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Chinese-owned Volvo pledged to bring 4,000 jobs to South Carolina when “Republican” lawmakers gifted the company hundreds of millions of dollars in government incentives a decade ago – including $40 million for a state-of-the-art interchange on Interstate 26 near Ridgeville, S.C.
In a state with glaring infrastructure needs, was that really a priority?
All told, at least $330 million in subsidies (that we know of) have been earmarked for Volvo’s Berkeley County facility – including state grants for the development of its Lowcountry manufacturing facility as well as tens of millions in “economic development bond proceeds.” Most of this money was blown between 2015-2017 – including $110 million taken from Berkeley County taxpayers. Volvo also continues to receive millions of dollars in undisclosed, recurring subsidies from state taxpayers for “job development” tax credits.
Has Volvo created the jobs it promised? No.
And were Palmetto State politicians honest about the true burden of this project on taxpayers? Hell no.
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“Folks argue we shouldn’t be trying to lure these companies with incentives, but the bottom line is: if we don’t, then those manufacturers will not locate here,” fiscally liberal state senator Larry Grooms told The (Columbia, S.C.) State at the time.
Grooms – who was recently rated as the most fiscally liberal “Republican” in the S.C. Senate – might want to consider rethinking his logic as the “juice” from so many of these deals continues to not be worth the proverbial “squeeze.”
Don’t believe us? Regular members of our audience will recall the botched Carolina Panthers deal… but all you have to do to assess the adverse impact of current economic development policies is to look at the Palmetto State’s latest employment situation report.
As for Volvo, the company is contributing to that decline by continuing to move in the wrong direction on the jobs front. According to its corporate offices, it is currently in the process of slashing 5% of its Palmetto State workforce – or 125 out of the 2,500 jobs it has created thus far – due to “challenging macro conditions.”
Really? What does the company have to say about the “challenging macro conditions” of the individual taxpayers and small businesses forced to come out of pocket when their political leaders effectively bribed this company to locate in Berkeley County?
Our pages have been littered of late with stories of corporate welfare failures… yet sadly, “Republican” lawmakers continue to up the ante when it comes to these crony capitalist deals. Their latest gamble? A $1.3 billion bet on Scout Motors – a subsidiary of über-woke Volkswagen.
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OUR TAKE…
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FITSNews has made no secret of our contempt for government-subsidized economic development (a.k.a. crony capitalism).
“We reject crony capitalist handouts on principle,” we wrote back in 2015 at the time the Volvo deal was made. “They are patently unfair, and South Carolina’s escalating use of them to reward favored corporations at the expense of small businesses and taxpayers is killing our state’s consumer economy.”
Companies like Volvo should be welcomed with open arms… but they shouldn’t be bribed to come here. Also, the more our taxpayer dollars are routed toward non-essential road and bridge projects associated with these deals, the less money we have available to address legitimate infrastructure needs.
Our view? No company – large or small – should receive benefits which aren’t available to any other company in the Palmetto State. Period.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR…
Will Folks is the founding editor of the news outlet you are currently reading. Prior to founding FITSNews, he served as press secretary to the governor of South Carolina. He lives in the Midlands region of the state with his wife and eight children.
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2 comments
Do you consider it crony capitalism when people pay a blogger to write stories on issues and that same blogger pretends he is a “journalist”? Just curious.
The idea that politicians are able to become masters of industry investments in any field they dare to enter is in itself insane. Using stolen money to bribe corporations to employee people from which the politicians will steal more money from is criminal yet par for the course in this criminal organization called government.
If you really want to be free hang the politicians, burn down Moloch’s temple in Cola town and fire every government employee sucking off the teat.