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 • 04/16/2019 • 2 Comments

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, 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 • 03/13/2019 • 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, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economy, Employment, Foxconn, Gov. Walker, Government Spending, State Capitalism, State Government, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC

“Later This Year”

by JOHN ADAMS • 08/30/2018 • Comments

One reads that Foxconn [is] planning to buy land for innovation centers later this year. Read a bit closer, however, and one learns that ‘later this year’ is about as undependable as ‘the check is in the mail’ or ‘I gave at the office’: A question regarding innovation centers was one of many from Democratic Assembly Minority Leader…

Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Corporate Welfare, Development, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, State Capitalism, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way

A Tax Incremental Financing Review

by JOHN ADAMS • 08/29/2018 • Comments

Today at four o’clock, the Joint Review Board is scheduled to review Whitewater’s tax incremental districts. Views of tax incremental financing – especially in a place like Whitewater – are a good test of someone’s basic understanding of economic development. Indeed, the test reduces to a simple relationship: the more one contends that tax incremental…

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 8.20.18

by JOHN ADAMS • 08/20/2018 • Comments

Good morning. Monday in Whitewater will be rainy with a high of seventy-six. Sunrise is 6:07 AM and sunset 7:48 PM, for 13h 40m 50s of daytime. The moon is a waxing gibbous with 71.1% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the six hundred forty-fifth day.Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as the first…

Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Economics, Economy, Government Spending, Innovation Center/Tech Park, Local Government, Politics, Taxes/Taxation, That Which Paved the Way, Trump

The Trump Tax Bill: Massive Federal Deficits

by JOHN ADAMS • 08/15/2018 • Comments

The Whitewater Community Development Authority’s press releases flacking a part of the Trump tax bill for Whitewater show only that they either don’t understand what the Trump bill means for America, or that they hope others won’t understand. (See press release 1, press release 2.) This bill will drive the federal budget deficit to astonishing and…

America, Babbittry, Bad Ideas, Mendacity, Politics, Trump, Trump-Russia

No Sudden Accident

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/24/2018 • Comments

One reads that Trump has a new theory about Russian involvement in the November 2018 elections – he’s contending that the Russians plan to help the Democrats: I’m very concerned that Russia will be fighting very hard to have an impact on the upcoming Election. Based on the fact that no President has been tougher…

Business, CDA, City, Local Government, Open Government, Public Records 2

Public Records Request of 6.26.18 (Grocery)

by JOHN ADAMS • 07/03/2018 • 6 Comments

Yesterday’s post addressed open government aspects of an unrecorded council meeting. See Public Records Request of 6.26.18 (Open Government). This post will consider a slide presentation from the unrecorded Whitewater Community Development Authority presentation of 6.19.18 on grocery store recruitment. Embedded immediately below is that slide presentation, and a link to the 5.19.16 Perkins supermarket…

Babbittry, Bad Ideas, CDA, City, Development, Economy, Government Spending, Local Government, Marketing, Planning, Poverty, That Which Paved the Way, WEDC

A Candid Admission from the Whitewater CDA

by JOHN ADAMS • 05/10/2018 • Comments

Sometimes, however rarely, even in places with the most stubborn boosterism, an official admits – wittingly or unwittingly – the failure of longstanding policy. Dave Carlson, executive director of the Whitewater Community Development Authority, is such an official. In a press release from March 27th, lauding a provision of the Trump tax bill, Carlson quotes…

Conflicts of Interest, Local Government, Politics, School District, That Which Paved the Way

First Serving

by JOHN ADAMS • 12/27/2017 • Comments

Whitewater’s longtime politician, current school board member, and ersatz newsman Jim Stewart has published an update on candidacies for upcoming school board, city council, and county board races. A few quick comments: 1. Stewart’s Update on Compensation. Stewart has an update to his post, or rather UPDATED, on the compensation for each office. Why he…

City, Economy, Politics

The Winnowing Transition

by JOHN ADAMS • 11/15/2017 • 2 Comments

Today’s a good day to post about the transition through which Whitewater is now going. It’s a winnowing transition, in which many political and economic positions formerly popular are slowly being swept away. (There are, in fact, few leading public officials even from a decade ago still around. Those who are operate in conditions of…

City, Culture

The Shallowness of Local Policymaking (and Some Policymakers)

by JOHN ADAMS • 09/25/2017 • Comments

Consider a woman who walks into an auto dealer to buy a new car. She asks him about the price of one of his cars, and he tells her that it’s a great bargain. She asks the dealer why it’s a great bargain, and he tells her he can prove it, handing her a piece…

Daily Bread

Daily Bread for 6.18.17

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/18/2017 • Comments

Good morning. Father’s Day in Whitewater will be partly cloudy with a high of seventy-four. Sunrise is 5:16 AM and sunset 8:36 PM, for 15h 20m 19s of daytime. The moon is a waning crescent with 39.4% of its visible disk illuminated. Today is the {tooltip}two hundred twenty-second day.{end-texte}Days since Trump’s election, with 11.9.16 as…

City, Culture, Economy, University

Whitewater, Cultures & Communications, June 2017 (Part 9: Small-Town Harvards)

by JOHN ADAMS • 06/15/2017 • 3 Comments

This is the ninth post in a series considering related local topics of cultures & communications within the city. Alana Semuels asks Could Small-Town Harvards Revive Rural Economies? Her contention, as she succinctly describes it: College campuses and educational institutions can bolster the economies of small towns that otherwise would be struggling like many…