David Michael Miller
You don’t change a note in a Beethoven symphony. You don’t mess with a syllable in a play by Shakespeare.
So, I’m not inclined to touch a word of the perfect editorial by the Chicago Sun-Times regarding the proposed Foxconn deal. The editorial, titled, “Thank you, Wisconsin, for the beautiful gift,” appeared last week in the paper, which has recently become union owned. That’s right. A paper owned by unions is mocking and opposing a deal trumpeted as creating jobs. That’s because the Sun-Times understands what a colossal mistake Foxconn is.
Licensing agreements don’t allow me to just cut and paste every word, but I strongly recommend you read the editorial in its entirety. It makes the case against this monumental Wisconsin taxpayer rip-off better than I’ve seen in most other places.
What I have seen from most Wisconsin critics of the deal goes something like, “I’m for all these jobs, but I have questions about the details.”
No! This is not a about details. Giving away $2.85 billion in cash to a foreign company to do whatever they’d like with (including paying their executives) is a really bad idea and no change in the fine print will make it any better. Allowing that same company to sidestep environmental regulations that every other Wisconsin company has to follow is a really horrible idea and no tweak will improve it.
There’s no nuance in this one. The Foxconn deal stinks. It’s a sucker’s bet. It will never pay back. Not in 25 years. Not ever. It’s a scam pure and simple. It’s an insult and affront to every Wisconsin citizen. Do I make myself clear or do I need to be more to the point?
The Sun-Times took that no holds barred, plain truth angle in its editorial. It starts out thanking Wisconsin for its largesse to our neighbor to the south, pointing out that we will pay the bill for the jobs that will be created for so many Illinois residents just a few exits across the border. “Friends in the Wisconsin Legislature, we beg you: Sign that bad deal with Foxconn. It’s the neighborly thing to do,” reads the opening line.
It goes on to say, “Wisconsin would be taking all the risks, even as Illinois enjoyed a nice share of the benefits. The Foxconn plant likely would be located right across the border in Kenosha County or Racine County. The commute from Waukegan to Kenosha is just 16.5 miles. The commute from Zion is 10.”
But the paper also makes an important observation that has not been made by many other critics of the deal. Foxconn is playing off one Midwestern state against another in a race to the bottom.
“Truth be told, this whole sad spectacle of Midwestern states fighting each other for economic development, each trying to outdo the other in prostrating itself before some international conglomerate, is foolish, and the Foxconn deal is proof. If Illinois and Wisconsin had joined forces from the beginning to bring this manufacturing plant to the region — maybe even pulling in Indiana as a partner — the final deal with the Taiwan company might have been less of a give-away, and the risks would have been shared.”
Absolutely. The Upper Midwest has two natural advantages: lots of clean water and relative climate change security. We certainly are experiencing climate change impacts in the form of stronger storms and flooding, but it doesn’t compare to the prospect of entire coastal cities being wiped out by rising sea levels or of incredibly destructive and ever more powerful hurricanes.
The Midwest is also home to large, strong, research universities and a proven, steady workforce.
We have a lot to offer and the deal for any business that wants to move here should be that they are welcome so long as they follow our rules and pay our taxes. Some of those rules protect the very freshwater resource that is one of our key advantages and the taxes pay for the education that trains their workers. And both contribute to the quality of life that might have attracted them in the first place.
The Upper Midwestern states should band together and create a compact that commits them to not compete with one another but to compete vigorously with other parts of the country and other parts of the world. Clean water, safety from the worst ravages of climate change, strong public education and cutting-edge research, an educated and diligent workforce and a high quality of life. That should be enough. If you want us to pay you up to a million dollars a job in addition to all that, well, have you tried Mississippi?
