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In NY's race to the bottom, we hear Gov. Cuomo just agreed to grant $40 million in tax credits over five years to BAE whose Johnson City facilities were damaged by Hurricane Irene flooding. In exchange, BAE will keep about 1,400 jobs in the region.
Cuomo's Facebook announcement celebrated "not losing" the jobs without disclosing that BAE was getting a whopping $28,000 per worker, a tidy reward after threatening to leave the state.
If BAE sounds familiar, they are the UK-based global defense manufacturer whose alleged bribes helped bring down Tony Blair.
Saudi Prince Bandar allegedly received $2 billion in secret kickbacks for defense contracts.
BAE never admitted guilt in funneling the secret payments, but paid almost half a billion in fines to have the UK charges dropped in a first-of-its-kind "plea bargain" modeled after US "settlements" made between large corporations and the Bush DOJ in lieu of prosecution.
It's clear BAE knows how to wheel and deal politicians the world over, but did the NY taxpayer just get hosed or do we need to take these kinds of measure just to keep jobs from going over state lines?
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_...
http://emptywheel.firedoglake.... |
