Remember the Wisconsin / Foxconn deal? Kevin Drum misdoubts it:
According to estimates from the Legislative Fiscal Bureau, the money Wisconsin pays to Foxconn will be higher than the combined taxes they get directly from Foxconn and from workers at the Foxconn facility. This annual deficit won’t become positive until 2033. The cumulative deficit won’t become positive until 2042. And this all assumes that Foxconn produces the 13,000 jobs it says it will. If it doesn’t, the deal will look even worse for Wisconsin. …
Until now, Wisconsin’s most famous product has been cheese. In the future, state Republicans hope that Wisconsin will be famous for assembling consumer tech products. In reality, their new most famous product is old-fashioned gullibility. They got taken to the cleaners.
I think the Wisconsin GOP is playing to its base so that in 2018 it can proclaim that it’s the party of the high school diploma only whites, not the Democrats. It’s a strategic maneuver.
And it’ll be interesting to see if it works. I think it’ll be a positive for the GOP class of 2018, but after that it may turn into an anchor around their necks.
