Friday, December 19, 2008

Foreign-owned: Yes. American-owned: No.

Greg LeRoy, Good Jobs First’s executive director, proclaims, “And while proposed federal aid to the Big 3 would take the form of a loan, the vast majority of subsidies to foreign auto plants were taxpayer gifts such as property and sales tax exemptions, income tax credits, infrastructure aid, land discounts, and training grants.”

These state and local subsidies for foreign-owned auto assembly plants total approximately $3.6 billion.

Just more of the beggar-thy-neighbor, zero-sum development policy we're pursuing in the U.S.

This whole - make the automakers sweat - episode is really just cutting off our own nose to spite our face.

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