By Maxine Shapiro, KERA 90.1 business commentator
Dallas, TX – I think Texas is still smarting from the loss of Boeing to Chicago. So, will Boeing bring a new assembly plant to the state? Not if they ask, "Where's the money?" I'm Maxine Shapiro with KERA Marketplace Midday.
Boeing Company is looking for a home to produce its planned 7E7 "Dreamliner." This week's Dallas Business Journal gives a pretty good rundown of what states are doing and spending to entice Boeing to build its new plant in their backyard. It's a courtship more feverish than Boeing enjoyed when it moved its headquarters out of Washington. Corporate headquarters are nice. They definitely generate income, stature and predominantly white-collar jobs. But an assembly plant would be like striking oil after you thought the place had dried up.
Manufacturing got hit hard over the past couple of years. According to the Texas Workforce Commission, manufacturing has lost more than 120, 000 jobs since May of 2001. The Journal reports the Boeing plant could possibly create 20-thousand direct and indirect jobs, not to mention $1.5 billion would be generated in 2008. That's when the plane expected to be finished.
So you can see why states are pulling out all the stops for this one. Now our new Texas Economic Development and Tourism Office will have $295 million to spend when it opens its doors on September 1st. That's for the whole fiscal year. Let's compare that to a few other states competing for Boeings favor. This money might be in the form of tax breaks, bond financing and other lucrative incentives. Kansas, $500 million; Michigan $300 million; California $250 million and quoting the Journal, "Washington State has approved $3.2 billion in incentives over the first two decades of plant operation." Guess they're not going to let bygones be bygones.
McKinney, Fort Worth and 13 other Texas cities have put in a bid, but unless they can come up with something besides money, I don't see how we can contend. For KERA Marketplace Midday, I'm Maxine Shapiro.
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