1
00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,680
Speaker 1: Now we need to talk about that Amazon announcement yesterday.

2
00:00:03,240 --> 00:00:05,760
Speaker 1: These guys have taken us for fools. Ah in this country.

3
00:00:05,800 --> 00:00:07,560
Speaker 1: They've looked at us in New Zealand and they've gone, let's

4
00:00:07,600 --> 00:00:09,800
Speaker 1: take these guys for fools. That seven and a half

5
00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,680
Speaker 1: billion dollars wasn't new. It was already announced by Justinda

6
00:00:12,720 --> 00:00:15,200
Speaker 1: four years ago. It's not even actually a convincing number,

7
00:00:15,240 --> 00:00:17,200
Speaker 1: because it looks like what they've done here has included

8
00:00:17,200 --> 00:00:20,360
Speaker 1: their power bills. Now, power bills are not an investment,

9
00:00:20,800 --> 00:00:24,080
Speaker 1: they are an operating cost. The thousand jobs that Amazon

10
00:00:24,160 --> 00:00:27,400
Speaker 1: now tells us that they're supporting also looks questionable. It

11
00:00:27,400 --> 00:00:29,760
Speaker 1: looks like they've included people who already work in the

12
00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:32,840
Speaker 1: electricity sector, and some say the real number is more

13
00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:37,080
Speaker 1: likely a few dozen jobs. Amazon's not building anything. All

14
00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:39,720
Speaker 1: the data centers they tell us are now live have

15
00:00:39,800 --> 00:00:42,080
Speaker 1: actually been built by other companies, which means that you

16
00:00:42,080 --> 00:00:44,519
Speaker 1: could argue that they haven't actually added anything material to

17
00:00:44,560 --> 00:00:46,880
Speaker 1: the New Zealand economy, because if they didn't use those

18
00:00:46,880 --> 00:00:49,960
Speaker 1: existing data centers, someone else would just to be using

19
00:00:50,240 --> 00:00:52,800
Speaker 1: those existing data centers. In fact, you could argue that

20
00:00:52,840 --> 00:00:56,080
Speaker 1: Amazon running those data centers is actually not the best

21
00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:59,720
Speaker 1: outcome for New Zealand because Amazon does not pay tax

22
00:00:59,800 --> 00:01:02,920
Speaker 1: on all of their revenue here, which means if another

23
00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:06,119
Speaker 1: local company use those data centers and paid full tax

24
00:01:06,400 --> 00:01:08,600
Speaker 1: like they do, we'd all be better off. We'd be

25
00:01:08,600 --> 00:01:10,760
Speaker 1: better off than Amazon using the centers and then sending

26
00:01:10,880 --> 00:01:14,480
Speaker 1: hundreds of millions of dollars overseas like Google and Facebook do. Now,

27
00:01:15,280 --> 00:01:18,319
Speaker 1: being critical of that announcement by Amazon yesterday is not

28
00:01:18,440 --> 00:01:21,040
Speaker 1: the same as being ungrateful for the good that they're doing.

29
00:01:21,440 --> 00:01:23,759
Speaker 1: I think you should interrogate an announcement just a little

30
00:01:23,760 --> 00:01:25,920
Speaker 1: bit more than simply taking it at face value, because

31
00:01:25,920 --> 00:01:28,160
Speaker 1: that is what Amazon wants you to do. They want

32
00:01:28,200 --> 00:01:30,120
Speaker 1: to play us for fools. They want to make us

33
00:01:30,120 --> 00:01:32,120
Speaker 1: believe that they're doing good when what they're actually doing

34
00:01:32,160 --> 00:01:33,880
Speaker 1: is just making money of us. And that's fair.

35
00:01:33,959 --> 00:01:36,400
Speaker 2: I don't mind them making money off us. They're a business,

36
00:01:36,520 --> 00:01:39,120
Speaker 2: we're customers. But let's see it for what it is.

37
00:01:39,240 --> 00:01:42,720
Speaker 2: Let's not be grateful for them doing business. I still

38
00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,080
Speaker 2: like Amazon's product, but to be honest with you, I

39
00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,119
Speaker 2: like a little bit less than I did yesterday when

40
00:01:47,120 --> 00:01:49,280
Speaker 2: they assumed that this country was full of stupid people

41
00:01:49,320 --> 00:01:53,120
Speaker 2: who would just simply Believe Anything. For more from Heather Duplicy,

42
00:01:53,120 --> 00:01:55,960
Speaker 2: Alan Drive, listen live to news talks It'd be from

43
00:01:56,040 --> 00:01:59,640
Speaker 2: four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio