Foxconn
Over the last couple weeks, Wisconsin news has been smothered with coverage about Taiwanese tech giant building a plant in either Racine or Kenosha. According to this deal.Foxconn has agreed to invest $10 billion to bring their business to Wisconsin. Governor Scott Walker is in re-election heaven over this announcement. Before Wisconsinites get excited about jobs lets dig a little deeper into what Wisconsin has to do to make this work.
Under the current agreement, Governor Walker has asked the Legislature to approve around $3 Billion dollars over the next 15 years. This includes a mix of refundable tax credits and a sales tax exemption if they build in Kenosha. Just in the 2019-21 state budget alone, Foxconn would cost $301 Million. We don't have enough revenue to pay for roads in the current overdue budget that have not even been passed yet. My question is are we going to bond $301 Million to subsidize Foxconn.
Secondly, Foxconn has promised around 13,000 jobs to be created from this proposal. Sounds good right. Here are some questions that are being raised. How many of these jobs are employees who are going to commute from Illinois? Is there going to be a timetable for them to create these jobs? According to the legislative fiscal bureau if Foxconn creates 3,000 jobs the bare minimum. The state could not break even until after 2045.
Governor Election 2018.
Governor Scott Walker has not formally announced he is running as of yet. He wants to wait to after the budget. However with the budget being overdue that is creating some issues with his re-election announcement. His approval rating is in the mid-40s but we all know about his fundraising abilities.
A criticism from Democrats in the past is that the party chooses a candidate and force feeds progressives a candidate that we "have " to support. The state party is doing a really good job of trying to put that behind them. Democrats have a wide open field for the 2018 governor ship.
Milwaukee Businessman Andy Gronik, State Representative Dana Wachs, Eau Claire Native Bob Harlow, Small Businesswoman Michele Doolan are all announced, candidates. Candidates who have filed but no formal announcement are Blue Jean Nation founder Mike McCabe, State Superintendent Tony Evers, and State Senator Kathleen Vinehout. Madison Mayor Paul Soglin is " testing the waters" for a bid.
Wisconsin Politics Stock Report
Rising - U.S. Senator Tammy Baldwin (D)
This is not how I imagined that this race would shape up. Former Democrat and Emily's List and Naral Pro-choice advocate Kevin Nicholson is running as a Republican against Baldwin. Baldwin's response is that Nicholson is an opportunist who is backed by an out of state billionaire. I don't normally post the partisan response but the interesting thought is that State Senator Leah Vukmir (R) who is considered a possible contender is sort of saying the same thing. In closing Nicholson had to pull his first ad for showing footages of a veterans cemetery in his first ad.
Mixed: Democrats response to Foxconn
How do you a balance wanting to bring jobs to Wisconsin and making sure we get a good deal at the same time? Rural Americans who voted for Donald Trump still hate corporate handouts. If we don't see results of Foxconn until 30 years from now but we are ponying up 300 million dollars in the next 4 years can they paint that as a corporate handout? There are so many questions on Foxconn.
Falling - Reince Priebus
I think anyone could have seen this coming. I believe the only reason he was hired was to try to create a bridge to Congress. After not one major legislative accomplishment he is gone.
References
www.npr.org/…
act.myngp.com/…
www.andygronik.com/…
www.wearegreenbay.com/…
www.jsonline.com/...
www.usnews.com/...
www.cnbc.com/…