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Might I bring up the Foxconn factory in WI... As a midwesterner, I'll believe it when it's built. Otherwise to me it's just another means of washing bribe mone

Might I bring up the Foxconn factory in WI... As a midwesterner, I'll believe it when it's built. Otherwise to me it's just another means of washing bribe money somehow.

SQueeeeeL 5y ago
I remember hearing the governor of WI so proud of "WisconValley" as he dubbed it. And it was all basically an elaborate tax scam by FoxConn which sucked up a bunch of tax money and basically evaporated.
- missedthecue 5y ago
  Foxconn didn't get paid cash up front. The tax breaks are on earned income over the next several decades. They didn't earn any income. They didn't get any tax breaks. Yes, the state of Wisconsin sunk some money into infrastructure in the area, but that just means infrastructure got built in Wisconsin. That's not profit for Foxconn.
  - valleyer 5y ago
    Good points. So what did Foxconn gain? Or was it really just a slip-up?
    - DiabloD3 5y ago
      It was a slip up in the sense that Foxconn didn't get to go home with the money, since there was hardly any up front. Foxconn is known for the, uh, con, so a lot of industry insiders weren't surprised this entire thing played out the way it did.
  - c618b9b695c4 5y ago
    >but that just means infrastructure got built in Wisconsin. Quite a bit of the infrastructure goes nowhere -it only benefits a factory built out at that location. As a Chicago resident who sometimes visits Milwaukee, I will personally note that the interstate construction was horrible and ripped up roads that had been completed just a few years prior. To say nothing of the people that lost their homes to eminent domain.
    - missedthecue 5y ago
      Yes but someone's domained home or your more miserable ride to Milwaukee isn't profit for Foxconn either.
tw04 5y ago
Foxconn has a long history of doing exactly what they did in Wisconsin - over and over and over again. That's ignoring the fact their initial claim of investing $10 billion was absurd on its face. Peloton has a very real financial incentive to do this. Treadmills and bikes are HEAVY, and as they called out in the article the demand has outstripped supply and rush shipping from overseas has been extremely expensive for them. Foxconn's reasoning was essentially: we don't want to be caught up in Trump's trade war so we'll say we're building this factory and get a bunch of tax breaks.
nomoreplease 5y ago
> Might I bring up the Foxconn factory in WI... You may, but might I mention those are different circumstances? In one case, it's a foreign company and a government leaders making grandiose statements with little action. In this example, it's a publicly traded US company that's making the move to control their own supply chain that was affected by foreign manufacturing. They stated they intend to break ground this summer. Could you wait a few months to see?
matwood 5y ago
Everyone knew the Foxconn plant was a joke when it happened, and was mainly to get Trump off their backs by giving him a photo op.

Might I bring up the Foxconn factory in WI... As a midwesterner, I'll believe it when it's built. Otherwise to me it's just another means of washing bribe money somehow.

SQueeeeeL 5y ago

I remember hearing the governor of WI so proud of "WisconValley" as he dubbed it. And it was all basically an elaborate tax scam by FoxConn which sucked up a bunch of tax money and basically evaporated.

missedthecue 5y ago
Foxconn didn't get paid cash up front. The tax breaks are on earned income over the next several decades. They didn't earn any income. They didn't get any tax breaks. Yes, the state of Wisconsin sunk some money into infrastructure in the area, but that just means infrastructure got built in Wisconsin. That's not profit for Foxconn.
- valleyer 5y ago
  Good points. So what did Foxconn gain? Or was it really just a slip-up?
  - DiabloD3 5y ago
    It was a slip up in the sense that Foxconn didn't get to go home with the money, since there was hardly any up front. Foxconn is known for the, uh, con, so a lot of industry insiders weren't surprised this entire thing played out the way it did.
- c618b9b695c4 5y ago
  >but that just means infrastructure got built in Wisconsin. Quite a bit of the infrastructure goes nowhere -it only benefits a factory built out at that location. As a Chicago resident who sometimes visits Milwaukee, I will personally note that the interstate construction was horrible and ripped up roads that had been completed just a few years prior. To say nothing of the people that lost their homes to eminent domain.
  - missedthecue 5y ago
    Yes but someone's domained home or your more miserable ride to Milwaukee isn't profit for Foxconn either.

tw04 5y ago

Foxconn has a long history of doing exactly what they did in Wisconsin - over and over and over again. That's ignoring the fact their initial claim of investing $10 billion was absurd on its face. Peloton has a very real financial incentive to do this. Treadmills and bikes are HEAVY, and as they called out in the article the demand has outstripped supply and rush shipping from overseas has been extremely expensive for them. Foxconn's reasoning was essentially: we don't want to be caught up in Trump's trade war so we'll say we're building this factory and get a bunch of tax breaks.

nomoreplease 5y ago

> Might I bring up the Foxconn factory in WI... You may, but might I mention those are different circumstances? In one case, it's a foreign company and a government leaders making grandiose statements with little action. In this example, it's a publicly traded US company that's making the move to control their own supply chain that was affected by foreign manufacturing. They stated they intend to break ground this summer. Could you wait a few months to see?

matwood 5y ago

Everyone knew the Foxconn plant was a joke when it happened, and was mainly to get Trump off their backs by giving him a photo op.