In 2013, Boeing threatened to move production of its new airplane out of Seattle if it didn’t receive the government handouts it wanted. The deal, which was the largest state tax break in U.S. history, squeezes $8.7 billion in tax breaks out of the state. As one Seattle councilperson said, “The company held not only Boeing workers, but the entire state’s economy hostage...to their endless desire for profit.”

This is just one example of how economic development is broken, driven by large corporations focused on maximizing shareholder profits at the expense of all else.