I just can’t get excited about the Foxconn deal. For starters, Governor Scott Walker’s insistence that the project be called “Wiscon Valley”–trying to be cute and steal from “Silicon Valley”–is annoying and anyone else in the media using that term should be taken out behind the woodshed. Secondly, I’m just not a big fan of the company. Critics are right, they have a track record of splashy announcements and promises of development–that fall through under questionable circumstances.
The main thing for me is I worry about the quality of the goods they will be manufacturing here. I get the feeling that the flat-screen monitors that will be built in Wisconsin will be the kind that Walmart, Target and Kohl’s sell as “doorbusters” on Black Friday–not the top-of-the-line stuff but so cheap that you feel it’s okay to buy them as a gift because it will make you look like a big spender. Then you see they are some brand you never heard of, like ASUS or Element. Oh well, good enough for the 4-year old to have in her bedroom.
For three billion dollars, we should be able to lure some kick-butt American companies to Wisconsin. It would be awesome if we could be home to a new Jeep Wrangler production facility. How much more American could you get than to have two icons–Jeeps and Harleys–made just a few miles apart? General Electric recently announced it was moving from Connecticut to Boston–maybe we could have made a late pitch to score that relocation. Door County could take the place of vacation homes in the Hamptonss for all of those corporate executives.
For three billion bucks, the state could set up the Oshkosh Corporation with the new world headquarters it wants right here in town without bulldozing over Lakeshore Golf Course. That should be more than enough money to buy out all of the property owners along the lake on the opposite side of Interstate 41 for a shiny new building on the water.
Will the investment in Foxconn really pay off in the long run? Probably. Will more tech companies look to locate facilities in our state? More than likely. But will it be an exciting growth industry that becomes a source of pride for Wisconsin–or just a bunch of big buildings between Milwaukee and Chicago where people work at mundane jobs? I’m thinking it will be the latter.
