It’s a ‘con’ all right

Imagine a billion. The leadership in Madison is about to commit $3 billion — our tax dollars — to persuade Foxconn to build a factory in House Speaker Paul Ryan’s district.

A three thousand million dollar payoff to this foreign corporation in the hopes of them creating 3,000 to 13,000 jobs on Ryan’s turf.

Republicans in Madison are eight weeks past the deadline for passing a state budget, and they can’t find the money to fix the roads.

They threw out laws that protect rivers, lakes and wetlands and topped it off with eliminating the environmental impact statement for a factory the size of three Pentagons. They pushed it through the Assembly in less than a week. Impressive for folks who can’t pass a budget.

So now the state Senate is poised to do the same thing. The nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau estimates the state won’t break even on this deal until 2043. No one has estimated how long the Foxconn factory would operate.

Ryan’s district is close to Illinois. It would violate federal interstate commerce laws to require that the jobs only go to Wisconsin residents.

This welfare package will pay out three thousand million dollars for some vague commitments from a foreign corporation that is known for pollution and slavish labor practices.

And the governor and other “leaders” will use this to promote their reelections. And I note that several GOP members are suggesting that we scrap environmental protections alltogether!

Christopher LaForge Port Wing