s events involving Amazon in New York City, we consider the issues that arise when cities or states consider granting huge tax breaks and other exemptions (such as relief from normal planning/property regulations) in the hopes of luring a mega-corporation to bring its business to their city instead of to competing locations. We learn that a multi-billion-dollar corporation like Amazon actually paid zero ($0.00) in taxes last year, but still demanded more “incentives” from New York City in order to locate its second headquarters there. We discuss the deleterious effects that the Amazon deal could have had on ordinary people in the city — way beyond simply the loss of tax revenue which would, of course, have to be made up by someone other than Amazon. Rents could increase and become unaffordable to ordinary working people. Stores might raise prices and switch to selling mainly luxury items. And Amazon’s voice would gain priority in determining other city policies and plans.
We also talk about Pres. Trump’s declaration of a national “emergency” regarding the number of people seeking to immigrate to the U.S. from Central America. We heard some frightening details of how this president — or future presidents acting on this precedent — could use those emergency powers to subvert our precious democracy, including establishing and solidifying autocratic power.
