Friday, December 6, 2013

On Bringing Boeing To Greensboro

Greg LeRoy, author of The Great American Job Scam, “the leading national watchdog of state and local economic development subsidies” and publisher of GoodJobsFirst.org writes the following about Boeing's efforts to solicit incentives from Greensboro and other cities across the nation:

"The Economic War Among the States, which Boeing is openly stoking and which we have documented is on steroids with a surge in “megadeals” since 2008, is absolutely driving inequality in the United States. Those elite companies with the greatest ability to move capital and jobs—or threaten to move—are taking it to the bank: dodging taxes, enriching shareholders, and using taxpayer-financed subsidy bids as a crowbar to drive down wages and benefits.

What would the Pope and the President say?"

I can't speak for the Pope or the President but I'm calling the Boeing deal a scam. Oh, and you'll find Mayor Vaughn's efforts have already put us on Mr LeRoy's list of the Largest Economic Development Subsidy Packages Ever Awarded by State and Local Governments in the United States, the Federal Express deal that promised 1500 new jobs and delivered zero new jobs. Will she again put us on the list of failures with Boeing?