Stop Letting Big Business Act Like It's Doing You a Favor

 

February 18, 2026

 

There’s a headline in today’s paper about a lawsuit by residents of Montgomery County, MO who want to void a deal that officials made with Amazon to put in a data center. I didn’t read much of it; I couldn’t get past the first paragraph, which mentions giving Amazon up to $1 billion in tax credits.

 

A) Amazon needs tax credits like it needs a hole in the head and

B) Businesses who decide to plunk themselves in an area should have to be handing over bucks for municipal planning, and to counteract the negative effects on environment and quality of life issues—NOT getting tax breaks. They chose the region for a reason—lots of space, cheap land, etc.; they wouldn’t settle in a place if they weren’t going to benefit from it; so instead of letting them bleed the place dry, they should be ponying up. (This isn't just about Amazon; it goes for sports teams and other businesses that want tax breaks for doing you the favor of gobbling up your resources to enhance their profit margins.)

 

So, yes, officials should revisit the deal and act like Hollywood divas, not starving actors ready to work for peanuts: Say, “You want the commodities, you pay us, we don’t pay you.”

They should hire an agent: An experienced negotiator, used to dealing with big business; and a high-powered law firm to draw up the contracts and ensure that they are kept.

THEN they should consider if the deal is really good for the community. 

 

 

Hoping for Lots of Good Outcomes

 

February 17, 2026

 

I hope that Savannah Guthrie’s mother is found safe and sound.

 

I hope that the techniques that law enforcement groups are honing as they search for her will be deployed in the cases of missing people who are not related to somebody famous.

 

Better Than the Best

 

February 17, 2026

 

So, the Winter Olympics are in full swing. In every Olympic cycle, summer or winter, some announcer will say excitedly, “Athlete X is the best skier, skater, swimmer, runner, etc. in the world!” When I hear that, I always want to clarify: They’re the best well-known skier, skater, whatever.

 

Because there’s always someone better. Someone who didn’t get discovered, or who couldn’t afford the cost, or who just plain didn’t want to trade doing something they loved for the rigor and the non-stop training to it takes to be an Olympian; who said, “I enjoy it, I love it, I don’t want to end up hating it because it takes over my life.”

 

I’m not denying that the people who participate in the Olympics are great; they put everything they had into becoming the best, and that exemplifies the Olympic spirit.

 

But somewhere, there’s somebody better.