No matter how hard they try, politicians aren’t creating jobs

Politicians like to talk about creating jobs. They unveil proposals they say will “get people back to work” and “getting our economy running again.” But despite their boasts, rarely do politicians, or governments, create jobs. The Foxconn debacle shows us that. Wisconsin was willing to throw billions of our tax dollars to help the Taiwanese company create what they said would be the 8^th wonder of the world. 13,000 jobs and $10 billion in investment by Foxconn. It was going to transform southeast Wisconsin into some sort of silicon valley. Instead, we now know, that isn’t happening. A new deal between Foxconn and the state lowers the jobs promise from 13,000 to fewer than 1500. They won’t be making LCD screens in a Gen 10 plant, or even a Gen 6 plant. They won’t be using the land for fish farms, or storing boats as was considered. Ditto for coffee kiosks or electric cars. What will Foxconn eventually make? We still don’t know. In a statement, the company says it will use the factory for “economic investment activities related to locating and operating a technology and manufacturing ecosystem.” Sounds like they don’t know for sure what will be built in Mt. Pleasant, if anything, ever. It seems even the largest subsidy package ever awarded to a foreign company wasn’t enough to guarantee that our politicians can create jobs. That should show that job creation is much more a result of economics rather than political will.