Call it the Granholm (former Michigan governor) Legacy: under the guise of saving the environment, and magically creating jobs, Michigan’s state bureaucrats have managed to squander another big chunk of potential tax income.
As the Mackinaw Center reports, another alternative energy company – touted as a “success story” by the governor in her 2010 State-of-the State address – bites the dust: Mich. ‘Green Jobs’ Subsidy Winner Evicted from Saginaw Headquarters.
Seems that GlobalWatt, a solar module manufacturer, was the recipient of $42 million in state and local government financial favors (tax breaks, subsidies), primarily because they misrepresented a counter-offer from Corpus Christi, Texas to relocate from California. And now the company is facing eviction, in a matter of days, from their mostly empty Saginaw facility.
So much for the 500 jobs we were told to expect… Thanks Jenny!
MEGA (Michigan Economic Growth Authority), part of the Michigan Economic Development Corporation, was created in 1995 to facilitate job creation and retention in Michigan by offering business tax credits to select firms willing to expand in or relocate to the Great Lakes State. They also typically arrange for businesses offered MEGA tax credits to receive other tax breaks and subsidies. Unfortunately for the citizens of Michigan, the board’s screening process is not very thorough. As this Mackinaw Center video illustrates, it’s clear that MEGA has approved some highly questionable tax credit applicants:
GlobalWatt’s the Deal? from Mackinac Center on Vimeo.
Big intrusive government does a miserable job of picking winners and losers in the prosperity game. They need to get the heck out of the way with their over-regulating, nanny-state mentality – and let the free market system work!
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Question: What’s the one thing Democrats are actually good at?
Answer: Inventing ever more creative ways to mishandle your money, and run what’s left through a shredder.
Related:
More Lost “Green”
