Call it “enticing” or “incentivizing.” Call it “begging” or “groveling.” What’s clear is the bidding war between cities and states to host Amazon’s second national headquarters is racing to its deadline Thursday. The offers of tax incentives, subsidies, favorable zoning, job training and all the rest are piling in. A few billion here, a few more billion there. Amazon promises to bring with it 50,000 mid- to high-paying central-office jobs and a whole lot of steel and glass square footage. But how much are 50,000 jobs really worth?

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