FoxConn, Jakarta, and Refugees
run75441 | May 2, 2019 1:00 am
FoxConn, Valerie Bauerlein. Microsoft News
"Six miles west of Lake Michigan in Mount Pleasant, Wisconsin lies a cleared building site half again as big as Central Park and ready for Foxconn Technology Group's $10 billion liquid-crystal-display factory. Contractors have bulldozed about 75 homes in Mount Pleasant and cleared hundreds of farmland acres. Crews are widening Interstate 94 from Milwaukee to the Illinois state line to accommodate driverless trucks and thousands of employees. Village and county taxpayers have borrowed around $350 million so far to buy land and make infrastructure improvements, from burying sewer pipes to laying storm drains."
The only thing missing to make this site a reality is "Foxconn." In what could still turn out to be one of the biggest fraud ever, Foxconn has backed away from the table and then came back.
"President Trump and Foxconn Chairman Terry Gou hatched the factory plan in 2017. Both participated in last summer's gold-shovel groundbreaking in Mount Pleasant located just 20 miles south of Milwaukee."
As of December 2018, the Taiwanese based supplier to Apple has spent 1% of its promised investment in the new US manufacturing facility . . . $99 million. Along with the disappearing promised investment could go the 2080 jobs planned for 2019. The same as any Township Planning Commission might do, Mt. Pleasant is waiting for the factory building plans to be supplied by the hard to find Foxconn contractors. Meanwhile the Mt Pleasant and Racine County are far out on a financial limb in supplying the necessary land needed and other requirements to make the site viable.
"In January, Foxconn said it was backing out of the plan to build an LCD factory in the village, citing high U.S. labor and material costs. Days later, after a phone call between Mr. Trump and Mr. Gou, Foxconn reversed course and said it would go ahead with the facility making small screens, adding some other functions."
The local population of 27,000 remain skeptical it will ever be completed.
The first of Many to Come? As Indonesia plans to move its Capital, Yessenia Funes, Microsoft News
On several occasions, I have been to Jakarta to conduct meetings at a plant just outside of the city. The area is beautiful and tropical near the plant. We did not stay but two days at a time as Jakarta is not a friendly place for Americans in general. Monetarily, the exchange rate is relatively high with regards to Rupiahs to the dollar. We elected to use credit cards as we would never be able to get rid of the local money.
Indonesia has decided to move its capital from Jakarta as the city is slowly sinking and will be overwhelmed by the ocean by 2050. Jakarta has dropped 13 feet in the last 30 years and the ocean is expected to rise 20 inches by 2050. The city is home to 10 million people, is congested as many of the cities in Asia are today, and suffers from pollution and global climate change. The drawing of fresh water for human use has caused the land to drop and compact over the years also.
The expected cost of moving the capital from Jakarta will be $33 billion. Jakarta will remain as a city while the capital moves inland.
The US has a history of turning people away whose lives are endangered in their home lands.
A State Department telegram to the people on MS St. Louis: "passengers must "await their turns on the waiting list and qualify for and obtain immigration visas before they may be admissible into the United States." The message to people fleeing for their lives from terrorism and the threat of death has not changed much over the years. During WWII, the Nazis exploited the unwillingness of other nations to admit large numbers of Jewish refugees to justify their anti-Jewish goals and policies both domestically in Germany and in the world at large. The MS St. Louis returned to Europe and landed in Antwerp. The Jews aboard ship were split amongst 4 countries. Many succeeded in getting US Visas or were able to hide from the Germans. 254 did die in concentration camps.
The man depicted in the picture is Otto Richter who was deported from the US after illegal entry. Protesting a return to Germany, it was reported he either went to Belgium or Mexico. He was fleeing persecution by the Nazi.
11 months earlier the Trump administration separated Byron Xol from his father David after they arrived from Guatemala. It was done under the zero tolerance program. David Xol was deported back to Guatemala despite requesting asylum. Byron was left in the United States and in custody due to not having any relatives or known sponsors. A lengthy court fight ensued with the Sewell family hiring an attorney to represent their interests in Bryon. The Sewells talked with David (father) and both he and his wife agreed to allow the Sewells sponsor Bryan in the US.
As it was Byron's father David was an evangelical Christian. He had requested asylum for both he and Bryon. According to a court document, David Xol was attacked and tortured and Byron's life was threatened by MS-13 gang members in 2017 because Xol preached to his co-workers about his religious beliefs and against leading a life of crime.
Some things just never change when it comes to refugees and freedom.
I don't know if you can actually add up all the damage scott walker and the gop has done to wisconsin.
JackD
Trump and Foxconn understand each other: neither intends to keep promises.
Jack:
True for Chinese whether in Taiwan or the mainland.
Amateur Socialist
At the risk of being *that guy* I'd suggest that your historical lesson on the US reluctance regarding compassion for refugees missed something essential and germane to the 2020 election.
The German Jews you mention were victims only of Nazi persecution. The Guatemalans are unfortunately quite likely to have been victims of US policy/hegemony in Central and South America now going on decades.
Trump and the GOP quite obviously intend to make the central/south american refugee crisis an issue in the campaign. Any democrat who tries to argue for compassion and the rule of law (including the right of refugees to seek asylum per US treaty obligations) WITHOUT acknowledging the US role in creating this crisis is going to sound like a whiny moron and quite likely create scores of attack ads.
Yes I realize it will be difficult to educate the public regarding this shameful history. No I'm not holding my breath.
I am always happy to have you and others post to my comments. Going back and before the Romans, Jews were always discriminated against in one way or another. In the US before now, it still occurred. It was not only the Nazis.