The return of the trust-busters

How Democrats learned to hate monopolies again

Sen. Elizabeth Warren.
(Image credit: Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Over the last few months, the country has borne witness to the deeply humiliating spectacle of American cities desperately groveling before Jeff Bezos, the head of Amazon, while vying to become the site of the company's second headquarters. Amazon promises $5 billion in investment and up to 50,000 high-paying jobs if a city meets a long list of qualifications. The city must be a metro area of over a million residents, have good highways, mass transit, an airport, and universities, and above all, it needs to fork over a hefty bribe — er, I mean, it needs to have a "business-friendly environment and tax structure" and identify other "incentive programs." What that means is depressingly familiar.

Many states and cities are eager to pay up. Wisconsin's legislature put together a $3 billion proposal — $60,000 in subsidies per job — while New Jersey promised to one-up them with a $7 billion payola package.

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Ryan Cooper

Ryan Cooper is a national correspondent at TheWeek.com. His work has appeared in the Washington Monthly, The New Republic, and the Washington Post.