Tim Skubick

It looked so good on paper.

Ten thousand new hi-tech jobs in the lucrative semiconductor space.

Thousands of indirect jobs flowing out of the new factory and taking the Flint area off the map for its lead-in-the-water tragedy and replacing that with this huge economic “get” that any other county would have given the moon and the stars to land.

Ah but alas, when Gov. Gretchen Whitmer got done reading the sickening headlines, her bid to leave office with a 10,000 job creation credit on her resume was nothing but a fond “close but no cigar” memory on that legacy document.

Que pasa?

As with everything in our town, the answer is dependent on who is talking.

First, you need to know the foundation for this story.

During COVID, the domestic auto industry hung by a thread because the supply lines that fed badly needed semiconductors from foreign countries were on life support. So landing a domestic plant in Michigan was not only a huge plus for the car guys but a strong signal to others that the Great Lakes state had its job-mojo back.

Michigan had bested every other state in the country as the manufacturer Sandisk picked Genesee County and was ready to shell out 63 billion smackers to invade Mundy Township with this semiconductor manna from heaven. Ms. Whitmer and friends were ready to write a check for $6 billion in tax breaks and other benefits for the firm, just to seal the deal.

But recently, the executives came to the conclusion there was too much “uncertainty” in America’s economic future and the gig was too much of a risk. So what looked so hot on paper was crumpled up and tossed in the circular file.

The anti-Donald Trump folks were all over this as you might expect, blaming him for the deal that never was.

The pro-Trump camp rallied around their leader and reminded everyone that their guy was on a mission to bring all those foreign jobs back to the mainland in time.

The governor never blasted the president by name and made only a glancing reference to “tariffs” as being part of the demise of her hoped for win.

Instead of blatant criticism, she called him instead.

Unconfirmed chatter around here has the two of them becoming quite chummy and exchanging phone calls instigated by both of them.

During the conversation, he advised her to “tell the media” that he would work with her to produce something that would put the glow back on her longed for image of magical job creator.

It allowed her to take some of the sting out of this defeat but others glibly suggested, “We’ll believe it when we see it.”

Meanwhile, all this stimulated another round of debate over what role the legislature should play in all this, if any.

And the “if any” lawmakers who don’t much like “welfare grants at taxpayer expense to corporations” were smiling from ear to ear. And it’s not just progressive Democrats grinning. Turns out some the once pro-business Republicans joined in the celebration, noting again that it was not the job of legislators to pick “winners and losers.”

Some might argue that is exactly what they are paid to do, but save that for another time.

Rep. Matt Maddock (R-Oakland County) was quick to side with the president while explaining that this deal was doomed from the get-go as a mere “fairly tale” and Sandisk never to come here in the first place. Besides, he contends the effort went caput for lack of cheap energy to run the plant with 75% of the costs supposedly going for that.

“Our energy companies are run by a bunch of leftists, environmentalists/communists and they are ruining our whole state.”

You gotta (sic) wonder how the big wigs at Consumers Energy and DTE feel about that?

Besides, he asserts, “I don’t think we had the votes in our Republican caucus to do it.”

Hence the finger pointing will continue in earnest which is one of the most popular indoor sports in our town but no amount of rhetoric one way or the other can put Humpty Dumpty back together again.

And those 10,000 would-be job seekers will be left to ponder “what if?” and “what’s next?”…if anything.