Foxconned: Imaginary Jobs, Bulldozed Homes, & the Sacking of Local Government

Foxconned, Imaginary Jobs, Bulldozed Homes and the Sacking of Local Government by Lawrence Tabak (University of Chicago Press) is a superb object lesson in the pitfalls of modern American economic development policy. The book's cental cautionary tale is the multi-billion-dollar deal politically ambitious Wisconsin politicians led by presidential aspirant Governor Scott Walker offered Asian tech giant Foxconn for a massive factory to make large TV screens. With the blessing of Donald Trump, state and local government become the centerpiece as Tabak documents the financial, political and social impact of the deal on the various participants, including the individual citizens who were displaced under threat of eminent domain, school districts, whose budgets can suffer adverse consequences, and all the social programs that go begging for funding. Instead, the reader discovers those who reap the benefits of these deals – mostly already profitable corporations and well-connected contributors to the campaigns of public officials.In addition to fully explaining what went wrong (almost everything) with the Wisconsin/Foxconn deal, Tabak gives a historical perspective on economic development spending and its often misguided justifications, digging deep behind the often benign-sounding promises of jobs and commercial development.Who should read this book? Anyone who is interested in inequalities in American society, where tax money is readily available to land corporate deals like Foxconn or the Amazon headquarters, but is never available to fully fund the programs that could help alleviate the yawning income and wealth gap which threatens our very society.David Relles

This true story of eminent domain abuse, political stunts, corporate welfare, and broken promises is told in a straight-forward, easy to read manner. Learn how former governor of Wisconsin, Scott Walker's bid for a third term and Trumps desire to claim he was bringing jobs back to Wisconsin led to the largest failed development project in US history. Foxconn, in typical fashion, failed to fulfill its promises under the contract to invest $10 Billion and create 13,000 "family supporting job." Meanwhile, as the deal fell apart, the local government continued to spend hundreds of millions of dollars creating infrastructure that was no longer needed. This failure to protect Wisconsin residents will be felt for generations. And this should be a warning to property owners that your local government can force you to sell your property on its terms unless you know your rights and fight back.

I've been following this story for years and this book pulls it all together to show how the taxpayers are flimflammed out of their hard earned money!

I live in Wisconsin and deplore what has been done to give this international behemoth land, utilities, and tax breaks at the public expense for not having developed anything of promised value for the residents and for creating jobs. This will go down as one of the greatest swindles in our state's history if not the nation's. The book is a great source of verified information and reportage and plumbs deep to expose all of the parties involved.

Lawrence Tabak has masterfully woven the story of the largest failed publicly funded economic development project in U.S. history with the stories of the people who were affected and the history of these dubious public/private financial schemes. It is heartbreaking and infuriating.It should be read by every homeowner who thinks their local government can't take away their home to give to a private foreign corporation. Foxconn in Wisconsin may be a punchline, but the lesson Tabak tells, is very relevant.

Tabak has thoroughly researched and persistently followed the intertwining threads of the Foxconn fiasco in Southeastern Wisconsin. In this report he convincingly critiques this episode of the so-called economic development industry. Foxconned makes for essential reading for anyone interested in the particular players and the harmful impacts resulting from their callous misuse of state and local government tools for their personal and political agendas.

A well-told cautionary tale of influence of big corporation in government, and the incentives at play that results in bad outcomes for local communities. A great read for anybody who wants to think about how to work locally to improve some of the bigger issues bubbling up in our society

The book jacket arrived torn. important? Yes!!! I expect to receive my ordered products intact!