Economy
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Politics, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
The Trump Tax Bill: That’s Not Reform
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Whitewater’s Community Development Authority represents a specific part of the Trump tax bill as beneficial to this city. (See press release 1, press release 2.) For today, looking at the bill generally, it’s bad for America: it’s a sham reform instead of a beneficial restructuring, and it makes this country’s outlook worse. Benjamin H. Harris and Adam…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Local Government, Politics, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trump
More About that Trump Tax Bill
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
In the spring, Whitewater saw two Community Development Authority press releases touting a specific part of the Trump tax bill. (See press release 1, press release 2.) In response, this website replied (1) with a link to a Congressional Budget Office study implying that, overall, the Trump bill will boost incomes for foreign investors but not…
Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, WEDC
The Next Guest Speaker
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Last winter, the Greater Whitewater Committee, a local 501(c)(6) business league, invited Matt Moroney (a longtime Walker operative) to speak to residents on Foxconn’s many supposed benefits. The Daily Union‘s longtime stenographer correspondent dutifully and uncritically reported on Moroney’s remarks. See A Sham News Story on Foxconn. Over the years, key leaders of this business league have served…
CDA, City, Conflicts of Interest, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Education, Local Government, Marketing, Mendacity, Politics, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Tony Evers, WEDC, Wisconsin
Redefining Reality
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Tony Evers, State Superintendent of Public Instruction and candidate for governor, has a new video about a political effort to redefine reality. The video is about Scott Walker, but it might as easily have been about any number of local politicians in Whitewater or other small Wisconsin towns, with tax breaks for out-of-towners and cronies…
Bad Ideas, City, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, Trump, Uncategorized, WEDC
Foxconn’s (Overwhelmingly) Low-Paying Jobs
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Residents of Whitewater (or at least the ones attracted to corporate welfare) had a chance this winter to hear a state operative extol the benefits of billions in public money for Foxconn. The local 501(c)(6) business league, the Greater Whitewater Committee, brought in a guest speaker to tout the project. See A Sham News Story on…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Free Markets, Local Government, State Capitalism, Trump, WEDC
The Mercantilist
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Veronique de Rugy contends that one should take Trump at his word on trade. It’s doubtful that anyone should take Trump’s word for anything, but that’s too literal a reading of her claim. She’s right that, in effect, Trump truly opposes free trade no matter what he says: As we embark on a trade war, let’s…
Economics, Economy, Employment, Trade
Promising Gain, Delivering Loss
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Here in the Midwest, in America’s Dairyland, in a small college town surrounded by farms, Trumpism’s economic promises, never likely to do a body good, now slowly curdle: U.S. business groups say hundreds of thousands of American jobs are at stake as newly imposed trade barriers cause an abrupt slowdown of cross-border trade. The fallout is…
Agriculture, Economy, Trade, Trump
Tales of Unrequited Support
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Wisconsinites who went for Trump now find themselves economically disadvantaged despite their support. It’s become an international tale: how some residents of America’s Dairyland foolishly hoped for better from Trump and now find themselves experiencing worse: Plymouth, Wisconsin, styles itself as “the cheese capital of the world”. The town of 8,445 people, about an hour north…
Bad Ideas, City, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, Trump
Foxconn’s Bait & Switch
by JOHN ADAMS • • 4 Comments
It’s a groundbreaking ceremony for (a much smaller) Foxconn today. This very morning one reads confirmation – yet again – that taxpayers’ billions for Foxconn are paying for a project that’s now a giant bait & switch. Rick Romell reports Foxconn scales back plans for its first factory in Mount Pleasant: The Foxconn Technology Group manufacturing…
Bad Ideas, City, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, Technology, Trump
Foxconn’s Shabby Workplace Conditions
by JOHN ADAMS • • 1 Comment
One reads that God, hearing the grumblings of the ancient Israelite community, once fed that people: 11 The LORD said to Moses: 12 I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them: In the evening twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will have your fill of bread, and then you will know that I,…
Bad Ideas, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, Technology, Trump
Foxconn’s Ambition is Automation, While Appeasing the Politically Ambitious
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
If there’s ever been an economic con, it’s Foxconn in Wisconsin. The Financial Times describes two key aspects of Foxconn’s character, in a story, Foxconn shifts focus to ‘smart manufacturing.’ Automation, Not Jobs. The new reporting tells us that Foxconn’s working for “automating other manufacturers’ processes.” Of course they are: they’ve a whole business producing robots…
China, Economics, Economy, Foreign Affairs, Health, Lifestyle, Trade, Trump
A Metaphor for Trump’s Trade Policy
by JOHN ADAMS • • Comments
Wisconsin businesses are bracing themselves for European Union retaliation against Trump’s trade tariffs (“Harley-Davidson motorcycles, dairy products, ginseng, cranberries and other Wisconsin goods are likely to feel the sting of retaliation from steep tariffs announced Thursday by the White House on foreign metals”). Meanwhile, there’s no better visual metaphor for the difference between Trump’s trade…
Bad Ideas, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Government Spending, Technology
Foxconn in Wisconsin: Not So High Tech After All
by JOHN ADAMS • • 2 Comments
Lauly Li, Cheng Ting-Fang, and Gen Nakamura report Foxconn opts to make smaller displays at Wisconsin plant: OSAKA/TAIPEI — Hon Hai Precision Industry, better known as Foxconn Technology Group, is considering producing small to midsized displays for Apple, automakers and others at its $10 billion factory planned for the U.S. state of Wisconsin, people familiar with the…