Vermont will be giving $2.5 million in incentive funds to GlobalFoundries Inc. This is the Dubai state-owned business that was virtually paid by IBM to take their plant here in Vermont off their hands.
Apparently no guarantees were made by the company in exchange for the $2.5 million incentive fund — or at least none were announced. Secretary of Administration Justin Johnson says the details are being worked out. Vague wishes to be “helpful to GlobalFoundries” and desire for the transfer from IBM go “smoothly” were expressed. And of course Governor Shumlin hopes Global may even retain jobs here in Vermont.
“I think there are some things we can do that would be helpful to GlobalFoundries to make sure we keep all the employees at IBM and expand in Vermont.” […] “This is a good deal for Vermont, it’s the right thing to do for us whenever,” the governor said.
The $2.5 million GlobalFoundries will receive is all that remains in the Vermont Enterprise Fund proposed last June by Governor Shumlin for “unforeseen or extraordinary circumstances.” The fund had originally been almost twice as large but state budget crunching reduced it significantly. There are no plans to replenish the fund after the GlobalFoundries gift empties it. Funny how all those litle incentive “eggs” wound up in the IBM/GlobalFoundries basket.
Secretary Johnson says the gift is all about “looking to the future,” but in all the business-based blather he comes the closest to uttering just the tiniest hint of gossamer strings attached to Vermont’s $2.5 million (ahem) donation to GlobalFoundries. He said, “We’d like them to do their next cool, big thing here and not somewhere else.”
Good plan! Just cross your fingers, hand over our millions and wish hard for the next cool, big thing.
that deafeningly loud sucking sound…NH bound
I don’t like corporate handouts, but this one was a reasonable investment. The tax revenue and economic activity from a working IBM plant and all of the jobs it brings with it makes a couple million look like chump change. Most of us in the legislature last year new the enterprise fund was likely to be used to keep that plant occupied. It’s not pretty, but this was the right move IMHO.
a good investment but pure folly in light of the poor business climate and revenue decline in VT, and the needs of our state as Shummy ruthlessly deserts his base as well as Vermont & the rest of us leaving the wreckage of waste & mismanagement behind him in our path for someone else to clean up & worry about. And investing in VT should be the priority. No-strings-attached??? My my afaic Shummy should be in jail for his thieving & fleecing of VT.
Comment from Digger story, another clueless VTer speaks:
“Do bring the car around to the front in case we need to run some last minute errands for our gala Jeeves, after you’ve gotten some more caviar for our guests & opened the vintage champagne Mr. Shumlin has so graciously, er “discretely” provided.”
That would be fine madame if the investment were his & not public finances.
What we need is more small businesses rather than one huge business.
Instead of one 4,000 job foreign behemoth, we should be trying for 100 locally owned forty job businesses or 200 twenty job businesses. Less impressive at the ribbon cutting, but less likely to shog off to East Asia or some state with more bribe money. Even if one does leave or fail we have lost five or ten percent of those jobs instead of all of them.
There’s also the political factor of not creating an 800 pound gorilla that can push around the state government.
giving 2.5 million to a company like Global Foundries is like giving me a dollar. This company was just given over a billion dollars to take over these operations and the state of Vermont thinks this paltry (relatively) sum will influence them?