Sunday, August 18, 2019

Taling cons and 'Gs' in Wis-con-sin

I see some cons. You make the call.

* Look at the latest projections for the throw-away money per job promised to Foxconn - - sited on bulldozed former farmland which an oblivious Walker administration demanded be known as "WisConn Valley[sic]" - - when the whole Foxconn con was really a 1-job-program: Walker's.

* But what really got me thinking about The Year of the Con was a TV ad pitching cell phones that will have the latest and greatest thing ever - - 5G service.


You know: faster Internet speeds, enabling driverless vehicles like the wireless trucks Foxconn said would glide in a special I-94 lane the company is not paying for to bring big-screen TVs they are not going to build in Racine for export to other countries where products can be built more cheaply.


That is, until Foxconn fully robotizes its Mt. Pleasant Whatever and leaves workers without a paycheck and a way to pay for that 5G connectivity.


5G? When a lot of Wisconsin can't get itself, say, one-and-a-half? Don't forget this bit of Scott Walker 'no-g' genius: 

State giving back stimulus funds intended for broadband expansion
* And, by the way who has a g - - as in a grand+ - - to fork over for a cellphone that comes with 5G capabilities when no one is complaining that their 3 or 4G service is too cheap, or devices too slow.


And, and...when phone companies are merging?

What's a bigger con than the boiler-plate rolled out after a big merger that efficiencies are going to cut consumer costs? These companies merge to maximize marketshare to maximize shareholder return, or profits. 

Interesting, too, that when the Walkerite legislature approved a 5G bill, it did so with its typical local preemptions, as it has done more than 180 times in the last few years, records show, to put Big State Government in the way of better-informed local decision-making.


The companies say all the new 5G mini-towers are as safe as your toaster and no more obtrusive than a yard gnome. We'll see.

But the way the Legislature rolled local governments in approving the service makes for an easier reminder come election season as to whose campaign committees need some old-fashioned Gs, too.

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