By now most of you have heard about Gov. Perdue’s latest corporate welfare bribe economic incentives deal with Chiquita to come to Charlotte. North Carolina taxpayers may be interested in this little tidbit, as revealed by Doug Clark of the Greensboro News & Record:
The $22 million in state and local incentives offered to lure Chiquita’s international headquarters to Charlotte will just about make up for the $25 million fine the company agreed to pay after a federal indictment accused it of paying off terrorists in Colombia.
Chiquita agreed in 2007 to pay the fine in five annual installments, so it’s still on the hook. A little help from North Carolina taxpayers will be welcome.
The company sold off its Colombian subsidiary back in 2004, after it paid “protection money” to terrorist groups. Executives escaped prosecution when the company agreed to the fine.
Moreover, I wonder about the Governor’s definition of “creation” of a job. Check out the job openings for Charlotte listed on Chiquita’s jobs page. Does anyone believe that all 400+ of these Chiquita jobs, such as “Senior Research Scientist” and “marketing brand specialist”, are going to be filled by those currently waiting in unemployment lines in Charlotte?
Most likely, many of these specific, highly-specialized jobs will go to currently employed people in Charlotte. This means that no new jobs will be “created”, but rather the Chiquita hirings will just change the mix of jobs in the Charlotte area.
Other Chiquita jobs will be filled by current Chiquita employees working in their Cincinnati headquarters who will transfer to Charlotte.
In short, it is disingenuous to say that 400+ jobs will be “created” by the Chiquita deal. In reality, the number of unemployed in Charlotte will be virtually unaffected.
the only reason this woman is not the worst politician in the united states today, is because of that terrorist in the white house..i’m ashamed to say i voted for her, but y’all can be assured, it will not happen again..anybody with any sort of common sense, should know there will be a payoff of sorts, to get that company headquarters here, and likewise, they should know that very few residents in this area will be hired..when sylvania left johnston county 25 years ago for tennessee, the majority of their workforce in this area also went with them-very few locals in tennessee were hired..y’all just take the time, and do a little bit of common sense thinking-this woman has GOT to go next november..