The sledgehammer kills the Amazon jobs that Central America would like to have

YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – Tito Brown can not imagine driving a city that has not had such a thing for a very long time.

At least, it's perfectly fine the size and scope of the Amazonian headquarters that ideological policy drove out of Long Island City on Thursday when Democrats, including Republican Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, DN.Y., danced on the tomb of the Amazon deal is far from the New York project.

Brown does not really understand that. He runs a city whose population is declining, with a poverty rate of 40%, and would like a project such as Amazon has considered to settle there.

"Oh, whenever I can achieve regional and / or economic growth in my community, I would absolutely like it here," he said. "It's budget time."

Ocasio-Cortez, who became the leader of the leftist insurgency within the Democratic Party, criticized the plan in a tweet by the time it was announced in mid-November last year.

She first said that her constituents' reaction to Amazon's announcement was outrageous, claiming that the tax breaks that Amazon would benefit from should be spent by city and state officials in the system. metro and communities rather than billions of dollars worth of businesses.

That's not the way tax relief works. It's not like they gave Amazon a pile of money that could have been spent on the subway, but it's a story for another day.

What this moment means in the Democratic Party has existed for several years, but the establishment of the party and the ruling class have refused to cope: the leftist populism has risen to take the reins.

In the midterm elections, New York took a turning point last year by giving Democrats the largest majority of votes in the Senate, and by giving Ocasio-Cortez its victory over a Democrat in the Senate. modest origin for its headquarters in the Bronx.

National Democrats praised the wave and felt empowered, but no one felt more powerful than their left flanks. What the ruling class of the Democratic Party did not understand is that their voters with the largest megaphone feel that they have the right to use it as a jackhammer, a hammer they intend to use to influence on the social, economic and political points of view of the country.

Sledgehammers make excellent copies on Twitter, but they do not help legislators to govern or create jobs, quite the opposite.

In New York, populist sloughhammers cost the region well-paying jobs ranging from the working class to high-tech. The Amazon project has in fact enjoyed broad support. A poll showed that last week again, 56% of New Yorkers supported the project, compared to 36% of them. Registered voters belonging to an electoral minority still have more support than white voters.

In Youngstown, Brown must govern, knowing the possible disadvantages of setting up large businesses in communities. But he also knows the benefits. He would like the benefits.

"I think the disadvantages would be that it's a new industry. People are afraid of change. They are scared, my life as I knew it before is not the same as it will be once it happens in my community, "he said.

"It's not" in my backyard ", but most, if I'm underemployed or unemployed, this is a great opportunity for this great company, which gives them a additional benefit and / or an opportunity to advance their family. another level, "he said.

In the early nineteenth century, an industrial revolution transformed this sleepy valley along the Mahoning River from a village of farmers and grain mills into a manufacturing giant who built buildings, roads and bridges of the country for more than 100 years.

People faced the change when steel production took over the rivers for trade and people coped with the change when they left.

"We have lost our identity as a steel town. It does not come back. The way we experienced life at the time will not happen. There will not even be a little glimmer of this life as we knew it at the time. My grandfather and my father's steel mill, they will not come back. You talk about new technology, new advances that will happen over the next 10 to 30 or 40 years, that's what's happening, "he said.

Brown is part of the pragmatic Democratic Party in the business world because he knows that business means jobs and jobs are synonymous with stability in the community.

"You can not be short-sighted and look at who is providing the product versus who will actually benefit from this product in your community. This is not poisoning your community. It does not hurt your community. We have a poverty rate of 40% here in the city of Youngstown. It is likely that 85 to 95% of the community has a free and reduced meal. It's hard to say for me to say that I do not want it to go away. No, I want to reduce that and eliminate it as mayor of the city of Youngstown, "he said.

Brown said that he would be happy to discuss with Amazon the location of their headquarters. With access from Youngstown to major highways, their proximity to DC, New York, Cleveland, Chicago and Pittsburgh, as well as numerous acreage along the Mahoning River and a solid workforce, it has a solid argument to defend.

People continue to send a message to Washington with their votes, and Washington continues to misread it. Brown knows why he is the mayor of Youngstown: creating jobs and creating an innovative new business, even if this change makes people uncomfortable at first.

This partly explains why he, too, overthrew an outgoing Democrat in a primary election when he won the position in 2017.

Ocasio-Cortez seems to have taken the message that her election was a good time for left-wing populism and she is happy to enforce it. If it starts to hurt the results of her district, she has a problem. But if it accelerates the spread of leftist populism in the country, it will be interesting to see how it affects his party and our economy.