Corporate welfare through the lens of Foxconn

Foxconn's proposed manufacturing complex outside Milwaukee has been an on-again, off-again, on-again proposition. The company now promises to build its first plant this summer and expects to be rolling LCD screens off the factory line by 2020. If it follows through on its investments and job promises, Foxconn stands to receive more than $4 billion from state and local governments — one of the largest so-called corporate welfare packages ever.

Does that cost justify itself for the Wisconsin taxpayer? A recent poll shows residents almost equally split: Forty-one percent of registered voters think the Foxconn plant will provide at least as much value as the state is investing, while 40 percent think the state is giving away more than the deal is worth.

On Monday, MPR News host Kerri Miller talked about the subsidies and tax breaks state and local governments grant to large corporations — so called megadeals. Do they make financial sense? Or are they simply the cost of doing business in today's competitive environment?

Guest: Timothy Bartik, senior economist for the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research in Kalamazoo, Mich.

To listen to the full conversation you can use the audio player above.