The costs we levy on businesses to operate in the US are extremely affordable and fair - giving them further discounts and rebates does nothing but enrich investors.
This is how you end up with the Rust Belt.
The Rust Belt is proof positive of Big Business operating in a unrestrained environment. NAFTA, the move to China, and its ilk are a direct consequence of federal government overriding the will of the people. If there was any actual power at the local level any imports the got shipped overseas would have been slapped with tariffs. You shouldn't get unrestrained access to the largest market in the west while also ignoring the external costs.
Would be the best antidote to this sort of thing, but is probably untenable to amend at this point.
The local community actually wins.
Sure, its easy for people in NYC and San Francisco to say that nobody should compete for any of these jobs. They are going to get them anyway.
But the moment some other location tries to compete for that economic benefit, well now all of a sudden "their" jobs are being stolen by undeserving locations.
Maybe that's a good thing. But specifically not with regards to state subsidies.
They shouldn't be competed away at the demands of business, but used with purpose.
Subsidies (or anything which quacks like a subsidy) should be regulated so this nonsense doesn't happen.
1000x this. Every news story about these subsidies eventually becomes "we gave BigCorp a $5 billion tax break and they opened a facility that employs 50 people."