Reply to S/O Maryland, Virginia, Business, and Marc Elrich

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[quote=Anonymous]So, given the more or less consensus here that Maryland (Montgomery mainly) is seen as anti-business with too many socialistic regulations, and they elect people like Marc Elrich who is a Socialist, and Virginia is seen as more pro-business and they win companies like Amazon.

I still see a disconnect here. the kind of regulations Montgomery County imposes are more low-level stuff: banning straws, styrofoam, minimum wage, generally pro-labor and pro-environmental regulations. And yet, MoCo doesn't seem to have a shortage of fast casual restaurants. 
Wouldn't these kind of regulations mean a lot less to heavy-hitting, large companies with high paying jobs? Why would a company promising to bring six-figure jobs care whether or not the minimum wage is $15/hour? Does Amazon corporate really make line item decisions on how much their custodial staff make and whether or not they unionize? Would tech companies or fortune 500s really care that much about whether or not they can use styrofoam and straws in their cafeteria? Don't large companies actually have the advantage in being able to pay their lower level workers more and have environmentally sustainable policies?

My point is, Maryland needs to be more business friendly to increase its tax base, but scapegoating labor and environmental regulations doesn't appear to be the answer. Why hasn't the I-270 tech corridor been more successful? What else did Virginia have to lure Amazon (besides National Airport..)

Marc Elrich as CE has held a series of business-oriented listening sessions with, apparently, the aim to get rid of unnecessary regulations like outdated building codes and middlemen-red tape and excessive permiting. Wouldn't this be more helpful?  I have heard that these listening sessions have been useful, but this was from one small business owner who likes Elrich anyway. Has anyone else attended?[/quote]

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