3 ms·

I see a lot of popular outrage here, and I love me some popular outrage against the big bad boy just like everyone else, but still, what was Foxconn's gain here

I see a lot of popular outrage here, and I love me some popular outrage against the big bad boy just like everyone else, but still, what was Foxconn's gain here? The billions in subsidies were in the form of tax relief, they will not see a dime if they don't build the factory. The bulldozed houses in Wisconsin, while a loss for the state, don't make Foxconn any richer. In the end, the only thing Foxconn achieved was some horrible PR in the US.

matwood 6y ago
At the risk of getting too political, the gain was getting Trump off their back. Apple did something similar in TX [1]. Give Trump a photo op (which everyone knows he loves), and then don't actually do anything. Trump moves on, and the business can continue as before. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/20/20974999/trump-is-lying-about-the-new-apple-factory https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/20/20974999/trump-is-lying-...
- spamizbad 6y ago
  I guess we'll see if this hurt Trump in 2 weeks, but wasn't this thing part of why Scott Walker lost his reelection in 2018?
bilbo0s 6y ago
The gain was mostly in the form of payouts to Scott Walker's political cronies. I'll give you one guess which companies the hundreds of millions in highway and infrastructure "improvements" contracts went to. (Also, why did we even need to do those "improvements"?) Don't even get me started on the 3/4 of a billion dollar loan that the small suburb of Mt Pleasant took out. Which wouldn't be a problem, in a non-corrupt world, Mt Pleasant would have taken out a loan, and Mt Pleasant would have to pay it back. But in Wisconsin, Scott Walker, to help out his buddies down there, made a guarantee that tax payers everywhere except Mt Pleasant would have to pay back the loan. So now people in Dalton, Fox Lake, and Eau Claire have to pay the loan that people in Mt Pleasant unilaterally took out. We can't even unwind that guarantee so that the people of Mt Pleasant have to pay their own bills. Because when we kicked Scott Walker out, his buddies in the legislature stripped the new governor we voted in of any power to unwind said deal before he could take office. Corruption in Wisconsin runs deep my friend. So believe me, there was "gain" by corrupt parties all over the state. Just because Foxconn only breaks even, doesn't mean no one made money. It only means Foxconn won't lose money. The losers are all the taxpayers of Wisconsin, except for those taxpayers favored by Scott Walker.

matwood 6y ago

At the risk of getting too political, the gain was getting Trump off their back. Apple did something similar in TX [1]. Give Trump a photo op (which everyone knows he loves), and then don't actually do anything. Trump moves on, and the business can continue as before. [1] https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/20/20974999/trump-is-lying-about-the-new-apple-factory https://www.theverge.com/2019/11/20/20974999/trump-is-lying-...

spamizbad 6y ago
I guess we'll see if this hurt Trump in 2 weeks, but wasn't this thing part of why Scott Walker lost his reelection in 2018?

bilbo0s 6y ago

The gain was mostly in the form of payouts to Scott Walker's political cronies. I'll give you one guess which companies the hundreds of millions in highway and infrastructure "improvements" contracts went to. (Also, why did we even need to do those "improvements"?) Don't even get me started on the 3/4 of a billion dollar loan that the small suburb of Mt Pleasant took out. Which wouldn't be a problem, in a non-corrupt world, Mt Pleasant would have taken out a loan, and Mt Pleasant would have to pay it back. But in Wisconsin, Scott Walker, to help out his buddies down there, made a guarantee that tax payers everywhere except Mt Pleasant would have to pay back the loan. So now people in Dalton, Fox Lake, and Eau Claire have to pay the loan that people in Mt Pleasant unilaterally took out. We can't even unwind that guarantee so that the people of Mt Pleasant have to pay their own bills. Because when we kicked Scott Walker out, his buddies in the legislature stripped the new governor we voted in of any power to unwind said deal before he could take office. Corruption in Wisconsin runs deep my friend. So believe me, there was "gain" by corrupt parties all over the state. Just because Foxconn only breaks even, doesn't mean no one made money. It only means Foxconn won't lose money. The losers are all the taxpayers of Wisconsin, except for those taxpayers favored by Scott Walker.