“‘Wait, Mr. Bezos, You Forgot Your Tax Subsidy!’ Says Andrew Cuomo Running Behind Limo.”

So ran an Onion headline the day after the Amazon HQ2 deal collapsed. As it turned out, the joke was art prefiguring life.

Cuomo, along with eighty other signatories — including six union leaders and five Democratic politicians — published a contemptible open letter begging Bezos to reconsider his decision not to locate one of Amazon’s new headquarters in New York City. The Democratic politicians are State Assemblywoman Cathy Nolan, and some members of Congress: Rep. Gregory Meeks, Rep. Carolyn Maloney, Rep. Max Rose, and Rep. Hakeem Jeffries (the latter being my congressman, about whom I had some feelings in 2012 which have not changed). The union leaders who signed this embarrassing mash note are the pitiable Michael Mulgrew of the United Federation of Teachers, along with George Gresham of 1199 SEIU, Hector Figueroa of SEIU 32BJ, Gary LaBarbera of the Building & Construction Trades Council of Greater New York, and Peter Ward of the New York Hotel Trades Council. The list also includes real estate and finance guys (including some venture capitalists and hedge funders), of course, but, embarrassingly for the labor movement, more union leaders than bankers.