Elizabeth Warren has a rally where the Amazon New York HQ2 would be
Sen. Elizabeth Warren traveled to Long Island City, Queens – the same area where Amazon would open one of its HQ2 centers before interrupting the deal last month – Friday night to talk to New Yorkers about the plan to break up America's biggest tech companies.
A significant amount turned out to hear the president of the Massachusetts Democrat and 2020, claiming that massive technology companies such as Amazon, Facebook and Google are undermining democracy with their monopoly power.
"They will be judges and they will run a lot of teams in the game," said Warren of tech giants. "My view of this is that you can be a judge or you can own a team, but you can't do both at the same time."
"We have these gigantic technology companies that think they rule the earth," added Warren. "They think they can come to cities, cities, states and bully everyone to do what they want. They think they can get all our personal data and sell it to the person they want for some purpose. They think they can drive His business to just roll right over every small business, every entrepreneur, every startup that can threaten their position. And what does our government do in Washington? Nothing. "
" We need major structural changes in this country, "Warren said.
Many in the total crowd shared Warren's frustration with companies like Amazon.
"I had no problem with Amazon who came to Long Island City in general, I didn't like how they came," William Hampton-Sosa, a professor at Brooklyn College, who lives in Long Island City told INSIDER. "The deal was made secretly, behind closed doors, they didn't enter the community. If they are going to New York City, it's okay. But don't ask for tax evasion, especially when you're not making the pay tax."
Luke Thomas, 33, a software developer working in nearby Greenpoint, Brooklyn said he didn't have "strong feelings" about Amazon coming to Queens. But he believes that looking up the big technology companies won't hurt them too much, says, "It's a rich tradition of breaking up monopolies."
Kim Clay, a 23-year-old law student, who lives two blocks from the Long Island City area who would have placed Amazon's HQ2, said she was worried about "being priced out" of her apartment.
Friday night event was not a formal rally or speech. Instead, there were a number of local politicians, including New York City Council, Deputy Jimmy van Bramer and New York State Senator Michael Gianaris ̵[ads1]1; both vocal opponents of the agreement to bring Amazon to New York.
"We were not chosen to serve as Amazon drones," van Bramer and Gianaris, both representing Long Island City, said in a statement shortly after Amazon announced that there had been an agreement to move into New York this fall.
On Friday's event, Gianaris said: "We took the presidential campaign to the doorstep because we stood up against the company's greed in this neighborhood … All we do is suffer while the rich get heli pads."
A Progressive Backlash to Silicon Valley
On Friday morning, Warren announced his plan to break up some of the largest US technology companies, including Amazon, Google and Facebook. It was no coincidence that Warren chose to debut the proposal in Long Island City – the same neighborhood that Amazon was planning to build a second headquarters.
The tech giant withdrew from the agreement last month among fierce opposition from local activists and legislators.
The proposal includes a call for "platform neutrality" – barring tech giants from both providing a marketplace and selling their product on the same marketplace. And it would appoint new regulators to undo mergers that they believe would destroy the competition.
For example, the Senator wants to break Facebook away from Instagram and WhatsApp, Amazon away from Whole Foods, Google away from Nest.
Warren's aggressive traits – and Amazon's latest cancellation of Queens HQ2 – illustrate the progressive left blocks' growing disillusionment with Silicon Valley.
Progressive New York lawmakers, including Democratic Socialist Republic of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, responded to a green lawsuit against the corporation's deal with the city and the state, which included up to $ 3 billion in tax errors and incentives in exchange for the creation of 25,000 jobs.
This comes after Sen. Bernie Sanders repeatedly criticized Amazon's treatment of his workers, especially the lowest wage earners. Reports have emerged in recent years, suggesting cruel and even inhuman working conditions in the Amazon department stores around the world.
The company raised its minimum wage to $ 15 per hour for all its contractors shortly after Sanders introduced a bill, known as the Stop Bezos Act, which would tax large companies whose low-wage employees rely on state aid.
Anthony Fisher contributed to this report.
