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Foxconn (from 9)
Numerous ecoomists weighed-in on the
desirability of having a plant, such as
Foxconn’s, set-up in the tiny Wisconsin
hamlet.
The state’s non-partisan Legislative Fiscal
Bureau concluded that the plant would
not break-even until 2043, and that, in
fact, was the “best-case” scenario (Noah
Smith, Nov. 6, 2018).
A bad history
By the time the galaxy of visiting Republic
emissaries had left town, the critics were
coming out of the woodwork to pronounce
the Trump deal a tainted one.
Foxconn, said some of these critics, had
promised sweetheart deals in the past
that did not materialize. (The Guardian
(July 2, 2019). Another chimed-in,
“Wisconsin does not have any of the
crucial suppliers needed for flat-panel
display production located nearby.(CNBC,
April 21, 2021).
The initial subsidies were set at $3 billion.
That would cost the state $213,000 per
job created, based on the anticipated
13,000 jobs, according to the Milwaukee
Journal Sentinel (July 26, 2017).
The likely cost, in fact, was higher
than funding for both the University of
Wisconsin and the state prison system,
the MJS also reported.
The plant, even before the first nail was
driven in its frame, was collecting lots of
news and most of it bad. Depending on
the number of jobs created, the cost per
job could be more than $1 million. (New
Yorker, Nov. 4, 2018).
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This figure contrasts with the average
subsidry of $24,000 per job, according to
the Verge (Oct. 19, 2020).
As bulldozers and Caterpiller movers
began to push dirt around, making the
science park, the new home for Foxconn,
and hopefully other businesses ready, the
question of land became the hot topic.
The proposed Foxconn site was
declared “blighted” and was named a
redevelopment area. This enabled the
county to threaten eminent domain on the
roughly four square miles.
Using the authority granted by Mount
Pleasant, and the likelihood that their
homes would be seized for less than
market value, hundreds of home owners
sold their property under a fixed price.
(Inside Track, State Bar of Wisconsin, July
18, 2018).
The homes were then razed to the ground
to make way for the business park.
What about all those jobs?
As of March 2023, six years after ground-
breaking, Foxconn had failed to deliver
on what Trump said would be 13,000 job,
according to a story by Jack Kelly in the
Cap Times, March 31, 2023)
(After the announcement, Foxconn mode-
rated this number to 10,000). By March
2023, Kelly wrote, the number of jobs
shrunk to about 1,500.
“Large portions of the 2,400 acres the
company and village government gobb-
led-up in southwestern Mount Pleasant
remain undeveloped,” he added.
In addition, reports Kelly, nothing has
rolled-off the Foxconn assembly lines. In
fact,” he said, “it’s unclear what Foxconn
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