The late GOP Senate Majority Leader Everett McKinley Dirksen is said to have mused once that "a billion dollars here, a billion dollars there, and soon you're talking real money."
Let's put the Foxconn deal to the Dirksen test, because I see in the most current summary Journal Sentinel story on the Foxconn contract to be signed Friday that the company will spend "at least" $9 billion on its projected Racine County plant in order to receive a pledged $3 billion in state subsidies, and another $764 million from local governments.
Here is one blog post and archive with more than 80 links about the WI Foxconn deal.
When Walker announced the deal, his office didn't say 'at least $9 billion.'
He said this:
Is it possible that the Foxconn investment planned for Wisconsin is being confused with the $9 billion Foxconn also said this year it would spend on a similar plant in China? Anyone able to straighten this out before the contract signing Friday, or has that train left the station?
Let's put the Foxconn deal to the Dirksen test, because I see in the most current summary Journal Sentinel story on the Foxconn contract to be signed Friday that the company will spend "at least" $9 billion on its projected Racine County plant in order to receive a pledged $3 billion in state subsidies, and another $764 million from local governments.
To get the full tax credits and an additional $150 million in sales tax savings, Foxconn would have to spend at least $9 billion on the plant and essentially employ 13,000 workers from 2022 through 2032.Though just above that in the story, the paper said:
In exchange for the up to $3.8 billion in state and local incentives, Foxconn has promised to invest up to $10 billion to create up to 13,000 jobs at the plant.I may have missed some subsequent massaging or nuancing of the figure, but the value of the state and local taxpayer contributions to Foxconn certainly increase significantly if the company's costs decline by something like $! billion, no?
Here is one blog post and archive with more than 80 links about the WI Foxconn deal.
When Walker announced the deal, his office didn't say 'at least $9 billion.'
He said this:
Global High-Tech Manufacturer Foxconn Announces $10 Billion Investment, Will Create 13,000 Jobs in New Wisconsin Campus
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Foxconn Technology Group (Foxconn), the world’s largest electronics manufacturing services provider, announced today it will invest $10 billion by 2020 to build a world-class manufacturing campus in Southeastern Wisconsin.The $10 billion investment number has been repeated by many Wisconsin officials in interviews and on social media. Walker said it again in an Oct. 8th tweet:
Foxconn’s $10 billion facility will have an unprecedented impact on Racine County and all of WI!Various politicians and business interests pegged the Foxconn investment at $10 billion in a business magazine piece which I had noted had been posted by WEDC on an agency web page. The AP has reported the investment at $10 billion; "up to $10 billion" is the figure cited in the Memorandum of Understanding published by the Wisconsin Legislative Reference Bureau and signed by Walker and Foxconn, and interations of the figures appear in PolitiFact entries about the Foxconn plan.
Is it possible that the Foxconn investment planned for Wisconsin is being confused with the $9 billion Foxconn also said this year it would spend on a similar plant in China? Anyone able to straighten this out before the contract signing Friday, or has that train left the station?
Perhaps because the CEO is now guaranteeing to pay back half a billion dollars for failing to meet his commitments his total investment has been reduced by a $1 billion so that he won't really take any hurt. That sounds like the kind of deal Walker would work out along with some contributions to good ol Scotty and his fellow Republicans.
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