Monday, February 5, 2018

Why the WI per-Foxconn-job-subsidy is more than $200,000

Outrageous enough that the public subsidies shoveled to Foxconn by Walker was reported at $200,000 per-projected job - - and worse that an independent review shows that more than a third of the multi-billion dollar Foxconn subsidy package is not tied directly to job creation at all - - but a friend of the blog points out something else I'd missed that makes Walker's subsidy plan is even more costly: 

Remember that Walker is pitching these Wisconsin taxpayer-subsidized jobs directly to people who live in Illinois.


In fact, Chicago media reported that Walker wants to spend nearly $7 million more of Wisconsin taxpayers' dollars to convince people to come to Wisconsin because he doesn't think there are enough potential workers here already
Walker announced the marketing effort at the Future Wisconsin Summit, an annual meeting organized by the Wisconsin Manufacturers and Commerce Foundation bringing together some of the state's business leaders. 
Walker said it was "critically important" to "get more bodies" in Wisconsin. The effort would include $3.5 million in ads targeting military veterans and their families and $3 million marketing Wisconsin as a destination for young professionals, particularly those already living in nearby Midwest cities of Detroit, Minneapolis and Chicago, Walker said.
So recalibrate upwards from $200,000 the cost to Wisconsin taxpayers of any Foxconn job awarded to an out-of-state worker who, adding insult to injury, could actually take a train into Wisconsin from Illinois on METRA - - the kind of in-state regional transit services, commuter rail and Amtrak extension Walker and his party have barred here for years.

And add into the true cost of that job the removal or barrier of its benefit from a worker or family in Milwaukee or Janesville or any Wisconsin community, and similarly, the absence of that job's dollars from the local economy, because Walker made it easier for an out-of-stater to fill it.

Why should Wisconsin deliberately be creating jobs for people who aren’t residents?


 


1 comment:

Unknown said...

Plus: The Heirs of Foxconn are now lining up for their "me too" share; 1st in line: Kimberly Clark.