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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsTrump & Walker Foxconn job creation scam. cost in tax subsidies $346,153 to 1,500,000 PER JOB!!
'It's a huge subsidy': the $4.8bn gamble to lure Foxconn to AmericaIt is the largest giveaway to a foreign firm in US history. Trump claims a win but will struggling Wisconsin benefit?
The Foxconn deal, the biggest tech-firm tax break of the Trump presidency so far, was announced at an all-star press conference at the White House last year where Donald Trump was joined by Wisconsins governor, Scott Walker; Foxconns chairman, Terry Gou; and House speaker Paul Ryan.
Trump, characteristically, took all the credit. Everybody wanted Foxconn, he said. Frankly, they werent going to come to this country. I hate to say it, if I didnt get elected, they wouldnt be in this country. They would not have done this in this country. I think you know that very well.
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Foxconns deal has proved especially controversial. A recent poll by Marquette University Law School showed 49% of Wisconsinites believe the state is paying more in incentives than it can get back, while 38% believe the state will at least break even.
In order to do so, Walker will have to make good on the promise that Foxconn will help create 13,000 new jobs in the region and transform an area still feeling the cold winds that followed the hollowing out of the US manufacturing industry.
Foxconn itself has been more circumspect on the number of jobs it will create, saying in a press release it will create 3,000 jobs with the potential to grow to 13,000 new jobs. Even if 13,000 new jobs are created, Wisconsin would be paying $346,153 per job at a subsidy of $4.5bn. An astronomical sum, but nothing compared to the $1.5m per job cost if the deal ends up creating just 3,000 new positions.
https://www.theguardian.com/cities/2018/jul/02/its-a-huge-subsidy-the-48bn-gamble-to-lure-foxconn-to-america
CrispyQ
(36,221 posts)This has been going on for a long time. Jim Hightower used to write about the number of jobs tax subsidies actually bought a community & the cost. Corporations would pit municipalities against each other & some would stupidly give huge incentives for very few jobs.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Public land sold cheap for hotels or housing developments. Big tax breaks for companies to move to a state. The amount of money can be large, and if used to fund local businesses with roots in the states and cities, would do a lot more to generate jobs. The problem is serious in the south, where schools are often underfunded, so locales can't attract companies because they have a large educated population with advanced skills, like Silicon Valley, Seattle, Portland, Boston-Cambridge, Research Triangle in North Carolina.
CrispyQ
(36,221 posts)to move from their already large location on the south end of town to a brand new bigger one one on the north end of town. Boom! All the little businesses on the south end of town started failing. Walmart limited who the town could lease their old space to, so the council had to scramble to find a new tenant. It took almost two years for the south end of town to recover. And we lost my favorite True Value hardware store, too.
Blue_true
(31,261 posts)Freethinker65
(9,929 posts)Scurrilous
(38,687 posts)scarletwoman
(31,893 posts)It's actually WI governor Walker's baby.
Demovictory9
(32,320 posts)fescuerescue
(4,448 posts)The cost is much much higher than per job salaries. This is true whether the subsidy is handed out by Dems or Repubs.
The idea is that it has a cascade effect, i.e. those jobs leads to other jobs or other economic activity. Opinions vary are how true it is.
The same argument was made against subsidizing and saving the auto industry. I don't have the figures in front of me, but back then the sides were switched and the conservatives were quoting very high numbers per job created/saved.
gratuitous
(82,849 posts)What?
Still In Wisconsin
(4,450 posts)Oh yeah, anyone paying attention.