Tuesday, November 14, 2017

Foxconn offers gravy train, adds pie-in-the-sky

So you see where we're headed in our post-Foxconn state: the company is Bucky's Aladdin's lamp, Walker's panacea, Wisconsin's bag of Dairyland magic beans.
Jack and the Beanstalk

*  Today's gee-whiz, not-news Foxconn story has state business leaders saying the company might invest in a Wisconsin start-up fund related to company production.

*  Yesterday's entry on the Foxconn wish list: maybe building special traffic lanes just for Foxconn - - maybe on I-94 - -so driverless company vehicles could zip from its Racine County site to Mitchell airport shipping terminals.


What's next from the Foxconn Aladdin lamp? A jet pack in every garage?


I think we're a long way from special lanes for Foxconn vehicles, especially since the state can't finish the Zoo Interchange or fill the potholes. 


And think about how how many business start-ups could be funded with just a fraction of the $3 billion Foxconn will receive from state government over the next 15 years.


Now look: I'm all for thinking big, but let's set aside these hypotheticals and focus on the actual Foxconn news of the day - - full story behind a pay wall, but the headline tells the tale: 

Michael Best & Friedrich quietly adds Foxconn as client 
Collective bargaining. Mining. Redistricting. Recalls. Recounts. John Doe. Ethics charges. Michael Best & Friedrich has become the go-to law firm for all of the big issues facing Republicans.
The GOP gravy train rolls on, and with Walker a declared 2018 candidate for re-election, that's news.

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

The Foxconn contract references the term 'jobs', but does it spell out 'who' the job is performed by (a person or a robot)?

If not, might that give Foxconn some wiggle room later to replace jobs performed by people with jobs performed by robots and still meet the terms of the contract?