Alabama's $158 Million for Honda..(from 1999 article)

[SoCalDem]

http://www.siteselection.com/ssinsider/incentive/ti9906.htm

Alabama's $158 Million for Honda: Initial Embrace
Marks Dramatic Shift from 1993's Mercedes Tiff

What a huge difference seven years make: That's the dominant theme thus far in the aftermath of the $158 million incentive package that Alabama put together to land Honda's $400 million, 1,500-employee plant. Honda (www.honda.com), with a substantial assist from Alabama's incentives, will build a massive, 1.7-million-sq.-ft. auto production facility on a 1,350-acre tract in Lincoln, a city some 35 miles east of Birmingham. The upbeat mood that's greeted the announcement stands in stark contrast to the brouhaha of 1993, when the state provided $253 million in incentives and tax breaks to land the DaimlerChrysler investment in Vance, Ala., some 30 miles west of Birmingham. Though it ultimately yielded the first U.S. Mercedes-Benz plant, which now employs 1,700, that deal landed in hot water only months after it was forged.


'Look at Mercedes'

While scattered rumblings over the Honda deal have surfaced, the initial reaction among the huge majority of Alabamans seems overwhelmingly positive. Most seem to agree that the new Honda plant will provide an infusion of robust economic health - the same kind that ultimately came from DaimlerChrysler's Alabama plant in Vance. "Look at what Mercedes has done in Alabama, with Alabama workers. This plant will be even larger than Mercedes, and will end up costing the state less," County Commissioner Paul Manning said at a recent meeting of the St. Clair County Commission that was held shortly after Honda's Alabama announcement. St. Clair County adjoins Talladega County, where the Honda facility will rise in Lincoln, a small town with a population of some 3,600.


snip...

Good for All of Alabama?

To land Honda, Alabama committed to a total of $102.7 million in incentives to buy the land and prepare the site for construction, plus training the plant's employees. In addition, Honda will receive $55.6 million in tax breaks, according to Gov. Don Siegelman's office.

snip...

Samuel Addy, interim director of the University of Alabama's Center for Business and Economic Research, has calculated 20 years will pass before Alabama possibly breaks even if some large Honda suppliers follow the company to the region (which, given the just-in-time nature of auto manufacturing, seems likely). But despite the lengthy payoff, Addy calls the state's second auto plant "a great boon" for Alabama, which may establish it as an rising center for heavy industry locations.

In addition, the Alabama House of Representatives unanimously approved the incentive package for Honda shortly after it was announced by Gov. Siegelman.


1999's Big Differences

Things were quite different in 1993, when the state provided $253 million in incentives and tax breaks to land the DaimlerChrysler investment in Vance. Soon after, state school officials refused to hand over education funds to bankroll the Mercedes incentives. As a result, Alabama was tardy with a $43 million incentive payout due Mercedes in the agreement forged by then-Gov. Jim Folsom. That forced the state to raid Alabama's pension fund to make good on the incentives, with Alabama taking out a loan, with a 9 percent interest rate, to recoup the pension funds.

snip,...

[unkachuck]

1. now I understand....

....why scumball shellbee doesn't like bail-outs, he likes, bail-ins....

[SoCalDem]

2. 411 million in cash-outlay alone for 3200 jobs = $128,437.50 per job

:(

[merh]

3. And threads like this that are information and necessary to fight

the bullshit drop like stones.

Come on people, arm yourselves with the truth.

[SoCalDem]

4. It makes me CRAZY, to know that WE can find information

and find it relatively easily, and yet the media can only parrot "$73 an hour...bwaaaaawk.." over and over..and readily interrupt anyone who has information to debunk that lie..

[merh]

6. a friend of mine was using the "$70 an hour" crap yesterday

he and I used to work for the Sheriff's department and were responsible for preparing annual budgets for our departments. When he started that nonsense I reminded him what it was like to do the budgets, how the numbers included all that "extra" stuff and how the workers never see the $70 an hour.

The press has grown lazy - they like to have the info feed to them - they hate to have to think for themselves.

[tyedyeto]

5. Kick n/t

[GrizzlyMan]

7. Shit. That's nothing.

My city just gave an NBA team $121 million to move here. The first $100 million will be used for improvements to the five-year-old arena at the expense of the tax payer in order to help the billionaire owners make more money. The city will also foot the bill for a $21 million practice facility.

The state kicked in another $28 million in incentives.

While it is less money than Alabama forked over, it's a far more spectacular waste of money.