There is a stark contrast between your front page picture of a shuttered GM factory in Ypsilanti  MI and the advertisement for Thailand in the Magazine (pages 6 -,7) showing an automated automobile factory. There is however one similarity: a lack of workers. The shuttered factory has none, the automated factory has just a few.

It therefore seems that the threat of "moving jobs overseas" is a massive bluff. In new plants there will not be a lot of jobs.

Giving tax breaks to big business to encourage them to locate in a given area is a beggar-thy-neighbor proposition. Often, as you note, the jobs soon vanish (The Empty Promise of Tax Incentives, New York Times, December 2nd. 2012: A1, A30-31).

Recently, a number of states have adopted an inter-state compact to bypass the Electoral College so that the President is elected by all the people. We urgently need an inter-state, inter-city, inter-town compact that will disallow these ridiculous handouts to the wealthy top managers of corporations seeking tax breaks.

Where do you think that $4m or $10m or $20m tax rebate will go: right into the pockets of the CEO and top management through their profit related bonuses. Talk about "takers."

It is past time to say "No" to the what former Canadian New Democratic Party leader, David Lewis,  called  "corporate welfare bums."


Sent to New York Times