The Real Losers in NYC’s Amazon Loss

Much has been written about Amazon pulling the plug on its planned HQ2 in New York City and with that about 25,000 high paying jobs (See my thoughts at https://shulmaven.blogspot.com/2019/02/amazon-to-new-york-drop-dead.html). The millennial socialist Congresswoman Alexandra Ocaisio-Cortez whooped it up when Amazon made its announcement.

But who were the real losers? The losers are the very millennials she pretends to represent. Why? Although Amazon would have hired people from all over the country a decent chunk of them would come from current and recent graduates of the City University of New York (CUNY). For those of you who don’t know CUNY is a vast system of 275,000 students that includes 11 senior colleges. Most of the students are first in their family to go to college, immigrants and children of immigrants. They are real strivers trying to better themselves. As an aside Amazon would have offered opportunity for the graduates of the Bronx High School of Science and Stuyvesant, two great specialized high schools, the opportunity to work in NYC upon college graduation instead of moving on to Silicon Valley, Austin or Boston. Another real loss for the city.

A few friends of mine have argued that Amazon would not hire CUNY graduates. Nothing can be further from the truth. Google, Amazon and Facebook are already hiring CUNY graduates and if the Amazon deal went through they would have hired a boatload more.

I know from experience when I helped set up the Financial Leadership Program at Baruch College (a CUNY school) in 2006 to prepare students for Wall Street careers. The naysayers said Wall Street would never hire Baruch graduates for front office positions. Today, 13 years later there are Baruch grads all over Wall Street at such firms as JP Morgan, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Merrill Lynch and in several private equity shops.  With the impetus coming from Amazon CUNY’s beachhead position with the major tech firms would have dramatically expanded.

But alas it will take longer; thanks to the misguided efforts of the so-called tribunes of the people. It is a real crime to steal the hopes and dreams of so many young people and those who led the charge against Amazon should be severely punished at the ballot box.