A Special Notice For Trenton Politicians And The Newark Business Community From Occupy Essex/Occupy Newark

Why is a super wealthy corporation that made $3 Billion in profit last year being given a $250 Million tax credit to build a shiny new corporate office building in Newark? They can afford $3.5 Million for a TV commercial during the Superbowl but not their own office building? They need subsidies from the Taxpayers?

Prudential Insurance wants a new corporate headquarters and wants us to pay for it with $250 Million in tax credits they are not entitled to. It’s a sweetheart political deal.
Prudential Insurance should pay for there own office building. The Prudential “Rock” is outside Newark. The Arena in Newark is named for Prudential. The company has a market cap of $26 Billion and reported over $3 Billion in profits last year.
The specific tax credit Prudential was given by the state bureaucrats at the direction of the politicians was meant for companies coming to New Jersey and providing all new jobs. Claims by Prudential that consolidating their New Jersey employees in a posh new corporate headquarters will create 400 new jobs is laughable.
Prudential is the 1%. Why, in the dead of the night is the State Economic Development Authority approving these questionable tax credits and why did the politicians in Trenton rush through a special bill selling Prudential land from the State of New Jersey at a below market rate?
Now Prudential is attempting to move these tax credits they don’t need to build their sumptuous corporate headquarters at a different location where they can get an even better deal on real estate.
We at Occupy Essex won’t stand for this. And we hereby notify Prudential Insurance and the business community that we will strike. Like our brothers and sisters on Wall Street. In DC and in Oakland. We will strike soon. We will strike when you least expect it. We recognize that we may face arrest but we will shut down business as usual at Prudential Insurance until the politicians in Trenton call off this rich man’s outrage.
No corporate welfare for billionaires. This is Crony Capitalism at its worst.
-Adam Karl-Spokesperson Occupy Essex