Sorry to these two reporters, but this article is clearly something they were given a specific direction to write.
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Millionaires and up like living in Seattle and Washington, because the city and state are beautiful and wonderful. Our biggest problem is income inequity and housing, partly because we are nearly most regressively taxed state. The rich know this! Small course corrections don’t take a huge bite.
Starbucks’s former head, Schultz, is a guy with unresolved family dysfunction issues who saw unions as a personal affront to his role as daddy. Boeing left because execs hated being confronted by local politicians over their disastrous union policies. Amazon hates unions period.
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Sorry to these two reporters, but this article is clearly something they were given a specific direction to write. You can tell because the body of the story keeps having asides that contradict the entire thesis: answer to headline is NO https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/us/politics/seattle-mayor-tax-the-rich-starbucks.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jFA.kD-q.Gb7pC_8u5Zj8&smid=nytcore-ios-share cc @rottenindenmark
Millionaires and up like living in Seattle and Washington, because the city and state are beautiful and wonderful. Our biggest problem is income inequity and housing, partly because we are nearly most regressively taxed state. The rich know this! Small course corrections don’t take a huge bite.
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Starbucks’s former head, Schultz, is a guy with unresolved family dysfunction issues who saw unions as a personal affront to his role as daddy. Boeing left because execs hated being confronted by local politicians over their disastrous union policies. Amazon hates unions period.
But let me be clear why this is a hatchet job. Starbucks is in a huge decline and has to do something massive. If it truly moves thousands of jobs, it will probably be a disaster for a company that needs to focus on the right stuff, not losing most of its experienced employees who won’t move.
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But let me be clear why this is a hatchet job. Starbucks is in a huge decline and has to do something massive. If it truly moves thousands of jobs, it will probably be a disaster for a company that needs to focus on the right stuff, not losing most of its experienced employees who won’t move.
Boeing still has most of its employment in our region. The work in “right to work” states and outside the US led to disastrous problems coupled with internal culture issues exacerbated by separating HQ from engineering. This cost the company tens of billions so far. It has a poor path back up.
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Boeing still has most of its employment in our region. The work in “right to work” states and outside the US led to disastrous problems coupled with internal culture issues exacerbated by separating HQ from engineering. This cost the company tens of billions so far. It has a poor path back up.
Amazon is probably at the top of its arc (I think the company will suffer a real decline due to shipping costs and other issues soon), but the cited 2018 threat didn’t matter in the end. They built as much as they could here. They had to expand because they exhausted the local hiring pool.
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Amazon is probably at the top of its arc (I think the company will suffer a real decline due to shipping costs and other issues soon), but the cited 2018 threat didn’t matter in the end. They built as much as they could here. They had to expand because they exhausted the local hiring pool.
Millionaires always threaten to leave because of taxes. They rarely do. Companies often threaten too. Some move! But it is often bad for them. Millionaires leaving, because of a change in regressive taxation in place, likely frees up resources for the rest of us.
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Millionaires always threaten to leave because of taxes. They rarely do. Companies often threaten too. Some move! But it is often bad for them. Millionaires leaving, because of a change in regressive taxation in place, likely frees up resources for the rest of us.
I’m not sure which editor or editors demanded the slant on this article, but a better, more nuanced one would have been why nearly all millionaires and companies aren’t going anywhere.
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Sorry to these two reporters, but this article is clearly something they were given a specific direction to write. You can tell because the body of the story keeps having asides that contradict the entire thesis: answer to headline is NO https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/17/us/politics/seattle-mayor-tax-the-rich-starbucks.html?unlocked_article_code=1.jFA.kD-q.Gb7pC_8u5Zj8&smid=nytcore-ios-share cc @rottenindenmark
"Will Seattle's Tax-the-rich rhetoric drive away Boeing?"
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"Will Seattle's Tax-the-rich rhetoric drive away Boeing?"
@glennf (now I see you mentioned boeing down-thread)
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@glennf (now I see you mentioned boeing down-thread)
@adamshostack It is amazing reporters can cite Boeing without examining Boeing’s tax and employment in the state pre and post HQ shift, which was all about a then CEO’s personal interests.
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@adamshostack It is amazing reporters can cite Boeing without examining Boeing’s tax and employment in the state pre and post HQ shift, which was all about a then CEO’s personal interests.
@glennf If we have to "all about" it, I think it was about breaking the final remnants of an engineering culture that was offensive to the way a few people wanted to talk to Wall St.
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Starbucks’s former head, Schultz, is a guy with unresolved family dysfunction issues who saw unions as a personal affront to his role as daddy. Boeing left because execs hated being confronted by local politicians over their disastrous union policies. Amazon hates unions period.
Companies hate unions because they reduce arbitrary actions and executive pay. Many claim unions prevent agility. That is because by approaching unionization with a scorched-earth policy of lies and contempt, companies can’t engage in a mutually beneficial process that would result in less turnover, greater productivity, and less absenteeism.
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Starbucks’s former head, Schultz, is a guy with unresolved family dysfunction issues who saw unions as a personal affront to his role as daddy. Boeing left because execs hated being confronted by local politicians over their disastrous union policies. Amazon hates unions period.
@glennf
Schultz is such an asshole.I'm old enough to remember him putting out a shitty memoir in the hope he could become president.
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Companies hate unions because they reduce arbitrary actions and executive pay. Many claim unions prevent agility. That is because by approaching unionization with a scorched-earth policy of lies and contempt, companies can’t engage in a mutually beneficial process that would result in less turnover, greater productivity, and less absenteeism.
@glennf That's the model they have in Denmark.
Flexicurity:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity -
@glennf That's the model they have in Denmark.
Flexicurity:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexicurity@707Kat Doesn’t a lot of Germany work this way? Workers councils?
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@707Kat Doesn’t a lot of Germany work this way? Workers councils?
@glennf Several EU countries implement this approach in different variations. I just mention Denmark, because the term was coined by their former prime minister in the 90s.
Flexicurity
Flexicurity is an integrated strategy for enhancing flexibility and security in the labour market. It aims at reconciliating employers' need for a flexible workforce with workers' need for security–confidence that they will not face long periods of unemployment.
Employment, Social Affairs and Inclusion (employment-social-affairs.ec.europa.eu)
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@glennf If we have to "all about" it, I think it was about breaking the final remnants of an engineering culture that was offensive to the way a few people wanted to talk to Wall St.
@adamshostack @glennf wasn’t there a whole merger with McDonnell Douglas that happened many years ago, causing the shift at Boeing, and has literally nothing to do with the new mayor? Wtf is wrong with journalism. Stop trying to push the billionaire line New York times.
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@adamshostack @glennf wasn’t there a whole merger with McDonnell Douglas that happened many years ago, causing the shift at Boeing, and has literally nothing to do with the new mayor? Wtf is wrong with journalism. Stop trying to push the billionaire line New York times.
@suzannealdrich Yes, exactly. I'm trolling.
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I’m not sure which editor or editors demanded the slant on this article, but a better, more nuanced one would have been why nearly all millionaires and companies aren’t going anywhere.
@glennf as it turns out, when you have more money than you could ever spend, taxes at any level don’t change that fact
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@707Kat Doesn’t a lot of Germany work this way? Workers councils?
@glennf @707Kat Yes. Doesn't necessarily help their US branches, though. VW in 2014 approved of unionization in Tennessee, but can't have that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Volkswagen_and_unions#Chattanooga,_Tennessee
