Folks, I’ve been relatively nice to the manufacturers lately. In certain cases, pity and understanding has gushed from the depths of my heart. Things are tough out there, and hard decisions have to be made.
Today, something crossed my desk that made me abdicate my vow of silence:
Goodyear wants the state of Kansas to finance $38 Million worth of upgrades to their Topeka plant. This is out of a total of $250 Million in expenditures to modernize the plant. These funds would make up roughly 15 % of the total costs, by my calculations.
(Update: The state of Kansas puts its total costs at $116 Million, by the time it takes out the loan, and makes interest payments on those monies. via the Seattle Post Intelligencer.)
The reasoning behind all this: Goodyear claims that not supplying the money will result in dropping 700 jobs from the plant. Any time a corporation wants a handout, they raise the prospect of lost jobs to the sitting governor. Why? Because no governor wants his legacy tainted with job loss. Goodyear and Bridgestone-Firestone pulled the same extortionary tactics with the state of North Carolina in 2007-2008. They received 30M in grant money each, over the course of 10 years to keep them in the state. A special legislative session had to be called to approve this, because Gov. Mike Easley, in a moment of acute onset sanity, had vetoed the earlier approval of these monies.
North Carolina’s state motto is “Esse Quam Videri”. This translates as “to be, rather than to seem”. So, if it “seems” like legislators sold taxpayers down the river, does that mean they actually did? That would “be”, rather than merely “seem” correct.
What was the original number that Goodyear was aiming for, when they courted the fine representatives of NC? Why, $40 Million of course. Evidently, someone up at Goodyear HQ thinks this a nice, round number. They have refined their proposal for Kansas: Instead of a grant, they want the money issued as bonds, to be repayed out of the payroll taxes from the checks of employees.
Goodyear has figured out how to make a grant sound like a loan. It’s like me asking you to loan me 5 bucks, and then telling you to take 5 bucks out of the same wallet to pay back my loan. Goodyear is not paying back the bonds…it’s paying back Kansas taxpayers with money the government would take out of the checks of employees to begin with.
I bet if they end up firing those workers, they will lobby for a renegotiation of terms, or for forgiveness of their “loan” in its entirety…and the taxpayers in Kansas will take the hit.
Many of us are disgusted with the petitions that have been made before the Federal Government, without anyone standing for us. What we tend to ignore is that corporate welfare has been going on at the state level for many years. If Goodyear really wants a loan, then let it be one that pays back the citizens of Kansas for their investment, rather than attempting to fool them with a dishonest, “money for nothing” scheme.
Oh, the really sneaky part: They’re asking that this proposal be added as a rider, in a bill that promotes solar and wind energy. What legislator wants to be caught voting against “Mother Earth”? This is a slimy legislative tactic, and I hope Goodyear gets called out on it.
If nothing else, I’ve had my say. You can read the AP report by clicking here.
We’ll keep you up to date on things as they happen. Until then, I’ll be….
Signing off…
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