The Silence of the Fox

In Wisconsin, Gov. Scott
Walker's discredited claim
that 13,000 new jobs will
materialize with a $3 billion
public investment is meeting
with incredulity. Walker's 2018
campaign, Friends of Scott
Walker, is now pitching the
scheme dubbed the
Fox Con.

Boondoggle in the Badger State

Madison, Wisconsin — Led by public and legislative opposition, a ballyhooed announcement by Republicans that Foxconn will build a manufacturing plant in Wisconsin is meeting with skepticism.

The purported plan calls for some $3 billion in public subsidizing of a promised plant, the Republicans' posture is to not ask questions, rather rush through the enabling legislation by Sept 30 in a special legislative session.

A recent claim by Donald Trump that the Foxconn CEO told him off-the-record the Taiwanese company will invest $30 billion in the United States has brought silence from Foxconn.

From the Associated Press, a piece published one week ago notes, "Foxconn Technology Group is not saying whether it plans to invest $30 billion in the United States, as President Donald Trump claimed the company's leader told him 'off the record.'"

Meanwhile a public challenge by Madison Mayor Paul Soglin and the Madison Region Economic Partnership (MadREP) in submitting a proposal for Foxconn that would maintain environmental protections and be done "on our terms" has also met with silence from the Taiwanese company, (Mosiman, Wisconsin State Journal).

Reports the Wisconsin State Journal:

On Wednesday, Soglin again criticized the state’s consideration of giving Foxconn nearly $3 billion in refundable tax credits as part of an incentive package to lure the larger facility to the southeastern part of the state.

Such a large enticement could set expectations and standards for future arrangements, the mayor said, adding that if Foxconn builds in Madison, 'It’s going to be on our terms. It’s not going to be the kind of giveaway we’re seeing take place in state government.'

Meanwhile, a report by the Wisconsin Budget Project blasted the Foxconn scheme following similar thumbs-down analyses by major American business publications such as Bloomberg.

Notes Bloomberg in an August editorial on Foxconn in Wisconsin:

Such incentives [as $3 billion in public funds] are generally an awful way to lure jobs -- expensive, inefficient and fraught with unintended consequences. They can prompt costly bidding wars between states and impede other budget priorities. They have little effect on employment, growth or wages. They may induce unwise borrowing. Companies often come back again and again, as blackmailers tend to, seeking yet more blandishments. And nothing stops them from walking away when times get tough.

States are also apt to loosen the rules. Among other perks, Foxconn won’t need to obtain the state permits ordinarily required to discharge dredged material into local wetlands. Nor will it have to submit to standard environmental-impact studies. Such exceptions make for irrational public policy.

One might argue, as politicians often do, that even bad jobs underwritten by taxpayers are preferable to no jobs at all. But that’s wrongheaded: If those tax dollars were freed to find more productive uses, they’d boost efficiency and growth elsewhere in the economy -- and thus create more jobs.

Scam Alert

Across the country there are recognized red flags for phone and email scams.

One red flag is an expensive proposition that claims "You have to make up your mind right away," (City of Bloomington, Illinois). Walk away is the advice.

If Foxconn, Trump and Scott Walker keep promising 13,000 new jobs only we have to make up our minds right away and guarantee the Taiwanese company $3 billion by Sept 30, then walking away sounds like good advice.

Foxconn Boondoggle in Wisconsin Is All-about Scott Walker

Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau releases analysis on
Foxconn boondoggle, an audacious Scott Walker scam 
that Walker bets he can spring on a lazy Wisconsin public in
the August dog days, (Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau).

Foxconn is fiscal and economic plutonium 

Madison, Wisconsin — The Wisconsin Legislative Fiscal Bureau released an estimate on the costs and potential benefits of the Foxconn scheme.

See Jake's Economic TA Funhouse for an analysis, but in sum and to extrapolate, Wisconsin would be better off dropping increments of the $3 billion in cash from the sky every month for 25 years, if we could first get a promise the found money would be spent in the state.

Put another way, if Walker and the Wisconsin legislature really have $3 billion in public money to burn, then Marcia Connor of Sun Prairie in south-central Wisconsin proposes the state subsidize the construction of her new lake house in the north woods, with the understanding Connor would use local contractors, (Wisconsin State Journal).

The Fox Con is blown; see Foxconn or Fox Con, and Say No to the Fox Con for updates.

Metaphors fail to describe this Foxconn boondoggle pushed by the petulant child in the Wisconsin governor's office, running for reelection in 2018. [One of the problems with Gov. Scott Walker (R) is he is still an Iowa Christian Evangelical steeped in fundamentalist malignancy that targets real families, (an enterprise that used to be directed solely at black folks living in Milwaukee), and the things we take for granted in Wisconsin such as water, the University System, public education, democracy, tourism and recreation.]

Foxconn as fiscal and economic plutonium works as a metaphor. This scheme is deadly to economic development, fiscal health of the state, and the ability of local governments to protect their communities from corporate bad actors.

The economic and environmental scale and impact of Foxconn is immense.

But Walker in his Evangelical certainty knows Foxconn is what Jesus wants for Wisconsin, until the corporation is 'called' away.

Next year Scott Walker's reelection bid will be focused on how Gov. Jobs Failure is going all-out for working families.

From a strictly political perspective, many working-class white folks in southeastern Wisconsin are stupid and will believe most anything. Walker knows this.

Poll Shows 69 Percent Oppose Foxconn Fast-tracked in Wisconsin

New poll shows 69% do NOT want the Foxconn
deal fast-tracked, (Public Policy Polling)

Madison, Wisconsin — Scott Walker and Donald Trump's fast-talking assurances about Foxconn in Wisconsin are not buying much.

A new poll shows 69% do NOT want the Foxconn deal fast-tracked in Wisconsin.

The Public Policy Polling data also indicate wide opposition to the environmental destruction associated with the proposed Chinese plant.

Meanwhile, experts caution Wisconsin is getting "hoodwinked" on the Fox Con, (Minneapolis Star Tribune).

Price Tag of Foxconn in Wisconsin Brings Magic-Bean Economics Charge

Marcia Connor of Sun Prairie tells Gov. Scott Walker
that if he really has an extra $3 billion, then she wants
a lakehouse in the north woods, (Wisconsin State Journal).

Madison, Wisconsin — Gov. Scott Walker will do anything to make Wisconsin forget about his failed 250,000-new-jobs promise.

Now comes Walker's once-in-a-lifetime-and-if-you-act-now Foxconn jobs promise. And it costs Wisconsin only $3 billion and its clean water.

Marcia Connor of Sun Prairie in south-central Wisconsin voices the sentiment of many who think Walker's new scheme is a scam.

The $3 billion Walker is offering Foxconn stimulates the imagination for tangible economic activity. Ms. Connor's ideas deserve a hearing.

Writes Connor is a recent letter to the editor, "Will governor subsidize my lake house?"

How much money will Gov. Scott Walker have the taxpayers of Wisconsin give to Foxconn to install its company here? The State Journal has reported $3 billion over 15 years.

I am frustrated with subsidizing companies that are capable of covering their own costs. If they are not able to pay for their own buildings and any other costs related to building here, then they shouldn't be expanding.

I would like to have a lake house in the North Woods. Can Gov. Walker subsidize that for me? It will give people jobs to build the lake house.

Gov. Walker promised Wisconsin residents 250,000 jobs when he initially ran for governor in 2010. To date, seven years later, he still has not reached that goal. He is planning on running for a third term and would like to have Foxconn on his resume.

Like many families, Mal Contends would not a mind a new swimming pool in our backyard along with Connor's proposed lake house.

With Connor's new house, we would appreciate Scott Walker subsidizing a new pool for us with the understanding that we don't necessarily want local workers to do the job, are free to pollute, not pay taxes, and have no legal obligations burdening the regular folk.
---
Phil Hands of the Wisconsin State Journal has a cartoon out today mocking Walker and Foxconn's empty and exorbitant promises made at the expense of the Wisconsin people.

Walker's audacious Fox Con may be up.
---
Boon·dog·gle
ˈbo͞onˌdäɡəl/
- Work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value.

Fox Con Falling Flat in Wisconsin

Foxconn installed suicide nets at work camps
to prevent Chinese workers from killing
themselves, thereby not fulfilling their
corporate function. Wage slavery, pollution
and resource depletion are good for the
labor force, assure Wisconsin Republicans.
Wisconsinites are saying, whaaat?

Madison, Wisconsin — Every day there appears a new story on the malfeasance and hype of Foxconn, (Foxconn or Fox Con, Say No to the Fox Con).

Last month Foxconn and Republicans announced an unprecedented tax payer money-water-sand give-away scheme to induce the controversial electronics company to site a plant in Wisconsin, (Washington Post).

But paying $ billions in tax payer funds to this Chinese corporate bad guy is now drawing attention, consideration and even due diligence. Foul, cry Republicans.

From Emily Mills in the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel:

What seems like a dream at first glance, however, becomes far more of a nightmare when you dig just below the surface.

First, Walker wants us to pay for Foxconn to be here: an incentive package could total $3 billion, not including goodies the company could require of local governments, and an exemption on sales taxes that means zero tax revenue at a time when the state desperately needs new sources of just that. Instead, Walker’s bill includes $252 million in additional borrowing just to rebuild I-94 south of Milwaukee, which would become a key corridor for a plant currently planned for Racine or Kenosha counties.

If passed, the bill would require Wisconsin to pay Foxconn out of the state treasury for up to 15 years. It will cost us $519 per citizen, if the total number of jobs promised actually comes to fruition (don’t hold your breath). 

Falling for the Fox Con is an act madness.

For more info, see Foxconn or Fox Con, Say No to the Fox Con, (Facebook).

Foxconn Technology Co Ltd, looks to cash in on American taxpayers and
workers, (New York Times)

Wisconsin Is Saying 'No' to the Fox Con

Wisconsin delivers a hostile response to Chinese scheme to foist
colony onto the Badger state.
Scholar, Allen Ruff, created the Facebook news group site,
Say No to the Fox Con over weekend, quickly gathering
100-plus members as state mobilizes opposition to Foxconn.

Imposing a colony in Wisconsin land of sand and water

Madison, Wisconsin — In July Donald Trump, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Janesville, Wisconsin) and Gov. Scott Walker (R-Wisconsin) extolled the virtues of tax payers coughing up $ 3 billion to Fox Conn, (aka Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd), in an unprecedented bid to induce the controversial electronics company to site a plant in Wisconsin—a "win" sounding too good to be true, (Washington Post).

Hon Hai Precision-Foxconn is too good to be true; it's a lie.

Wisconsin people smell a rat; an anti-human, polluting rat that infamously induced Chinese workers to commit suicide rather than be forced to work another day in Chinese work camp-'dormitory' complexes, (CBS News), (Jenny Chan, New Technology, Work and Employment), (CNN Technology). [Foxconn communications director Liu Kun, argued in defense of worker suicides that "with more than a million employees in China alone, the rate of 'self-killing' wasn't far from China's relatively high average," after the company installed anti-suicide nets to catch workers jumping to their deaths in prison dormitories, (CBS News).]

Led by social media such as Facebook, Wisconsin's political culture supports a ready resistance to Foxconn.

On August 4, scholar-activist Allen Ruff created the Facebook group site, Say No to the Fox Con, quickly gathering 150-plus members, expected to balloon to 1,000s by the end of next week as  a "clearing house for critical news and views, primarily articles to inform and educate opposition to the construction of a Foxconn factory in Wisconsin. Pieces regarding the impact on the environment, accounts of the firm's operations elsewhere, and analyses of other effects and 'externalities' not offered up by backers."

Gov. Scott Walker has called a for a special legislative session to push the tax-water-sand give-away through in August before citizens begin focusing on the scam, (Fortune), intended in part to reelect Gov. Jobs Failure who counts on Wisconsinites too discouraged to effectively oppose his regime.

Notes John Nichols in The Capital Times:

Walker, who has claimed over the years that the state is too impoverished to adequately fund public education, public services and roads, has suddenly determined that Wisconsin has an extra $3 billion to hand off to a controversial multinational corporation that is famous for making big promises to nations and states and then failing to deliver.

How is this possible?

Easy. Walker is running for re-election and, as a career politician, he is perfectly happy to sacrifice fiscal responsibility on the altar of his own ambition.

Blowing up the Fox Con is the win working families are counting on before the state is mobilized against Walker in the 2018 gubernatorial campaign.