RUSH: On the Amazon thing in New York City, this is fascinating — and we\u2019re gonna get to that, too, as the program unfolds. It is absolutely fascinating. I think this Amazon decision with them to pull out of New York because of actions taken by these new young socialist Democrat congressional people? This, folks, is a wonderful teachable moment about what is happening to the Democrat Party and how the traditional way of looking at states working with companies and corporations to create jobs and create a tax base is out the window.<\/p>\n
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I got a couple of emails today from a friend who said, “Man, Rush, this Cortez, she\u2019s dead! She\u2019s dead! When 2020 comes around, she\u2019s responsible for killing this deal with Amazon. She\u2019s…” I said, “No. No. You\u2019re not hearing… This isn\u2019t 15 years ago where killing a deal like this would anger supposed beneficiaries. The supposed beneficiaries of the Amazon deal are the ones that opposed it: The average, ordinary people that were gonna work there!<\/p>\n
“I don\u2019t care what you\u2019ve seen about polling data — and there is a lot of polling data saying that a lot of people wanted Amazon to move in. That\u2019s traditional. But I\u2019m telling you, the prime beneficiaries of this — the people who might have been among those 25,000 new jobs, a lot of them — are celebrating the fact that they told a corporate titan to go to hell and get away from them. It\u2019s a new age out there in a lot of ways.”<\/p>\n
BREAK TRANSCRIPT<\/p>\n
RUSH: Let me ask you real quick, just off the tops of your heads: How many of you think with her Amazon victory, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez — her victory over Amazon and kicking \u2019em out of New York and making sure that deal doesn\u2019t happen…? How many of you believe that she just guaranteed that she\u2019s going to lose in 2020? I\u2019m not… Don\u2019t call and tell me. I\u2019m just asking you to do a think piece on it. Well, if you want to call, you can. It\u2019s Open Line Friday; you call about anything.<\/p>\n
But I think — and it\u2019s hard to say. So much can happen between now and then. But, on the basis of this alone, no way she has hurt herself. Not with the people who elected her. Now, I know the turnout was low in the primary in which she won, and there was no opponent in the general, so she won her seat in the primary. But, anyway, the Amazon situation is a fascinating thing to break down because of the sea change it represents in what everybody\u2019s always thought the status quo has been or was.<\/p>\n
When state governments negotiate with major corporate interests for tax breaks and other advantages to come in and open plants or expand plants or create headquarters, there\u2019s always been a way this was done where it was seen that everybody benefited. This new breed of Millennial socialists, they don\u2019t like at all that any of these rich corporations — a corporation owned by the richest guy in the world — gets any kind of a tax break. But she doesn\u2019t understand it, either. This is funny.<\/p>\n
You don\u2019t have to sell anything. You just have to be pro-choice and have a (D) next to your name and you win in New York. So Cuomo\u2019s never had to develop salesmanship skills or public speaking skills. He\u2019s been able to trade off his name and any number of things. So the Amazon deal is announced, and Cuomo somehow lets it out that Amazon is getting tax breaks worth $3 billion — and that\u2019s all anybody hears.<\/p>\n Cuomo did not communicate properly that Amazon is going to be paying $27 billion in taxes over the course of 10 years. The tax break was not the elimination of taxes. It was just gonna be given a break of $3 billion. But nobody knows that Amazon was gonna pay $27 billion, because Cuomo is so bad at what he does. By the time he finished making his big announcement, what the people of New York heard was that Amazon is given a $3 billion tax break to move to New York and to open a headquarters.<\/p>\n And the way they interpreted that is, essentially, “Amazon is being paid $3 billion to come here? Screw that!” They failed to properly explain that the $3 billion was spread over 10 years and was just a portion of the $27 billion that Amazon was gonna be spending. So none of it exists now. Since Amazon\u2019s not coming, there isn\u2019t $27 billion — and, by the way, Cuomo could use that because he\u2019s got all kinds of wealthy people leaving his state<\/a>.<\/p>\n So he could use the Amazon tax base.<\/p>\n He could use that $27 billion in taxes they were gonna pay.<\/p>\n But Cortez, she doesn\u2019t know any of that. All she thinks is that the state had $3 billion they were gonna give Amazon for moving in — and now that Amazon isn\u2019t coming, she thinks that she\u2019s got $3 billion to spend! If you doubt me, let\u2019s go to audio sound bite number 20. Here she is in all of her radiant brilliance, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, on the CBS News website<\/a>. An unidentified reporter asks her what she thinks about Amazon\u2019s decision to cancel the headquarters.<\/p>\n The reporter says, “What\u2019s your reaction to” Amazon not following through on this?<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.rushlimbaugh.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/APP-020119-Gov-Cuomo.jpg\")
<\/a>When we get to it, it\u2019s funny! She thinks that she just found $3 billion to spend because the Amazon deal has been canceled. She doesn\u2019t know that the $3 billion is contingent on Amazon showing up and building their headquarters. Here\u2019s what everybody… Let me just get into this very quickly. Here\u2019s what everybody that was looking at this got wrong, because Cuomo is a lousy salesman. Cuomo has no idea how to approach people, deal with people, \u2019cause he\u2019s never had to. He is a liberal Democrat. Put a (D) by your name; you automatically get elected in New York. That\u2019s it.<\/p>\n