Amazon Finalist - Indianapolis

I am of course torn as to how I feel about Amazon moving to Indianapolis. Some thoughts, in no particular order:

1. I have, once again, heard the usual trope about how it remains questionable whether there will be enough "skilled applicants" to fill all of the jobs that Amazon would bring. Once again, my response is that if you can't find someone willing to sell the thing you need for the price you offer, you should offer more for that thing and not spend your time whining to the government about some supposed "skills gap." I also note that the Chamber of Commerce types who like to bemoan the "lack of qualified workers" conveniently refuse to note what "qualifications" they're looking for. Again, my law firm has an immediate opening for a litigator who is 12-0 in front of the United States Supreme Court, has a portable book of business worth $1m/year, and is willing to buy me a Ferrari. We will pay that litigator $15,000/year. Any takers? No? Must be a skills gap!

2. Taking at face value the notion that at least some of the people who work at the Amazon HQ would have to be imported, I think it is important to review the image of Indiana that our state government has blasted out to the world. Who can forget RFRA, or Mike Pence walking out of the Colts game, or Milo Smith's bill allowing people offended by National Anthem protests at NBA and NFL games (but not at the Indianapolis 500, baseball games, Indy 11 soccer games, or Indy Fuel hockey games) to get a refund? I mean, all three of those are examples of pandering to your base of intolerant voters. If I was not from Indiana and had professional options, it would take a lot more money to get me to move here than to, say, Denver. If I was an outsider, I would wonder what it was about me that the locals would determine was sub-human? Is my choice of romantic partner going to be acceptable? What about my religious choices? The books I read? Will those make me an outcast? A target? Essentially, this is a plea for tolerance here in the Hoosier state. Most citizens of this state are remarkably tolerant and warm-hearted people; it continually baffles me that the citizens of Indiana elect legislators who are so profoundly anti-Hoosier in this element of their behavior.

3. I question whether Indianapolis would respond positively to an Amazon HQ even if we got one. With that size of a corporate headquarters and that many jobs moving here, more housing would have to be built. Is anyone confident that these houses would result in increased density in Indianapolis as opposed to more sprawl in Hamilton, Boone, and Johnson counties? I'm not. I have witnessed the NIMBYism here in Speedway with respect to the Redevelopment Commission and the NIMBYism in Indianapolis writ large with respect to the old Coke bottling plant, and it has been disheartening.

4. I am also reminded that obtaining a "thing" (a "res" in legalese) is only worthwhile so long as you don't overpay for that thing. Remember when the Chicago Cubs really hit a home run (pardon the pun) by signing Alfonso Soriano? How did that one work out? My point is that sometimes we overpay for things and when we do so, the result is worse than if we had simply walked away from the deal.