Foxconn to disclose WI product in month 48. (Psst: it's a secret.)

For the Foxconn record, (and a broken one at that, for those who remember what a broken vinyl record sounded like...), please remember: 

Foxconn never made any promised big-screen flat-panel devices and TVs at its vast Mt. Pleasant site, though some COVID19 masks have been produced.

It also never created its promised ventilators.

Or airport coffee kiosks.

Or any whiz-bang item, or battalions of high-paying jobs it promised in exchange for billions in state and local public funds - committed and spent - that have helped pave and plow under hundreds of acres of prime agricultural acreage, substantial amounts of wetlands and many homes which had been occupied, improved and enjoyed:

By the time Trump, Ryan, Walker, and Gou convened for the groundbreaking ceremony in Mount Pleasant on June 28th, 2018, Foxconn had already begun to waver. Days before, the company admitted that rather than building the Gen 10.5 Fab specified in its contract, it would instead build the smaller Gen 6, but still create 13,000 jobs. 

Two months later Foxconn executive Louis Woo told the local press there was another change: rather than manufacturing jobs, 90 percent of the roles would be researchers and engineers, a number that would mean Foxconn was creating a research campus in Southeastern Wisconsin three times the size of MIT. 

That was the spin in July, 2017:

Foxconn announces $10 billion investment in Wisconsin and up to 13,000 jobs

And this is the spin today about July, 2021 - as Foxconn did again what it has done repeatedly - touting and teasing its presence in what Scott Walker pathetically called "Wisconn Valley" which, like Narnia, is found on no map other than the one created by his 2018 campaign scheduler:

Foxconn said it will announce what will be made at the Wisconsin facility by July 

The New York Times reported that Foxconn's chairman and chief executive Young Liu said during a news briefing that the company is deciding between the Wisconsin facility or one of its plants in Mexico to make electric cars. 

Wow. This iteration of 'Whither Wisconsin Valley' comes with added drama - like possible outsourced production and cross-border wage competition:

Liu said that the company will announce what it will make in Wisconsin before July. It could be electric cars, or something else, he said.

Might there be additional, perhaps Federal incentives in the mix? Does one level of subsidy deserve another?

As I'd written a couple of weeks ago, I'm all for electric vehicles, and if I ever buy another car it will definitely be an Electric Vehicle, (EV). But as I noted in the same piece, the EV market is already crowded with high, established vehicle manufacturers like General Motors, Ford and others in China and Germany, and transportation startups in Wisconsin have fared poorly. 

So stay tuned on your flat-panel TV, made elsewhere, as it's wait until July, Bucky - though we are reminded that July hasn't exactly been Foxconn's best month:

     From NBC Nightly News, 7/21/19

And while we're looking forward and looking back, too, do you realize just long it's been since Walker rolled out in July, 2017 the Foxconn surprise he hoped would seal his third term?

* In July, 2017, Christian Yelich was still playing outfield for the Florida Marlins.

* And after July, 2017, Jordy Nelson would go on to play another full season for the Green Bay Packers and make 53 receptions before being released in March of 2018.

* Heck, former MTV performer Sean Duffy was still Wisconsin's Northwoods Congressman.

And would get re-elected again in 2018 before he left for greener pastures so Tom Tiffany could get promoted to the seat

Anyway - we've got four more months of suspense, and God only knows how many Foxconn news releases to go, until July rolls around and Foxconn's secret is might be revealed.

Maybe by that time UW-Madison will see some of the other 99% of the $100 million Foxconn pledged it years ago.  

A full, four-year Foxconn archive is here:

[Updated continuously from June, 2017]  

This archive with close to 400 posts has tracked, explained and provided context and commentary for Wisconsin's publicly-awarded and record-breaking environmental favors, legal privileges and $4.5 billion in state and local funds to subsidize and assist a Taiwan-based Foxconn factory in rural Racine County, Wisconsin. 

And one more thing: if the Electric Vehicle factory falls through, I propose that some of the unused Foxconn land be converted into The Charlie Brown Recreation Center with regulation baseball diamonds, basketball courts and football fields, bleacher seating and a concession stand.

All home teams would be called "The Mt. Pleasant Peanuts," and there'd be regional Lucy and Linus Leagues.

Then we'd have the truth in advertising that "Wisconn Valley" never achieved.