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[highnote]

I've been reading Bob Lefsetz' free newsletter a lot lately. He is an attorney, a music industry analyst, and also comments on technology and society. I don't always agree with him, but he does have his pulse on social media and technology.

He wrote about Amazon moving out of NYC and AOC in this week's blog. It's worth a read. Here are some excerpts:

https://lefsetz.com/wordpress/2019/02/15/amazon/

Corporations are the enemy.

I would have expected this message to come from the arts first. But the arts have been infiltrated like PBS. Whether it be corporations supporting that which the public does not, or musicians sucking up to the man to get paid.

But AOC doesn’t get paid. She was a bartender before.

I didn’t see this coming. The youth stole America from the man in the sixties and then retreated after Kent State, licking their wounds. Then Reagan legitimized greed and for forty years we’ve seen a separation between corporations and the regular folk, between rich and poor, the income inequality gap keeps widening and we’re told to pay fealty to the “job creators” as we lower their taxes and incentivize them while they laugh all the way to the bank.

But for the past few decades its been about sponsorship in the music business. Get some of that corporate money. Whether it be the Amex or Citi pre-sale or the whiskey or telco signage. Acts thought there was no cost. Never mind the chilling effect, they’ve been left behind, lost to the change of time as the wheels of society keep grinding.

Trump illuminated the change. That America wasn’t what the pundits and media said it was. Instead, there were millions of voters disenchanted with the way things were going who were angry that they were left behind in an era of globalization. Sure, they liked their flat screens and smartphones assembled elsewhere, but they were wary of not having jobs, angry at those who took them away, blaming not the corporations themselves as much as the foreigners and immigrants.

And then came the Trump blowback. When the enlightened youngsters were sick of their forefathers selling out to the middle, and the aforementioned corporations. Yes, it’s a left and right issue, both take the corporate money, are beholden to the man. But the youngsters…we’ve been reading about their college debt, their inheritance of the national debt and their lack of opportunity for years...

As for tax rates… Why do corporations end up paying less than the top rate, if they pay anything at all? Sure, the rank and file is unsophisticated, thinking a 70% income tax rate would be from dollar one and apply to them, just like the “Death Tax,” but the truth is there are smart youngsters, who do know they’re being scammed, and they’re informing their constituents, and the whole world is changing as the old guard is clueless.

It is not business as usual in America anymore. The youth may not have money, but that does not mean they’re unintelligent, without the power of reasoning. It no longer adds up. Corporations are not people. PEOPLE ARE PEOPLE!

As for Cuomo and DeBlasio negotiating in secret… Homey don’t play that no more. The internet is all about sunlight. And if you tell someone what’s best for them they question it.

And what is the price? The rank and file are sick of paying the price for these corporations.

This is a wake-up call for all of America. This is not an isolated event.

Now we’ve got pushback.

Tread lightly, for your footing may be shaky.