Get out your pocketbooks, Oklahoma taxpayers! We have some new corporate welfare to fund!
Yesterday afternoon, Oklahoma Governor Kevin Stitt announced at a press conference that he needs a billion dollars in subsidies to pay tribute to an unnamed company – a.k.a. Panasonic – so they can build a super huge electric vehicle battery factory in Pryor, Oklahoma.
The governor claims the factory will have a "generational impact" on Oklahoma and will lead to 70,000 new jobs, which is great news for all the Oklahoma business owners I talk to who are already struggling to find quality and qualified employment.
Here are more details straight from the Stitter's mouth:
Oklahoma is at the one-yard-line of securing a multi-billion dollar investment that will make a generational impact for our state.
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) April 18, 2022
Lets work together to push this thing across the goal line and get it done! pic.twitter.com/DNJrCeJizc
Yep, we're on the one-yard line ready to secure a multi-billion dollar investment in the state and it will only cost us five points to score the touchdown! That may sound like a shitty deal, but it's the rigged capitalistic game states have to play to compete in an economy that's controlled by massive benevolent corporations:
Kansas has reportedly offered Panasonic, a major electric vehicle battery manufacturer, a $1.2 billion package. Stitt said the Oklahoma offer will be competitive.
“This is the largest factory investment in (Oklahoma’s) history and one of the largest in the country, so that’s what makes the numbers bigger, but the percentage wise, it’s not that much different than any other company that might be moving here with 100 jobs,” Stitt said.
Although Stitt and Co. are portraying the deal as the best thing to happen to Oklahoma since fried bread, it doesn't come without some risks.
First of all, there's no guarantee electric vehicles are going to take off like all the experts predict. Second, we're already dealing with supply shortages to make actual batteries. Third, the new factory will be one of the first places to fall should there ever be a rabies outbreak at Rocklahoma.
In addition to all that, there's the tiny issue of giving $1-billion to a crooked Governor whose administration is ripe with grifters, conmen, and leaches. That's not lost on some lawmakers:
This Monday I’m weighing supporting an economic development package giving nearly $1B in public resources to a governor that couldn’t negotiate a good BBQ deal…
— Rep. Monroe Nichols (@Monichols) April 18, 2022
What y’all doing?
Actually, Stitt negotiated a great BBQ deal for his pal Brent Swadley!
If this measure passes, it actually will be interesting to see how Stitt rigs it to enrich his friends, buddies, and other Oklahoma members of YPO. I'm sure they already have their contracting LLCs, consulting firms, and other shell companies lined up and ready to sweep up the million-dollar bread crumbs this deal will drop.
Stay with The Lost Ogle. We'll keep you advised.
