> ... I'm not seeing how this fact will influence cities/public servants to not be so dumb in the future

this whole episode makes me reflect upon the Tesla Megafactory bidding process where Musk played California off against other states. Ultimately Governor Brown made some comment about how Tesla was just asking for too much and it didn't make sense for California. So it went to Nevada.

And, what I wonder is: is there a consulting firm that serves as an intelligent counter force to Tesla and Amazon et al? Musk and Bezos are supposed to be hyper-smart so is there, say, a branch of Goldman Sachs that can hyper-intelligently advise state/city leaders about this particular kind of divide-and-conquer corporate predation (if that's what it is)?

All of the money is lined up to take from the state/city coffers and resources. It's 'free' 'other peoples money' to all of these companies. Why would anyone want to play the consistent losers side?

i was thinking it would be a profitable line of business for some consulting company. e.g. host a small, invite-only conference for governors (or, more realistically, their delegates) about the concessions Amazon appears to be looking for and what states and cities risk by giving that stuff away.