After years of the ignorant scheming of tax incremental financing, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation, capital catalyst grants, the Trump tax bill, and now Trump’s trade war, Alan Rappeport reports Stung by Trump’s Trade Wars, Wisconsin’s Milk Farmers Face Extinction (“The flagship industry in a pivotal swing state faces an economic crisis”): KENDALL, Wis. —…
State Government
Babbittry, Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Economy, Foxconn, Government Spending, Scott Walker, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Tony Evers, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn Confirms Gov. Evers’s Claim of a Renegotiation Discussion
by JOHN ADAMS •
Yesterday, Gov. Evers was proved right on a key contention about Foxconn. Earlier this week, Evers released a letter to Foxconn executive Dr. Louis Woo in which Evers mentioned that Foxconn had sought to “suggest several changes to the existing agreement.” Gov. Evers also stated that Woo had also met with Vos and Fitzgerald and…
Bad Ideas, Business, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economics, Economy, Environment, Foxconn, Government Spending, Local Government, Speaker Vos, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn: The Closer One Gets, The Worse It Is
by JOHN ADAMS •
There is, about Foxconn in Wisconsin, a fair amount of ignorant insistence that there will be supply chain opportunities, etc. Public employees talking about the Foxconn project’s supposed benefit is the practical equivalent letting them recite limericks or play sheepshead: it’s not productive. For those near Foxconn, however, that project is more than wasteful talk:…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, Local Government, State Capitalism, State Government, Trump, WEDC
Foxconn: Still Empty, and the Chairman of the Board Needs a Nap
by JOHN ADAMS •
Trump declared that Foxconn in Wisconsin would be the eighth wonder of the world, but one of the world’s true wonders would not depend on empty buildings and it wouldn’t have a leader who needs a nap, but here we are. Following his earlier examination on Foxconn’s habit of using empty buildings to dupe the…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn: Heckuva Supply Chain They Have There…
by JOHN ADAMS •
Not long ago, the executive director of the Whitewater Community Development Authority used meeting time to gush over the supply-chain possibilities Foxconn might present for Whitewater. The very idea is laughable; that his remarks were not met with peals of laughter shows how ignorant or confused the members of that public body truly are. See…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn: On Shaky Ground, Literally
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
Elections, Gerrymandering, Scott Walker, Speaker Vos, State Government, Wisconsin
The Gerrymander Kings
by JOHN ADAMS •
Many of former Gov. Walker’s legislative victories depended on gerrymandering, and Speaker Robin Vos would not be the speaker today without a wildly gerrymandered state. Say what one wants about those men, they’re staying true to their shared dance partner: Walker has joined a GOP group that favors gerrymandered redistricting, and Vos refuses to answer…
Bad Ideas, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Foxconn, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, WEDC, Wisconsin
Foxconn: Behind Those Headlines
by JOHN ADAMS •
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…
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 •
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 •
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,…
Business, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Free Markets, Government Spending, Local Government, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC
Half-Right About the WISGOP
by JOHN ADAMS •
Thomas Edsall, writing in the New York Times, quotes Jerry Taylor and Will Wilkinson of the Niskanen Center think tank on Republicans’ political economics. Two quotes from Taylor Wilkinson stand out – one right, and one wrong (at least wrong for Wisconsin). From Will Wilkinson, a view of cultural issues’ importance: The G.O.P.’s success in…
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 •
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 •
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:…
Bad Ideas, Business, CDA, Corporate Welfare, Demographics, Economics, Economy, Foxconn, Local Government, Mendacity, Politics, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, Trump, WEDC, Wisconsin
‘Inside Wisconsin’s Disastrous $4.5 Billion Deal With Foxconn’
by JOHN ADAMS •
The published case against Foxconn – with reporting & analysis from some of America’s finest journalists and economists – is overwhelming. Their careful, published work has set out the plain facts for well over a year. And yet, as a multi-billion dollar public failure, there are even more startling accounts still emerging. Austin Carr reports…