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posted by martyb on Tuesday October 13 2020, @09:59PM   Printer-friendly
from the fox-conned? dept.

Wisconsin denies Foxconn tax subsidies after contract negotiations fail:

Foxconn isn't building what it promised and failed to hire enough people

Through the many twists and turns of Foxconn's troubled Wisconsin project, one thing has long been clear: the company is not building the promised 20 million-square-foot Gen 10.5 LCD factory specified in its contract with the state. Even before President Trump broke ground on the supposed factory in June 2018, Foxconn said it would instead build a far smaller factory than it had proposed.

The discrepancy between what Foxconn is doing and what it said it would do in its contract has only grown since then, and it has brought Wisconsin and the company to an impasse. Documents obtained by The Verge show that attempts to renegotiate that contract have so far failed, and today, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), which oversees the deal, rejected Foxconn's application for tax subsidies on the grounds that Foxconn had not carried out the Gen 10.5 LCD factory project described in its original contract.

WEDC also noted that even if whatever Foxconn is currently doing had been eligible under the contract, it had failed to employ the minimum number of people needed to get subsidies. Foxconn needed to employ at least 520 people at the end of 2019 to receive subsidies and claimed to have hired 550, but WEDC estimated that only 281 would qualify under the terms of the contract.


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  • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:05PM (14 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:05PM (#1064189) Journal

    Thirteen thousand jobs, they said. Holy crap, those are enough jobs to kickstart the economy of half the state!! Seriously, every manufacturing/production job translates into an additional "support" job. (Transportation, food industry, convenience stores, etc ad nauseum, the effects are widespread)

    I doubted from day one that China and/or any Chinese corporation was going to give the US economy that kind of a boost. The very idea runs counter to the Assassin's Mace goals. By way of assymetrical warfare China intended to "dominate" the United States militarily, economically, and politically, within 20 years. No way was China going to allow the US to get such a huge economic boost.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:28PM (9 children)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:28PM (#1064206)

      Your terror at the thought that China might be getting rich has blinded you to the fact that Foxconn is a Taiwanese corporation.

      Foxconn were just taking advantage of the moron who was running Wisconsin at the time, Scott Walker. Once the voters of Wisconsin figured out they had accidently elected an idiot, they got rid of him, and the new guys were never going to hand over the money Walker and his merry band of fuckwits had attempted to give away.

      By way of assymetrical warfare China intended to "dominate" the United States militarily, economically, and politically, within 20 years. No way was China going to allow the US to get such a huge economic boost.

      Once again, Foxconn is Taiwanese. [quora.com]

      • (Score: 4, Insightful) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:36PM (6 children)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:36PM (#1064210) Journal

        More accurately, Foxconn is a Taiwanese multinational company, with extensive holdings and obligations inside of China. Foxconn is Taiwanese as Microsoft or Google are American. I think we all understand that if you are doing business in China, you dance to the Party's tune.

        In the case at hand, Foxconn wanted to do business inside of the US, but didn't want to dance to our tune. So - they don't get all those huge tax breaks they were looking for. They'll have to get by on their Chinese tax breaks.

        • (Score: 5, Insightful) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:58PM (4 children)

          by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:58PM (#1064221)

          So not Chinese then? Yeah, not Chinese.

          In the case at hand, Foxconn wanted to do business inside of the US, but didn't want to dance to our tune.

          No, in the case at hand, Foxconn knew they could take advantage of Scott Walker, but the voters of Wisconsin we having none of it and got rid of him.

          As a parting gift he passed a bunch of laws during the lame duck session in 2018 restricting incoming democrat governor and attorney general, defeating the will of the people.

          That ought to tell you something about the quality of the man.

          • (Score: 5, Insightful) by Mykl on Wednesday October 14 2020, @12:00AM (3 children)

            by Mykl (1112) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @12:00AM (#1064255)

            That ought to tell you something about the quality of the man party.

            FTFY. It takes more than just the Governor to pass that legislation.

            • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday October 14 2020, @12:07AM

              by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @12:07AM (#1064260)

              Quite right.

            • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2020, @03:26PM (1 child)

              by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2020, @03:26PM (#1064485)

              Apparently they've all moved on to the US Senate:

              I want you to use my words against me. If there's a Republican president in 2016 and a vacancy occurs in the last year of the first term, you can say Lindsey Graham said, 'Let's let the next president, whoever it might be, make that nomination'.

              • (Score: 2) by PartTimeZombie on Wednesday October 14 2020, @10:10PM

                by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @10:10PM (#1064641)

                Lady G's problem is that he can't come out of the closet, because he would lose his job if he did.

        • (Score: -1, Flamebait) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2020, @11:08PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2020, @11:08PM (#1064229)

          You're so incapable of genuine thought. Everything is a win/lose proposition to people like yourself.

      • (Score: 2) by sjames on Tuesday October 13 2020, @11:21PM

        by sjames (2882) on Tuesday October 13 2020, @11:21PM (#1064237) Journal

        That would be the same Scott walker who became known as "The Grinch. First for his appempt to ban singing in the capital building during the holiday season (the singers were singing in solidarity with public workers) and later for sending out campaign letters suggesting that parents should forego buying presents for their kids and send the money to his campaign instead.

      • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday October 14 2020, @03:08PM

        by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @03:08PM (#1064479)

        Once the voters of Wisconsin figured out they had accidently elected an idiot, they got rid of him

        Or voted down the recall and then went on to elect him a second time. Same difference.

        --
        "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2020, @11:17PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday October 13 2020, @11:17PM (#1064232)

      WSJ chimes in, https://www.wsj.com/articles/wisconsin-says-foxconn-doesnt-qualify-for-subsidies-11602535608 [wsj.com]

      Here's the Fox that didn't get away with any Chickens--

      ...
      “Foxconn has not received any tax credits from the State of Wisconsin despite achieving employment levels above 520 people and investing $750 million in Wisconsin that includes over a half a billion dollars invested in Foxconn’s manufacturing park,” the company said, adding that it has been in negotiating with the WEDC to come up with a new contract. “WEDC’s determination of ineligibility during ongoing discussion is a disappointment and a surprise that threatens good faith negotiations.”

      When I read tfa, I was a little concerned that WI might have made some payments upfront, but it doesn't look like the state is out anything except a lot of wasted effort. And of course they look like idiots for buying into this Fox's sweet lies in the first place.l

    • (Score: 2, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2020, @12:08AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2020, @12:08AM (#1064261)

      Thirteen thousand jobs, they said.

      Not "they". Gov. Scott Walker, the Republican Party, and the former Kock Bros. Liars and thieves, every damn last one of them.

      (And seeing how the Runaway works for a Foreign Corp. taking advantage of America's rural uneducated and non-unionized labor force, this post is iconically ironic. )

    • (Score: 2) by Reziac on Wednesday October 14 2020, @04:07AM

      by Reziac (2489) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @04:07AM (#1064356) Homepage

      Side thought: I note that those screaming loudest about how unfair this was to Foxconn are also those screaming loudest about how big business needs to be taxed more.

      --
      And there is no Alkibiades to come back and save us from ourselves.
    • (Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Wednesday October 14 2020, @10:31PM

      by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @10:31PM (#1064659)

      Promising jobs (that never get delivered) in exchange for huge tax breaks is a standard tactic. Corporations get to hold land without paying significant taxes on it and later sell it for a hefty profit, politicians get to claim these jobs as jobs they "created" and campaign on the "accomplishment". Here in Florida we called them Rick Scott (I suppose now DeSantis) jobs.

  • (Score: 3, Touché) by krishnoid on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:15PM (3 children)

    by krishnoid (1156) on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:15PM (#1064199)

    I mean, you have to start small and build up from there [factorio.com]. It's just common sense.

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Username on Wednesday October 14 2020, @01:48AM (2 children)

      by Username (4557) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @01:48AM (#1064286)

      Let's not forget about the covid related lockdowns, building codes and unemployment subsidies.

      • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday October 14 2020, @01:54AM

        by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @01:54AM (#1064290)

        And somehow, still relevant [youtu.be], in an economic circle of life kind of way.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15 2020, @07:24PM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 15 2020, @07:24PM (#1065146)

        These were in effect by the end of 2019?

  • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:20PM (5 children)

    by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:20PM (#1064203) Journal

    I lived in Milwaukee for a while and Madison for a briefer while, and something always felt off about it. From what I've been reading recently things have gone completely to Hell there, given Oshkosh's role in the COVID pandemic...which, in my estimation, appears to have happened because the states GOP politicians are so asspained about Evers winning that they've taken every possible step to countermand and restrain him, even when it hurts people.

    I'm glad I got out of there, though my landing site afterwards wasn't the greatest place either...

    --
    I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 5, Informative) by PartTimeZombie on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:52PM (1 child)

      by PartTimeZombie (4827) on Tuesday October 13 2020, @10:52PM (#1064218)

      Something probably felt off about it, because something was off.

      Scott Walker is the fool who was taken advantage of by some clever guys from Taiwan who knew they could get what they wanted if they told him what he wanted to hear.

      Fortunately the voters got wind of it and voted him out of office, but because Walker has no scruples, he used the lame duck session to pass a bunch of legislation limiting the power of the incoming Governor and Attorney General. It was general republican corruption really, but with some stupid on top.

      • (Score: 2) by tangomargarine on Wednesday October 14 2020, @03:06PM

        by tangomargarine (667) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @03:06PM (#1064477)

        As a Wisconsin resident myself, I'm glad that asshole is gone too. I'm just hoping that we don't have another Walker-style election where Trump beats the recall/impeachment and goes on to get reelected shortly here...

        --
        "Is that really true?" "I just spent the last hour telling you to think for yourself! Didn't you hear anything I said?"
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2020, @12:38AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 14 2020, @12:38AM (#1064271)

      Just be happy you are in Western NY. The positive test rate in NY (ignoring the downstate hot spots) and ratio-ed to population is about 1/10 of the positive test rate in WI -- just checked the other day because have inlaws in WI (and I'm in NY).

      ...At least I think I compared the test result numbers correctly, but I'm open to someone that knows better.

      • (Score: 2) by Azuma Hazuki on Wednesday October 14 2020, @09:19PM

        by Azuma Hazuki (5086) on Wednesday October 14 2020, @09:19PM (#1064616) Journal

        Oh good lord, yes, I am *so glad* to be here. I love this city. And it's probably the safest place to ride all this bullshit out, geopolitically speaking, plus I can literally walk to Canada from here.

        --
        I am "that girl" your mother warned you about...
    • (Score: 2) by cmdrklarg on Wednesday October 14 2020, @03:07PM

      by cmdrklarg (5048) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday October 14 2020, @03:07PM (#1064478)

      the states GOP politicians are so asspained about Evers winning that they've taken every possible step to countermand and restrain him, even when it hurts people.

      They're trying to do the same to Governor Walz here in MN, fortunately the GOP only controls the MN Senate. The MN House isn't having any of that bullshit. There's one particular local asshole GOP rep who is a complete tool filing lawsuits and submitting legislation to lift the state of emergency, or to give the Legislature control over the COVID-19 response, which would amount to "let 'er rip!".

      --
      The world is full of kings and queens who blind your eyes and steal your dreams.
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