Find Your Valentine
Slog
News & ArtsThursday, October 29, 2009
Economy At the End of the Day...
Posted by Charles Mudede on Thu, Oct 29, 2009 at 12:30 PM
It really comes down to neoliberalism for the poor and socialism for the rich:
...Otis Rawl, chief executive of the South Carolina Chamber of Commerce, said in an interview Tuesday. "That came from the entity that's looking at the state. It's the number they anticipate creating."All of this is just sickening.Rawl said the incentives "go beyond what's normally offered."
"We hope that we create an environment where they want to be here for more than what we've talked about," Rawl said.
"We're doing everything we can to be in the game," he said. "We're putting $170 million on the table."
That's just the upfront money for infrastructure, buildings, equipment and training.
Other significant tax breaks mean Boeing won't have to pay sales tax on computer equipment, on building construction materials or on the aviation fuel it uses in test flights and aircraft delivery flights.
Under another provision, it will have virtually no corporate income-tax liability in the state for five years.
1
And the thousands from South Carolina's working class who will get new jobs on the 787 line? Sounds like a pretty good deal for them.
2
But JOBS, Charles! JOBS!
If there's one thing I've learned from watching politics throughout my adult life, it's that you can excuse, justify, and indeed glorify pretty much anything as long as you make sure to point out that it creates jobs, especially if it does it in a way that doesn't cost public money. Everyone seems to get a warm fuzzy feeling when their neighbors have something to do and they therefore don't have to care any more.
I'm pretty sure you could set up a massive facility explicitly for breeding gladiatorial slaves to be sold off to third-world dictators and as long as you used Americans for the breeding stock, you'd be lauded by whatever county you set up shop in for creating jobs and stimulating the local economy.
JOBS!
If there's one thing I've learned from watching politics throughout my adult life, it's that you can excuse, justify, and indeed glorify pretty much anything as long as you make sure to point out that it creates jobs, especially if it does it in a way that doesn't cost public money. Everyone seems to get a warm fuzzy feeling when their neighbors have something to do and they therefore don't have to care any more.
I'm pretty sure you could set up a massive facility explicitly for breeding gladiatorial slaves to be sold off to third-world dictators and as long as you used Americans for the breeding stock, you'd be lauded by whatever county you set up shop in for creating jobs and stimulating the local economy.
JOBS!
3
Good deal?? Boeing moved to SC cause the South has notoriously lax labor standards. Good deal in the short-term maybe, but this kind of corporate greed is good for nobody.
4
More sickening is the ratio of goverment money spent to support air travel (airport construction, air traffic control, FAA, etc.) versus the proportion spent on transit that is not elitist and environmentally obnoxious.
6
All they would've needed to make the 787 here is similar concessions from the state, an end to unions and the opportunity to stop paying their employees medical coverage and retirement.
7
chucky, did you see that not only is the new assembly line being built in SC but in a few years the Washington line will be shut down altogether.
8
I'm really eager to see some new stories where deals like this from 10-15 years ago are examined, and the question of who benefited more, the company or community would be asked. It seems to be accepted as proven fact that tax cuts for big businesses translate into jobs, but I think the outcome is usually a lot more complex than that.
9
uhhhhhhh exempting them from taxes for 5 years in exchange for a large tax take for a long time afterwards seems like a good deal
10
@8,
Exactly, let's see some economic models for once. And let's examine how many people the state could have employed directly for the same amount of money. Is using Boeing as a middleman even worth it?
Exactly, let's see some economic models for once. And let's examine how many people the state could have employed directly for the same amount of money. Is using Boeing as a middleman even worth it?
12
"proportion spent on transit that is not elitist and environmentally obnoxious."
Flying is elitist? As someone who has flown since the 1960s, let me tell you, they let all kinds of low class trash on planes these days. IN fact, on any given flight, 90% of the people would be your scummy working class heroes.
Flying is elitist? As someone who has flown since the 1960s, let me tell you, they let all kinds of low class trash on planes these days. IN fact, on any given flight, 90% of the people would be your scummy working class heroes.
14
Wow, so a bunch of highschool grads have finally figured out that $80K a year starting salary might screw them in the long run?
15
@5
Gilded Age. A "Guilded" Age would be one typified by unionized or cooperative industry. A Gilded Age is one where wealth is typified from unnecessary adornment. The phrase comes from from Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's novel of the same name, and they took the gild from Shakespeare's King John: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and ridiculous excess."
Gilded Age. A "Guilded" Age would be one typified by unionized or cooperative industry. A Gilded Age is one where wealth is typified from unnecessary adornment. The phrase comes from from Mark Twain and Charles Dudley Warner's novel of the same name, and they took the gild from Shakespeare's King John: "To gild refined gold, to paint the lily... is wasteful and ridiculous excess."
16
As many states have seen, many times the company bails when the tax breaks go away. The state ends up losing money on infrastructure. It is a race to the bottom.
We have a huge Work, Live Play complex being built in Atlanta. They got a 10 year tax abatement. They are now asking for a 20 year 100 tax abatement. They say they can't make money without it. But how cab other apartments and shopping centers compete with the rent rates, when the others have to pay taxes. It is not a level playing field.
We have a huge Work, Live Play complex being built in Atlanta. They got a 10 year tax abatement. They are now asking for a 20 year 100 tax abatement. They say they can't make money without it. But how cab other apartments and shopping centers compete with the rent rates, when the others have to pay taxes. It is not a level playing field.
17
In Seattle, $170 million buys a few hundred feet of tunnel.
Sounds like South Carolina's making a good investment when it's put on those terms.
(I am confused, though: are tunnels neoliberal or socialist? I must know!)
Sounds like South Carolina's making a good investment when it's put on those terms.
(I am confused, though: are tunnels neoliberal or socialist? I must know!)
18
I'm confused. So they're getting a 5-year break on SC corporate income tax. Great, but Washington already has NO corporate income tax. It has a B&O tax, but it looks like SC has B&O tax as well as corporate income tax.
Any CPAs out there?
Any CPAs out there?
19
How much does Boeing get in tax exemptions and tax deductions in WA?
And Microsoft?
And Amazon?
Face it, the rich don't pay taxes (much) - only you poor people do.
And Microsoft?
And Amazon?
Face it, the rich don't pay taxes (much) - only you poor people do.
20
Poor people don't pay taxes either. It's the soft middle that gets taxed to hell, starting with the lower middle class and extending all the way to high wage earners. The high wage earners probably pay the most - they lose things like Roth IRA's, they wind up in a high tax bracket, they don't get captial gains tax rates like the super-rich - but the high wage earners can afford it. It's people in the lower middle - ironically, like the lower middle class workers Boeing's going to foster in SC - who get it the worst. No tax breaks or public services like the super-poor, no surplus income like the high wage earners.
On the plus side, it's probably cyclical. Social justice improved - access to education and public welfare - from the Drepression through LBJ (30-40 years). It declined from Reagan through now, our New Depression. 10 years from now, maybe we'll go back to thinking a basic standard of living is something a society is supposed to provide to all of its citizens.
On the plus side, it's probably cyclical. Social justice improved - access to education and public welfare - from the Drepression through LBJ (30-40 years). It declined from Reagan through now, our New Depression. 10 years from now, maybe we'll go back to thinking a basic standard of living is something a society is supposed to provide to all of its citizens.
Advertisement
Most Commented on Slog
-
SL Letter of the Day: Pill The Homos! by Dan Savage
-
Dear Huffington Post... by Dan Savage
-
Slog Bible Study: Deuteronomy 21:10-14 by Goldy
-
The AP Is Reporting That Whitney Houston Is Dead by Paul Constant
-
Because Guns Make Us Safer by Goldy
-
Because Guns Make Us More Safer by Goldy
-
The Rick Santorum Rally in Tacoma Probably Could Have Gone Better by Paul Constant
-
SL Letter of the Day: Daddy Loves Who? by Dan Savage
-
Gay Kids Are Still Killing Themselves by Dan Savage
-
Gregoire: "This is signed!" by Eli Sanders
RSS
Facebook
Twitter
Comments (20) RSS