Not long ago, Whitewater’s Community Development Authority discussed – laughably – that Foxconn’s screen production would offer a supply-chain opportunity for Whitewater. As it turns out, beyond all the other problems of Foxconn, the site probably cannot – literally – even support the production of high-quality glass components. Bruce Murphy at Urban Milwaukee explains: Except…
Bad Ideas
Bad Ideas, City, Elections, Government Spending, Local Government
Local Elections 2019: City Council (Part 3 of 4)
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
In 1926, Hugo Gernsback began publishing Amazing Stories, an American science fiction magazine of fantastic, but entertaining, tales. The magazine was benign: even if the stories described impossible or improbable events, they caused no practical harm. One cannot say the same about lingering fantasies of fiscal and economic policy in Whitewater, Wisconsin: they produce real…
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Marketing, Propaganda, Public Relations
The Myth of a ‘Backfire Effect’ to Fact Checking
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
When someone debunks a claim or article through fact-checking, does doing so generally produce a backfire effect where others commit even more strongly to the debunked notion? No, not generally. Laura Hazard Owen writes The “backfire effect” is mostly a myth, a broad look at the research suggests: The growing stream of reporting on and…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Development, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, WEDC
The WEDC Republicans
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Writing yesterday at the New York Times, liberal economist and Nobel laureate Paul Krugman addressed economic challenges of rural communities in Getting Real About Rural America. It is a blog post about which reasonable observers of any ideology – left, center, right, or libertarian – could agree. Krugman writes There’s nothing wrong with discussing these…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn: Behind Those Headlines
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One reads that today Foxconn is promising a less advanced facility in Wisconsin by 2020, and today’s promise has captured a few headlines. The truth – even if Foxconn follows through on this latest promise – is an embarrassing retreat, as Bloomberg’s Tim Culpan observes: Sounds like it’s more than a year late, and well…
Agriculture, Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Gov. Walker, Local Government, State Capitalism, Trade, Trump, WEDC
How Walker and Trump Destroyed Dairies in America’s Dairyland
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
One has heard so much these last eight years about how Wisconsin has been ‘open for business,’ and for Walker and the WEDC that has meant countless subsidies and tax breaks for conservatives’ preferred businesses. Walker was never a free-market man; his whole approach rested on state capitalism (government funding some producers) and crony capitalism…
Bad Ideas, Business, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, WEDC
Foxconn: Evidence of Bad Policy Judgment
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
From the moment then-Governor Walker signed the Foxconn deal, it was clear to national economists (from across the political spectrum) that it was a dubious idea. As the months wore on, one could find more – and detailed – critiques of the project. FREE WHITEWATER has post after post addressing these sound critiques. The posts…
Bad Ideas, Corporate Welfare, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC
Foxconn: The Roads to Nowhere
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Pay-as-you-go is another lie from proponents of Foxconn. Much has been paid, while the going is to nowhere. Ricardo Torres reports Taxpayers have spent more than $225 million on roads around Foxconn: Between work done on Interstate 94 in Racine County and the local roads and state highways in the Foxconn area, roughly $225 million…
Bad Ideas, Corporate Welfare, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, WEDC
Foxconn Roundup
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
From the beginning, it should have been clear to any reasonable person that the Foxconn project was ill-conceived, and destructive of nearby homeowners’ rights. Yet for all the bad news about that fraudulent project, there is still more bad news to relate. John Schmid reports Wisconsin might not get a Foxconn plant of any size,…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, Newspapers, Press, Press Release, State Capitalism, That Which Paved the Way
The Middle Lane is a Dirt Road to Decay, Pt. 2
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Last month, this site linked to media critic Margaret Sullivan’s observation that The media feel safest in the middle lane. Just ask Jeff Flake, John Kasich and Howard Schultz: Who is the media’s middle-lane approach actually good for? Not the public, certainly, since readers and viewers would benefit from strong viewpoints across the full spectrum…
Bad Ideas, Bigotry, Race, Trump, Unfit
Trump & Race
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Bad Ideas, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism
The Amazon-New York Deal, Like the Foxconn Deal, Was Bad Policy
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Derek Thompson writes Amazon Got Exactly What It Deserved — And So Did New York: Amazon said on Thursday that it will cancel its plans to add a second corporate headquarters in New York City. The company had pledged to build a campus in Queens’ Long Island City in exchange for $3 billion in subsidies.…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Development, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, Poverty, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Transportation
Private Businesses Craving Public Money
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
A private group may invite whom it wishes, but the guests invited tell much about the organization doing the inviting. Long years ago, straining even the finest recollection, private businesses relied on their own efforts for success (or so one has heard). Look about now, even in small and struggling places, and one finds well-fed…
Bad Ideas, Business, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Demographics, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Local Government, Mendacity, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC
Foxconn: When the Going Gets Tough…
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
The national press has reported extensively, and critically, on the Foxconn project. National technology site The Verge (part of Vox Media) has also noticed how local officials who flacked this project day and night are now, well, quieter. Nilay Patel writes Let’s all watch the Wisconsin local news desperately try to get answers about Foxconn:…