Despite the asertion that Milwaukee is a terrible place to do business (at least according to conservatives), Ingeteam, a Spanish manufacturer of wind-turbine generators, will locate its new factory in the Menomonee Valley. Julia Taylor, President of the Greater Milwaukee Committee, indicated the plant will create about 270 jobs, and Milwaukee Mayor Tom Barrett said the plant will be located near the western end of the valley, with the exact location of the site to be announced Tuesday. Barrett also noted Ingeteam chose the Menomonee River Valley because of its proximity to workers, I-94 and Spanish-speaking neighborhoods, as well as Milwaukee’s “great reputation for manufacturing.” Ingeteam had also been awarded $1.66 million in clean-tech manufacturing tax credits to make wind turbine generators as well as power converter and control systems in Milwaukee. The Milwaukee facility will be Ingeteam’s first manufacturing facility in North America.
There’s absolutely no doubt this is a boon for Milwaukee, and I’ve always maintained that with Milwaukee’s manufacturing roots, the city could be poised to take advantage of those manufacturing roots as companies creating so-called “green jobs” like Ingeteam look to expand or relocate.
Also: Stimulus dollars don’t work!
Any other right wing memes we can disprove?
I’ve always thought that by very publicly suggesting that Milwaukee, or Wisconsin, is inhospitable to business, they are actually driving away potential business. My guess though, or wish perhaps, is that other cities and states suffer the company of their own so-inclined fools.
I think this is certainly a valid criticism. Of course sticking your head in the sand isn’t exactly a good way to get problem addressed either.
I have my own small business and doing business in this state is not easy. I don’t know how it compares to others, but there are a ton of headaches. My wife works in the investment industry. She works directly with national regulatory agencies (primarily FINRA (formerly NASD) as well as the regulatory agencies from all 50 states. She doesn’t care about politics at all, but the name Doyle is a swear-word in our household because of how bad Wisconsin has become in recent years. Obviously it’s not fair to put all the blame on him, he’s just the easiest target. But in her experience, Wisconsin is the worst, most difficult state to do business in. Fees on top of fees, filing requirements that serve no purpose (besides creating revenue that is), etc.
There are problems and they’re only getting worse, so if the cost of raising the issue scares companies away in the short term so that it comes to a boil and eventually gets addressed, I can life with it.
I read this recently also, however there are a couple of glaring concerns about this “270 jobs” number.
1.) how many jobs will be taken by people that already work for the firm that will relocate to milwaukee?
2.) how long will it take to create these new jobs?
These jobs aren’t going to appear overnight. This is a good start but far from addressing the big-picture issue.