The price tag for the Foxconn deal, for a proposed high-tech factory in southeast Wisconsin, keeps going up. The latest estimate from the nonpartisan Legislative Fiscal Bureau is 4.5 billion dollars, rather than the 3 billion Governor Scott Walker said the deal with the Taiwanese manufacturing company would cost. Assembly Minority Leader Gordon Hintz, an Oshkosh Democrat, says spending that kind of money is a bad idea.
Walker and Republican leaders have repeatedly said the Foxconn deal is a great investment for the people of Wisconsin. They say it makes sense because it will create a new cluster of technology companies, create thousands of jobs and have a huge positive impact on the state’s economy.
Democrats say the promised 13-thousand jobs come at a price far too high: 200-thousand dollars in state taxpayer money per job. They say this is way out of line with other deals the state has done to create jobs. Hintz says the Walker administration has a bad track record on job creation.
Democrats are also opposed to the Foxconn deal for environmental reasons. Last week Foxconn said it wants to draw 7 million gallons of water per day from Lake Michigan to manufacture liquid crystal display panels.
