Censorship, the Cancel-Culture & Economic Development

Just the Facts.
 
In 2019 Amazon wanted to build a headquarters in New York. They would have received an estimated $3 billion in incentives in return for creating at least 25,000 jobs, an Amazon-sponsored employment center and workforce development program focused on technology training and local recruitment, including for those living in the Queensbridge public housing project, and neighborhood improvements such as a 3.5-acre park and waterfront esplanade.

Alicia Glen and Carol Kellermann of the New York Daily News wrote that the deal would have delivered “$9 in private sector money for every $1 in tax dollars spent or foregone”.

Some politicians managed to scuttle that deal even though the residents were for it. These elected officials claimed the $3 Billion would be available to fix the subways and hire more teachers. They didn’t understand (or choose to acknowledge) that there wasn’t going to be a transfer of cash, rather, the proposed incentives were the future taxes generated by Amazon after the jobs were created. Frustrated, Amazon ended up signing a lease for a 335K sf office with no incentives and will create an estimated 1,500 jobs – or 6% of the total they originally were planning to create – with no community improvements or workforce development opportunities.

In 1936 the largest Hispanic-owned food company in the United States was founded in New York City and with its headquarters currently located in New Jersey.

In 2018, TotalSocial rankings rated Goya #2 as a leading U.S. food brand for its social influence and community support. In 2019, Goya was voted the #2 most-loved food brand in the U.S. Goya supports approximately 300 charities, programs, scholarships, and events, and donates millions of pounds of food to local food banks and shelters. Goya employs over 4,000 people world-wide and has 26 facilities in the U.S.

Some of the same New York politicians and celebrities have recently called for a boycott of Goya Foods because CEO Bob Unanue praised the current President of the United States for the executive order called the Hispanic Prosperity Initiative, which was created to improve access to educational and economic opportunities. Goya’s CEO also worked with the last president on several initiatives. Mr. Unanue has said, via numerous outlets, he believes this boycott is censorship and he says he won’t back down from his comments.

USA Today reported in June of this year that certain groups have called for boycotts of businesses that don’t support them. This also translates into boycotts of businesses that support elected officials the groups don’t like. CVS was one of the companies named in the boycott.

Anti-business, anti-wealth, anti-capitalist environments in cities will drive out business. These sentiments will drive away jobs and subsequently drive out residents making for an economic disaster for the community.

A CEO of another company recently shared how cancel-culture has affected their company. A lawyer from across the country, who would never even conduct business with this company, saw a social media post of an employee of the company in question. The employee’s post said people should wait for the facts before rushing to judgement. This lawyer emailed the CEO to tell them he was going to write a bad review on Google. He did, saying that no one should use this business because it was racist. The lawyer has never done business with this company, and now Google won’t take the review down. Inc. magazine reports 84% of people trust online reviews as much as friends. Obviously, this has potential to hurt the company. What would happen if this multiplied? A business could be ruined.

Censorship and the cancel-culture, as it’s called, will also contribute to an economic disaster. Thankfully, in the United States of America, citizens have the right to express their opinions. This right should be able to be exercised without the fear of retribution. People have been fired for exercising this right. Businesses can be “cancelled.” This translates to people being laid off, taxes not being collected by municipalities to pay for services and schools, less dollars circulating in the community and more. Communities can be severely damaged by allowing such tactics.