Dem pols and academics try their hand at "business," flush $90 million in taxpayer bucks

This next story is about one corrupt and/or incompetent state government--but it applies to all government.  Far too many government entities are either corrupt or incompetent or both.  Check it out:

Democrat politicians whine about businesses.  They contemptuously dismiss the ability of individuals to create and build companies, and the ability of companies to create jobs.  Of course those same pols love to tell you how many jobs they've "created"--conveniently ignoring the fact that the jobs were created by businesses.

So some brilliant academics at the "development arm of SUNY polytechnic" realized that if businessmen could create jobs, how hard could it be?  Surely if dumb ol' businessmen (they were almost certainly thinking Donald Trump) could create jobs, smaht folks with doctorates could do it a lot better, eh?

They also immediately saw that their Democrat political masters--like Democrat NY governor Andrew Cuomo--would see this as a brilliant use of taxpayer funds, so the academics wouldn't have any trouble getting, oh, $90 million in startup money for their first swing at it.

Now, many states use some type of financial incentive to get a company to set up a factory in their state.  This isn't unusual.  But it's usually a "tax abatement" for the first ten years, permitting the company to pay no state corporate tax.  Sometimes a state promises to loan the company part of the money it needs to build, at below-market rates.

So the brilliant academics at SUNY found a company that said it was interested in opening a factory in DeWitt, NY, if the state would just...you know.  The profs negotiated a "deal" much like Obama's "nuclear deal" with Iran, under which the state would pay the costs to build a brand-new $90 million factory for the company, which the company would then lease from the state--for the astonishing sum of one dollar a month.

Okay, that was kinda strange, but the academics were willing to made that deal cuz being super-smaht, they had their eyes on the Big Picture:  all those jobs that would be created!  By the academics and their Dem leaders!

Well, with the trivial help of $90 million in taxpayer bucks.

Another unusual aspect was that normally in a deal like this the company has to pay at least part of the cost, so they have "skin in the game" and an incentive not to just walk away.  But the academics didn't insist on such a provision.  Cuz they had their eyes on...ah, you've heard that.

So when construction was finished, the academics were shocked to find that the company had changed its mind, deciding it didn't want to open a factory in NY after all.

Oooh.  Tough break.  But that happens sometimes.  Guess the state will just have to collect the construction cost under the terms of the contract.  And that'll take years cuz the company will spend a couple of million on lawyers to try to avoid paying for the $90 mill under the terms of the...

Wait, what?  Y'say the contract didn't obligate the company to pay anything if it defaulted??

What kind of dumbshit, no-experience businessperson would negotiate a deal like... Oh.

Of course since this $90 million money-flush was caused by the corruption or incompetence of a dozen government people, no government blivet or pol will be sued or jailed or otherwise held accountable in any way.  It's just $90 million in Somebody Else's Money flushed away.  Oh, and a "connected" construction company that made a few million profit--and no doubt kicked back contributed half-a-mil or so to Cuomo's bagman campaign.

What can we learn here?  There are lots of choices.  One is that high-level business is more complicated than it looks.  And government employees don't have anywhere near the experience or expertise needed.

Another lesson is that government--at every level from city councils up to D.C.--is always either corrupt or incompetent or both.  Yet liberals/Democrats/socialists always want government to run even more than it does now: your health care, for example.  The Internet.  Some states will fine you for catching rain that runs off your own damn roof.

If you're a college student reading this, learn from it.  Democrats are the enemy of good government.   And far too many Republicans are really Democrats in disguise.

Postscript:  After this became public, the president of SUNY Poly, Alain Kaloyeros, was arrested on corruption charges and--amazingly--resigned his position.  The "project" (of what to do with the empty factory) was taken over by Empire State Development, "a state economic development agency."  ESD said a deal with a new tenant will include financial penalties if the company fails to meet its job commitments.

So for the bargain-basement price of just $90 million in taxpayer funds, a bunch of bureaucrats learned a few of the basic principles of contracts.

Nah, just kidding.  They didn't.

Think I'm just being snarky here?  Read on:

ESD has found a new tenant for the factory:  NexGen, "which was formed in California last year to make semiconductors for the electronics industry."  NexGen has never manufactured semiconductors or anything else.  The DeWitt facility will be its first manufacturing operation.

To entice this new company, ESD has agreed to "provide up to $15 million to NexGen for the purchase of tools and equipment."

Notice the word "provide."  Not "loan."  Not "tax credit" or "tax abatement."  Just "provide."  As in, "give."

But at this point, citizen, what difference could it possibly make?  We be creatin' jobs, baby!