Get ‘er done!

Calling the Foxconn vote “one of the most important votes in Wisconsin history,” Vos said the Assembly’s actions today “will speak louder than the ugly words from hate groups.”

“We will approve legislation that will give hope to all Wisconsin families by providing a future that’s rich with career opportunities and a strong, healthy economy,” he said.

I’m glad to see some urgency on the part of the Assembly.

Lawmakers on the Assembly Committee on Jobs and the Economy will vote Monday afternoon to advance Gov. Scott Walker’s bill that provides Foxconn with nearly $3 billion in tax credits, exempt the company from a number of environmental regulations and spend $20 million in state funds on job training to ensure the state’s workforce is prepared. The full Assembly is scheduled to vote on the package Thursday.

But a leader of the state Senate said Monday the Assembly’s action this week is “largely irrelevant” and that changes recently made to the bill by Assembly Republicans on Friday may not have the support from Walker or Senate Republicans.

This.

DOA estimates a total of 22,000 indirect jobs and those secondary positions (suppliers) supporting Foxconn’s operations will be created, with combined annual wages of $1.1 billion per year beginning in 2021.

“The way to judge this project is not by government revenues, not by government figures. It’s what it means to our overall economy,” said state Rep. Adam Neylon (R-Pewaukee), chairman of the Assembly’s Jobs and Economy committee. The committee held a hearing on the bill last week.

Foxconn “will grow our GDP, it will have a tremendous impact on our economic activity in the state. A lot of people will benefit because of this incentives package. We have a situation where we will be attracting talent instead of losing it,” Neylon added. “It’s a mistake to think that government revenue is the end goal. The ultimate goal is economic benefit, not how much more state government can take in and spend.”

There are a couple of things driving me crazy about this whole debate about the Foxconn deal.

First, as a small government guy, I share my fellow conservatives’ repulsion at government having to cut deals with companies to move here. I would much prefer that the government create an environment of low taxes, reasonable regulations, and good public infrastructure that makes Wisconsin attractive to all businesses. But that is not the world we live in. And as a pragmatist, the positive impact of having Foxconn in Wisconsin is worth a pragmatic incentive package to lure them here.

Second, what is it that people don’t get about tax credits? The vast majority of the incentive package negotiated by Walker and team is to give Foxconn tax credits in exchange for creating jobs. If Foxconn doesn’t move to Wisconsin, there will not be any taxes from them to credit. To call tax credits “handouts” or “government expenditures” is to assume that it was the government’s money to begin with. It is not. It is Foxconn’s money that the government is choosing to not tax for a period of time. And in this case, if Foxconn doesn’t live up to their end of the bargain, there won’t be any credits. Of course, if they don’t live up to their end of the bargain, there likely won’t be anything to tax anyway.

All things considered, tax credits are a no-brainer and a very easy way to provide incentives with no out-of-pocket expenses from the taxpayers. The only gripe I have about them is that I wish that everyone could pay less in taxes.

Third, I really wish the legislators would stop messing around with the deal. They all seem to want to have their own twist included. That’s exactly why the Obamacare repeal failed. And why Congress can’t seem to get anything substantial done. The legislature should treat this like a treaty at the federal level. Take the deal as proposed by Walker and vote up or down on it. The legislature still gets its say and has the ultimate power.

Making Foxconn negotiate the deal again, taking months, and larding the deal up with petty priorities is a recipe to kill it. That is the attitude that has been retarding economic growth in Wisconsin for decades. Is this a new era or not? Are these Republicans really interested in attracting businesses and jobs to Wisconsin or not? Their actions are speaking far louder than their empty BS rhetoric right now.

Get. It. Done.

Mark Belling reported this afternoon that Foxconn has selected Wisconsin as the site of a new plant that will employ 10,000 workers. This will be YUGE for Wisconsin!

One wonders what the package will be.

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — A Republican state senator says the state may reach a deal with Taiwanese manufacturer Foxconn by the end of the month and budget talks are being delayed as an incentive package is worked out.

Sen. Luther Olsen tells The Associated Press on Thursday that talks are ongoing about what incentives the state may have to offer to get the iPhone manufacturer to commit.

Olsen says, “I think we should hold off on settling the budget until we know what’s going on with this.”

Republican Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald tells AP that “huge, big numbers” are being talked about to help land Foxconn. But he says he hasn’t discussed them yet with his caucus.

I am not opposed to sensible subsidies to lure large businesses to Wisconsin. The economic impact of something like Foxconn would be huge, so I would expect the incentives to be huge. As long as the benefits to the taxpayer outweigh the costs, let’s get this deal done.

What is more interesting is how this is impacting the debate over the state budget. Some folks are convinced that we need to hold off on a budget to see what the plan is while others are convinced that we need to get the budget done to demonstrate the state’s fiscal solvency. The fact that the Foxconn negotiation is impacting our state budget to this extent indicates just how big it is.

This has to be one of the stupidest editorials I’ve read in a long time.

The sudden influx of 10,000 jobs in Janesville could only be a good thing, right?

Not necessarily.

News of Foxconn considering and then passing up Janesville as the site of a $10 billion expansion project might have left some people feeling disappointed. But we know from experience the pitfalls of allowing one company and industry to dominate the local economy.

The GM plant closing happened not even 10 years ago. Let’s not forget with its closing came the sucking sound of hundreds of people’s livelihoods disappearing. When a community relies on a big employer, its fortunes rise and fall with that employer, too. The car industry is notoriously cyclical, and Janesville endured many ups and downs through the years before the bottom finally fell out in 2008.

[…]

Sure, we’re puckering a little, here, from sour grapes, but winning 10,000 Foxconn jobs wouldn’t be a perpetual party for the economy. It would come with a hangover.

Their argument is basically that having a business open in town and create thousands of jobs is a bad thing because that company may leave one day and the jobs will go with it. In their view, unemployment is better because at least that can be perpetual.

What they ignore is the fact that GM created jobs, employment, and a good lifestyle for thousands of people for generations in Janesville. Yes, they eventually left and Janesville misses GM, but they are taking the wrong lesson from that experience. The lesson is that the city must diversify its economy to mitigate the negative effects of business closings. The lesson is NOT that they should eschew big businesses moving to town unless the business can guarantee that jobs will last for eternity.