What set me thinking hard after reading the news-report reproduced below is why such a big furore or political storm gets created in India by the media, civil society, hordes of “green” and/or Human-rights NGOs and the Lutyens media mafia as well whenever the Govt of India or some other state government comes forward to provide fiscal support, tax-breaks or concessions , incentives, land allotment or even token moral support to big-business entities like, say, Adani, Reliance or TATA etc. Immediately it makes the likes of a Rahul Gandhi scream “yeh suit-boot ki sarkaar hai!” or Sitaram Yechury seeing red and yelling “this govt. is of the rich, by the rich , for the rich”….!
Evidently there is in this world to be distinguished what is called “good capitalism” “bad capitalism” and “ugly capitalism”.
The USA … as in this case of Amazon reported below …. practices “good State Capitalism”. But if India were to go ahead and want to embrace the same style of state-capitalism , it will always be branded “bad capitalism” … at least within India it will be most likely be called that?! And then China, of course, is the original patent holder of “ugly Capitalism”!
Sudarshan Madabushi
THE QUARTZ ONLINE 27 Nov 2022
Amazon has received over $5 billion in US-based subsidies—about a sixth of the $30 billion in estimated tax breaks and incentives US entities use to attract business.
Thirty-eight states have doled out breaks for the corporation, with Virginia leading the pack at $824 million. Just over half of Amazon’s US subsidies—or $2.7 billion—were for distribution centers, while 31% were for offices, and 11% went toward data centers.
The data comes from Good Jobs First, a nonprofit that tracks agreements between Amazon and state and local governments, as part of the Make Amazon Pay campaign. The movement aims to draw attention to the company’s poor record on worker’s rights, climate change, and tax avoidance.
The US is not alone in offering Amazon significant tax breaks and incentives. But global data is also hard to find. So far, Good Jobs First has counted half a billion dollars (pdf) in other countries.