---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Tue, 01 Dec 1998 14:31:57 -0700
From: Chris Gibbons <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Corporate Welfare
Time magazine published the third of a series on corporate welfare
last week. This article focused on Seaboard Corp. of Boston who
contrived to get various communities to fork over millions in subsidies
while they continued to play shell games with their hog-processing
plants. They moved from Albert Lea, Minnesota (after gettaing $3
million as well as $5 million from the state of Minnesota and $25
million from the federal government) to Guymon, OK where they received
$21 million from the state and local governments. All in all, this $1
billion company milked nearly $100 million from Minnesota, Oklahoma,
Kentucky, and Kansas.
Not all deals are like this, but it illustrates the point that smart
companies are starting demand incentives everywhere they go -- a sort of
blackmail for jobs. Time recommends five ways to end the "corporate
welfare mess:"
1. Federally tax all incentives at 100%
2. File a lawsuit to declare incentives unconstitutional
3. Create a special commission to study the federal incentives
4. Shut of the flow of low-cost loans from lthe HUD that have helped
fuel the competitoin to snag companies.
5. Sue state and local officials on behalf of former workers.
