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Incentives and Jobs

12 December 2009 One Comment

Though we often hear that manufacturing in this country is “dead” or “dying,” this article from the Harrisburg (Pa) Patriot-News shows the lengths some states and counties still go to — offering millions in tax incentives — to land manufacturing jobs.

The author spoke to folks who said these kinds of incentives are needed to woo businesses, and others who said their time has past, that pitting one region against another means everybody loses.

What do you think?

Is this a game states, counties and cities have to play? Or should they opt out and focus resources on things like workforce training or education?

-KG

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  • Steve gross

    I think that the best economy is a diversified economy. I also think that a nation that has forgotten how to make things is asking for trouble in the long run. Supposedly manufacturing declined primarily due to noncompetitive labor costs in the u.s. And yet I never really saw a discussion about whether this was a foregone conclusion. Is it?