>Taking the slider to the other extreme, you end up with company towns everywhere
Why would you go to the other extreme? There are hundreds of large cities around the US that could easily headquarter these big companies and not become company towns.
Hundreds is a stretch. When you get down to the hundredth-largest city you’re at Des Moines, population 217k. At that point, if the company were to say “zero our taxes or we leave”, the city would do as told.
How small can a city be and have a healthy relationship with an employer of 25,000?
Why would you go to the other extreme? There are hundreds of large cities around the US that could easily headquarter these big companies and not become company towns.