Wisconsin Anti-Due Process Bill Is Unhinged

Update: Bizarre Republican amendment would still cut out appellate deliberation, but would allow clerical paperwork by appellate courts, (WisPolitics). Equal Protection and Due Process problems remain.
 ---
Madison, Wisconsin — Suppose you and friends in the legislature know someone from Taiwan and henceforth you would like $3 billion in public subsidies lavished onto your comrade.

Crazy, but legal.

But so enthralled are you with your Taiwanese friend, you propose special legal status of a class-caste power of privilege that would have made C. Wright Mills recoil in surprise.

And laws protecting the people and Wisconsin communities? Forget it, you say.

Equal playing-field in the marketplace. Cute.

The Wisconsin Republican-Peter Barca project in service to Foxconn Technology Co Ltd, aka Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd., now proposes perverse and privileged legal status for this single corporate actor along the lines described above.

Putting aside the fiscal and macro-economic cat-five disasters being courted, not much objection is voiced publicly from Wisconsin on the proposed abandonment of settled Equal Protection and Due Process doctrine, and state Judicial power and discretion establishing guarantees under which all litigants are equal in the eyes of the Judicial branch.

Notes Matt Rothschild:

When the Joint Finance Committee voted, along party lines, to give Foxconn the right to directly appeal any lower court order straight to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and to have that order suspended until the high court rules on it, the legislature was entering very dubious legal waters.

First of all, there is a separation of powers problem. The legislature is letting Foxconn skip the entire appellate court process. Where does the legislature get off telling the judiciary how it will function?

Secondly, there is an equal protection problem. Why should other businesses, or individuals, have to go through the potentially costly appellate process when Foxconn doesn’t have to? And why can only Foxconn get an instant and automatic stay on any lower court’s decision when every other party in the lower courts has to ask a judge for a stay?

The reason why the Joint Finance Committee carved out the exception for Foxconn is pretty obvious: The Wisconsin Supreme Court is reliably in the hands of a conservative and business-friendly majority.

This judicial exemption that the GOP-dominated Joint Finance Committee has carved out for Foxconn puts in sharp relief the utter corporatization of Wisconsin politics.

We don’t have a democracy in Wisconsin today. We have corporate rule.

That this abandonment of equality before the law is openly mused is an embarrassment for Wisconsin, much less seriously proposed in the Wisconsin Legislature's 2017 Special Session, Assembly Bill 1.

I doubt this anti-Constitutional legislative initiative will be included in the final Foxconn bill.

Yet, so unhinged and uneducated about Constitutional protections are Republicans and a couple of Democratic Party bed-fellows that this latest proposal could ring unfair and unjust around the state and become a political scandal, if only the Wisconsin Dems will begin strategic communications to this effect.

In any event, federal litigation will predictably commence with Gov. Scott Walker signing this legislation into law, so what Walker and Republicans are doing is betting they can present this madness as productive public policy better than critics can point out its numerous defects.

Wisconsin Dems Legislator Out as Assembly Leader

Madison, Wisconsin — A Democratic legislative leader who betrayed Wisconsin working families for the proposed $3 billion corporate give-away to the Taiwanese giant, Foxconn, has resigned from his post as minority leader.

The Democratic State Assembly Minority Leader, Rep. Peter Barca, (D-Kenosha), voted in August for an unprecedented state subsidy dubbed the Fox Con, drawing public criticism from progressive Democratic Assembly members and the public.

The Foxconn subsidy is unpopular across the state.

Folks up-north in central and northern Wisconsin do not want and did not ask for a crippling $3 billion public subsidy to Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd.

Barca will never understand this.

Foxconn Vote Looms as Wisc Republicans Block Release of Revenue Forecast

Madison, Wisconsin — The Wisconsin State Senate is expected to vote on a bill subsidizing Foxconn with $3 billion in public monies in mid-September, so Republicans are blocking the release of year-end revenue numbers, and still have not passed a budget, notes an economics and politics writer in Wisconsin.

What's going on?

What's going on is Wisconsin Republicans are retreating to secret, executive session in the Joint Committee on Finance, meaning Wisconsin citizens need not ask questions as Republicans cripple the fiscal health of the state for the foreseeable future.

The agenda today at Joint Finance is composed of the uncompleted budget and the Foxconn bill.

Noone knows when votes will occur of these two massive items, as such questions are Republican business and not the business of the Wisconsin people.

Foxconn Absurdity in Wisconsin Moves Ahead Fast and Quiet

Madison, Wisconsin — One thing is certain about the proposed $3 billion Wisconsin give-away to the Taiwanese giant, Foxconn Technology Co Ltd, aka Hon Hai Precision Industry Co Ltd.

Advocates of the legislation do not want the Wisconsin people looking closely at the deal.

The special Foxconn legislation is now before the State Senate, after having been passed by the State Assembly on August 17.

You can't blame the Foxconn conspirators for working in secret.

This is after-all the same boondoggle first announced by Donald Trump, Scott Walker and Paul Ryan whose governing philosophy is, say-and-promise-anything.

Last month, Trump couldn't resist embellishing the Foxconn deal by asserting the promised $10 billion investment in Wisconsin is really $30 billion, a fact Trump said the Foxconn CEO, Terry Gou, told Trump "off-the-record," (Associated Press).

The Foxconn CEO was silent on Trump's claim, (Associated Press), and to date has not offered public complaint about Trump breaking the secret convention under which Trump claimed the Gou-Trump conversation took place.

C'mon, does anyone really believe this Trump-Gou conversation took place?

Maybe Mr. Gou cares about the Wisconsin people so much, he just wants to surprise folks with a $20 billion gift to off-set the hike in property taxes.

After-all, Scott Walker said at the Wisconsin State Fair on August 8, "Really the payoff is from income taxes for the 13,000 people that will get on average $53,000/a year plus benefits," (Handelman, Fox 6, Milwaukee).

Consider as well Paul Ryan said "It's a really good deal for Wisconsin.

Jokes aside, the Foxconn give-away is about as popular as mosquitoes on a late Summer night.

For this massive, unprecedented gift of public money, the Wisconsin people should have their say.

And since Republicans propose extra-Constitutional gifting of public water resources, a statewide advisory referendum should be held.

If what has been dubbed the Fox Con is such a good deal, surly this once-in-a-generation deal will do well at the ballot box.

Wisconsin Democratic Leader under Fire for Pro-Foxconn Vote

Democratic Ass Minority Leader Peter Barca, Flaks for Foxconn, Walker, Trump

Madison, Wisconsin — The proposed $3 billion corporate give-away to the Taiwanese giant, Foxconn, doesn't have many fans in Wisconsin outside Republican Party pols.

One of the supporters is the Democratic State Assembly Minority Leader, Rep. Peter Barca, (D-Kenosha), who voted in mid-August for this unprecedented subsidy dubbed the Fox Con.

Now, Barca is drawing public criticism from progressive Democratic Assembly members, one of whom is featured in an Associated Press piece by Scott Bauer hitting the national media.

Writes the AP's Bauer:

Wisconsin Assembly Democratic Leader Peter Barca was branded as failing 'on all accounts' by a fellow Democrat who was 'incredibly frustrated and concerned' with his actions after Barca joined Republicans in voting for a $3 billion tax incentive package for Foxconn Technology Group.

The critic is State Rep. Lisa Subeck, (D-Madison), who like most Wisconsin Democratic legislators and gubernatorial candidates, is against the gargantuan boondoggle.

The Foxconn legislation enjoys little support in western, central and northern Wisconsin, so Barca's tactic to exacerbate historical geographical tensions could consolidate disdain for Democratic legislators already imperiled by gerrymandered redistricting.

Rep. Subeck issues a statement last week following the Foxconn vote in the State Assembly.

Subeck's statement is reproduced below:

MADISON – Representative Lisa Subeck (D-Madison) released the following statement regarding her vote against Special Session Assembly Bill 1, which will provide a $3 billion subsidy to the Taiwanese company, Foxconn.

The $3 billion Foxconn giveaway passed today by Assembly Republicans is a bad deal for the hardworking taxpayers of Wisconsin. The price tag is too high, and the risk of providing $3 billion in corporate welfare far outweighs any likely benefit.

To be clear, I am committed to bringing good jobs to Wisconsin, but this convoluted corporate welfare scheme is not the way to do so. We can bring good jobs to Wisconsin without selling out our environment or mortgaging our children’s futures.

I voted no today to protect my constituents who will be left paying the price of this boondoggle for years to come. Governor Walker and the Republicans are all too willing to sell out Wisconsin’s future to a foreign corporation.

Unfortunately for Wisconsin, the Democratic Party as a whole has not put out a coherent message against Foxconn.

The Supeck email was sent to all Assembly Democrats last week, and was obtained by the AP, likely leaked by disgusted Democratic aides.

A hearing is scheduled today in the legislature's Joint Committee on Finance.

The Finance hearing has been moved to the tiny village of Village of Sturtevant in southeastern Wisconsin, some 100 miles away from Madison.

Scott Walker's Sickening Foxconn Boondoggle

Net benefits calculated as increased tax revenue minus state
payments under August 2017 Special Session Assembly Bill 1,
(dark blue), and cumulative (purple), in millions of dollars,
by fiscal year (2018 indicates FY 2018-19).
Source: Legislative Audit Bureau,, via EconBrowser.

Update: Walker adminstration caught suppressing data on the Fox Con; story ignored but in a rational political culture would dominate journalistic coverage:
 ---
Madison, Wisconsin — Macro-economics and state policy guru, Jake's Econ, demonstrates the folly of the Fox Con in his latest analysis.

Long after Gov. Scott Walker has moved from his long slurping off the public spigot, long after Walker has cashed in on anti-public corporate money, Wisconsin will be facing a dangerous deficit from the proposed $3 billion Foxconnn give-away, if Walker gets his way and signs the Fox Con bill.

Jake cites Menzie Chinn, Professor of Public Affairs and Economics at the Robert M. La Follette School of Public Affairs, (University of Wisconsin-Madison), at Econbrowser.

Chinn notes the "uncertainty" that exists around Foxconn corporate conduct and the volatility of the market of Foxconn LCD tv screens, for example.

Wisconsin breaking even over decades is unlikely, so Chinn posits the necessity of intellectual honesty in accessing the Foxconn-Trump-Walker initiative.

Writes Chinn:

The fact that this venture does not seem to be a big positive for Wisconsin seems to match the literature that indicates state tax incentives to relocate businesses do not typically have big payoffs. From a survey by Buss (2001):

Tax literature, nowin hundreds of publications, provides little guidance to policy makers trying to fine-tune economic development. Taxes should matter to states, but researchers cannot say how, when, and where with much certainty. Firms may need tax incentives to increase their viability in some locations, but researchers cannot definitively say which businesses or which locations.

Perhaps more relevant to this specific case:

… declining companies tended to take advantage of programs targeted toward distressed areas, whereas growth companies tended to locate in non-distressed counties. Tax incentives made distressed areas worse or no better off, whereas non-distressed areas always improved ... .

Question: Will we be watching LCD tv screens in 27 years?

In 27 years, it won't matter. Walker and Republicans will be gone from public office, living off a public pension and the people still around Wisconsin then can clean up the fiscal, environmental and economic catastrophe

Scott Walker and his gang will be doing just fine, and that's what really matters.

Wisconsin Republicans Move Foxconn Hearing to SE Village of Sturtevant

Boondoggle in Badger State

Madison, Wisconsin — Republicans on the legislature's Joint Committee on Finance have moved a scheduled Aug 22 public hearing on the $3 billion-to-Foxconn bill to the village of Sturtevant, (population 6,970), in southeastern Wisconsin in a continuing effort to hide the unpopular corporate give-away from public scrutiny.

The move is critical to the broader Republican strategy to discourage public participation on the proposed massive give-away to the Taiwanese corporation, Foxconn.

Earlier this month Republicans stacked a previous legislative hearing with supporters, and would not allow public testimony of residents holding anti-Foxconn views until near the end of the hearing. Because of the scale and impact of the unprecedented public subsidy to Foxconn, Republicans need to protect themselves from the population's wishes and concerns about the $3 billion give-away.

"Noone is surprised by what Republicans are doing to quell public participation and voicing of public sentiment," said Jackie Captain, a native of Wisconsin Rapids now living in Dane County, "The Foxconn madness has to be done in the dark because the bill simply cannot stand the scrutiny of the light of day."

Clean water proponents in central and northern Wisconsin want the $3 billion dollar Foxconn subsidy as much as they want to take a trip to Sturtevant.

From the Wisconsin Joint Committee on Finance

JOINT COMMITTEE ON FINANCE

Notice of Public Hearing -- August 22, 2017

The Joint Committee on Finance will hold a public hearing on the following items at the time and location specified below:
Tuesday, August 22, 2017
11:00 AM
SC Johnson iMET Center
Gateway Technical College
2320 Renaissance Boulevard
Sturtevant, WI 53177

August 2017 Special Session Senate Bill 1

Relating to: authorizing the creation of an electronics and information technology manufacturing zone and, in connection with that zone, authorizing certain tax benefits, creating special provisions for tax incremental districts, creating exemptions from wetland and waterway permits and Public Service Commission certificates; making changes to the enterprise zone tax credit program, authorizing limited use of the design-build construction process, authorizing certain counties to issue debt backed by sales and use tax revenue, facilitating a worker training and employment program, making changes to town incorporation procedures, granting contingent highway bonding authority, and making appropriations.


ALBERTA DARLING                        JOHN NYGREN

Senate Chair                                        Assembly Chair

Wisconsin Assembly Votes for $3 billion to Foxconn, Senate Vote Looms

Madison, Wisconsin — Facing mounting public opposition, the Wisconsin State Assembly voted decisively to give a Taiwanese corporation, Foxconn, some $3 billion in public funds.

Defecting Democratic assembly members voting for the unprecedented legislation include Rep. Peter Barca, (D-Kenosha), a noted corporatist and the minority leader of the Assembly Democrats, widely disdained across the state.

Writes Allen Ruff of Madison on Facebook

Concerned about the repercussions in their home Racine and Kenosha districts and in absolute disregard for mounting criticism and critiques of the Republican-proposed project on numerous levels—economic, fiscal, environmental— these three Democrats, (Reps. Cory Mason of Racine and Peter Barca and Tod Ohnstad of Kenosha), opted for the low road of political expediency. They, perhaps more so than the vile conservatives and piratical free-marketeers touting the panaceas and false promises of this mega-venture, should long be remembered and penalized for their complicity.

No political observer was surprised by the Assembly vote, nor the defections of Reps. Mason, Barca and Ohnstad.

The next step is a hearing in the Joint Committee on Finance next week.

The date, time and place of the hearing to this date on August 18, is being kept from the public to discourage participation.

Democratic members of the legislature speculate the Republicans may move to a secret executive session despite or perhaps because of the magnitude of the legislation.

The Foxconn legislation also faces a vote in the State Senate.

A public rally in opposition to the Fox Con bill is scheduled for 3:00 p.m. today at the state Capitol in Madison.

Wisconsin Resident Wants Foxconn Referendum

A state that is too broke to repair roads or support public
education somehow has piles of $ for an exploitative Taiwanese
company? (Twitter)
Pictured above is anti-Foxconn sign by the Overpass Light Brigade,
overlooking an unidentified highway in Milwaukee in
mid-August.

Madison, Wisconsin — A Ridgeway, Wisconsin resident is speaking for many in demanding consent and due diligence on the largest swindle in Wisconsin history, a $3 billion give-away to Foxconn.

Republicans led by Donald Trump, Gov. Scott Walker and Rep. Paul Ryan, (R-Janesville, Wisconsin), say an unprecedented bill must be passed by the state legislature by Sept 30, or Wisconsin misses out.

From a letter from the Wisconsin State Journal:

As a lifelong resident of the once great state of Wisconsin, I would like to have the Foxconn deal put on the ballot as a referendum to the people of this state.

It is our billions of dollars, and we should have the right to decide how we would like that money spent. The referendum should be simple and clearly stated to give the taxpayers and voters the choice.

Penny Koerner, Ridgeway

Wisconsin Republicans know an advisory referendum on the proposed $3 billion give-away would face overwhelming defeat at the polls. So, the chance of a Foxconn referendum coming from the gerrymandered legislature is nil

Wisconsin Foxconn Costs Exposed: $One Million-plus per Job

Susan Hessel of Wisconsin comments on the Foxconn scam,
(Facebook)

Madison, Wisconsin — If the state of Wisconsin gave you $1 million could you create one job that would last at least 15 years?

That's the question facing Wisconsin in mid-August as state assembly Republicans have taken committee action to move forward Assembly Substitute Amendment 1, a bizarre scheme that would cost tax-payers "up to $1.5 million per job if the company creates and retains 1,000 jobs over a 15-year period," an analysis shows.

Walker and Republicans believe tax-payers have money to burn so Gov. Jobs Failure is happy to spend $3 billion and give it all to one Taiwanese corporation, Foxconn.

"As any fiscal conservative knows, the state simply can’t afford to hand over a $1 million check per job to every CEO in this state. That’s not how our private sector is supposed to work. If the bill doesn’t have stronger accountability provisions to ensure job creation targets are being met, taxpayers could be left subsiding a larger portion of this project than we’re being led to believe," said State Sen. Jennifer Shilling, (D-La Crosse).

As the gargantuan costs of the unprecedented give-away takes hold, many Wisconsinites are echoing the words of Susan Hessel, a small business manager in Dane County. "Shit! I'll create *25* jobs per million dollars. Give the money to me!," (Say No to the Fox Con, Facebook).

The state Assembly's machinations are regarded as less-than-decisive on whether the Foxconn bill passes the legislature.

The state Senate vote will be telling. That vote is expected in late August or early September.

Sen. Shilling's recent comments are reproduced below.

Foxconn tax break could exceed $1 million per job
Under GOP proposal, job costs could skyrocket if company falls short on promises

MADISON – State taxpayers could be on the hook for as much as $1.5 million per job under a newly released substitute amendment proposed by Assembly Republicans. According to the revised bill language, Foxconn could receive tax credits worth up to $1.5 million per job if the company creates and retains 1,000 jobs over a 15 year period. The high cost per job raises serious questions regarding the state’s break-even point as Assembly Republicans attempt to fast-track a vote with little public input.

"Rather than rushing through a $3 billion tax break for a foreign corporation, we need to make sure Wisconsin taxpayers aren’t being taken for a ride," said Senate Democratic Leader Jennifer Shilling (D-La Crosse). "As any fiscal conservative knows, the state simply can’t afford to hand over a $1 million check per job to every CEO in this state. That’s not how our private sector is supposed to work. If the bill doesn’t have stronger accountability provisions to ensure job creation targets are being met, taxpayers could be left subsiding a larger portion of this project than we’re being led to believe."

According to Substitute Amendment 1 introduced by Assembly Republicans, if Foxconn were to create 1,000 jobs and retain those positions over a 15 year period, the company could receive a check from the state for $1.49 billion – approximately $1.5 million per job created. Given the high volatility in the electronics industry, workforce shortage issues and the company’s stated desire to automate its manufacturing operation, it is unclear how many of the promised jobs will materialize.

Foxconn has a well-documented history of failing to meet promised job creation goals. The Washington Post and numerous media outlets have reported on several major projects in Pennsylvania, Indonesia, India, Vietnam and Brazil that failed to produce the number jobs that were promised. #

A state that is too broke to repair roads or support public education somehow
has piles of $ for an exploitative Taiwanese company? (Twitter)
Pictured above is a highway in Milwaukee in mid-August.

Wisconsin Organized Labor in Wait-and-See Mode on Foxconn Scam

Wisconsin State AFL-CIO is
registered as neutral lobbying principal
on the Foxxonn legislation,
(August 2017 Special Session
Assembly Bill 1)

Madison, Wisconsin — As the $3 billion boondoggle sails through the Wisconsin State Assembly on party-line votes, people are starting to tune in ask and, 'where is labor on this?'

Maybe today after Republicans rejected all pro-Wisconsin amendments authored by Democratic legislators in a legislative committee, (Beck, Wisconsin State Journal), the AFL-CIO will come out against the Foxconn bill, (Special Session Assembly Bill 1).

Noone doubts organized labor is against the Fox Con, but waiting while Republicans work to ram through the $3 billion give-away is not wise.

Foxconn Boondoggle Is Electoral Ammo Wisconsin Dems Seeking

Update: "If Dems are smart, they’ll come out strong against this scam as it goes through the Legislature in the coming weeks, and tie it around the necks of any Republican who dares to sign off on this pre-election corporate welfare," (Jake's Econ).
 ---
Madison, Wisconsin — The Republican scheme to donate $3 billion in public monies to corporate shareholders is a hard sell in Wisconsin, (Foxconn or Fox Con, Say No to the Fox Con, and Fox Con and Water).

For Wisconsin Republicans the public will and welfare of the state have never been considerations for public policy.

The Foxconn scheme is about Republicans transferring from tax-payers' some $3 billion to private Taiwanese interests, and no matter the fiscal and economic damage in the state then declaring rectitude and job creation is the 2018 elections.

The question is: Is the moribund Democratic Party in Wisconsin savvy enough to clobber the Republicans?

Will Republicans holding office in Wisconsin state senate, (20 (R) - 13 (D)), be vulnerable to a message of, 'if they think have $3 billion to burn, don't give our money away to Taiwan.'

Twenty-three of Wisconsin's 72 counties are swing, or pivot, counties, (Ballotpedia). Notes Ballotpedia, "Nineteen Senate districts in Wisconsin intersect with Pivot Counties. As of June 2017, Republicans controlled 14 of them, (Ballotpedia).

Of those 14 senate seats, (though gerrymandered), the Democratic Party should have begun looking at which Republicans can be recalled.

As a life-long Wisconsinite, I guarantee you Obama-to-Trump votes do not believe giving away the store to Taiwan and Illinois is a compelling message.

Ask former Sen. George Petak how working families like subsidizing private corporate interests.

Petak was recalled in 1995 after voting for a .1 percent sales tax increase for a new Brewers stadium.

Wonder how the $3 billion for a Taiwanese corporation will play.

Wisconsin Rips Foxconn $3 Billion Boondoggle

Madison, Wisconsin — Ask folks in the northern two-thirds of this state what they could do with $3 billion to stimulate the economy and few would say, 'give it all to one Taiwanese corporation whose CEO calls Foxconn workers, "animals,'" (Marley, Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel).

Yet, this is precisely what Gov. Scott Walker is proposing as the national business press shakes its collective head and wonders how credulous are the Wisconsin people. Not so much, polling shows.

As Walker tries to ram through the largest public subsidy in Wisconsin history for the benefit of corporate bad guy, Foxconn, each day reveals another outrage.

From Jud Lounsbury in Uppity Wisconsin:

It's very simple math.

Approximately one-third of Foxconn jobs will be filled by people living in Illinois, which means that one-third of the whopping three billion that Wisconsin taxpayers will be spending will be going toward Illinois residents:  One billion.

It also means that every dime Illinois Foxconn workers earn will be spent and taxed in Illinois -- not Wisconsin.

The Fox Con is the most audacious scam in Wisconsin history and the word is spreading, (Foxconn or Fox Con, Say No to the Fox Con, Fox Con and Water).

Scott Walker is avoiding the public and retreating to rightwing radio, hoping desperation of workers under the Walker administration translates to don't ask questions about the $3 billion in public funds.

Said Allen Ruff, historian and social justice activist living in Madison:

"We understand, of course, that this proposed swindle is but the logical extension, the result of the effort to smash unions at the heart of 'Act 10' and the successful push to turn Wisconsin into a 'right to work' open shop state. Setting aside the tax subsidies and state's natural resources -- the availability of water needed for the production process and the plentiful sand needed for the operation's glass, Foxconn would not consider coming here if there wasn't a vulnerable and unprotected work force. Especially in light of the labor unrest that has swept through the company's Chinese factories in recent years,' (Facebook).

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)