{"id":12513,"date":"2023-12-29T17:12:06","date_gmt":"2023-12-29T17:12:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=12513"},"modified":"2023-12-29T17:12:06","modified_gmt":"2023-12-29T17:12:06","slug":"ford-e-v-battery-plant-in-michigan-named-worst-economic-development-deal-of-2023","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lonecandle.com\/?p=12513","title":{"rendered":"Ford E.V. Battery Plant in Michigan Named Worst Economic Development Deal of 2023"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\n\n“Each year since 2018<\/a>, the Center for Economic Accountability (CEA)\u2014a nonpartisan think tank opposed to corporate welfare\u2014has named its Worst Economic Development Deal of the Year, a dishonor awarded to the most egregious misuse of taxpayer funds nominally intended to spur economic growth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This year, the ignoble honor<\/a> goes to Michigan, which has awarded over $1.75 billion to Ford Motor Co. and Contemporary Amperex Technology Ltd. (CATL), a Chinese battery manufacturer. The two companies are jointly developing<\/a> a factory in Marshall, Michigan, that would build lithium iron phosphate batteries for the automaker’s electric vehicle (E.V.) lineup.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“facing strong economic headwinds, Ford announced<\/a> it was “re-timing and resizing some investments.” While the Michigan plant was originally intended to create 2,500 jobs, Ford changed its pledge to 1,700 jobs and lowered its potential output by 40 percent, estimated<\/a> to shrink the company’s financial investment by $1 billion or more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since Ford originally pledged<\/a> $3.5 billion, Michigan’s contribution to the project could be nearly as much as what Ford plans to spend on its own factory. Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, told reporters<\/a> that Michigan’s investment may be “resized” as well, and “as Ford has had to make some changes\u2026the state’s role will change as well.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, the deal’s merits were questionable from the start. When the project was first announced, Whitmer’s office claimed<\/a> it would have “an employment multiplier of 4.38, which means that an additional 4.38 jobs in Michigan’s economy are anticipated to be created for every new direct job.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 This is a fanciful notion. Tim Bartik of the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research has estimated<\/a> that a more typical multiplier on a local or state level is between 1.5 and 2. Last month, Bartik calculated<\/a> the estimated benefits of Michigan’s proposed investment; while he was broadly positive, he noted that a 4.38 multiplier was “very high,” and “if the Ford project had a more typical multiplier\u20142.5 rather than 4.38\u2014the project’s gross benefits would be less than the incentive costs.””  
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Ford E.V. Battery Plant in Michigan Named Worst Economic Development Deal of 2023<\/a><\/blockquote>